Page:Baba Malay. An Introduction to the Language of the Straits-born Chinese.pdf/1

 Baba Malay.

An Introduction to the Language of the Straits-born Chinese.

By Rey. W. G. SHELLABEAR, D.D.

The terms High and Low Malay, which appear to have origin- ated with the Dutch, have given rise to a great deal of controversy, and to some confusion and misunderstanding.

As used in Java and other parts of the Netherlands Indies the term

HIGH MALAY

means the language of Malay literature, and as the classical literature of the Malays was written when Malacca and Acheen were the great centres of Malay power and learning, it is not surprising to find that the language of Malay literature is the language which is spoken to-day all along the sea coast on both sides of the Straits of Malacca, with only this difference, namely that a few words of foreign origin used in the classical literature never became assimilated in the spoken language, and therefore continue to be purely literary words, and are not understood by the common people. It is a remarkable fact that the Malay language in the Straits of Malacca has remained practically the same for centuries. ‘The English of the time of Queen Elizabeth is now almost unintelligible to those who have not made the literature of that time a special study; but the letters written from the court of Acheen to Queen Elizabeth and King James I. of England could to-day be read and thoroughly understood by any 4th standard boy in the Malay vernacular schools of the Straits Settlements. In the Dutch Indies, however, the only parts where this language is now spoken are the Riouw-Lingga Archipelago and the East coast of Sumatra; hence to the vast majority of Dutch residents in the East the Malay of the Straits of Malaeca is an unknown tongue, and those who have studied for the most part know it only as the language of Malay literature, and look upon it as being practically a dead language, whereas it is really a very live lan-- guage in those parts of the Archipelago where it is spoken. On the other hand the term

LOW MALAY

is used in the Netherlands Indies to describe the language employed by Enropeans, Eurasians, Chinese, and other foreigners in Java as a common means of communication between themselves and the Javanese, Sundanese and other inhabitants of that most populous Jour. Straits Branch R. A. Soc., No. 65, 1913+ A