HISTORY OF ENGLISH MANGLISH A POST-COLONIAL ENGLISH Professora Heliana Mello Aluna: Andressa Rodrigues Gomide 2010033730

1. INTRODUCTION Throughout Malaysias History, the country has been influenced of different cultures, peoples and especially, different languages. Although it is still possible to see the impact of this influence, English remains as the most important language in terms of diplomacy, technology and business. It is also present in the daily lives, in which there was not a complete switch to English, but an assimilation of languages. This paper aims at presenting a brief overview of how the Malaysian community uses the English language both in formal and informal situations as a consequence of being a multicultural society. 2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Malay, or Bahasa Malaysia as it is known in Malaysia, is spoken by about 40 million people and it is also the National language in Singapore and Brunei where it is called Bahasa Melayu - and in Indonesia, where it is called Bahasa Indonesia. The oldest inscription of the language dates from the late 7th century and it had a great influence of Sanskrit, the Lingua Franca of Hinduism and Buddhism. It remained influent up to the 14th century, when the Islam began to heavily impact on the Malaysian society. At this time, Malay was used as a trade language and incorporated a mixture of Hindi, Arabic, Sanskrit and Tamil vocabulary. The European influence came only later on the 16th century with the Portuguese and the Dutch colonizers, bringing words such as limau (lemon), meja (table) and rokok (cigarette). Since the English Empire came to Malaysia only on the 17th century, its major influence was on more recent vocabulary, especially those related to technology, like komputer. Although the English impact on the lexicon was not as high as the previous languages, it is constantly used in the country and works as a bridge to the three main different cultures that coexist: the Malay, the Chinese and the Indian. It is also possible to notice the population uses on their daily lives some words that are consider old-fashioned or very formal by the British. To verify this, research on online corpora was carried according to the following procedures. Firstly, the word afterwards was searched on the WebCorp Live (http://www.webcorp.org.uk/) within the Malaysian domain. Only entries in which spoken characteristics prevail were considered. Later, the same word was used on the British National Corpus (http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/), a corpus composed of 100 words and collected between 1980 and 1993, which proved that afterwards is more common in Written than Spoken language (Figure 2). Finally, using Samuel Johnsons dictionary (1755)

(http://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/), which contains terms that were used when the British Empire was in Malaysia, the same procedure was made. It revealed to be often used, as the example bellow demonstrates: (1) Should the want of a cap or a cringe so mortally discompose him, as we find afterwards it did. L'Estrange.
1: Reviews in 76 cities 39 helpful votes Dont say afterwards I didn't tell u Reviewed 6 March 2012 best 2: in 2 cities 2 helpful votes walking on air afterwards Reviewed 16 February 2012 these guys are 3: Reviewed 5 August 2011 Hotel stay was nice...but afterwards was horrible! The hotel inadvertently took out 4: cities 2 helpful votes We had a party there and afterwards we spent the night Reviewed 21 July 2011 5: Reviewer 3 reviews 2 helpful votes Fell Ill afterwards but okay food Reviewed 23 January 2012 2 people Figure 1: Results from WebCorp. They were all found in http://www.tripadvisor.com.my

Figure 2

3. GRAMMAR ASPECTS A great part of Malaysian society knows how to use the so-called Standard English, however, Manglish, or non-standard English, is the most common choice of speakers. Although English is present in songs, TV, newspaper and school, not everybody has complete knowledge of the language and then, they resort on their national language, Malay, to express themselves in English. This can be observed by analysing the many Malay characteristics present in Manglish. Grammatical gender does not occur in Malay, and so it happens in Manglish. Since there is no difference for she or he, or her or his, you may listen to Malaysian people saying he when they are actually referring to she. Malay also does not make use of verb inflection for person and number, and they are not marked for tense as well. To express tense, adverbs such as tomorrow or other indicators, such as belum (not yet), sudah (already) and akan (will) are used as in the examples from WebCorp:
1: I already eat halve before I took this picture

2: The waitress look at my plate and said:" you already eat, cannot change anymore. " Please dont even try 3: order and that the two tables that came after us already eat. She said that our order is begining to be 4: sorry we already booked our attraction trips, we already eat, i bought one just like it yesterday with a

1: try to find out more the next day. Since we have not yet eat, we went to the portuguese resturant on the 2: ....supper..... now lar... y wait until supper? i not yet eat dinner... picking wifey fr bigbadwolf books 3: Reply: akibat makan sushi =.=" dun scare crocroach,lizard ,bat still u like that oredi? la, u not yet eat

4: gathering I want go buy Mcd awhile.. Today I not yet eat lo.. I'll be right back.XD #920 Big Medium Small

1: Go Eat Out Official Blog Let's go eat out! We're so passionate about bringing all the 2: vote Love the pizza! It's the first place I go eat when I come back to CA for a visit! 3: got like that one? I also hungry what. Jom! We go eat some more. And if you think youre a pro at

The way questions are done in Malay is also reflected in Manglish. There is no inversion and the chunk or not at the end of the sentence is used instead. Most of the time this construction uses the modal can, even when it is not referred in the main part of the sentence, as it can be observed in the entries from WebCorp bellow:
1: for this item?maybe can reach here very fast..can or not? 2: yet, I am still alive and kicking, be patient, can or not? Azizan has a sharp tongue and can be snappish 3: i buy shou wu wan? if order it with e-store can or not? Chinese physician asnwer: Dear Chole Tam, 4: this sotfware????how can i get this software..it can or not???even have online or audio streamming..but i

The plural in Malay is made by repeating a word. Then the plural of cikgu (teacher) is cikgu-cikgu'. Since it is easier to add a letter 's' to the word, this feature is not preserved in Manglish for plural. However, it is used as an intensifier, as in the examples from Webcorp below:

1: WorldTraveller London 1 review 9 helpful votes A big big lie! Avoid it if you look for a decent place to 2: diving) or go for golf or just enjoy the area. Big, big thank you for the very nice time. Tobi Stayed 3: Israel 1 review 7 helpful votes Do your self a big big favor and dont fo there Reviewed 6 September

4. PHONOLOGY As for the pronunciation and intonation, Manglish differs from Standard English and sometimes may affect communication, especially among American Speakers. For instance, the fricatives [] and [] are pronounced as [t] and [d] respectively and the diphthongs [] and [o] become [o] and the diphthong [e] becomes [e]. Hence, the word those [z] in Manglish is pronounced as [doz]. The [t] can also be pronounced as a glottal stop in words like cat, and likewise in British English, is also used in words like better instead of the American flapped form. It. Also differently from the American English, the h-dropping and the consonant-cluster reductions do not occur in Manglish. So words like herbal are pronounced as [hbl] and not as [bl] and new is [nju] and not [nu]. Manglish is closer to British pronunciation than to the American one. This can be explained by the different times of colonization. As Laurier Bauer (2002) points, there is a potential factor in distinguishing colonial varieties from their home counterparts in all levels of language: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and lexis also known as Colonial lag. When Malaysia was colonized, the British English had already evolved from what it had been during American colonization. So while American English pronounce part as [ptr], Manglish [pt], which is an evidence that Malaysian colonization happened after the Received Pronunciation was established. 5. LEXICON As for the vocabulary, Manglish has plenty of words and expressions from Malay, Chinese, Tamil and other languages and even a compound with words from different roots. The language in Malaysia has not only been influenced by English, but has also lend some words to English. The English language was set in Malaysia by the British colonizers; therefore its lexicon is much closer to British English than American English. However, in the past few years, due to the influence from the mass media, it has incorporated words from American English. Many words then are accepted in both forms as lift and elevator, lorry and truck, chips and crisps, fries and chips, diaper and nappy.

Some words from Manglish come from English but present a different meaning like to cut, (1) not stay on the right lane for so long, after cut the car I will
back to middle lane back.

meaning after overtaking the car; tuition teacher, as in (2) Contract Search Ads Home Part Time Part time tuition teacher
Needed!

and steamboat, which is a meal where pieces of uncooked food are put into a pot of boiling water (3) our stay in this hotel especially the fabulous steamboat dinner
that came with the hotel package.

By analysing these English words with different meanings, we can also infer that some of them are still a vestige of the old usage, like the word photostat that is used in Manglish as photocopy. Besides being a trademark, photostat was an early projection photocopier created in the 1900s. Other words like ice kachang show a mixture between English (ice) and malay (kachang). (4) on Facebook muz tries are the duck rice and the ice kachang here
..very nice

We can also find many non-English words in Manglish, like songkok (a Malay hat), malu (shy) and lepak (go out with friends), and many other words, especially those related to food and beverage. A last group of vocabulary to be observed is the ones that have already been incorporated to Core English, like typhoon, sari, agar, orang-utan and cheongsam. It is also important to notice the different expressions from Manglish like lah (emphasis marker or solidarity), leh (wonder marker), (questioning marker), hah (asking for confirmation) and ah (asking for attention) that are present even in forma occasions. 6. FINAL REMARKS Manglish is spread in Malaysia and Singapore, where is know as Singlish, and is considered by many as a creole language and also as bad english. Although Manglish is not encouraged at schools, you can hear students using it and sometimes even by teachers. It is interesting to notice that even though Manglish

may vary according to the regions and races, there is no intolerance to linguistic differences and everybody can understand each other. REFERENCES Bauer, Laurie (2002), An Introduction to international varieties of English: Edinburgh University Press Omar, Asmah (2004), The Encyclopedia of Malaysia: Languages & Literature: Editions Didier Millet Rissanen et al (1992), History of Englishes: New Methods and Interpretations in Historical Linguistics: Mouton de Gruyter Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language (1755) http://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/ (accessed 7 June 2012)

APPENDIX
Word Abjad Agama Ahad Ahli Aksara Almari Anggur Angkasa Anugerah apam Askar Asmara Bahasa Bahaya Baki Bakti Baldi Bandar Bangku Bendera Biara Bihun Biola Biskut Bola Bomba Boneka Buat Budi Buku Bumi Cadar English translation alphabet/alefbet religion Sunday community alphabetic letter, key cupboard grape outer space, sky (literary) award, blessing kind of cake or Hoppers soldier love, passion language danger remainder, leftover From Language Arabic Sanskrit Arabic Arabic Sanskrit Portuguese Persian Sanskrit Sanskrit Tamil Arabic Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Arabic Word abjad agama/dharma al-Ahad ahlil akara armrio / angur ka "sky" anugraha "favour" #$ apam / ash'kar smara bh bhaya "risk, peril" baqiyah bhakti balde /bandr banco bandeira bihara mi-hun viola bola bomba, "pump", or bombeiro, "fireman", lit. "pumper" Boneca wuat boddhi, related to buddhism boek bhmi "land" chdar " cloak" chwn () 'tea

homage, devotion, service etc. Sanskrit bucket port/town stool/chairs flag monastery rice vermicelli violin biscuit ball fire brigade doll do reason, virtue book earth bed linen Portuguese Persian Portuguese Portuguese Sanskrit Hokkien Portuguese English Portuguese Portuguese Portuguese Sanskrit Sanskrit Dutch Sanskrit Persian

Cawan cendana Cukup Dacing Dakwah Dekan Delima Denda Desa Dewan Dewi

cup sandalwood enough scales sermon dean pomegranate, ruby fine, punishment Countryside hall Goddess

Mandarin Sanskrit Mandarin Mandarin Arabic Portuguese Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Persian Sanskrit

bowl candana chu gou ti chng da'wah decano dlima "pomegranate" danda dea "country" /diwan "administration" devi

Dirgahayu Duka Dunia Durjana Erti (Indonesian variant "arti") Falsafah Fitnah Gajah Gandum Garaj Garpu Gereja Gratis (mainly in Indonesian usage) gulai Guru Had Halal Haram Hasta Hina Hisab Huruf Ilmu Istana

"long live" (Dirgahayu Tuanku! - Long Sanskrit live the King!) sadness world evil, wicked, malicious Sanskrit Arabic Sanskrit Sanskrit Arabic (derived from Greek) Arabic Sanskrit Persian English Portuguese Portuguese Portuguese (From Latin) Tamil Sanskrit Arabic Arabic Arabic Sanskrit Sanskrit Arabic Arabic Arabic Sanskrit

dirghayu duhkha duny durjana arta falsafah fitnah "upheaval, scandal" gaja /Gandm garfo igreja

meaning philosophy slander elephant wheat garrage fork church for free kind of curry teacher limit permitted forbidden hasta (unit) lowly, inferior counting/arithmetic word character/letter knowledge/science palace

gulambu guru hadd

hsta hnna / hisb Hurf alm/ilmi sthna assembly/audience hall

Jawab Jelata Jendela Kamus kapal Kaunter kedai Keju Kelas Kemeja Kepala Kerana (Karena in Indonesian) Kereta Khamis Kismis Kolam Koma-koma

to answer the masses window dictionary boat "counter" or "desk" foodstall cheese class shirt head because carriage, car Thursday raisin Pool of water saffron

Arabic Sanskrit Portuguese Arabic Tamil English Tamil Portuguese English Portuguese Sanskrit Sanskrit Portuguese Arabic Persian Tamil Sanskrit

jawb janat "community" janela qms kappal kadai queijo class camisa kapla "skull"

karaena carreta al-khamis /kishmish kulam

Kompromi Komputer Kongsi Korban Kota Kucai Kuda Kuih Kurma Limau Lobak Longkang Maaf Maha Makmal Mangga Mani Manusia Masjid Mee/mi Meja Melati

Compromise computer share sacrifice fort chives horse cake date lemon/orange carrot drain sorry great laboratory mango Sperm, semen human being mosque noodles table jasmine (jasminum grandiflorum)

kukuma The pronunciation (lack of the "s" phoneme) suggests that this was borrowed compromis from French (perhaps via Dutch) English Hokkien Arabic Tamil Hokkien Sanskrit Hokkien Persian Portuguese Cantonese Hokkien Arabic Sanskrit Arabic Tamil Sanskrit Sanskrit Arabic Hokkien Portuguese Sanskrit mangai mai "bead, jewel, gem" manuy masjd mi mesa mlat kong-si Qur-ban Kottai gu-chai kudda goe /Khurma limo "lemon" lubba longkang Maff maha

Mentega Merana Merdeka Merdu Mesej Minggu Miskin Muflis Mula Munafik Muzium Nadi Najis Nama Negara Neraka Nila Nilam

butter suffering, wasting away rich, prosperous and powerful melodious, tuneful message week poor bankrupt to start, to begin hypocrite museum pulse, lifeline excrement name country hell indigo dye sapphire

Portuguese Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit English Portuguese Arabic Arabic Sanskrit Arabic English (Derived from Greek, the "um" suffix is Latin) Sanskrit Arabic Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit

manteiga mraa "death" Maharddhika mdu "soft" message domingo (Domingo means Sunday, "Dom" meaning "Lord" in Latin) miskeen mufls mla origin munafq

n "artery" njis naam nagara "city" naraka nla "blue" nla "blue" compound nau-, nav(a)- "nine" + bah "combination" = "combination of nine (musical instruments)" al-njum

Nobat Nujum Nusantara Paderi Pahala Pahlawan

royal ensemble music astrologer archipelago (esp. the Malay Archipelago) priest (Christian) divine reward hero/warrior

Sanskrit Arabic Javanese Portuguese Sanskrit Persian

padre phala / bahlwn paca "five" + rga "melody/tune /musical note" bzr bao (another plausible source may be Portuguese po) pradhnamantrin

Pancaragam Pasar

musical band market, bazaar

Sanskrit Persian

Pau

steamed bun

Chinese

Perdana menteri Perkasa

prime minister mighty

Sanskrit Sanskrit praka "enlightened" base word "pustaka" is the

Perpustakaan Pertama

library first

Sanskrit Sanskrit

Sanskrit word for "book" prathama pthiv /pthv "Prithvi", mother goddess of the earth festa Paa ( piyla () fita upavasa pj punya merit, deserving pura city/walled enclosure purva/poorv meaning past root pra - cf. "sempurna" putra "royal son" rahasya "mysterious" rdja rkasa / demon rasa ratna renda risico roda roken "to smoke" verb, rondar or noun, ronda rutti rpa abda "word" sbuun sahaja "natural" )

Pertiwi Pesta Peta Piala Pita Puasa Puja Punya Pura Purba Purnama Putera Rahsia Raja Raksasa Rasa Ratna Renda Risiko Roda Rokok Ronda Roti Rupa Sabda(of Muslim prophets) Sabun Sahaja

native soil, motherland party map cup (in the sense of a trophy) tape fasting idolize, worship possessive verb Hindu temple, city ancient (of the moon) full prince secret king monster taste jewel, gemstone lace risk wheel cigarette verb, to patrol bread shape, form, appearance

Sanskrit Portuguese Telugu Persian Portuguese Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Portuguese Dutch Portuguese, from the Latin "Rota" Dutch Portuguese Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Arabic Sanskrit

quote, say soap casual, relaxed (eg duduk bersahaja "seated casually")

Sains Salji Sama Samseng Sejarah Sekolah Seks Selamat Sempurna sengsara Sepanduk Sepatu Serigala Seteru Singa Sistem Soldadu (obsolete) Suci Suka Sula Supir (dialectal/Indonesian) Suria Syariah Syor Syukur Syurga Takhta Tali Tangki Tarikh Taugeh Tauhu Teh O Teja (archaic) Teko Teksi Televisyen

science snow same gangster history school sex safe, well-being perfect, complete Suffering banner shoe wolf adversary, enemy lion system soldier clean, pure happiness to impale driver sun Islamic law recommendation thankful heaven throne string tank date beansprouts beancurd black tea magnificence, splendor, radiance teapot taxi television

English Arabic Sanskrit Hokkien Arabic Portuguese English, from Greek Arabic Sanskrit Sanskrit Dutch Portuguese Sanskrit Sanskrit Tamil English Portuguese Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit French Sanskrit Arabic Mandarin Arabic Sanskrit Persian Sanskrit Portuguese Arabic Hokkien Hokkien Hokkien Sanskrit Hokkien English English, from Greek tmra (Sanskrit) or tumbaga soldado uci / clean sukha la / stake, spear, pike salamat, used for greeting phrases as 'selamat pagi', etc sampra complete(d) - cf. "purnama" samsara spandoek sapato gla "jackal" atru singam thalji samma sa-seng syajarah/tawarih escola

chauffeur surya shri`ah shuo shukr swargam[1] takht talli tanque at-trih tao-geh tao-hu t-o tejas te-ko

Tembaga

copper

possibly Sanskrit or Spanish

(Spanish). The Spanish word rather refers to a copper-gold alloy. tempo time, from the Latin "Tempus" tuppi toalha trocar ushtra uttama "principal" (adj.) uttar(a) waqt vaa "lineage, race" - cf. "bangsa" vanithai(Vanita in Telugu, also thought of came from Spanish word Juanita means women) varna vrtt zarafh

Tempoh Topi Tuala Tukar Unta Utama Utara Waktu Wangsa Wanita Warna Warta Zirafah

period hat towel to exchange camel main north time dynasty women colour news giraffe

Portuguese Sanskrit Portuguese Portuguese Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit Arabic Sanskrit Tamil/Telugu Sanskrit Sanskrit Arabic