Variable impact of Malaysia’s national language planning on non-Malay speakers in Sarawak

The study examined the impact of the national language policy on the language use of three main ethnic groups in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The data analyzed was based on a sociolinguistic survey on language use in six domains that involved 937 Malay, Chinese and Iban adolescents from three ma...

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Main Author: Ting, Su Hie
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/1089/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/1089/1/Variable%2Bimpact%2Bof%2BMalaysia%E2%80%99s%2Bnational%2Blanguage%2B%2528abstract%2529.pdf
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author Ting, Su Hie
author_facet Ting, Su Hie
author_sort Ting, Su Hie
building UNIMAS Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The study examined the impact of the national language policy on the language use of three main ethnic groups in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The data analyzed was based on a sociolinguistic survey on language use in six domains that involved 937 Malay, Chinese and Iban adolescents from three major towns in Sarawak. The results showed that the use of Bahasa Malaysia exceeded English usage for all three ethnic groups, showing the success of compulsory education in the national language. However, the language planning has greater impact on the Iban than on the Chinese who are shifting away from the ethnic languages of the Chinese sub-groups to Mandarin Chinese. The availability of an alternative standard language with international standing which also functions as a symbol of cultural solidarity compromises the impact of the national language policy.
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spelling unimas-10892022-05-12T08:43:13Z http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/1089/ Variable impact of Malaysia’s national language planning on non-Malay speakers in Sarawak Ting, Su Hie AC Collections. Series. Collected works P Philology. Linguistics The study examined the impact of the national language policy on the language use of three main ethnic groups in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The data analyzed was based on a sociolinguistic survey on language use in six domains that involved 937 Malay, Chinese and Iban adolescents from three major towns in Sarawak. The results showed that the use of Bahasa Malaysia exceeded English usage for all three ethnic groups, showing the success of compulsory education in the national language. However, the language planning has greater impact on the Iban than on the Chinese who are shifting away from the ethnic languages of the Chinese sub-groups to Mandarin Chinese. The availability of an alternative standard language with international standing which also functions as a symbol of cultural solidarity compromises the impact of the national language policy. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, UNIMAS 2012 Article NonPeerReviewed text en http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/1089/1/Variable%2Bimpact%2Bof%2BMalaysia%E2%80%99s%2Bnational%2Blanguage%2B%2528abstract%2529.pdf Ting, Su Hie (2012) Variable impact of Malaysia’s national language planning on non-Malay speakers in Sarawak. RBLA, Belo Horizonte, 12 (2). pp. 381-403.
spellingShingle AC Collections. Series. Collected works
P Philology. Linguistics
Ting, Su Hie
Variable impact of Malaysia’s national language planning on non-Malay speakers in Sarawak
title Variable impact of Malaysia’s national language planning on non-Malay speakers in Sarawak
title_full Variable impact of Malaysia’s national language planning on non-Malay speakers in Sarawak
title_fullStr Variable impact of Malaysia’s national language planning on non-Malay speakers in Sarawak
title_full_unstemmed Variable impact of Malaysia’s national language planning on non-Malay speakers in Sarawak
title_short Variable impact of Malaysia’s national language planning on non-Malay speakers in Sarawak
title_sort variable impact of malaysia’s national language planning on non-malay speakers in sarawak
topic AC Collections. Series. Collected works
P Philology. Linguistics
url http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/1089/
http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/1089/1/Variable%2Bimpact%2Bof%2BMalaysia%E2%80%99s%2Bnational%2Blanguage%2B%2528abstract%2529.pdf