Sarawak Malay
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2012) |
| Sarawak Malay | |
|---|---|
| Kelakar Sarawak | |
| Native to | Sarawak |
Native speakers | (undated figure of 900,000–1,200,000[citation needed]) |
Austronesian
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | (covered by zlm) |
zlm-sar | |
| Glottolog | sara1351 |
Sarawak Malay (Standard Malay: Bahasa Melayu Sarawak or Bahasa Sarawak, Jawi: بهاس ملايو سراوق, Sarawak Malay: Kelakar Sarawak) is a Malayic language native to the State of Sarawak. It is a common language used by natives of Sarawak[1] and also as the important mother tongue for the Sarawakian Malay people.
The Sarawakian Malay language also bears strong similarities with the West Kalimantan Malay language around Sanggau, Sintang and Sekadau in the northern part of the West Kalimantan province of Indonesia.
Dialects
[edit]According to Asmah Haji Omar (2015), Sarawak Malay can be divided into three dialects, the Kuching dialect spoken in Kuching and Kota Samarahan, the Saribas dialect spoken in Saribas, and the Sibu dialect spoken in Sibu. In Miri and Limbang, a variety of Malay closer to Brunei Malay is spoken.[2]
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]The consonantal inventory of Sarawak Malay consists of 19 phonemes as seen in the table below.[3]
| Labial | Dental | Denti-alv./ | Post-alv./ | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
| Plosive/ | voiceless | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | ʔ | |
| voiced | b | d | d͡ʒ | ɡ | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | h | ||||
| voiced | ɣ | ||||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | ||||
Note(s):
- Sarawak Malay /ɣ/ corresponds to /r/ in Standard Malay so goreng (fried) would be pronounced as /ɡoɣeŋ/, not /ɡoreŋ/ as in Standard Malay.[4][5]
- Word-initial ⟨h⟩ in Standard Malay in words like halus (granular) and hampas (spoil) is dropped in Sarawak Malay so they are pronounced as alus and ampas instead. There are some exceptions such as hormat (respect) though they are usually loanwords.[7]
- Word-final ⟨k⟩ in some words is pronounced as a velar stop [k̚] rather than as a glottal stop [ʔ] as in Malaysian Standard Malay, so words like landak (porcupine) and ngajak (to invite) are pronounced as [landak̚] and [ŋad͡ʒak̚] rather than as [landaʔ] and [ŋad͡ʒaʔ].[3]
- Some words in Standard Malay that end open-finally or end in a ⟨r⟩ have a glottal stop /ʔ/ added with the former and replacing the consonant with the latter. This can be seen words such as lamak (long in time) and aik (water) which are cognate to Standard Malay lama and air and mean the same thing.[5]
- Standard Malay Word-final ⟨-ing⟩ or /-iŋ/ corresponds to Sarawak Malay ⟨-in⟩ or /-in/ so Standard Malay kuning (yellow) corresponds to kunin in Sarawak Malay.[5]
Vowels
[edit]Monophthongs
[edit]Sarawak Malay has the same vowel inventory as Standard Malay, /a, i, e, u ,o, ə/. However, the distribution of these vowels is a little different.[8]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-Mid | e | o | |
| Mid | ə | ||
| Open-Mid | (ɛ) | (ɔ) | |
| Open | a |
Note(s):
- Word-final ⟨a⟩ as in ada (to be) and raja (king) is pronounced as /a/ in the Kuching dialect but as /o/ in the Saribas dialect. This means the two words would be pronounced as /ada/ and /ɣad͡ʒa/ in the Kuching dialect and as /ado/ and /ɣad͡ʒo/ in the Saribas dialect.[6]
- The vowels /e, o/ can be realized either as close-mid [e, o] or as open-mid [ɛ, ɔ].[9]
- The Standard Malay diphthongs /aj, aw/ correspond to /e, o/ in Sarawak Malay so the Standard Malay words pandai (smart) /pandaj/ and pulau (island) /pulaw/ correspond to Sarawak Malay /pande/ and /pulo/.[10]
Diphthongs
[edit]Sarawak Malay only has one diphthong, /oj/, found in words like paloi (idiot) /paloj/.[10]
Morphology
[edit]Sarawak Malay has an agent focus or active prefix, ng- which corresponds to the Standard Malay prefix, meng-. When attached to a stem, if the stem starts with a consonant, the prefix assimilates to the consonant in place of articulation, and the original initial consonant of the stem is deleted. If the stem starts with a vowel, the prefix is just attached with no other changes. The affixation process is shown in the table below:[11]
| Initial Consonant | Assimilated Prefix | Example Stem | Result of Affixation | Standard Malay Equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ⟨p⟩ | ⟨m⟩ | putus (to snap) | mutus | memutus |
| ⟨b⟩ | beli (to snap) | meli | membeli | |
| ⟨t⟩ | ⟨n⟩ | tulak (to push) | nulak | menolak |
| ⟨d⟩ | dengar (to listen) | nengar | mendengar | |
| ⟨s⟩ | ⟨ny⟩ | sangkut (to hang) | nyangkut | menyangkut |
| ⟨c⟩ | cuba (to try) | nyuba | mencuba | |
| ⟨j⟩ | julok (to pick) | nyulok | menjolok | |
| ⟨-⟩ | ⟨ng⟩ | amal (to practise) | ngamal | mengamal |
| ⟨k⟩ | kata (to say) | ngata | mengata | |
| ⟨g⟩ | gusok (to rub) | ngusok | menggosok |
Vocabulary
[edit]Sarawak Malay has a rich vocabulary of which many words, while also found in Standard Malay, have completely different meanings.[12]
| Word | Meaning in
Sarawak Malay |
Meaning in
Standard Malay |
|---|---|---|
| agak | 'to meet' | 'to guess' |
| kelakar | 'to talk' | 'funny' |
| tangga | 'to look' | 'stairs' |
| tikam | 'to throw' | 'to stab' |
| tetak | 'to laugh' | 'to cut' |
| marak | 'to waste' | 'to refract' |
The numbers of Sarawak Malay differ a bit from their Standard Malay counterparts.[13]
| Sarawak Malay | Standard Malay | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| satu | satu | 'one' |
| duak | dua | 'two' |
| tiga | tiga | 'three' |
| empat | empat | 'four' |
| limak | lima | 'five' |
| nam | enam | 'six' |
| tujoh | tujuh | 'seven' |
| lapan | lapan | 'eight' |
| semilan | sembilan | 'nine' |
| sepuloh | sepuluh | 'ten' |
The pronouns too differ quite significantly,[14] with the first and second person pronouns (both singular and plural) both being related to the first person plural pronouns ( and kita) of Standard Malay.
| Sarawak Malay | Standard Malay | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| kamek | saya / aku | 'I' / 'me' |
| kamek empun | saya / aku punya | 'my' / 'mine' |
| kamek orang | kita/kami | 'we' |
| kitak | kau / kamu / awak | 'you' (informal, singular) |
| kitak empun | kau / kamu / awak punya | 'your' / 'yours' |
| kitak orang | kamu / awak semua | 'you' (plural) |
| nya | dia | 'he' / 'she' / 'it' |
| nya empun | dia punya | 'his' / 'her' / 'hers' |
| sidak nya empun | mereka punya | 'theirs' |
| sidak nya kedirik | mereka sendiri | 'themselves' |
Below is a non-exhaustive list of lexical differences between Standard Malay and Sarawak Malay.[15][16][17]
| Standard Malay | Sarawak Malay | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| anjing | asuk | 'dog' |
| ayam / manuk (archaic) | manok | 'chicken' |
| baring | gurin | 'to lie down' |
| bodoh | paloi | 'stupid' |
| berlari | berekot | 'to run' |
| garang | gaok | 'angry' |
| hijau | gadong / ijo | 'green' (colour) |
| kapal terbang | belon | 'aeroplane' |
| kecil | kecik / salus | 'small' |
| kucing | pusak | 'cat' |
| jalan raya | jeraya | 'road' |
| juga | juak | 'also' |
| sombong | lawa | 'arrogant' |
| kenapa | kenak | 'why' |
| kenyang | kedak | 'full' (eating) |
| mahu | maok | 'to want' |
| merah jambu | kalas | 'pink' |
| pisau | ladin (Malay/Melanau) dandin / pisok | 'knife' |
| sekarang / kini | kinek | 'now' |
| singgah | berambeh | 'to go to' |
| tembikai | semangka | 'watermelon' |
| tak / tidak | si / sik | 'negative marker' |
| tipu | bulak | 'to lie' |
| ya / haah | aok | 'yes' |
| lihat / tengok | tangga | 'to see' |
| berkira | cokot | 'picky' |
Many of the words used in Sarawak Malay nowadays were borrowed from many languages such as English. Some English words that have been borrowed and have undergone significant pronunciation changes are as follows:
| English loanword | Original English
form |
|---|---|
| eksen | 'action' |
| bol | 'ball' |
| kaler | 'colour' |
| kapet | 'carpet' |
| pancet | 'punctured' |
| henpon | 'handphone' |
| moto | 'motor' |
| prempan | 'frying pan' |
| uren | 'orange' |
| raun | 'round' |
Colloquial and contemporary usage
[edit]Contemporary usage of Sarawak Malay includes contemporary Malay words or incorporated from other languages, spoken by the urban speech community, which may not be familiar to the older generation. E.g.: SMS language. E.g.:
| English | Sarawak Malay | SMS Text |
|---|---|---|
| you | kitak | ktk |
| me | kamek | kmk |
| no | sik | x |
| message | mesej | msg |
| nothing | sikda | xda |
| why | kenak | knk |
Media
[edit]TVS, a regional television broadcaster serving Sarawak from the state government-owned Sarawak Media Group has programming tailored in the language.[18]
References
[edit]- ^ "Sarawak, a land of many tongues". theborneopost.com. Borneo Post. 23 December 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
- ^ Asmah Haji Omar 2015, pp. 215–216.
- ^ a b Asmah Haji Omar 2015, p. 218.
- ^ a b Asmah Haji Omar 2015, pp. 220–221.
- ^ a b c ML Studios 2020.
- ^ a b Asmah Haji Omar 2015, p. 223.
- ^ Asmah Haji Omar 2015, pp. 221–222.
- ^ Asmah Haji Omar 2015, pp. 216–217.
- ^ Asmah Haji Omar 2015, p. 216.
- ^ a b Asmah Haji Omar 2015, p. 217.
- ^ Asmah Haji Omar 2015, pp. 219–220.
- ^ Nabilah Bolhasan 2019, pp. 14–18.
- ^ ILoveLanguages! 2020.
- ^ "Personal Pronouns in Melayu Sarawak". Borneo Dictionary. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
- ^ Deli, Radina Mohamad (2012-12-26). "Word familiarity and lexical change: The case of Sarawak Malay". Issues in Language Studies. 1 (2) – via UNIMAS Publisher.
- ^ Khaw, Jasmina Yen Min; Tan, Tien-Ping; Ranaivo-Malancon, Bali (2021-04-05). "Kelantan and Sarawak Malay Dialects: Parallel Dialect Text Collection and Alignment Using Hybrid Distance-Statistical-Based Phrase Alignment Algorithm". Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education. 12 (3) – via turcomat.org.
- ^ Majelis Sastra Asia Tenggara 1998.
- ^ Collin Jerome; Ting Su Hie; Ahmad Junaidi Ahmad Hadzmy; Humaira Raslie (Mar 13, 2023). Accessing News in the Digital Era: The Case of Sarawak, Malaysia. 5th Kuala Lumpur International Conference on Education, Economics and Technology. Kuala Lumpur. pp. 23–4.
Bibliography
[edit]- Asmah Haji Omar (2015). Susur Galur Bahasa Melayu [Genealogy of Malay] (in Malay) (2nd ed.). Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (published 23 October 2015). pp. 227–263. ISBN 9789836298263.
- Nabilah Bolhassan (2019). "Dialek Melayu Sarawak dan Bahasa Melayu Baku: Satu Kajian Perbandingan" [The Sarawak Malay Dialect and Standard Malay: A Comparative Study]. Jurnal Sains Sosial (in Malay). 4 (1). Archived from the original on 2021-07-31. Retrieved 2021-07-31 – via KUIM.
- ML Studios (24 July 2020). Cara Mudah Belajar Bahasa Melayu Sarawak [The Simple Way to Learn Sarawak Malay] (Video) (in Malay). Archived from the original on 7 October 2025.
- ILoveLanguages! (21 August 2020). The Sound of the Sarawak Malay language / dialect (UDHR, Numbers, Greetings, Words & Sample Text) (Video). Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
- Majelis Sastra Asia Tenggara (1998). Daftar kata dialek Melayu Sarawak : dialek Melayu Sarawak-bahasa Malaysia, bahasa Malaysia-dialek Melayu [Dictionary of Sarawak Malay dialect-Malay, Malay-Sarawak Malay dialect] (in Malay) (2 ed.). Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. ISBN 9836263241.
External links
[edit]- Kaipuleohone has an archived notes on Sarawak Malay