Malaysian English
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Malaysian English | |
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Region | Malaysia |
Indo-European
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Early forms | |
Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | mala1551 |
IETF | en-MY |
Part of a series on the |
English language |
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Phonology |
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Malaysian English (MyE), formally known as Malaysian Standard English (MySE) (similar and related to British English), is a form of English used and spoken in Malaysia. While Malaysian English can encompass a range of English spoken in Malaysia, some consider it to be distinct from the colloquial form commonly called Manglish.
Varieties
Malaysian English may be categorised into three levels: the
The mesolect is a localised form of English that is used by competent speakers of English or as an informal medium of communication between different ethnic groups of Malaysia. It may use some colloquial terms, and its grammar and syntax may show some deviations from standard English.[5]
The basilect is used very informally by those with limited proficiency and vocabulary in English, and it has features of an extended pidgin or creole with syntax that deviates substantially from Standard English.[4][5] The basilect may be hard to understand internationally, and it is often referred to as Manglish.[6]
As with other similar situations, a
Manglish
Manglish refers to the colloquial, informal spoken form of pidgin English in Malaysia that some considered to be distinct from more "correct" forms of Malaysian English.[8] It exists in a wide variety of forms and primarily as a spoken form of English. It is the most common form of spoken English on the street, but it is discouraged in schools, where only Malaysian Standard English is taught. Its lexis is strongly influenced by local languages, with many non-English nouns and verbs commonly used, and it is significantly different grammatically from Standard English.[5] There are colloquialisms in English that are not common outside of Malaysia, which are also used colloquially as substitutes in other languages in Malaysia. In Manglish, Malay or Chinese grammatical structure may be used with English words, which is often done quite spontaneously, sometimes for comic effect.[citation needed]
Features
Since Malaysian English originates from British English when the British Empire ruled what is now Malaysia, it shares many of the features of British English. However, it also has components of American English, Malay, Chinese, Indian languages, and other languages in its vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar.
Malaysian English shows a tendency towards simplification in its pronunciation and grammar, a feature also found in other new Englishes. For example, in pronunciation, diphthongs tend to become monophthongs in Malaysian English, stops may be used instead of dental fricatives and the final consonant clusters often become simplified.[10] There are 6 short monophthongs in Malaysian English, compared to 7 in British English, and the vowel length tend to be the same for long and short vowels. There are, however, slight differences in pronunciation in the states in the central and southern parts of the Malay Peninsula from those in the north and the east of Malaysia.[5] There are also some variations in its vocabulary.
Pronunciation
- Malaysian English is generally non-rhotic.
- Malaysian English has a broad s[further explanation needed], and words like "cab" and "tab" have /ɛ/, rather than /æ/.
- The /t/ in words like "butter" is usually not flapped (unlike in American English) or realised as a glottal stop(unlike in many forms of British English, including Cockney).
- There is no h-droppingin words like head.
- Malaysian English does not have English consonant-cluster reductions after /n/, /t/, and /d/. For example, "new", "tune" and "dune" are pronounced /ˈnjuː/, /ˈtjuːn/, and /ˈdjuːn/. That contrasts with many varieties from East Anglia and the East Midlands of British English and with most forms of American English.
- The 'th' fricatives (θ and ð) are pronounced as stops: [t] for [θ] and [d] for [ð].
- The 'l' is generally clear.
- The diphthongs are monophthongised: 'ow' ([əʊ] or [oʊ]) becomes [o] and 'ay' ([eɪ]) becomes [e].
- The 'd' at the end of the word is usually dropped. For example, "cold", "hold" and "world" are pronounced as /kəʊl/ (/koʊl/), /həʊl/ (/hoʊl/) and /wəːl/.
- The long and short vowels tend to have the same length (for example, "beat" and "bit" are homophones in Malaysian English).[5]
Grammar
The grammar in Malaysian English may become simplified in the mesolectal and basilectal varieties. For example,
Vocabulary
In the acrolect, which uses standard English vocabulary and is internationally comprehensible, non-English terms are still used. Typically these are words for which there is no direct equivalence in English or those that express local reality; for example,
In the mesolect, local words and phrases for which there are English equivalents may also used, for example, tidak apa ("never mind", "it does not matter") or ulu (or hulu, meaning "head", "upper reaches of a river", "interior of a country").[12] In the basilect, the use of local terms may be extensive even if most words used are English, and local expressions or exclamations such as alamak (Oh my god) often form part of the speech.[4]
Word usage
In the first half of the 20th century, Malaysian English was similar to
To a large extent, Malaysian English is descended from British English, largely because of the country's colonisation by Britain from the 18th century. However, influence from American mass media, particularly in the form of television programmes and films has made most Malaysians familiar with many American English words. For instance, both "lift/elevator" and "lorry/truck" are understood, but the British form is preferred. Only in some very limited cases is the American English form more widespread: "chips" instead of "crisps", "fries" instead of "chips" and "diaper" instead of "nappy".
Words with different meaning in Malaysian English
Some words and phrases used in Malaysia have different meanings than in British or American English.
Word / Phrase | Malaysian meaning | American / British meaning |
---|---|---|
the car park | parking space | parking garage (US) car park (UK) |
photostat | a photocopier; also used as a verb meaning "to photocopy" | a historical copying machine using a camera and photographic paper, which was superseded by the photocopier. See Photostat machine. |
flat | low-cost apartment or flat | apartment (US) flat (UK) |
apartment | medium-cost apartment or flat | flat (UK) |
condominium | high-cost apartment or flat | commonhold (UK) |
to follow | to accompany, e.g. "Can I follow you?" meaning "Can I come with you?" or, "I will follow you." meaning "I will come with you." | to go after or behind, e.g. "The police car was following me." |
to send | to take someone somewhere, e.g. "Can you send me to the airport?" | to cause something to go somewhere without accompanying it, e.g. "I sent this letter to my grandma." |
blur | condition of a person who is dazed, confused, appears mentally slow, e.g. "You look very blur right now, take a break." | vague, visually indistinct, e.g. "Everything is just a blur when I take my spectacles off." |
keep | to put something away e.g. in a pocket or bag | to own and retain something indefinitely |
to fix | to build or put something together | to repair something |
got (from have got) | to have or possess | past tense of get |
half-past-six | of low quality[13] | 30 minutes past six o'clock |
thousand one | one thousand and one hundred, 1100. Likewise, "thousand two" and "thousand three" also means "one thousand two hundred", "one thousand three hundred", and so on. | one thousand and one, 1001 (US) |
power trip | a power outage or a blackout, when an electrical device or power system suddenly stops. See Trip switch .
|
a trip by someone to show off their authority |
Words used mainly in Malaysian English
Malaysian English has its own vocabulary, which comes from a variety of influences. Typically, for words or phrases that are based on other English words, the Malaysian English speaker may be unaware that the word or phrase is not used in British or American English. Such words are also present in the vocabulary of some continuums of
Malaysian | British / American |
---|---|
handphone (often abbreviated to HP) | mobile phone (British), cell phone (American) |
public telephone or public phone (also used in Australian English) | payphone |
outstation | out of office |
keep in view (often abbreviated to KIV) | kept on file, held for further consideration |
medical certificate (often abbreviated to MC) | sick note, aegrotat |
bungalow | detached house |
bank in (cheque) | deposit a cheque (UK) / deposit a check (US) |
remisier | stockbroker |
Many words of Malay origin have made it into the standard form of Malaysian English used in the media, literature and formal speech. For example,
Particles in Malaysian English
Particles in Malaysian English come from the influence of Chinese and Malay. Some phrases used for emphasis in British or American English are used as particles in Malaysian English, while ignoring the participle or a verb.
Particle | Example in Malaysian English | Example in British / American English |
---|---|---|
or not | Do you want to hang out or not? | Do you want to hang out? |
already | I eat dinner already. | I've eaten dinner. |
just now (for the immediate past, as in a few minutes ago) | I eat a burger just now. | I've just eaten a burger. |
got (as an emphasis equivalent to do, instead of meaning have) | "You got pay the bills or not?"
"I got pay!" |
"Did you pay the bills?"
"I did pay!" |
Syntax
Syntactical differences are few although in colloquial speech 'shall' and 'ought' are wanting, 'must' is marginal for obligation and 'may' is rare. Many syntactical features of Malaysian English are found in other forms of English such as British English and North American English:
- Can I come too? for "May I come too?"
- (Have) you got any? for "Do you have any?"
- I('ve) got one of those already. for "I already have one of those."
Phonology
Officially, Malaysian English uses the same pronunciation system as British English. However, most Malaysians speak with a distinctive
Role of Malaysian English in Independent Malaysia
Even though Malaysian English is not the official language of Malaysia, it is still used among Malaysians in business. About 80% of urban businesses in Malaysia conduct their transactions in English (both Malaysian English and Manglish).[citation needed] However, American English has quite a strong foothold in international businesses in Malaysia. Malaysian English is also widely used in advertising sectors, especially commercial advertisements aired in private TV stations, primarily Media Prima-owned TV stations. Most of Malaysian people, especially Chinese and Indians have tendencies to speak in English instead of Malay when they are interviewed on television. In terms of education, private universities and colleges in Malaysia mostly use Malaysian English for their identities. Most of Malaysian companies and organisations have started using their official name in English instead of Malay to keep up with modernisation in recent years.
In music industry, singers such as
See also
- Singapore English
- British and Malaysian English differences
- Bahasa Rojak
- Regional accents of English speakers
References
- ISBN 981-3018-52-6
- S2CID 145377082.
- ^ ISBN 9781443872928.
- ^ .
- ^ ISBN 978-9027249029.
- ISBN 9789004314306.
- ISBN 978-9027249029.
- ^ a b Lim Chin Lam (14 October 2011). "Primer on Manglish". The Star. Archived from the original on Oct 6, 2022.
- ^ Alistair King (8 October 2013). "Just don't call it Manglish!". The Star. Archived from the original on Nov 21, 2023.
- ^ ISBN 9789004314306.
- ^ ISBN 978-9027249029.
- ^ Malay English Vocabulary. pp. 46, 135.
- ^ HAMID, DATUK ABU BAKAR ABDUL (July 21, 2018). "Staying clear of the half-past-six conundrum | New Straits Times". NST Online.
- ^ "Najib chairs 108th Meeting of Mentaris Besar and Chief Ministers". Bernama – Malaysian National News Agency. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011.
Further reading
- Rosli Talif; Ting, Su Hie (1994). "Malaysian English: Exploring the Possibility of Standardization" (PDF). ISSN 0128-7702. – Abstract in Malay available.
- Rachel Siew Kuang Tan; Ee-Ling Low (January 2010). "How different are the monophthongs of Malay speakers of Malaysian and Singapore English?". English World-Wide. 31 (2): 162–189. .
External links
- British Council Malaysia, English Language Development
- Manglish: For and Against, Should Malaysians speak Manglish or proper English?
- Common English Mistakes Shows many of the mistakes made by Malaysians when speaking English and shows the true English equivalents.