E factors which entail the language being used by a large number of people P C
E factors which entail the language being used by a large number of people P C
E distributed over a large geographical area. The major competing languages in N N F E Malaysia are Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin, Tamil, and English. These languages are R
spoken by a large majority of the ethnically diverse population found in the CO
nation. Amongst the languages spoken and used by this majority population,
I2 N
Bahasa Melayu has been codified as the official, national and heritage language
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of the country. This is due in part to the recognition given to the language as one
that could unify the multiethnic and multilingual nation. The aim for selecting
only one national language is to have a common dominant language that could only one national language is to have a common dominant language that could
The national language receives institutional support from the government of Malaysia in many ways, thus its linguistic vitality is often safeguarded. However, there are still concerns over its perceived decline in use. The Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin showed his concern over the declining use of the national language in a newspaper report not too long ago. He said, "…there's
a worry that our national language may be sidelined as people prefer to use English. I think that it boils down to attitude. Perhaps using a language other than English is not that glamorous, as if Bahasa Malaysia is a low-class language," (New Straits Times, 2011).
Attitude too is often recognised as an important determinant in the learning and use of a language (Starks & Paltridge, 1996; Karahan, 2007). Language attitude may either inspire speakers towards the maintenance of a language, or may force them to abandon the language. Attitude towards a language therefore can
be a powerful factor for either the promotion or loss of a language especially since neutral attitudes towards a language seemingly do not exist. Speakers may regard the language as essential to them and promote it; use the language without promoting it; may be ashamed of it and not promote it and could even avoid using it completely.
When the speakers’ attitudes towards a language are positive, the language
represents a symbol of the group identity. Just like how people value a tradition, 85
festival or community event, they may see the language as having and
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representing a cultural core value, something that is important to the community
and for their identity. On the other hand, if the speakers view the language as a N
SB
barrier to economic mobility and integration into mainstream society, they may
develop negative attitudes towards the language. Both negative and positive S G
IN D
attitude therefore, can clearly affect the choice of language in various domains of
use. CE
Also affecting language in the different domains of use is government policy
towards the language. Malaysia has explicit language policies for its major ethnic
languages. The policy is enshrined in the Constitution of Malaysia. Bahasa
CO 1 2
Malaysia is designated as the official and national language of the country, while
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recognition to all other major ethnic languages is also stipulated. Even though
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the national language, Bahasa Malaysia, has official recognition and status, this
does not guarantee language maintenance and long-term vitality of the language.
As mentioned by the Deputy Prime Minister earlier, Bahasa Malaysia faces As mentioned by the Deputy Prime Minister earlier, Bahasa Malaysia faces
All these economic, political and social factors could result in languages having unequal status relationships. This could result in speakers or speech community members to speak and use not only their mother tongue, but also the national and official language together with other internationally-recognised languages, like English and Mandarin. Gradually, speakers may only use the international- recognised language and this will affect the vitality of the nation’s languages.
Linguistically and historically, “A language is in danger when its speakers cease to use it, use it in an increasingly reduced number of communicative domains, and cease to pass it on from one generation to the next. That is, there are no new speakers, adults or children” (UNESCO, 2003). However, UNESCO also mentioned that “no single factor alone can be used to assess a language’s vitality or its need for documentation”. The endangerment of language can be a result of various factors including internal factors such as a community’s attitude towards the language and external factors such as politics, economics, cultural, or education policies. In 2003, UNESCO developed the Language Vitality and Diversity Framework to investigate this phenomenon amongst the world’s major languages.
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The framework identified six factors to evaluate a language’s vitality and state 85
of endangerment, two factors to assess language attitudes, and one factor to
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evaluate the urgency for documentation. Taken together, these nine factors are
especially useful for characterising a language’s overall sociolinguistic status and N
SB
linguistic vitality in particular. These nine factors are identified as (i)
intergenerational language transmission; (ii) absolute number of speakers; (iii) S G
IN D
proportion of speakers within the total population; (iv) trends in existing
language domains; (v) response to new domains and media; (vi) materials for CE
language education and literacy; (vii) governmental and institutional language
attitudes and policies, including official status and use; (viii) community
members’ attitudes towards their own language and (ix) amount and quality of
In view of the concerns about the linguistic vitality of Bahasa Malaysia as the N
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national and heritage language of the country, this paper reports on a pilot study
conducted amongst Malaysian undergraduates at Universiti Putra Malaysia. The
study investigated their perceptions of the linguistic vitality of Bahasa Malaysia.
It is believed that the results of the study will also help in improving the UNESCO vitality questionnaire adapted for this study for further validity and accessibility of the instrument to be applied for future investigation of the vitality of other languages used in Malaysia.