Malay Chetty creole language
Malay Chetty creole | |
---|---|
Malaccan Creole Malay Malacca Malay Creole Chitties/Chetties Creole | |
Native to | Malaysia |
Region | Malacca |
Ethnicity | |
Native speakers | 300 (no date) |
Malay-based creole
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | ccm |
Glottolog | mala1482 |
The Malay Chetty creole language (also known as Malaccan Creole Malay, Malacca Malay Creole[1] and Chitties/Chetties Malay) is a Malay-based creole spoken by the Chetties, a distinctive group of Tamil people found mainly in Malacca in Malaysia and Singapore, who are also known as the "Indian Peranakans" and have adopted Chinese and Malay cultural practices whilst also retaining their Hindu heritage.[2]
Spoken since the 16th century by descendants of Tamil merchants of the Malacca Straits, Malay Chetty creole may be historically related to Sri Lanka Creole Malay. The current language status is moribund, due to inter-marriage and out-migration. There has been a language shift towards Malay instead.[1]
Malay Chetty creole is a mix of Malay, Tamil and English, although the latter's presence in the creole is not as prominent compared to the first two languages. Because of the strong influence of Malay on this creole, Malay Chetty creole is not very different from other Malay dialects, especially the Middle Malacca Malay dialect. That said, despite the many similarities to other Malay dialects, Malay Chetty creole is considered a creole for two reasons, one, a pidgin becomes a creole once it's become the mother tongue of a community and two, unlike a pidgin, a creole develops as a language in terms of vocabulary, structure, style and others to accommodate its function as a mother tongue.[3]
As Malay Chetty creole is very similar to other Malay dialects in terms of structure, it is generally not very different from other Malay dialects. Nonetheless, it does have its own unique features.[4]
Malay Chetty creole shares many features with Baba Nyonya Malay, suggesting that they may have come from the same source language with the source language being Bazaar Malay.[5]
Phonology[]
Comparison with Standard Malay[6][]
Deletion of the Phonemes r and h[]
- Final /r/ is omitted
- benar /bənar/ > [bəna] 'true'
- /h/ is omitted in initial, final and mid positions except in a few words
- hijau /hid͡ʒau/ > [id͡ʒo] 'green'
- tahu /tahu/ > [tau] 'know'
- darah /darah/ > [dara] 'blood'
Monophthongisation[]
- Final /ai/ is reduced to half-closed front [e]
- pakai /pakai/ > [pake] 'wear'
- FInal /au/ is reduced to half-closed back [o]
- pulau /pulau/ > [pulo] 'island'
Phoneme Deletion in Consonant Clusters in Transyllabic Words[]
- Mid consonant cluster /mb/ is reduced to [m]
- sembilan /səmbilan/ > [səmilan] 'nine'
Phoneme Insertion[]
- Glottal [ʔ] is inserted at word final position in words that end with /a/, /i/ and /u/
- bawa /bawa/ > [bawaʔ] 'bring'
- cari /t͡ʃari/ > [t͡ʃariʔ] 'search'
- garu /garu/ > [garoʔ] 'scratch'
Vocabulary[]
Standard Malay | Malay Chetty creole | English Translation |
---|---|---|
halwa | alua | 'sweets' |
anak angkat | anak piara | 'adopted child' |
mak ciik/adik emak | bibik | 'auntie'/'female sibling of mother' |
berkata | bilang | 'say' |
cahaya | caya | 'light' |
tanah/tanah pamah | darat | 'land'/'lowland' |
dakwat | dawat | 'ink' |
dosa | deraka | 'sin' |
gagap | gagok | 'stutter' |
kamu | lu | 'you' |
kamu semua | lu orang | 'you' (plural) |
pak cik | mama | 'uncle' |
mak cik | mami | 'auntie' |
cawan | mangkok | 'cup' |
bidan | dukon | 'midwife' |
nafas | napas | 'breathe' |
hari ini | nyari | 'today' |
pergi | pi | 'go' |
References[]
- ^ a b "Malaccan Malay Creole". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
- ^ Paulo, Derrick A (21 October 2018). "Meet the Chetti Melaka, or Peranakan Indians, striving to save their vanishing culture". CNA. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Mohamed, Noriah (June 2009). "The Malay Chetty Creole Language of Malacca: A Historical and Linguistic Perspective". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 82(1 (296)) (1 (296)): 58–59. JSTOR 41493734. Retrieved 23 May 2021 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Mohamed, Noriah (June 2009). "The Malay Chetty Creole Language of Malacca: A Historical and Linguistic Perspective". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 82(1 (296)) (1 (296)): 59. JSTOR 41493734. Retrieved 23 May 2021 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Mohamed, Noriah (June 2009). "The Malay Chetty Creole Language of Malacca: A Historical and Linguistic Perspective". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 82(1 (296)) (1 (296)): 68. JSTOR 41493734. Retrieved 23 May 2021 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Mohamed, Noriah (June 2009). "The Malay Chetty Creole Language of Malacca: A Historical and Linguistic Perspective". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 82(1 (296)) (1 (296)): 60–65. JSTOR 41493734. Retrieved 23 May 2021 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Mohamed, Noriah (June 2009). "The Malay Chetty Creole Language of Malacca: A Historical and Linguistic Perspective". Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 82(1 (296)) (1 (296)): 67–68. JSTOR 41493734. Retrieved 23 May 2021 – via JSTOR.
- Malay-based pidgins and creoles
- Languages of Malaysia
- Pidgins and creoles