Brunei Darussalam Languages & Literature

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM LANGUAGES AND

LITERATURE

SELAMAT PETANG (Good Afternoon)

SELAMAT DATANG KE BRUNEI INDAH DARUSSALAM

(Welcome to Beautiful Brunei Darussalam)

•There are a number of languages spoken in Brunei. The official language of the state of Brunei is Standard Malay, the same Malaccan dialect that is the basis for the standards in Malaysia and Indonesia. This came into force on 29 September 1959, with the signing of Brunei 1959 Constitution.

LANGUAGES OF BRUNEI

• The Malay language is the standard language for many of the peoples of Maritime Southeast Asia and is spoken as a lingua franca in Brunei.

The official standard for the language, has been defined and agreed upon by the Language and Literature Bureaus of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. Standard Malay is also accepted in the printed form and is used in all official Brunei government media.

STANDARD MALAY

• The local dialect, Melayu Brunei (Brunei Malay), is the most widely spoken language. It is spoken by about 266,000 people.

About 84% of its words are cognate with Standard Malay, while 94% are reported to be cognate with Kedayan.• Brunei Malay is also spoken as a lingua franca in some parts of

East Malaysia such as the Federal Territory of Labuan, the districts of Limbang and Lawas (Sarawak) and the districts of Sipitang, Beaufort, Kuala Penyu and Papar (Sabah). It is expanding at the expense of the indigenous minority languages.• Although its lexis is 84% cognate with Standard Malay, Brunei

Malay is mostly mutually unintelligible with other dialects of Malay.

BRUNEI MALAY

• English is widely used as a business and official language and it is spoken by a majority of the population in Brunei. There are two daily English language newspapers, Borneo Bulletin and The Brunei Times, but only one daily newspaper in Malay, Media Permata, which is published six times a week (as there is no Sunday edition).• The bilingual system of education was introduced in 1985, with the

first three years taught in Malay while English was the medium of instruction for most subjects from the fourth year of primary school onward, so all school children have had substantial exposure to English since then. In 2008, the new SPN21 education system was introduced, and from then on, math and science have been taught in English from the start of primary school, so the role of English is even more firmly established.

ENGLISH

•One result of the promotion of both English and Malay in Brunei is that minority languages, such as Tutong and Dusun, tend to get squeezed out. Noor Azam has described the situation using the Malay proverb: Gajah berperang, pelanduk mati di tengah-tengah. ('When elephants fight, the mouse-deer between them dies.') Some features of the pronunciation of English in Brunei are: the TH sound at the start of words such as thin and think tends to be pronounced as; vowel reduction is mostly avoided in function words such as of and that; and there seems to be an increasing incidence of rhoticity.

• The Chinese minority in Brunei speak a number of Chinese varieties. The Hokkien (Min Nan) tongue predominates in the Brunei-Muara and Temburong districts, while Cantonese and Hakka speakers are mostly concentrated in the Seria and Kuala Belait areas of the Belait district. Other varieties of Chinese spoken in Brunei include Hoisan, Fuchow and Hainanese.• Mandarin is the language of instruction at the primary level in the private Chinese schools, and is taught as a subject at the secondary level. Mandarin is also used as the lingua franca among the Chinese community.

CHINESE

• There are five minority peoples native to Brunei, each with their own language: Tutong, Belait, Dusun, Bisaya, and Lun Bawang ('Murut'). They are less than 40% cognate with Brunei Malay, and are being replaced with it through intermarriage and conversion to Islam.

• Iban, Penan, and Melanau are spoken by immigrants from Sarawak.

MINORITY LANGUAGES

•Arabic is the language of the Quran and is used by Islamic scholars in Brunei. The official religion of Brunei is Islam and as such, all adherents of the faith possess some proficiency in reading and speaking Arabic.•Arabic is taught in schools, particularly religious schools, and also in institutes of higher learning. As of 2004, there are six Arabic schools and one religious teachers' college in Brunei.

ARABIC

• The Indian minority in Brunei originates mostly from southern India. They are joined by a relatively large expatriate community, estimated at about 7500, from India.• Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi are some of the Indian languages spoken in Brunei.

INDIAN LANGUAGES

• There is also a contingent of Nepali soldiers of the Gurkha Reserve Unit in Sungai Akar camp and 1st and 2nd Battalion of the Royal Gurkha Rifles stationed in Seria, Brunei. The language spoken by most of these soldiers is Gurkhali. There are Gurkhali languages services provided by Radio Television Brunei and the British Forces Broadcasting Service.

NEPALI LANGUAGES

THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE OF BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

•Brunei Malay (Bahasa Melayu Brunei), or Kedayan (Kadaian), sometimes conflated as Brunei-Kadaian, is the national language of Brunei and a lingua franca in parts of East Malaysia. It is not the official language of Brunei, which is standard Malay, but is socially dominant and is replacing minority languages. It is quite divergent from standard Malay and is mostly mutually unintelligible with it.

BRUNEI MALAY LANGUAGE

•A pidginized variant of Brunei Malay, known as Sabah Malay, is a local trade language.

PIDGIN

•Saya/Aku = I/me•Awak/Kau (Ko) =You•Kami = We/us•Kamu =You guys / you all (can be just You)•Biskita = You (usually use to address older people) / us

BRUNEI-MALAY ENGLISH DICTIONARY

•Atu = That•Ani = This•Makan = eat•Cinta = love (address to loves one)•Suka = like•Mana? / Ke mana? /Di mana? = Where? / To where? / To Where?


•Si awang = That Lad / That Boy•Si dayang = That girl•Lelaki/Laki-laki = Guys / Boys / Men•Perempuan / Bini-bini = Girls / women•Budiman = Gentlemen•Kebawah Duli = His Majesty


•Peramba = I (when talking with Royalty of Bolkiah Family)•Awu/Ya = Yes• Inda/Tidak = No•Siuk = Expression when feeling extreme fun (I.e. Shiok in Singapore and Syok in Malaysia)


• "Ia atu bini-bini." = She is a lady.• "Sudah ko makan?" = Have you eaten?• "Awda mendapat cabutan bertuah" = You received a lucky draw.• "Ko" = You ( short version of Malay Standard 'Kau' )• "Awda“ (A combination of AWang and DAyang (Equivalent to Mr. and Miss) = You. Generally used to address the public.

EXAMPLES:

• "Bini-bini" = lady ("bini" is also used in Malaysian Malay, bini however means wife. However, in Malaysian and Singaporean Malay, this is not considered a polite word either refer to someone's wife or to refer to one's own wife to friends, relatives, strangers etc. In Malaysia and Singapore, the word ' isteri ' is used in polite company. 'Orang Rumah' is also acceptable, the term literally means ' Person of the House'. In Indonesia, 'istri' is used. )• "Baiktah" ("Baik saja" in Malay) = might as well• "tarus" = straight ahead, immediately (spelled and pronounced 'terus' in

standard Malay)• "Kitani" = We ( might be corrupted from ' Kita Ini ' - meaning ' Us Here '

in Malay )• "Karang" = later

EXAMPLES:

• "Ani" = this (' ini 'in Malay Standard)• "Awu" = yes• "Inda" = no• "Kita" = us (might be referring to older person as ' you ')• "Manada" = No way (denial words, also used in Malaysia)• "Orang Putih" = Literally mean White People, to refer the Westerner

or any foreigner with white skin.• "Kaling" = referring to any Indian ethnics that live and works in

Brunei (however, it is consider impolite word in Malaysia and Singapore which is "Keling")

EXAMPLES:

• The vocabulary of Brunei Malay has been collected and published by several western explorers in Borneo including Pigafetta in 1521, De Crespigny in 1872, Charles Hose in 1893, A. S. Haynes in 1900, Sidney H. Ray in 1913, H. B. Marshall in 1921, and G. T. MacBryan in 1922, and some Brunei Malay words are included in "A Malay-English Dictionary" by R. J. Wilkinson.

STUDIES:

•Brunei Darussalam is a multiethnic society in which one ethnic group, the Barunay, has a monopoly of political power. Variations in tradition among other ethnic groups are not regional but cultural, social, and linguistic. Indigenous Muslims usually are referred to as Brunei Malays even if they are not native speakers of the Malay language.

LITERATURE OF BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

• The Language and Literature Bureau promotes the development of literature and folklore and publishes textbooks in Malay and English for use in primary and secondary schools. A form of poetry known as sajak is popular with schoolchildren. A number of local authors have become well known. The most famous work of traditional literature is the epic poem Sya'ir Awang Simawn , which recounts the exploits of the culture hero.


• Simawn and constitutes a traditional history of the sultanate. Most literature in Brunei is either written in Malay or in English.

• The most popular form of literature is a poetry style called sajak.


• Sajak is a Malay free-form style (meaning “rhyme” in English) that was full of nationalistic symbolism once used as a means of propaganda during the days when the Japanese occupied the island during WWII. There aren’t a lot of Bruneian writers that are well-known outside of the region, but the most famous work that came out of Brunei is the epic poem called Sya’ir Awang Simawn, about a famous hero to their culture. However, there are a few books mentioned which use Brunei as its setting. One is a book called Armageddon by Dan Brown.


• Another is an Anthony Burgess novel called Devil of a State. The Language and Literature Bureau is the country’s main ministry in charge of the promotion and development of literature and folklore. This office produces a series of textbooks in both English and Malay for use by students. The most popular form of traditional writing is a form of poetry called sajak. Although a handful of local authors have become well known in the literary world, Brunei is not very prolific. The nation’s most famous piece of traditional literature is the epic poem Sya’ir Awang Simawn, which tells the story of a cultural hero.


•Brunei has, however, been the setting for a few modern novels by Western authors. Dan Brown’s novel Armageddon takes place mainly in Brunei and details a fictional attack on the nation by the group of Islamic fundamentalists. Another famous story featuring Brunei is Devil of a State by Anthony Burgess. In this novel, the building of the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin’s mosque in the capital Bandar Seri Begawan is a major theme.


TERIMA KASIH(Thank You!!!!)

Brunei Darussalam Languages & Literature

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