Cocos Malay is a post-creolized variety of Malay language, spoken by the Cocos Malays who predominantly inhabit the Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island region which is a part/territory of Australia. Apart from Australia, this language is also spoken by the diaspora of Cocos Malay descendants in Sabah, Malaysia.[
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Linguistically, Cocos Malay derives from the Malay trade languages of the 19th century, specifically the Betawi language, with influences from Javanese and Sundanese.[Wurm, Mühlhäusler, & Tryon, Atlas of languages of intercultural communication in the Pacific, Asia and the Americas, 1996:686] Malay language is offered as a second language in schools, and Malaysian has prestige status; both are influencing the language, bringing it more in line with standard Malay.[Ansaldo, 2006. "Cocos (Keeling) Islands: Language Situation". In ]
There is also a growing influence of English language, considering the Islands having been an territory and globalization drifting modern terms into the daily parlance. In 2009, Cocos Malay students were prohibited from using their own language and failure to comply resulted in punishment in the form of "speaking tickets" which meant that they were required to carry out cleaning duties in school.
History
The first Cocos Malays were slaves brought to the then uninhabited Cocos (Keeling) Islands in 1826 by Alexander Hare and John Clunies-Ross. Most Malay slaves were mainly obtained in Malacca and in Banjarmasin, but they originally came from all over Indonesia, and the language that they spoke among each other was a form of Malay.
Over time, Cocos Malay appears to be very vulnerable considering that the number of Cocos Malay speakers is only around 500 people. In the 1950s, due to economic difficulties, many Cocos Malay-speaking people emigrated to Christmas Island and Sabah, Malaysia. Emigration continued in the 1970s, when Cocos Islanders began migrating to the Australian mainland, with one-way tickets (in accordance with Clunies-Ross's policy at the time that they were free to go but not free to return). Due to ongoing migration, the Cocos Malay speakers reside in cities across Western Australia, including Perth, Katanning, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, and Port Hedland.
In 2009, Cocos Malay was banned from use in the education sector in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands because it was considered not in accordance with the rules of language politeness, and instead used Indonesian as the language of instruction which is considered by the Malays as a standard variant of Malay.
Characteristics
It has the following characteristics:
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Javanese influence: cucut 'shark', kates 'papaya', walikat 'shoulderblade' etc.
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Hokkien-derived first-person and second-person singular gua and lu.
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Causative marker kasi.
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Progressive particle ada.
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Possessive marker punya.
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The third person indefinite form ong derived from orang 'person'
Cocos Malay exhibits lexical items and Dutch loanwords that are common in Indonesian and Betawi (Jakartan Malay) but rarely used in Malay. Therefore, Cocos Malay is considered to be a Malay-derived creole derived from Betawi, although Cocos Malay does not have strucutual features in common with Betawi as -a change to -è and transitive suffix -in.[
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Vocabulary
Cocos Malay has strong influences from three languages: Malay language, Javanese, and Betawi language. Some examples of words in Cocos Malay include:
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cucut (from )
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kates (from )
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walikat (from )
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ong (from , used as an indefinite third-person pronoun: its usage is similar to that in Betawi language, Javanese language, and Indonesian language.
[Alexander Adelaar, 1996. "Malay in the Cocos (Keeling) Islands 1996".]
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gua (from Betawi language, used as a first-person pronoun)
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lu (from Betawi language, used as a second-person pronoun)
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kasi (from Betawi language, meaning 'give', used as a causative verb)
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melendot (from Betawi language, meaning 'to cling'; to continuously hold onto someone)
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ledes (from Betawi language, meaning 'abrasion' or 'scrape')
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pulas (from Betawi language, meaning 'deep sleep')
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ngaco (from Betawi language, meaning 'nonsense' or 'random talk')
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sore (a word found in both Javanese and Betawi)
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kuping (a word found in both Javanese and Betawi)
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capek (a word found in both Javanese and Betawi)
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gampang (a word found in both Javanese and Betawi)
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ada* (from Malay language, used as a progressive particle)
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punya* (from Malay, used as a possessive verb)
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siang* (from Malay)
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kamu (from Malay)
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saya* (from Malay)
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mengapa (from Malay)
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malam* (from Malay)
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pagi* (from Malay)
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di mana* (from Malay)
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ke mana* (from Malay)
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siapa* (from Malay)
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bagaimana (from Malay)
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tidak (from Malay)
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orang* (from Malay)
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hilang* (from Malay)
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hendak (from Malay)
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mau* (from Malay)
Note: " *" indicates words that exist in both Malay and Betawi.
Phonology
Vowels
Consonants
+Consonants Table | Glottal
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There are three ways in which Cocos Malay differs from Malay language and Indonesian:
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The uvular ʁ which always occurs intervocalically is present in Coco Malay but not in Standard Malay or Indonesian.
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Certain consonants, f, which occur in Standard Malay are not present in Cocos Malay.
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With regard to the h amongst the three languages, the h in Cocos Malay is often dropped, especially in word-initial position. Examples include:
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> |
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| 'suck' |
| 'forest' |
| 'nose' |
| 'thirsty' |
Sample text
Cocos Malay:
Spoken Suburban Betawi (Ora Batavian):
English:
Notes
Further reading
