Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction: Language Policies at Variance with Language Use in Multilingual Malaysia
- 1 The Importance of Ethnic Identity when Language Shift Occurs: A Study of the Malaysian Iyers
- 2 Ethnic Identity in the Tamil Community of Kuching
- 3 Do Exogamous Marriages Result in Language Shift? Focus on the Sindhis of Kuching, Malaysia
- 4 Malaysian-Filipino Couples and Language Choice: Heritage Language or International Language?
- 5 I am not English but my First Language is English: English as a First Language among Portuguese Eurasians in Malaysia
- 6 Language and Identity: Children of Indian Bidayuh Mixed Marriages
- 7 The Impact of Language Policy on Language Shifts in Minority Communities: Focus on the Malayalee Community in Malaysia
- 8 My Son has to maintain his Language because that is his Culture: The Persistence and Adaptation of the Bengali Community in Malaysia
- 9 Intercultural Communication in Sarawak: Language Use of the Chinese-Speaking Communities
- 10 Malay Javanese Migrants in Malaysia: Contesting or Creating Identity?
- 11 Conclusions: Multilinguality in the Malaysian Context of Nation-Building and Globalisation
- Contributors
- Bibliography
- Index
- Publications Series
3 - Do Exogamous Marriages Result in Language Shift? Focus on the Sindhis of Kuching, Malaysia
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction: Language Policies at Variance with Language Use in Multilingual Malaysia
- 1 The Importance of Ethnic Identity when Language Shift Occurs: A Study of the Malaysian Iyers
- 2 Ethnic Identity in the Tamil Community of Kuching
- 3 Do Exogamous Marriages Result in Language Shift? Focus on the Sindhis of Kuching, Malaysia
- 4 Malaysian-Filipino Couples and Language Choice: Heritage Language or International Language?
- 5 I am not English but my First Language is English: English as a First Language among Portuguese Eurasians in Malaysia
- 6 Language and Identity: Children of Indian Bidayuh Mixed Marriages
- 7 The Impact of Language Policy on Language Shifts in Minority Communities: Focus on the Malayalee Community in Malaysia
- 8 My Son has to maintain his Language because that is his Culture: The Persistence and Adaptation of the Bengali Community in Malaysia
- 9 Intercultural Communication in Sarawak: Language Use of the Chinese-Speaking Communities
- 10 Malay Javanese Migrants in Malaysia: Contesting or Creating Identity?
- 11 Conclusions: Multilinguality in the Malaysian Context of Nation-Building and Globalisation
- Contributors
- Bibliography
- Index
- Publications Series
Summary
Introduction
Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multilingual country with a population of 26.64 million (as of 2006) and at least a hundred languages. Of the total population of Malaysia, Bumiputras (Malays and other indigenous groups) comprise 65.1%, Chinese 26.0% and Indians 7.7% (Census Malaysia, 2002). While the Malays who form the majority of the population are indigenous, the non-Malays (i.e., the Chinese and the Indians) are considered immigrant communities since many of their ancestors were encouraged by the British colonial regime to move to Malaysia. Within each of the three main ethnic groups, a variety of languages and dialects are used. Furthermore, it is not unusual for speakers of a specific ethnic community to know and use another language better than they do their mother tongue (see David et al. 2003 on the Punjabi Sikh community). In fact, according to Omar (2003: 100), English is the first language learned by 1% of the Malaysian population.
In a country where so many languages and dialects abound, one of the issues that often arises is the choice of language not only in the public domain but also in the home domain. Should one use the national language (known over different time periods as Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Melayu), an international language (English) or one's ethnic language in the family domain – or for that matter a mixed discourse (see David et al. 2009) consisting of more than one language?
Decisions about language choice in the home are complex. Burhanuddin (2006) discusses the language choice of urban bilingual Malays in Kuala Lumpur and states that the use of the ethnic language is most dominant in conversations with grandparents, while English by itself or mixed with Malay is preferred most with siblings. Such a choice with grandparents indicates politeness and respect, she posits. The other two major ethnic groups, the Chinese and the Indians in urban Kuala Lumpur, face similar issues of language choice depending on the circumstances.
David (1996) describes language choice and use in a minority community: the Sindhi-Hindus who number about 700 in West Malaysia.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- National Language Planning and Language Shifts in Malaysian Minority CommunitiesSpeaking in Many Tongues, pp. 59 - 70Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2011