Malaysian English:

Why Do We Study Malaysian English Not Other Varieties of English?

Malaysian English has an identity of its own and the many
deviations in these lexical aspects make it a distinct
variety of English. (Jantmary & Melor 2013)
According to Wong (1981, p. 107), non-native speaker
of English should never be made to feel ashamed of their
own variety.
Charateristics of Manglish based on Platt et. al 1984 in Rosli and Hie
1994 are;
Malaysian English has developed through English medium
education system before and after independence.
It has developed in a non-native speaker area where the
population of the people speak their mother tongue like bazar
Malay as lingua franca of Malaysians.
It is used for a wide range of function such as communication
with friends, families, and in education and transaction system.
It has been localised in terms of phonology, syntax, morphology
because the influence of local languages such as Malay, Chinese
and Indian.

Criteria of Malaysian English as a New English based on Foleys
(1988) in Normazla (2007)
Besides bahasa Malaysia, Tamil and Chinese, English is one of
the linguistic repertoire in Malaysia.
English has acquired an important status in the multingual
community of Malaysia. Though not as widely used as in the
1970's, English still retains a place of importance in
international relations, tertiary education, law and as a second
language in schools.

Malaysian English Type I and II (Platt and Weber 1980)
Type I
Spoken by English medium educated Malaysian.
Internationally illegible
Phonology resembles to EsgE (educated Singapore English)
Unaware of fine shade of meaning which is conveyed through
intonation (Tay 1982)
Adherence to the British English
The usage of Manglish type I is on decline from 1962-1967
(Enrolment in Enlish medium school decreased)
Type II
Spoken by Malay medium educated Malaysian.
The emergence is due to the introduction of Malay as a medium of
instruction in school. In 1971 Malay medium secondary school
enrolment was on the rise.
Obvious interference of Bahasa Malaysia
The influence of Malay pronunciation (English originated word which
is borrowed into BM)
Code switching
The word order is influenced by Malay language (not enough tall for
not tall enough)
According to Baskaran (1987) quoted by Pramita(2010) There are
three types of Malaysian English;

a) Acrolect
acrolect is near native and spoken by those who look upon English
as their primary language. Mostly, those who are educated in core
English speaking countries from early schooling up to university are
likely to speak at the acrolect level that is impeccably close to
Queen's English.

b) Mesolect
The mesolect is the variety used for social communication or
daily interaction and basically that is what Malaysian English is.
Most academics, professionals and other English-educated
Malaysians speak English at the mesolect evel.
c) Basilect
Basilect, it is spoken by those who are not fluent in the
language, who are not grounded in the grammar, and is heavily
dependent on the sentence structure of a local dialect, chiefly
Malay or Hokkien.
Comparison of Malaysian English based on
Acrolect, Mesolect and Basilect
Scholars Insight on Malaysian English (Normazla 2007)

Speaker of Malaysia English are being associated with
protolanguage extinct/unrecorded (Halliday, 1979)

Since Malaysian English and the protolanguage share
the same structure of having a phonology and a
semantic element but lacking in grammatical or lexical
element, the survival of protolanguage among
growing children is gradually being abandoned.

Malaysian English has a sentimental touch to the
Malaysians, it belongs uniquely to them. (Wong &
Thambyrajah, 1991). With the publication of the
dictionary of Malaysian and Singapore English by
(Times- Chambers Essential English Dictionary,
1997),
A country such as Malaysia, however, still relies on
the use of English as a second language. Undeniably,
Malaysia still adopts Standard British English as the
pedagogical model (Gill; 19: 1994).
The status of English in particular country varies, whether it
is the second language (as in Malaysia) or the official language
in Singapore. As the Malays, Chinese, Indians have their own
mother tongue language, the need for acquiring English vary
from the second language for the Malays and the third language
for the Chinese and Indians as Bahasa Malaysia is the official
language. Hence, Malaysian English arises to be the lingua-
franca (used in an informal setting) to this multiracial society.
(Normazla, 2007)
Since language has many variations,
Malaysian English (ME) emerges as yet
another variation from parent norms
through the process of hybridization
(Whinnom 1971),indigenization (Moag &
Moag 1979) and nativization (Kachru
1983)
A pluricentric language, English is a language with
several interacting centers that each provides a national
variety with at least some of its own codified norms
(Clyne, 1992). All these varieties have essentially
contributed to the emergence of localized forms of
English (Stevens 1983).
*References
FOl.EY,j. (ed.) (1988). NewEnglishes: TheCaseofSingapOTe.
234p. Singapore: Singapore University
Press.
GIl.l., S. K. (1993). Standards and pedagogical norms
for teaching English in Malaysia. World Englishes
12(2) :223-238.
PLATT,J. T. (1980). Varieties and Functions of English
in Singapore and Malaysia. English World-Wide
1(1): 97-121.
PLATT, J. and WEBER, H. (1980). English in Singapore
and Malaysia: Status, Features, Functions. 292p.
Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.
PLATT, J., WEBER, H. and Ho, M. L. (1984). The New
Englishes. 225p. London: Routledge and Kegan
Paul.

*Rosli Talif & Hie T.S (1994). Malaysian English: Exploring the Possibility
of Standardization. Universiti Pertanian Malaysia
*Thirusanku J & Melor Md Yunus. (2013). Malaysian English A Distinct
Variety. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
*Wong, I. (1981). English in Malaysia. In L.E. Smith (Ed.), English for
Cross-cultural Communication. London: Macmillan.
*Normazla Ahmad Mahir.(2007). The Use of Malay Malaysian English in
Malaysian English: Key Considerations.Universiti Utara Malaysia
*TAY, M. W. J. (1982). The Phonology of Educated Singapore
*English. English WoTld-Wide 3(2): 135145.

*Baskaran, L. (1987). Aspect of Malaysian English syntax. Unpublished
Ph.D Thesis. Department of Linguistics, University of Long.
*Halliday, M.A.K. (1979). One Childs Protolanguage in Before Speech:
The Beginning of Interpersonal Communication. M. Bullowa (ed.).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
*Wong, I.F.H. and H. Thambyrajah. (1991). The Malaysian
Sociolinguistic Situation: An Overview in Child Language
Development in Singapore and Malaysia. A. Kwan-Terry. (ed.).
Singapore: Singapore University Press.
*Gill, Saran Kaur. (1994). Bangi: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia.
*Kachru, Braj. (1983). The Indianization of English: The English
Language in India. New
*Delhi: Oxford University Press.
*Stevens, P. (1983). The Localized Forms of English in The Other
Tongue: English
*Across Culture. B. Kachru. (ed.). Oxford: Pergammon Press. pp.
23-30.
*Clyne, M. G. (1992). Pluricentric Languages: Differing norms in
Different Nations. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
*Whinnom, K. (1971). Linguistic Hybridization and The special
case of Pidgins and Creoles in Pidginization and Creolization of
Languages. D. Hymes (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press. pp 91-115.
*Moag, R.F. & L.B. Moag. (1979). English as a Foreign, Second,
Native, and Basal Language: A New Taxonomy of English Using
Societies in New Englishes. J.B. Pride (ed.). Rowley, MA: Newbury
House. pp. 11-50.