Language vitality of Malaysian languages and its relation to identity

Bahasa Malaysia is the national language in Malaysia, which acts as a national symbol that raise a sense of national unity, and maintains a sense of cultural value and identity. As the country is multicultural and multilingual, the use of Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mandarin, and Tamil invite question...

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Main Authors:	How, Soo Ying, Chan, Swee Heng, Ain Nadzimah Abdullah
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Penerbit UKM 2015
Online Access:	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8873/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8873/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8873/1/8025-25671-1-PB.pdf

id	ukm-8873
recordtype	eprints
spelling	ukm-88732016-12-14T06:48:17Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8873/ Language vitality of Malaysian languages and its relation to identity How, Soo Ying Chan, Swee Heng Ain Nadzimah Abdullah, Bahasa Malaysia is the national language in Malaysia, which acts as a national symbol that raise a sense of national unity, and maintains a sense of cultural value and identity. As the country is multicultural and multilingual, the use of Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mandarin, and Tamil invite questions of comparative vitality, which is a strength evaluation of language relative to other languages that coexist in the linguistic sphere.The present study, via the indicators such as language use, dominance and preference, language attitude and motivation, and language proficiency, aims to examine the vitality of these languages and to obtain comparative information about their connections to national and ethnic identity. Vitality Questionnaire was distributed to Malaysian primary five students fromvernacular Tamil and Chinese schools. Findings indicate that Bahasa Malaysiaand English do not have high vitality . Yet, vernacular languages are rated as having high vitality. It is suggested that ethnic languages dominantly shape ethnic identity and that they play animportant role in the students‟ lives at early age as compared to Bahasa Malaysia which has not gained a stronghold. Thus, the sense of national identity appears to have taken a back seat. National aspiration in this aspect of nation building is still far from being realized if it is to be nurtured and expected to be developed at this stage of growth. Within a multilingual milieu, establishing national identity appears a complex issue and language choice and use may have long term effects on the moulding of a Malaysian national identity. Penerbit UKM 2015-06 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8873/1/8025-25671-1-PB.pdf How, Soo Ying and Chan, Swee Heng and Ain Nadzimah Abdullah, (2015) Language vitality of Malaysian languages and its relation to identity. GEMA: Online Journal of Language Studies, 15 (2). pp. 119-136. ISSN 1675-8021 http://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/archive
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building	UKM Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
description	Bahasa Malaysia is the national language in Malaysia, which acts as a national symbol that raise a sense of national unity, and maintains a sense of cultural value and identity. As the country is multicultural and multilingual, the use of Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mandarin, and Tamil invite questions of comparative vitality, which is a strength evaluation of language relative to other languages that coexist in the linguistic sphere.The present study, via the indicators such as language use, dominance and preference, language attitude and motivation, and language proficiency, aims to examine the vitality of these languages and to obtain comparative information about their connections to national and ethnic identity. Vitality Questionnaire was distributed to Malaysian primary five students fromvernacular Tamil and Chinese schools. Findings indicate that Bahasa Malaysiaand English do not have high vitality . Yet, vernacular languages are rated as having high vitality. It is suggested that ethnic languages dominantly shape ethnic identity and that they play animportant role in the students‟ lives at early age as compared to Bahasa Malaysia which has not gained a stronghold. Thus, the sense of national identity appears to have taken a back seat. National aspiration in this aspect of nation building is still far from being realized if it is to be nurtured and expected to be developed at this stage of growth. Within a multilingual milieu, establishing national identity appears a complex issue and language choice and use may have long term effects on the moulding of a Malaysian national identity.
format	Article
author	How, Soo Ying Chan, Swee Heng Ain Nadzimah Abdullah,
spellingShingle	How, Soo Ying Chan, Swee Heng Ain Nadzimah Abdullah, Language vitality of Malaysian languages and its relation to identity
author_facet	How, Soo Ying Chan, Swee Heng Ain Nadzimah Abdullah,
author_sort	How, Soo Ying
title	Language vitality of Malaysian languages and its relation to identity
title_short	Language vitality of Malaysian languages and its relation to identity
title_full	Language vitality of Malaysian languages and its relation to identity
title_fullStr	Language vitality of Malaysian languages and its relation to identity
title_full_unstemmed	Language vitality of Malaysian languages and its relation to identity
title_sort	language vitality of malaysian languages and its relation to identity
publisher	Penerbit UKM
publishDate	2015
url	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8873/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8873/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8873/1/8025-25671-1-PB.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T19:53:21Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T19:53:21Z
_version_	1777406366164451328

Language vitality of Malaysian languages and its relation to identity

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