Why Do We Study Malaysian English Not Other Varieties of English?
Malaysian English has an identity of its own and the many deviations in these lexical aspects make it a distinct variety of English. (Jantmary & Melor 2013) According to Wong (1981, p. 107), non-native speaker of English should never be made to feel ashamed of their own variety. Charateristics of Manglish based on Platt et. al 1984 in Rosli and Hie 1994 are; Malaysian English has developed through English medium education system before and after independence. It has developed in a non-native speaker area where the population of the people speak their mother tongue like bazar Malay as lingua franca of Malaysians. It is used for a wide range of function such as communication with friends, families, and in education and transaction system. It has been localised in terms of phonology, syntax, morphology because the influence of local languages such as Malay, Chinese and Indian.
Criteria of Malaysian English as a New English based on Foleys (1988) in Normazla (2007) Besides bahasa Malaysia, Tamil and Chinese, English is one of the linguistic repertoire in Malaysia. English has acquired an important status in the multingual community of Malaysia. Though not as widely used as in the 1970's, English still retains a place of importance in international relations, tertiary education, law and as a second language in schools.
Malaysian English Type I and II (Platt and Weber 1980) Type I Spoken by English medium educated Malaysian. Internationally illegible Phonology resembles to EsgE (educated Singapore English) Unaware of fine shade of meaning which is conveyed through intonation (Tay 1982) Adherence to the British English The usage of Manglish type I is on decline from 1962-1967 (Enrolment in Enlish medium school decreased) Type II Spoken by Malay medium educated Malaysian. The emergence is due to the introduction of Malay as a medium of instruction in school. In 1971 Malay medium secondary school enrolment was on the rise. Obvious interference of Bahasa Malaysia The influence of Malay pronunciation (English originated word which is borrowed into BM) Code switching The word order is influenced by Malay language (not enough tall for not tall enough) According to Baskaran (1987) quoted by Pramita(2010) There are three types of Malaysian English;
a) Acrolect acrolect is near native and spoken by those who look upon English as their primary language. Mostly, those who are educated in core English speaking countries from early schooling up to university are likely to speak at the acrolect level that is impeccably close to Queen's English.
b) Mesolect The mesolect is the variety used for social communication or daily interaction and basically that is what Malaysian English is. Most academics, professionals and other English-educated Malaysians speak English at the mesolect evel. c) Basilect Basilect, it is spoken by those who are not fluent in the language, who are not grounded in the grammar, and is heavily dependent on the sentence structure of a local dialect, chiefly Malay or Hokkien. Comparison of Malaysian English based on Acrolect, Mesolect and Basilect Scholars Insight on Malaysian English (Normazla 2007)
Speaker of Malaysia English are being associated with protolanguage extinct/unrecorded (Halliday, 1979)
Since Malaysian English and the protolanguage share the same structure of having a phonology and a semantic element but lacking in grammatical or lexical element, the survival of protolanguage among growing children is gradually being abandoned.
Malaysian English has a sentimental touch to the Malaysians, it belongs uniquely to them. (Wong & Thambyrajah, 1991). With the publication of the dictionary of Malaysian and Singapore English by (Times- Chambers Essential English Dictionary, 1997), A country such as Malaysia, however, still relies on the use of English as a second language. Undeniably, Malaysia still adopts Standard British English as the pedagogical model (Gill; 19: 1994). The status of English in particular country varies, whether it is the second language (as in Malaysia) or the official language in Singapore. As the Malays, Chinese, Indians have their own mother tongue language, the need for acquiring English vary from the second language for the Malays and the third language for the Chinese and Indians as Bahasa Malaysia is the official language. Hence, Malaysian English arises to be the lingua- franca (used in an informal setting) to this multiracial society. (Normazla, 2007) Since language has many variations, Malaysian English (ME) emerges as yet another variation from parent norms through the process of hybridization (Whinnom 1971),indigenization (Moag & Moag 1979) and nativization (Kachru 1983) A pluricentric language, English is a language with several interacting centers that each provides a national variety with at least some of its own codified norms (Clyne, 1992). All these varieties have essentially contributed to the emergence of localized forms of English (Stevens 1983). *References FOl.EY,j. (ed.) (1988). NewEnglishes: TheCaseofSingapOTe. 234p. Singapore: Singapore University Press. GIl.l., S. K. (1993). Standards and pedagogical norms for teaching English in Malaysia. World Englishes 12(2) :223-238. PLATT,J. T. (1980). Varieties and Functions of English in Singapore and Malaysia. English World-Wide 1(1): 97-121. PLATT, J. and WEBER, H. (1980). English in Singapore and Malaysia: Status, Features, Functions. 292p. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press. PLATT, J., WEBER, H. and Ho, M. L. (1984). The New Englishes. 225p. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
*Rosli Talif & Hie T.S (1994). Malaysian English: Exploring the Possibility of Standardization. Universiti Pertanian Malaysia *Thirusanku J & Melor Md Yunus. (2013). Malaysian English A Distinct Variety. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia *Wong, I. (1981). English in Malaysia. In L.E. Smith (Ed.), English for Cross-cultural Communication. London: Macmillan. *Normazla Ahmad Mahir.(2007). The Use of Malay Malaysian English in Malaysian English: Key Considerations.Universiti Utara Malaysia *TAY, M. W. J. (1982). The Phonology of Educated Singapore *English. English WoTld-Wide 3(2): 135145.
*Baskaran, L. (1987). Aspect of Malaysian English syntax. Unpublished Ph.D Thesis. Department of Linguistics, University of Long. *Halliday, M.A.K. (1979). One Childs Protolanguage in Before Speech: The Beginning of Interpersonal Communication. M. Bullowa (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *Wong, I.F.H. and H. Thambyrajah. (1991). The Malaysian Sociolinguistic Situation: An Overview in Child Language Development in Singapore and Malaysia. A. Kwan-Terry. (ed.). Singapore: Singapore University Press. *Gill, Saran Kaur. (1994). Bangi: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. *Kachru, Braj. (1983). The Indianization of English: The English Language in India. New *Delhi: Oxford University Press. *Stevens, P. (1983). The Localized Forms of English in The Other Tongue: English *Across Culture. B. Kachru. (ed.). Oxford: Pergammon Press. pp. 23-30. *Clyne, M. G. (1992). Pluricentric Languages: Differing norms in Different Nations. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. *Whinnom, K. (1971). Linguistic Hybridization and The special case of Pidgins and Creoles in Pidginization and Creolization of Languages. D. Hymes (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp 91-115. *Moag, R.F. & L.B. Moag. (1979). English as a Foreign, Second, Native, and Basal Language: A New Taxonomy of English Using Societies in New Englishes. J.B. Pride (ed.). Rowley, MA: Newbury House. pp. 11-50.