16 Facts About Malay language

Malay is an Austronesian language officially spoken in Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore, and unofficially spoken in East Timor and parts of Thailand and the Philippines.

However, in areas of Central to Southern Sumatra, where vernacular varieties of Malay are indigenous, Indonesians refer to the language as, and consider it to be one of their regional languages.

Malay, called Court Malay, was the literary standard of the pre-colonial Malacca and Johor Sultanates and so the language is sometimes called Malacca, Johor or Riau Malay to distinguish it from the various other Malayic languages.

Old Malay language is believed to be the actual ancestor of Classical Malay language.

Old Malay was influenced by Sanskrit, the literary language of Classical India and a liturgical language of Hinduism and Buddhism.

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Malay language came into widespread use as the lingua franca of the Malacca Sultanate.

Under the Sultanate of Malacca the language evolved into a form recognisable to speakers of modern Malay.

Malay language was used solely as a lingua franca for inter-ethnic communications.

Old Malay language was written using Pallava and Kawi script, as evident from several inscription stones in the Malay language region.

The extent to which Malay language is used in these countries varies depending on historical and cultural circumstances.

Malay language originally had four vowels, but in many dialects today, including Standard Malay language, it has six.

Malay language has many words borrowed from Arabic, Sanskrit, Tamil, certain Sinitic languages, Persian (due to historical status of Malay Archipelago as a trading hub), and more recently, Portuguese, Dutch and English (in particular many scientific and technological terms).

Aboriginal Malay are the Malayan languages spoken by the Orang Asli in Malaya.

Extent to which Malay and related Malayan languages are used in the countries where it is spoken varies depending on historical and cultural circumstances.

In Singapore, Malay language was historically the lingua franca among people of different nationalities.

Besides Indonesian, which developed from the Malaccan dialect, there are many Malay language varieties spoken in Indonesia; they are divided into western and eastern groups.