Malay Chetty creole language

Last updated
Malay Chetty creole
Malaccan Creole Malay
Malacca Malay Creole
Chitties/Chetties Creole
Native to Malaysia
Region Malacca
Ethnicity Chitty people
Native speakers
300 [1]
Malay-based creole
  • Malay Chetty creole
Language codes
ISO 639-3 ccm
Glottolog mala1482
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

The Malay Chetty creole language (also known as Malaccan Creole Malay, Malacca Malay Creole [2] and Chitties/Chetties Malay) is a Malay-based creole spoken by the Chetties (also known as Indian Peranakans), a distinctive group of Tamil people found mainly in Malacca in Malaysia and Singapore, who have adopted Chinese and Malay cultural practices whilst also retaining their Hindu heritage. [3]

Contents

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. [2]

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, Malay Chetty creole is not very different from other Malay dialects, especially the Middle Malacca Malay dialect. Nonetheless, it does have its own unique features. [4]

Malay Chetty creole shares many features with Baba Malay, suggesting that they may have come from the same source language that is 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] 'to know'
    • darah/darah/[dara] 'blood'

Monophthongisation

  • Final /ai/ is reduced to half-closed front [e]
    • pakai/pakai/[pake] 'to wear'
  • Final /au/ is reduced to half-closed back [o]
    • pulau/pulau/[pulo] 'island'

Phoneme Deletion in Consonant Clusters in Trisyllabic 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,u/
    • bawa/bawa/[bawaʔ] 'to bring'
    • cari/t͡ʃari/[t͡ʃariʔ] 'to search'
    • garu/garu/[garoʔ] 'to scratch'

Vocabulary

Vocabulary Comparison [7]
Standard MalayMalay Chetty creoleEnglish Translation
halwaalua'sweets'
anak angkatanak piara'adopted child'
mak cik/adik emakbibik'auntie'/'female sibling of mother'
berkatabilang'say'
cahayacaya'light'
tanah/tanah pamahdarat'land'/'lowland'
dakwatdawat'ink'
dosaderaka'sin'
gagapgagok'stutter'
kau/kamu/andalu'you'
kamu semualu orang'you' (plural)
pak cikmama'uncle'
mak cikmami'auntie'
cawanmangkok'cup'
bidandukon'midwife'
nafasnapas'breathe'
hari ininyari'today'
pergipi'go'

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References

Citations

  1. Malay Chetty creole language at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. 1 2 "Malaccan Malay Creole". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2021-04-29.
  3. Paulo 2018.
  4. Mohamed 2009, pp. 58–59.
  5. Mohamed 2009, p. 68.
  6. Mohamed 2009, pp. 60–65.
  7. Mohamed 2009, pp. 67–68.

Bibliography