Malay in Sri Lanka

7/28/2019 Malay in Sri Lanka

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Outline Project overview Past Present Future Bibliography

Sri Lanka Malay Past, Present and Future

Umberto Ansaldo, Lisa Lim and Sebastian Nordhoff

Universiteit van Amsterdam/Dobes

10th International Conference on Sri Lanka Studies, 16th

18th December 2005 at the University of Kelaniya

Ansaldo, Lim & Nordhoff Universiteit van Amsterdam/Dobes



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Project overview

Past

Present

Future




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Dobes

Documentation of Sri Lanka Malay funded by Dobes (Volkswagen Foundation, Germany)

More than 25 teams all over the world

Audio and Video Transcription Archiving for posterity Web Access

rationale

Languages are disappearing at an alarming rate Few big languages are replacing smaller languages




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Project members

Dr Umberto Ansaldo (University of Amsterdam), projectdirector

Dr Lisa Lim (University of Amsterdam) Sebastian Nordhoff (University of Amsterdam), PhD

researcher

Prof Walter Bisang (University of Mainz)

Prof Thiru Kandiah (University of Peradeniya)




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Ideas and goals

Every community has the right to speak their own language(UNESCO)

Languages are part of the cultural heritage of humankind Insights into the faculty of language are easier when able to

draw on many languages

The Malay language in Sri Lanka allows special insights intolanguage contact phenomena




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The Malays in Sri Lanka

Colombo

Kandy

Hambantota

Kirinda

Badulla

The Malay language isdisappearing everywhere butin Kirinda (Ansaldo2005)



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Previous research

Smith

Hussainmiya (1987,1990)

Bichsel (1989)

Adelaar (1991)

Saldin (1996)

Smith and Paauw (2004)

Slomansson(2004)

Ansaldo (2005)



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Colonization

Colonization from theWest ...

... brought people from

the East Exiles Soldiers Convicts and slaves





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Migration of Malays to Sri Lanka





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j g p y






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j g p y






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Development of the Malay population

soldiers

Kandy

free Malays convicts

exiles

based on

Hussainmiya1987,1990





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Contact with the Lankan peoples

Malays were mostly in the Sinhala area

but religious link to the Moors (Tamil-speaking)

intermarriage with Lankan population (Hussainmiya

1990,Smith et al. 2004)

well-integrated by 1800

strong linguistic influence from Sinhala and Tamil (Smith etal. 2004, Ansaldo 2005)

language probably stabilized before 1800

Ansaldo, Lim & Nordhoff Universiteit van Amsterdam/DobesSri Lanka Malay Past, Present and Future



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Post-regimental history

Malay Ceylon RifleRegiment disbanded in1873

No more Malay mosques,schools, libraries

Soldiers work as as policeofficers and firemen

This entails dispersal all

over the country

Cultural achievementswere slowly lost




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Post-colonial history

around 1957 Malay was introduced as a school subject, butnot for long

The Sinhala-only law no more English-medium schools, preferred by the Malays Sinhala at school, Tamil at the mosque, English for economic

progress Malay language was left behind

possible effects of the Tsunami on Kirinda and Hambantota




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Vitality

The language is mostly spoken by the older generation

The language is not used outside the home The languages is transmitted less and less to children

the language is severely endangered




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Preservation and documentation

Malay associations work for the preservation of the language

COSLAM as the umbrella organisation

Local associations in Colombo, Kandy, Nawalapitiya, Badulla,Kurunegala and other places

Photos and videos exist in private hands, but are presently notaccessible to the public




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Plans

The Dobes-project, funded by the VW foundation (Germany),provides an electronic archive where the existing material canbe stored

This material will be complemented by audio and videorecordings, transcriptions, grammar and dictionary in thecourse of the project

Further development of the existing orthography

Promoting the use of Malay in domains other that the home.




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Bibliography

Adelaar, K. A. (1991). Some notes on the origin of Sri Lankan Malay. Canberra: The Australian National

University. pp. 2337.

Ansaldo, U. (2005). Typological admixture in Sri Lanka Malay. The case of Kirinda Java.http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/u.ansaldo/ bestanden/SLM-KJcase-new.pdf.

Bichsel-Stettler (1989). Aspects of the Sri Lanka Malay Community and Its Language. Masters thesis,Universit Bern.

Hussainmiya, B. A. (1987). Lost Cousins: The Malays of Sri Lanka, Occasional Paper, vol. 2. Kebangsaan:Universiti Kebangsan.

Hussainmiya, B. A. (1990). Orang Rejimen: The Malays of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment. Universiti Kebangsan.

Robuchon, G. (2003). Malayo Language in Sri Lanka. Paper presented at the 7th International Symposium onthe Malay/Indonesian Linguistics in Berg en Dal.

Saldin, B. (1996). The Sri Lankan Malays and Their Language. Nihon, 2nd edn.

Slomansson, P. (2003). Sri Lankan Malay Grammars: Lankan or Malay? Revised Version of a paper presented atThe 7th International Symposium on Malay/Indonesian Linguistics, Nijmegen June 2003 and the SPCL Summermeeting 2003 University of Hawaii, August 14-17.

Smith, I., S. Paauw & B. A. Hussainmiya (2004). Sri Lanka Malay: the state of the art. To appear inYearbook of South Asian Languages 2004.

We acknowledge B.A. Hussainmiyas authorship of the photographs and thank him for his kind permission to use

them.




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Contact details

[email protected]

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Documents

Malay in Sri Lanka