Malaysian Mandarin
Colloquial Mandarin Chinese in Malaysia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Malaysian Mandarin (simplified Chinese: 马来西亚华语; traditional Chinese: 馬來西亞華語; pinyin: Mǎláixīyà Huáyǔ) is a variety of the Chinese language spoken in Malaysia by ethnic Chinese residents. It is currently the primary language used by the Malaysian Chinese community.[1]
-
Sinitic
- Chinese
- Mandarin
- Beijing Mandarin
- Standard Chinese
- Malaysian Mandarin
- Standard Chinese
- Beijing Mandarin
- Mandarin
- Chinese
| Malaysian Mandarin | |
|---|---|
| 马来西亚华语 馬來西亞華語 Mǎláixīyà Huáyǔ | |
| Region | Malaysia |
Native speakers | 6-7 million |
Sino-Tibetan
| |
| Simplified Chinese characters (de jure) Traditional Chinese characters | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Malaysia |
| Regulated by | Chinese Language Standardisation Council of Malaysia |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| Linguasphere | 79-AAA-bbd-(part)(=colloquial) |
| IETF | cmn-MY |
Due to the multilingual nature of Malaysian society, Malaysian Mandarin speakers often colloquially code-switch to Malay or English when it comes to local terms or names, even if an official, formal Mandarin term exists. For instance, the formal translation for the street "Jalan Bukit Kepong" is known as "武吉甲洞路" (Wǔjí Jiǎdòng lù; 'Bukit Kepong Road') and is used as such in local Chinese media, but the latter term is rarely used colloquially. Instead, people often use the original Malay name as is. There are exceptions such as Taiping since the name is derived from the Chinese. when people mention the place and speak local Mandarin, they always use its Mandarin pronunciation, "Tàipíng", instead of its Malay pronunciation, which is closer to "Taipeng". Another example is a place's Chinese translation that varies greatly from its native Malay name. For example, Teluk Intan, Seremban, Kota Kinabalu and Bau are preferably referred respectively as Ānsùn (安順) (which refers to "Teluk Anson", Teluk Intan's former colonial name), Fúróng (芙蓉), Yàbì (亞庇) and Shilongmen (石隆門).
Phonology
The phonology of Malaysian Mandarin is more closely aligned with the Mandarin accents of Southern China than with the Beijing standard pronunciation. That is a consequence of the influence of other Sinitic varieties, including Cantonese and Hokkien.[1]
In comparison with Standard Chinese, Taiwanese and Singaporean Mandarin, Malaysian Mandarin is characterised by a relatively tonally 'flat' sound, as well as an extensive use of glottal stops and the "checked tone".[1] That results in a distinct "clipped" sound compared to other forms of Mandarin.
- The phonemes "j", "x", and "h" (as in 級 ji, 西 xi, and 漢 han) tend to be pronounced as /t͡s/, /s/, and /h/ (rather than /t͡ɕ/, /ɕ/, and /x/) – also influenced by absence of alveopalatals in Malay phonology.[2]
- the "er" phoneme (as in 兒 or 二) is usually pronounced as /ə/ (instead of /ɚ/)
- the "i" phoneme (as in 吃, 十, or 日) is usually pronounced as /ɨ~ə/ (instead of /ɹ̩~ɻ̩/)
- the "r" phoneme (as in 然) is usually pronounced as /ɹ/ (similar to English, instead of /ʐ/)
- the "-in" ending (as in 金, 新, or 宾) may be blurred with the "-ing" ending in daily speech.
The Fifth Tone[3]
Among some speakers of Malaysian Mandarin, some words originally pronounced with Tone 1 (Flat tone), Tone 2 (Rising tone), and Tone 3 (Low tone) in Standard Mandarin are sometimes pronounced with a falling pitch.
逼 (bī) -> (bì)
鼻 (bí) -> (bì)
笔 (bǐ) -> (bì)
This "Fifth" tone is, according to research, barely disguishable from Tone 4 (the Falling tone), although there have been some observed differences:
- It is shorter and more tense than Tone 4,
- It starts slighty higher and falls earlier than Tone 4,
- It is usually accompanied by a glottal stop or a large amount of glottalization.
This phenomenon seems to typically affect words that end with a stop consonant (-p -t -k) when read in the Southern Chinese varieties present in Malaysia, including Cantonese, Hakka, and Hokkien. For example, "逼" is read as "bik1" in Cantonese, "pit" in Hakka, and "pek" in Hokkien. Although, it is unclear why a few words that don't have this property (e.g. "鼻") can be affected too by this phenomenon.
Demographics
As of 2014, 93% of ethnic Chinese families in Malaysia speak varieties of Chinese, which includes Mandarin.[4]
Early Ming and Qing immigrants
The majority of ethnic Chinese people living in Malaysia came from China during the Ming and Qing dynasties, between the 15th and early 20th centuries. Earlier immigrants married Malays and assimilated to a larger extent than later waves of migrants and form a distinct sub-ethnic group, known as the Peranakans, and their descendants speak Malay.
The majority of immigrants were speakers of Hokkien (Min Nan), Cantonese, Hakka, Teochew, and Hainanese. In the 19th century, Qing immigrants to Malaya had no single common language and were mostly uneducated peasants. They tended to cluster themselves according to the ethno-linguistic group, usually corresponding to their place of origin, and worked with relatives and other speakers of the same language. In 1879, according to Isabella Bird, a visitor to the tin mining boomtown of Taiping, Perak, "five topolects of Chinese are spoken, and Chinamen constantly communicate with each other in Malay, because they can't understand each other's Chinese".[5]
The Chinese languages spoken in Malaysia have over the years become localized (e.g. Penang Hokkien), as is apparent from the use of Malay and English loan words. Words from other Chinese languages are also injected, depending on the educational and cultural background of the speaker. Mandarin in Malaysia has also been localized as a result of the influence of other Chinese variants spoken in Malaysia, rather than of Malay. Loan words were discouraged in Mandarin instructions at local Chinese school and regarded as mispronunciations.[citation needed]