Sri Lanka Malay
[aka Sri Lankan Creole Malay, Melayu Bahasa, Java Jati]Classification: Pidgin or Creole
·endangered
Classification: Pidgin or Creole
·endangered
Restructured vernacular of Malay base spoken by at least five different communities in Sri Lanka; influenced by Tamil and Sinhala.
Sri Lankan Creole Malay, Melayu Bahasa, Java Jati, Sri Lankan Malay, Melayu, Sri Lanka pe Melayu, Java, Ja basawa, Java mozhi |
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Pidgin or Creole, Malay based |
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Latin |
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ISO 639-3 |
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sci |
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As csv |
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Information from: “Keeping Kirinda vital: The endangerment-empowerment dilemma in the documentation of Sri Lanka Malay” (51-66) . Lim, Lisa and Ansaldo, Umberto (2006)
Five communities (Colombo, Slave Island, Kandy & other Upcountry, Hambantota, and Kirinda) have been examined, and the results indicate that Sri Lanka Malay is no longer acquired by younger generation whereas in other communities (exclusive of Kirinda) Sri Lanka Malay is mainly used by old-middle generations. By contrast, Sri Lanka Malay is used in all domains in Kirinda.
Sinhala; Tamil; English; Standard Malay
In Colombo, Sinhala and English are predominantly used and younger generations can't speak Sri Lanka Malay. As for Sri Lanka Malay spoken on Slave Island, it has been strongly influenced by Tamil. In Hambantota and Kirinda, speakers of Sri Lanka Malay are often trilingual in Sinhala and Tamil. By contrast, Sri Lanka Malay is the dominant language spoken by all generations in Kirinda. However, language shift to Standard Malay has been observed in Sri Lanka Malay speaking communities.
Colombo, Slave Island, Kandy & other Upcountry, Hambantota, and Kirinda
Information from: “Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition (2009)” . M. Paul Lewis · SIL International
Clear shift to English among young generation in Colombo. Kirinda is the only vital community of Sri Lanka Malays having a young generation of speakers as L1. Home domain use only.
Cities of Colombo, Kandy, Badulla, Hambantota, Kirinda.
Information from: “"Sri Lanka Malay" DoBES project” . Umberto Ansaldo (2006)
Malays in Sri Lanka constitute 0.3% of the population.
In the Colombo Malay community, "[i]n general, the community typically shows strong linguistic vitality in SLM in the middle to old generations and rapidly decreasing (in many cases, to nil) linguistic competence in the vernacular in the young generation."
Sinhala
Tamil
English
Sri Lanka Malay spoken as a home language. Sinhala, Tamil are national languages.
Information from: “Sri Lankan Malay” (77-85 ch. 9) . Slomanson, Peter (2013) , Michaelis, Susanne Maria, Philippe Maurer, Martin Haspelmath, and Magnus Huber · Oxford University Press
40,000
"There are no statistics on the number of speakers living outside Sri Lanka, and the statistics that are available fro Sri Lanka are ethnic statistics rather than linguistic ones."
"While SLM is ordinarily an unwritten vernacular, an increasing number of younger Kirinda Malays with access to text-messaging and electronic networking do not hesitate to write the language in Latin script, using improvised orthography that sometimes reflects the influence of Tamil ..."
"The largest number of speakers is found in the greater Colombo area ..."
"It is also spoken overseas by individuals, in families, and within ethnic social networks in émigré communities, primarily in the English-speaking world (Australia, Canada, Britain, and the United States), as well as in the Gulf States, where Sri Lankans have pursued employment opportunities."
Information from: “Glottolog” .