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Language Maintenance and Shift in One Semai Community in Peninsular Malaysia

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Language Maintenance and Shift in One Semai Community in Peninsular Malaysia 7507479745 Language Maintenance and Shift in One Semai Community in Peninsular Malaysia Esther Florence Boucher-Yip MPhil (Cantab) School of Education Thesis submitted as part of the requirement for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION University of Leicester April 2004 UMI Number: U192265 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U192265 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 For the Semai of Malaysia Acknowledgements I would like to thank my tutor and thesis supervisor, Dr Peter Martin, for his guidance, insights and comments which were valuable in shaping not only this thesis but also my other writing assignments in the doctorate programme. His passion and enthusiasm in the area of minority languages was an inspiration and made my study all the more meaningful. To him I say ‘Ribuan terima kasih’. In the same vein, I also wish to thank Professor Les Bell for his directness and clarity in teaching the fundamentals of research methodologies. His regular visits to the Singapore Study Centre made it possible for more discussions on issues related to research methods. My research among the Semai people would not have been possible without the support and assistance of Rev Uda, who was instrumental in making arrangements for my fieldwork and the help of Ibah and Rejis who were committed and enthu­ siastic during the data-collection stage of the study. I am indebted to them. I am also grateful for the Semai people who willingly participated in this study. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Rev Balahu Hassan and family, who have opened their home to me and patiently answered my questions during my visits to the village. I thank them for their hospitality and also for spending time talking and teaching me about their community, culture and language. I also would like to thank the following people who had provided valuable input and help at various stages of my study: Dr Yeoh Seng Guan who, at the very initial stage of this study, provided ideas and material from his personal collection, Rev Kwek Peng Soon who is passionate about his work with the indigenous people and gave me valuable insights to the Semai language situation and Professor Geoffrey Benjamin for his pioneering work on Aslian linguistics and who had generously shared his expertise on the state of Orang Asli languages and even made copies of his published works for me. I am grateful to my family especially my parents, Nelly and George Boucher, for their love and support throughout my academic pursuits. Their encouragement in many ways motivated the completion of this study. I am also thankful for my husband, Gus, who had been patient and supportive while I worked on this study in various locations. His interest in my work was a tremendous help and his statistical support is greatly appreciated. Abstract This study investigates the reported language use of one bilingual Semai com­ munity, a linguistic minority in Peninsular Malaysia. The Semai is the largest indigenous group in the peninsular and the language, Semai, is generally an oral language. Semai bilingual speakers are faced with choices in language behaviour that will determine whether or not the Semai language will be maintained. Given the fact that the future of the Semai language depends on its actual use, this study was undertaken to examine the reported language use patterns and the factors that contribute to maintenance or shift in one Semai community. Data for this study were collected primarily through self-administered questionnaire as well as semi­ structured interviews and participant observation. Quantitative and qualitative analyses suggest that there are no gender and age effects in the reported pattern of language use and that the community is experiencing stable diglossia. While Semai functions as the in-group language, Malay is reserved for out-group com­ munication and used in formal domains. Additionally, results show that there is intergenerational transmission of the language to the younger generation. The re­ ported language use patterns in the sample population appear to suggest a trend towards maintenance. Findings in the study also reveal that respondents in the sample population have a high perception of Semai vitality and a positive atti­ tude toward their language, which they perceive as being a substantial part of their cultural identity. These findings suggest that socio-psychological factors are important and contribute to maintenance efforts in the community. This study concludes by positing that demographic factors, the values and attitudes of the people and religious homogeneity found in the community play an important role in the maintenance of the Semai language. Key words: Bilingualism, Diglossia, Maintenance, Shift, Semai Contents Dedication i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background of research .............................................................................. 1 1.2 Research setting ........................................................................................... 2 1.3 The purpose of the study ........................................................................... 3 1.4 Research questions .................................................................................... 4 1.5 Organisation of the thesis ........................................................................ 4 2 Language maintenance and shift in minority contexts 7 2.1 Determining shift, maintenance and d e a th .......................................... 8 2.1.1 Language shift .............................................................................. 8 2.1.2 Language m aintenance ................................................................. 9 2.1.3 Language d e a th .............................................................................. 10 2.1.4 S u m m a ry ....................................................................................... 11 2.2 Two concepts: domain and diglossia ....................................................... 12 2.2.1 Bilingualism and domain of language u se ................................. 13 2.2.2 Bilingualism and d ig lo ssia ........................................................... 15 2.2.3 A case of shift and choice ........................................................... 18 2.2.4 Diglossia as a language maintenance strategy ........................... 20 2.2.5 S u m m a ry ....................................................................................... 22 2.3 Language shift in the ‘Malay’ w o rld ....................................................... 23 2.4 Factors determining maintenance and sh ift .......................................... 25 2.4.1 Objective and subjective vitality .............................................. 25 2.4.2 Ethnolinguistic identity ................................................................. 28 2.4.3 Language and a ttitu d e ................................................................. 33 2.5 Summary .................................................................................................... 36 CONTENTS v 3 The research context 38 3.1 Malaysia: linguistic and ethnic background ......................................... 38 3.2 Language and education policies ............................................................ 40 3.3 Orang Asli in the Malaysian mosaic ................................................... 41 3.3.1 Population ........................................................................................ 43 3.3.2 Ethnic d iv isio n .............................................................................. 43 3.3.3 Languages ........................................................................................ 46 3.4 The administration of the Orang A s li .................................................. 47 3.4.1 Department of Orang Asli Affairs (JH E O A ) .......................... 48 3.4.2 Status of the Orang Asli p e o p le .................................................. 49 3.4.3 The government’s g o a l .................................................................. 50 3.4.4 Orang Asli education ..................................................................... 52 3.5 The research setting: the Semai people ............................................... 53 3.5.1 Geographic and demographic distribution .............................. 53 3.5.2 Language situ a tio n ........................................................................ 55 4 Research methods and data collection 58 4.1 The case study as a research approach ............................................... 58 4.1.1 Potential stre n g th s ......................................................................... 59 4.1.2 L im itatio n s ..................................................................................... 61 4.1.3 S u m m a ry ........................................................................................ 63 4.2 Methodological trian g u latio n ...............................................................
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