The Sarawakian Malay language also bears strong similarities with the West Kalimantan Malay language around Sanggau, Sintang and Sekadau in the northern part of the West Kalimantan province of Indonesia.
Dialects
According to Asmah Haji Omar (2015), Sarawak Malay can be divided into three dialects, the Kuching dialect spoken in Kuching and Kota Samarahan, the Saribas dialect spoken in Saribas, and the Sibu dialect spoken in Sibu. In Miri and Limbang, a variety of Malay closer to Brunei Malay is spoken.[2]
Phonology
Consonants
The consonantal inventory of Sarawak Malay consists of 19 phonemes as seen in the table below.[3]
Sarawak Malay /ɣ/ corresponds to /r/ in Standard Malay so goreng (fried) would be pronounced as /ɡoɣeŋ/, not /ɡoreŋ/ as in Standard Malay.[4][5]
Unlike in many Peninsular Malaysian dialects which contain the same sound, /ɣ/ is not silent in word-final position so the R in words like bakar (burn) and tohor is pronounced.[4]
Word-initial ⟨h⟩ in Standard Malay in words like halus (granular) and hampas (spoil) is dropped in Sarawak Malay so they are pronounced as alus and ampas instead. There are some exceptions such as hormat (respect) though they are usually loanwords.[7]
Word-final ⟨k⟩ in some words is pronounced as a velar stop [k̚] rather than as a glottal stop[ʔ] as in Malaysian Standard Malay, so words like landak (porcupine) and ngajak (to invite) are pronounced as [landak̚] and [ŋad͡ʒak̚] rather than as [landaʔ] and [ŋad͡ʒaʔ].[3]
Some words in Standard Malay that end open-finally or end in a ⟨r⟩ have a glottal stop /ʔ/ added with the former and replacing the consonant with the latter. This can be seen words such as lamak (long in time) and aik (water) which are cognate to Standard Malay lama and air and mean the same thing.[5]
Standard Malay Word-final ⟨-ing⟩ or /-iŋ/ corresponds to Sarawak Malay ⟨-in⟩ or /-in/ so Standard Malay kuning (yellow) corresponds to kunin in Sarawak Malay.[5]
Vowels
Monophthongs
Sarawak Malay has the same vowel inventory as Standard Malay, /a,i,e,u,o,ə/. However, the distribution of these vowels is a little different.[8]
Word-final ⟨a⟩ as in ada (to be) and raja (king) is pronounced as /a/ in the Kuching dialect but as /o/ in the Saribas dialect. This means the two words would be pronounced as /ada/ and /ɣad͡ʒa/ in the Kuching dialect and as /ado/ and /ɣad͡ʒo/ in the Saribas dialect.[6]
The vowels /e,o/ can be realized either as close-mid [e,o] or as open-mid [ɛ,ɔ].[9]
The Standard Malay diphthongs /aj,aw/ correspond to /e,o/ in Sarawak Malay so the Standard Malay words pandai (smart) /pandaj/ and pulau (island) /pulaw/ correspond to Sarawak Malay /pande/ and /pulo/.[10]
Diphthongs
Sarawak Malay only has one diphthong, /oj/, found in words like paloi (idiot) /paloj/.[10]
Morphology
Sarawak Malay has an agent focus or activeprefix, ng- which corresponds to the Standard Malay prefix, meng-. When attached to a stem, if the stem starts with a consonant, the prefix assimilates to the consonant in place of articulation, and the original initial consonant of the stem is deleted. If the stem starts with a vowel, the prefix is just attached with no other changes. The affixation process is shown in the table below:[11]
Initial Consonant
Assimilated Prefix
Example Stem
Result of Affixation
Standard Malay Equivalent
⟨p⟩
⟨m⟩
putus (to snap)
mutus
memutus
⟨b⟩
beli (to snap)
meli
membeli
⟨t⟩
⟨n⟩
tulak (to push)
nulak
menolak
⟨d⟩
dengar (to listen)
nengar
mendengar
⟨s⟩
⟨ny⟩
sangkut (to hang)
nyangkut
menyangkut
⟨c⟩
cuba (to try)
nyuba
mencuba
⟨j⟩
julok (to pick)
nyulok
menjolok
⟨-⟩
⟨ng⟩
amal (to practise)
ngamal
mengamal
⟨k⟩
kata (to say)
ngata
mengata
⟨g⟩
gusok (to rub)
ngusok
menggosok
Vocabulary
Sarawak Malay has a rich vocabulary of which many words, while also found in Standard Malay, have completely different meanings.[12]
Difference in meaning
Word
Meaning in
Sarawak Malay
Meaning in
Standard Malay
agak
'to meet'
'to guess'
kelakar
'to talk'
'funny'
tangga
'to look'
'stairs'
tikam
'to throw'
'to stab'
tetak
'to laugh'
'to cut'
marak
'to waste'
'to refract'
The numbers of Sarawak Malay differ a bit from their Standard Malay counterparts.[13]
Numbers
Sarawak Malay
Standard Malay
English translation
satu
satu
'one'
duak
dua
'two'
tiga
tiga
'three'
empat
empat
'four'
limak
lima
'five'
nam
enam
'six'
tujoh
tujuh
'seven'
lapan
lapan
'eight'
semilan
sembilan
'nine'
sepuloh
sepuluh
'ten'
The pronouns too differ quite significantly,[14] with the first and second person pronouns (both singular and plural) both being related to the first person plural pronouns ( and kita) of Standard Malay.
Personal pronouns
Sarawak Malay
Standard Malay
English translation
kamek
saya / aku
'I' / 'me'
kamek empun
saya / aku punya
'my' / 'mine'
kamek orang
kita/kami
'we'
kitak
kau / kamu / awak
'you' (informal, singular)
kitak empun
kau / kamu / awak punya
'your' / 'yours'
kitak orang
kamu / awak semua
'you' (plural)
nya
dia
'he' / 'she' / 'it'
nya empun
dia punya
'his' / 'her' / 'hers'
sidak nya empun
mereka punya
'theirs'
sidak nya kedirik
mereka sendiri
'themselves'
Below is a non-exhaustive list of lexical differences between Standard Malay and Sarawak Malay.[15][16][17]
Many of the words used in Sarawak Malay nowadays were borrowed from many languages such as English. Some English words that have been borrowed and have undergone significant pronunciation changes are as follows:
English loanword
Original English
form
eksen
'action'
bol
'ball'
kaler
'colour'
kapet
'carpet'
pancet
'punctured'
henpon
'handphone'
moto
'motor'
prempan
'frying pan'
uren
'orange'
raun
'round'
Colloquial and contemporary usage
Contemporary usage of Sarawak Malay includes contemporary Malay words or incorporated from other languages, spoken by the urban speech community, which may not be familiar to the older generation. E.g.: SMS language. E.g.:
English
Sarawak Malay
SMS Text
you
kitak
ktk
me
kamek
kmk
no
sik
x
message
mesej
msg
nothing
sikda
xda
why
kenak
knk
Media
TVS, a regional television broadcaster serving Sarawak from the state government-owned Sarawak Media Group has programming tailored in the language.[18]
↑ Collin Jerome; Ting Su Hie; Ahmad Junaidi Ahmad Hadzmy; Humaira Raslie (Mar 13, 2023). Accessing News in the Digital Era: The Case of Sarawak, Malaysia. 5th Kuala Lumpur International Conference on Education, Economics and Technology. Kuala Lumpur. pp.23–4.
Majelis Sastra Asia Tenggara (1998). Daftar kata dialek Melayu Sarawak: dialek Melayu Sarawak-bahasa Malaysia, bahasa Malaysia-dialek Melayu[Dictionary of Sarawak Malay dialect-Malay, Malay-Sarawak Malay dialect] (in Malay) (2ed.). Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. ISBN9836263241.
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