INTERLINGUAL AND INTRALINGUAL COMMUNICATION IN BRUNEI DARUSSALAM: SOME FACTORS GOVERNING CODE CHOICE. Peter W Martin Universiti Brunei Darussalam This study examines a number of aspects of language use in Negara Brunei Darussalam. Its main emphasis is on the use of Malay in intergroup and intragroup communication and on which particular varieties of the language are selected for various purposes. It is also concerned with the function of the minority languages in the country A number of factors affecting code selection are considered. As little has been reported in the literature on the linguistic situation in Brunei Darussalam, the first section of the study provides an introduction outlining the linguistic background of the country Negara Brunei Darussalam (henceforth Brunei) was, historically, the centre of a maritime empire which, in the early part of the last century, included most of the coastal and riverine areas of what are now the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah. In earlier periods Brunei's influ­ ence is said to have extended from Luzon in the Philippines to western or even southernBorneo. From 1888 until 1984, when the country regained full independence, Brunei was a British protectorate. Although small in area and population, the countryis linguistically complex. The largest ethnic group, the Malays, comprise 69% of the total population of241,000 (Government ofBrunei Darussalam, 1989). A further 18% of the population is of Chinese stock , 5% belong to "other indigenous groups" and the remaining 8% are foreign workers (Niew, 1990:4). These figures, however, give little indication of the complex linguistic make-up ot the country 144 Table 1: The population of Brunei Darussalam Malay 69'r" 166,3000 Chinese 18% 43,300 Otherindigenous 5% 12,100 Foreign workers 8% 19;300 Soutt:e!; Goy of HfIlI>O!illifUllS<llam (1989):Ntew (19'JO). 1.0 The linguisti<: background of Brunei Dilrl.lssala.m In order to under�tand how complex the situation actually is it is necessary to clarify the term Malay, as it is used ina number of different ways inthe literature on Southeast Asia. Maxwell (1980:151) givt's exam­ ples of the term being used tode Signate II religious indentification, a legal status, II census category, a linguishC affiliation and grouping, and a variety of culture. In the Brul1cicontext Malay is both a marker oflegal status (Government of Brunel, 1961. 118-119) and a census category (Govemmenlo(BrunciDarussalam, 1987:18). Thus, legdlly and forccnsus purposes, Malay comprises seven groups, (Brunei, Kedayan. Tutons, Bel ait, Bi;.aya,Dusun and Murut) the so-calledpllak jati or original inhab­ itants of the country_ The concept of pl/ak jati is sunilar to that of bumiputra in .\1alaysia. Theseven puak jati in BrlUlei, legally ltlbt!lled Malay,have, however, different linguistic backgrolillds. Two of these groups, the Brunei and the Kcdayan, are Malay speaking Muslims. The Brunei, traditionally fisher­ men, traders W"ld Claftsmen living along the ((last and especially amun.;! the capital have been uimmemorially domulanl" (Brown, 1971) in Ule country Thereappear to betwo distinct varietiesof Malay spoken by the puak Brunei, Brunei Malay and Kampong Ayer (Simanjuntak, 1'::188; Maxwell, 1980). The formeris the first language of around 85,000 people (Wurm & Hattori, 1983: map 1). It has recei"ed scant attt-ntion in the literature, although Simanjuntak (1988) and Maxwell (1980) have written on the phonology and morphology Prentice (1986) and Maxwell (1985) have commented on its lexis and probable origin. The other variety, Kampong Ayer, is used by about 25,000 speakers, mainly in the water villag� in the Brw\ei River Theother Malay speaking Muslim group is th� Kedayan, numbering about 3O,!XXl(I'\othofer, 1987). The existence of the Kedayan variety of Malay has been documented by A.D. Ahmad (19iS) and Maxwell (l980). IHTUU.lNOUAl. Nm IN'ntAuNC;UAl. 145 Brunei Malay, Kampong Ayer and Kedayan, then, are the three varietiesof Malay which are the firstlanguages of approximately 140,000 people.There a are small number ofphonological and lexical dlff�rli:llC� between these three varieties of Malay and they are between 82-84% cognatewith Peninsular Standard Malay (Nothofer, 1987). Table 2: The Brunei PuakJatiand Their languages GROUP LANGUAGEI NUMBER OF COGNATE% VARIETY SPEAKRRS WIDlPSM Brunei Brunei Malay ±as,ooo 84% Kampong Ayer ±25,OOO 82% Keda}an Kedayan %.30.000 80% Tutong Tutong ±11,00Q 33% ""'un Dusun ±9.ooo 40% Bisaya Bsiaya <2,000 38% Belalt BeIrut <2,!100 29% Mumt M=I <2,000 24% Sources: Maxwell, (1980): Nothofer, (19871 Theremaining groups within the legal or census category MIllay,are the Belait, Bisaya, Dusun,Murut and Tutong. Thesegrouphavelanguages which are distinct fromM alay, with none of them being more than 40% cognate with Peninsular Standard Malay (Nothofer, 1987). In Brunei, however, theseg lan uagesare popularly regarded as being Malay dialects. Inf act, they have congeners with the languagesof adjacent areas in Sabah and SarIlWak.1groups The!>e have a rural baseand are associated with the outlying areas of Brunei. Theselangu ageshave been referred to as theas "regional languages " of Brunei (Nothofer, 1987),but for the purposesof thisstudy I will refer10 thelang uages ofthese five groupsas the"minority languages" of Brunei. No exact figures areavailable for the populations of thesegroups, because theyartclassified,for censuspurposes, as Malay However, I estimatethat they number approxllT\at�ly 25, 000 with th� two largest groups, the Tutong and the Du:oun, numberingabout It,OJO and 9.000 respectively Sigmficant numbers fromthe five groups have become Mu"lilllthe, ii, l.!I.5t two centuries(Maxwell, 1980: 170) andthis, coupled with intermarriage, has rt'Sulted in ethruc affihations becoming increasingly blurred. The languages of all these groups, however, are still in use today, although I there are very few, if any, monolingual speakers. 146 JUIINAL BAHASA MODEN TheChinese fonn thesecond la.rgestethnicgroup inBrunei, number­ ing arround 43,000. They speak a number of Chinese dialects, the most common being Hollien, Hakka andTeochew Chinese educationthrough the medium of Mandarin is available in a small number of vemacular schools inthe country. The "otherindigenous groups" consist of the !ban and Penan.The fonner, with a population of around 11,000, including many who have entered the country in the last fifty years, mainly live in the interior of the Belait, Tutong and Temburong di5trkls. The Iban spoken inBrunei shows only minor differences from Sarawak Than. The Brunei Penan live inone small, settledcommunity and number approx.irnalely50 persons. The above discussion has brieflyoutlined the linguistic make-up of the country However, to proVide a mOle complete picture it is necessary to consider threeother languages which have important functions in the country. The officiallanguage of Brunei is Bahasa Melayu. (£be tennBahasa Meta}'\! is used throughout this study to refer to this fonnal or standard variety of the language). This is almost identical to Bahasa Malaysia (see, for example, Asmah1985:330; Simanjunta.k, 1988:3-4),although thel"1"are some phonological diferences and a number of lexical borrowings from the local vernacular,Brunei Malay Itis the language of govemmentdrculars, directives and C<lrrespondence and an important language in the media. The Government newspaper, Pelitll Brunr:i, for example, which has the widest circulation in the country. is in Bahasa MeJayu, (Government of Brunei Darusssalam, 1987).lt is alsoone of the languages in the Sultanate's bilingual system of education, introduced in 1985. In this system, the Ianguage ofinstruction in thefirst three years of prunary schools is Bahasa Melayu. From the fourth year of primary education onwards, all subjects except Malay, religious education. history, art and sports are taught in English. As the other language in the bilingual education system, English obviously plays an important role in Brunei. Its unportance also stems from its historical position in the country In recent years Brunei has had to employ expatriate officerson contract asthere has beena lackof suitably qualified Bruneians in many of the profeSSiOns. English is the language of commerce and law, and is widely used in the media as well as Bahasa Melayu. TIle importance of English as an international language is cer· tainly recognised by the govemment as a means of gaining wider access to scientific and technical knowledge, and to the international business market.lnfonnants suggest that proficiency in thelanguage is a neressary prerequisite for career advancement. i.NTI.M.LlNGlJALA'>D lNTRALI."GlJAL \47 Finallly, being a Muslim country, Arabic is the ritual language of religion and it i� used In religious cremonies and asio taugh t in a nu mber of religious schools in the country 2.0Oat. Collection Data for this srudy comes from iv.'O source�. Firstly, it has be en gathered from observations of language behaviour in Bl"Wlei over a numlx'r of years. This i.� supplemented by an extensiv!:! and on-going �-urvey intolanguage use l!\ the country (Ozog & Martin, ill prep.). The survey was carried out using a small team of investigators, Questionnaires,or interview sheets, were used to ask speakers about their age, employcment, language andeducational backgrounds as well as their linguistic behaviour with different speakers in a nu mber of situations. The potential difficulty in labelling languages and languag e varieties was reduced byproVlding a structured set of options,