Grazer Linguistische Studien 89 (Frü hjah r 2018); S. 111-139.DO I:10.25364/04.45 :2018.89.6

Is the Baba Nyonya a doomedminority? A preliminary studyon the vitality of Baba Malay

in Melaka (Malaysia)

Paolo Coluzzi & PatriciaNora Riget & Rie Kitade

University of Malaya; pcoluzzi@yahoo.com

A bstract. The main aim of this article is to assess the pr esent level oflangu age vita lity for Baba Malay , a Malay va riety spo ke n by Me la­ka 's Baba Nyo nyas (also kn own as Peran akan Chinese or Straits Chi­nese), th e oldes t Chi nese communi ty in Malaysia. This has bee n donethrou gh a survey on lan gu age use and atti tudes w he re th e answersprovided by th e younge r and olde r res po nde nts have been compared(appa rent time), and th rou gh the param et er of ethno ling uistic vita li­ty kn own as EGIDS (Expanded Graded Int ergen er ati on al Disrup tionScale). After an in troduction and a sho rt outline of lan gu age vitali tyin Malays ia and of the Baba Nyonyas and their her itage lan gu age,th e ar ticle describ es in detail th e method ology employe d followed byan ana lysis of the results obta ined and a discussion on th e Baba Nyo­nyas 's linguis tic repertoi re and the enda nge red sta tus of their he­ritage lan gu age. In th e conclus ion, some ge ne ra l cons ide ra tions andsome advice are offere d for the maintenan ce of Baba Malay.

Ke ywords. Baba Malay , Baba Nyonya, Chinese, language shift, lan ­guage vitality, Melaka (Malacca)

1. Introduction

Malaysia is a federal cons titu tiona l mon ar chy with about 30,699,000inhabitants (Departme nt of Sta tis tics 2015). It is geograp hically divi­ded into tw o part s: West Malays ia, i.e. th e peni nsul a so uth of Thai ­lan d w here Melaka is located, and Eas t Malaysia, i.e. the two sta tes ofSara wa k and Sabah on th e north -western side of th e island of Bor -

112 Paolo Coluzz i & Patricia Nor a Riget & Rie Kitad e

neo, placed between West Mala ysia and th e Philippines, to the southof th e South China Sea. Malaysia is a multilingu al and multi-ethnicsta te boasting aro und 140 differ ent hist oric al lan gu ages (Simons andFennig 20 18). These lan gu ages are spoke n by a populati on made upmainl y of Malays (54.6 %), othe r Bumiputras ' (12.8%), Chinese (24.6%),Indi an s, particul arl y Tamil (7.3 %), and othe r unlist ed ethnic gro ups(0.7 %) (Saw 20 15, 64) .

In spite of thi s eno rmo us lin gui stic diver sit y, th e only officiallan gu age in Malays ia is Sta nda rd Malay (Bahasa Malaysia), wh ereasEnglish, th e former colon ial lan gu age, can be cons ide re d a de factosecond lan gu age. TI1e positi on of English is very stro ng in Malays ia,with asolid pr esence in man y high domains, including th e mass me­dia . Eng lish also tends to be th e preferred lan gu age of int er- ethniccommunica tion, parti cularl y amo ng educated peopl e (Asma h HajiOm ar 1992, 2003), bein g th e first or one of th e first lan gu ages for asma ll per centage of Malaysian s, as weil , including man y Baba Nyo­nyas. TI1e scheme in Table 1 may be see n as representing th e lin gui s­tic rep ertoir e of Malays ia .

Table 1. TI1e Malays ian lin gui sti c rep ertoir e

- English (in ter-ethn ic communicat ion , modern ity , eco nomic oppo r tuni­ties, forei gne rs/tourism )

- Sta ndard Ma lay (in ter -e thnic communi ca tion, nati on ali sm , economicopportun it ies, Islam)

- Mandari n Chinese (communi cati on within the Chines e com munity,iden tit y for the Chinese, economic oppo rtun ities)

- Ara bic (Islam)- Tamil (communication wi th in th e Tamil community , identity for th e Ta -

mil)- Othe r minority lan gu ages, including othe r Indi an lan gu ages, Ca n to nese,

Hokki en and th e lan gu ages of the Dayak s and Ora ng Asli (com munica­Iion within th e ethnic group, local identity)

- Othe r Ch ine se and Malay dialect s, including Baba Malay (local commu­nicati on and identity)

TI1e term "bumiputra" refer s to th e ethnic gro ups con sid er ed tobe th e origina l inhabitants of Malays ia. In addi tion to th e Malays ,th ese include th e various trib aI gro ups of Borneo and th e abo ri­ginals of th e peninsul a, kn own as Oran g As li, plu s othe r sma llergroups.

Is the Baba Nyonya a doomed min ority? 113

It is no t an easy task to assess the level of pr esti ge that a lan gu ageenjoys, also considering that differ ent lan gu ages may enjoy differentdegrees of pr esti ge among different individuals and ethnic gro ups .Based on our own research and observa tions and th at of othe r re­sea rche rs (see next sec tion), however , we have atte mpted to rankth ese lan gu ages acco rding to th e pr estige they see m to enjoy amo ngthe majority of th eir spea kers (fro m more to less). The most pres ti­gious varieti es also tend to be the one s that enjoy mor e official sup­port. As can be seen, English has been placed in the first positi on .Standard Malay also enjoys qui te high pr esti ge and sha res with Eng ­lish many high domains, apart from being used wid ely in low do­mains amo ng the Malays and other Bumiputr as. It is also used as alan gu age of int er-ethnic communication, but norm ally only wh enone of the spea kers is Malay, Bumiputra or Baba Nyon ya and is notfluent in English (Asmah Haji Om ar 2003, 121-1 22). Educa tion ismostly in Malay, altho ugh most Chinese and Indi an s atte nd nati on al­typ e Chinese and Tamil schools, wh er e Malay is only tau ght as asubjec t. Mandar in Chinese also enjoys high pr est ige in spi te oflacking official recognition as a lan gu age of Malays ia. Arabic is spo­ken by few people , but it retain s a high level of pr est ige amo ng theMuslim community thanks to its religiou s significance. The remai­ning lan gu ages occupy the low positi on in a diglossie rela tion sh ipwith Eng lish, Standa rd Malay and Chinese (as far as th e Chinese dia­lects are conce rned) and are used mostly in non -officialldom esti c se t­tin gs. In Malays ia the ph enom en on of code-mixing and code­switching between the speake rs ' firs t lan gu age and Eng lish and/o rMalay is very wid espread (Asmah Haji Om ar 1992).

This ar ticle focuses on one specific Malay dialect commo nlykn own as Baba Malay, spoken by a decreasing number of Baba Nyo­nyas, the oldes t Ch inese community in Malaysia.

In spite of th e claim that Baba Malay is Baba Nyon yas ' langu age,reiterat ed in most education al and publicity pub lications , consid eringthe ove ra ll level of lan gu age vitalit y in Malaysia and our per son alobse rva tions, we thought that Baba Malay may not have been sowid ely and commo nly used by pr esent-day Baba Nyonyas, and th at apr ocess of siniciza tion might be under way. Our resear ch hyp othesisthen was that the Baba Nyonyas were probably shifti ng towardsother more pr estigious lan gu ages such as Eng lish or Mandarin.

114 Pao lo Co luzz i & Pat ricia Nor a Riget & Rie Kitade

Copious liter ature is ava ilable on th e Baba Nyon ya community,but mos t of it focu ses on Baba Nyo nyas ' mat eri al cult ure. A few lin ­guistic stud ies can indeed be found , but socioling uis tic ana lyses arevery limited . Even th ou gh some obse rva tions of a soc ioling uisticnat ur e can be found in most of th ese works as we il as in Tan (1988,1993, 2006) and Ansaldo et al. (2016), only th e most recent Baba Nyo­nya grammar availab le, Lee 2014's Ph D th esis, inclu des an inter es­tin g cha pter on th e vita lity of Baba Malay th at , however , does notsee m to be based on soc iolinguistic dat a.? Ther efore we decided toundertake thi s research wi th th e aim of attes ting th e prese n t BabaNyo nyas ' lingui st ic repertoire, th e use of th eir lan gu ages in differentdom ain s and th eir att itudes tow ard s Baba Malay. Our main aim,how ever , was to ga uge th e actu al vita lity of th e heritage lan gu age, aswe had don e in th e past w ith th e Iban , Lun Baw an g (Coluzz i 2010)and Bidayuh lan gu ages in Borneo (Coluzz i, Riget and Wan g 2013)and with Mah Meri , an Aslian lan gu age spo ke n in th e vicin ity ofKua la Lum pur by th e sma ll aborigina l populatio n w ith th e samenam e (Coluzzi, Riget and Wa ng 2017). Apart fro m th e opportu nity ofproviding new da ta to the academic community, we also th ough ttha t a reliabl e assessme nt of Baba Malay's vi ta lity was esse ntial ifany attempt at revitalizing th e lan guage sho uld be carried ou t, provi­din g this was indeed enda nge red and there was an in teres t and a willon the part of th e comm uni ty to ac tua lly pr eser ve th eir heritage lan ­guage.

Not kn ow ing anybody in the Baba Nyo nya community, we de ci­ded to con tact th e Persa tua n Peranaka n Cina Malaysia, th e hist or icalBaba Nyo nya associa tio n in Melaka, and arra nge d to meet some ofth eir promine nt memb er s, wh o directed us to so me othe r Baba Nyo ­nya activists and enthus ias ts livin g in Me laka and Kuala Lumpur soth at we could inter view th em . Mos t imp ortantly th ey offered to dis­tribute amo ng th eir memb er s th e qu estionnair e we had prepar ed .Thi s ar ticle sho ws th e results we obta ine d, which were subs ta ntiatedby th e infor ma tio n and view po in ts that wer e pr ovid ed by th e BabaNyo nyas we talk ed to.

Afte r thi s introduction and a sho rt outline of lan gu age vita lity inIvla laysia and of th e Baba Nyon yas and th eir heritage lan gu age, thi s

Ethnologue also br iefly desc ribes an d assesses the vitality of Ba­ba Malay, but thi s, too, does not see m to be base d on any re centsocioling uis tic data.

Is the Baba Nyonya a doomed min ority? 115

article describes the methodology employe d follow ed by an analys isof the results obt ained and a discussion. In the concl us ion some ge­neral cons ide ra tions and some advice are offere d for the main ten an ­ce of Baba Malay , whi ch appea rs to be the most imp ortant ele ment ofBaba Nyonya cultur e and identity.

2. Language vitality in Malaysia

The vita lity of the lan gu ages/di alects shown in the pr evious see tio nvari es cons iderably, but exhaus tive and wid e-ran ge surveys havenevcr been carried out in Malaysia. The few resear ch studies th athave been conducted by lecturers workin g at differen t Malaysianuniversiti es and by Masters and PhD stude nts at the Uni versit y ofMalaya see m to indi ca te a relati vely high vita lity for some of th esevari eti es, whereas othe rs, incl uding Baba Malay, the fOClIS of thi sarticlc, are undergoin g rapid lan gu age shift with Malay , Eng lish andManda rin replacing the ethnic lan gu ages. Even the min ority lan gu a­ges that may look quit e vita l at first sight are expe ricnc ing slow butsteady lan gu age shift, whi ch is eviden t in th e yo unge r ge ne ra tion,especially childre n, usin g the ethnic lan gu agcs lcss th an th e olderge nera tion. Acco rding to research carr ied out by Coluzz i, Riget an dWan g (2013, 2017) and Coluzz i (2017), the vitality of the lan gu agesthat have bee n exam ined so far from a socio ling uistic pe rspcc tive ,including Baba Malay, can be see n in table 2. This is based on th epar ameter of ethnoling uistic vitality kn own as EGIDS (Lewis andSimo ns , 2010), deriv ed from Fishrn an 's GIDS (1991), wi th the levelsshown in th e first column (from 0 to 10 with tw o subleve ls "a" an d"b" for levels 6 and 8, lower levels corresponding to higher lingui sticvitalit y), the corresponding label in the second column and a list oflan guages that according to EGIDS diagn osti c qu esti on s correspo ndfor each level. When the level vari es according to the speech com mu­nity and the geographica l locat ion , th e same lan gu age has been clas ­sified under more than one label.

Table 2: EGIDS level for Malaysian lan gu ages (base d on Co luzz i2017 and the present research)

Level Label Languageso Intern ation al Eng lish, Manda rin, (Arabic)1 ational Sta nda rd Malay2 Provincial There are no languages at this leve l in Malaysia

6b Th rea ten ed

7 Shift ing

8a Mo r ibund8b Nearly ex tinc t

9 Dorm ant10 Extinc t

116 Paolo Co luzzi & Patricia Nor a Riget & Rie Kitad e

3 Wider co mmun i- Iban , Kelantan ese, Ca n to nese, Hokkiencation

4 Educat ional Tami l, Kadazandusun, Iban , lhai5 Developing Iban , Telugu6a Vigoro us Bidayuh (and other indi genou s lan gu ages in

Borneo), Mah Meri, Terni ar, Semai (and otherindi ge nous langu ages in peninsular Ma laysia),Ca n tonese, HokkienKada zandus un, Ca n to ne se , Hokkien , Punjabi,Baba MalayBida yuh (outside th e Bidayuh belt) , Hakka,Teochew, Hok chiu, Hainan ese (and othe r Ch inese"dialects"), Bab a MalayKri stan g, SindhiNon e of th e lan gu ages mention ed in thi s articlesec m to be cur ren tly at thi s stageOrang Kan akW ila ' (Low lan d Semang) , Ple-T erner

3. Baba Nyonyas'

The Baba Nyonyas, also kn own as Per an ak an Chinese or Stra its (orStrait s-born) Ch inese , are th e oldes t Ch inese commu ni ty in Ma lay­sia," as its fir st members may have arr ive d in Me laka , th e cen tre ofth e Me laka Sulta na te a nd now a UNESCO heritage site , as ea rly asth e 15th ce n tury, eve n th ou gh clea r pr oofs of sta ble se tt leme n ts dat ebac k to no ea rl ier th an th e 17th ce n tury (Tan 1988),

While Bab a Nyon ya corn mun ities ca n be found on th e island ofPen an g in northwest Malaysia and in Sin gapor e as weil , in this studywc havc focu sed on th e olde r co mmunity in Melak a, which is th eon ly one in Malaysia who has ret ain ed its ow n Malay dialect nowa ­days kn own as Bab a Malay ." These first Ch inese , mo stl y having mi ­3 Thi s sec tion is based mainly on Tan 1988, 1993, 2006, Khoo 1996,

Ansaldo et al. 2007 and Lee 2008,H owever , Chi nese co mmunities sha r ing ve ry similar cu ltura l andsoc ioling u is tic tr ait s as th e Baba Nyonyas ca n be found both inIndon esia and in Thail and .Baba Ma lay is also spo ken in Singapo re and by a small per cen ­tage of Bab a Nyon yas in Pen ang who emigra ted from Me laka ,with th e rest of th e community speaking a Hokkien va rie ty .Ther e is also a co mmunity of Per an ak an -t yp e Ch inese living in

Is the Baba Nyonya a doomed min orit y? 117

gra ted from the areas in southern China whe re Hokkien va rieties(Sou the rn Min) are spo ken, married local wom en fr om whom th eyand th eir childre n acquire d th e local Malay va riety , in addi tion toothe r cultural eleme nts such as clo th ing and cuisine . Wh er eas in ma ­ny min ority communities in th e world th e cha nge of lan gu age maylead to a cha nge of culture and eve n tua l loss of th e original identity ,th e Baba Nyon yas stuck to th eir Chinese ident ity and th eir ances traltr adition s, par ticul arl y religiou s ones linked to Chinese folk beli efsand Buddhism. Until relatively recently , in fact , int ermarriage with aMalay did not necessit at e con ver sion to Islam ." However , interrnar ­riage with local women slow ed down and eve n tua lly sto ppe d as th ecommunity expand ed and more Nyonyas (Peranakan Chinese wo­men ) wer e ava ilable for marriage. Things began to cha nge in th e 19thcentury wh en Melaka becam e a British se tt leme n t and immigr ati onfro m China incre ased expone n tially . Thi s new situa tio n led to th e in­tr odu cti on of English into the Baba Nyonas' linguisti c repertoire onth e one hand, and to a degr ee of intermarriage with th ese new Ch i­nese, which however always led to th e ac quire d hu sband or mor eofte n wife bein g ass im ila ted and becom ing Baba Nyon yas. Bus inessacume n, loyalt y to th e British and mast er y of th e tw o most impor ­tant local lan gu ages, Eng lish and Ma lay (Baba Ma lay in th ose tim eswas a lingu a fra nca in th e Strai ts Sett le me n ts) , help ed the Baba Nyo­nyas to increase th eir pr esti ge and eco no mic pow er. However, the] ap an ese occ upa tion during World W ar TI first , and th e w ithdraw alof the British in 1957 affec ted th e Bab a community negati vely, asth ey lost th eir fortune and th eir pri vileges, thi s tim e partly on ac ­count of the mor e recent Chinese immigr ants in creasing th eir wealthand power. There are now approxima tely 8,000-10,000 Bab a Nyon yasin Melaka (Lee Yuen Thien , per son al com munica tion),? livin g bo th in

Kelantan, in north east Malaysia , but they also speak a H okkiendialect and Kelant anese, th e local Malay dialect, and some evenspeak a local Thai dial ect, th e language of th e Or an g Siam livingin th e region (Ta n 2006).As a matter of fac t, th er e would be no Baba Nyon yas tod ay if th epr esent laws requiring conve rs ion to Islam in case of marriage toa Mus lim partner had been in place in th e past.There are no official figures ava ila ble, but co ns ide ring th at th er ewere 5,264 Baba Nyon yas in Melaka in 1881 (Ta n 1988, 49) out ofa population of 93,600 (it is now over 687,000; www.pupulstat.

118 Paolo Coluzz i & Patricia Nor a Riget & Rie Kitad e

town and in th e sur ro unding coun trys ide . Many mor e are scatte redaround th e country and abroa d, a goo d number havin g migrat ed toKua la Lumpur or Singapo re.

4. Baba Malay

Baba Ma lay is th e term th at is normally used at presen t to refer toth e Ma lay va rie ty spo ke n (and in th e past eve n written ) by the BabaNyon yas in Melaka and Singapo re . Eve n th ou gh Baba Ma lay may bea creo lized lan gu age which sha res man y features with Bazaar Malay ,th e pid gin th at was used in th e past as a lin gu a fran ca in th e region ,following 1hurgo od (1998), we pr efer to see it as a Malay dialect ra ­th er th an as acreo Ie or a mixed lan gu age. In fact , it see ms not tohave develop ed from a pid gin but was rather th e family lan gu age ofth e first Ch inese immigr ants as th ey int ermarried with local w om en ,as weIl as th e lan gu age of th e community th at sur ro unded th em . Infac t,

In th e enviro nme nt in whic h th e sh ift ing gro up is small andhas good access to an already existing lan gu age of th e com rn u­nity, it is not jus t possible but like ly th at th e gro up wi ll not de­velop acreoIe but ins tea d will shift to the do minan t lang ua geof th e co mmuni ty [...] w ith w hic h it is in con tact. (Th urgood1998, 5-6)

As a con tac t lan gu age and pa r tly to provide for lexical item s linkedto Chinese cu lture which did not ex ist in Ma lay, Baba Malay featuresa lar ge number of w ords deri ved from Chinese, mostl y Hokkien ,w hic h is th e main Chinese va rie ty spo ke n in Melak a, and a numberof ph on ological and morphosyntacti c features th at may have in partderi ved fro m H okkien , th e substra te lan gu age (She lla bea r 1916; Pakir1986; Tan 1988, 1993; Thurgood 1998; Gw ee TI1ian Hock 2006). Som erefer cn ce materi al has been pr odu ced to dat e which sho w how BabaMa lay differ entiat es from Ma lay . In addition to a spec ific lexiconmostl y deri ved fro m Hokk ien , with word s suc h as <gua> and <lu>,resp ecti vely for th e sta nda rd «aku» and «awak> (firs t and secondpe rso n sing ular subjec t pr on ouns), or -e tok» for <meja> (table), so me

in fp/As ia/ma laysip.h tm), and possibl y around 6500 member s ofthi s co mmunity in Me laka and surroundings at th e beginning ofth e 1980s (Ta n 1988, 68), th is see ms to us a reason abl e es tima te.

Is the Baba Nyo nya a doo med minority? 119

of Baba Malay' s most striking features include it s typica l endings leIin st ead of th e sta nda rd layl 0 1' 101 in st ead of law/, as in -e sampe> fo r<sampai> (arr ive) 0 1' <piso> for «pisau» (kn ife) . Other features, pos ­sibly derived from Hokkien, ar e of a morphosyntacti c nature, such asth e po ssessiv e formed with -e punya> th at pr eced es th e noun wher e itfollows it in sta nda rd Ma lay, for example 'gua punya kerbe ' in steadof th e sta nda rd 'ke rbau aku ' (my buffa loj .! ?

5. Methodology

Thi s resear ch is mostl y based on qu antitat ive dat a obtai ne d th rou gha qu esti onnaire on lan gu age use and att itudes ada pte d from Co luzz i2010. The qu estionnaire included 24 multiple ch oice qu esti on s inEng lish and Sta nda rd Malay (w he re th e resp ondents co u ld tick m or eth an one item ) and tw o ope n-e nded qu est ions at th e end w here th eresp ondents we re as ked to elabo ra te on th e reasons th at in th eirview have led to a possible dec rease in the nu mber of Baba Ma layspeakers and on w ha t co uld be do ne to pr eserve th ei r her itage lan ­guage. As th e Baba Nyon yas in Me laka are now qu ite dispersedaround th e city and its outskir ts , we kn ew th at our resear ch wouldnot be easy, but ge tt ing enoug h member s of th e Bab a Nyon ya co rn­munity to fill th e qu esti onnaires w e provided pr oved to be a har dertask th an w e imagine d. In spite of ge tt ing full co llabo ra tion fro m th ePer satuan Per anak an Cina and by othe r mernb er s of th e comm u ni­ty,!? th e complete d ques tio nna ires we go t bac k at firs t were not ma­n)' , and the only w a)' to ge t more questionnaires comple ted , pa rticu­larly by )'o unger mem ber s of th e comm uni ty, was to place it onli neas w ell (google forrns), In th e end we man aged to ge t 43 va lid qu es ­tionnaires com plete d by Baba Nyon yas of both sexes w ith an ageran ging fro m 23 to 86 . 111e ge nde r and education levels of th e res­pondents ca n be see n in table 1.

10

Sta ndard Malay spe lling has bee n used her e also for th e Babawo rds.For a sho rt description of Baba Ma lay's ge ne ra l features, see forexa mple Tan 1988, 1993, Gwee l11ian H ock 2006 and Lee 2008 .We wo uld like to th ank particul arl y Chui Eng Ong , Rach el Ong ,Isaac Tan , Lee Yue Thien of th e Per satuan Per an ak an Baba-Nyo­nya Malaysia , jo Chua and Daniel Tan .

120 Pao lo Co luzz i & Patricia Nor a Riget & Rie Kitad e

24 (55.8 %)19 (44 .1%)

1 (2.3%)18 (4 1.8%)24 (55. 8%)

Table 3: Gend er and level of education of the respond ents

GenderMaleFemaleEducatio nPri marySecondaryHigh er/Universi ty

To valida te and give more streng th to th e results we obta ined, wediscussed th em and int erview ed a few active memb ers of the co rn­munity, and in most cases their views and person al experience tur ­ned out to coincide wit h our results. We are however awa re that theanswe rs pr ovid ed migh t be somewhat biased as per haps only moreactive and committe d Baba Nyonya s took th e time to complete thequesti onnaires, possibly leadi ng to resul ts and opinions that may bemore optimistic than what the realit y iso

6. An aly sis of the overall results

The firs t two quest ion s focused on the responden ts' lan gu age kn ow ­ledge and lingui sti c repertoir e. According to the answers provided,Baba Nyo nyas are clearly mul tilin gu al, as they have been at leas tsince the es tablishme n t of the British Strai ts Sett leme nts in the 19thcentury, when English joi ned Baba Malay in their repertoire, whichwas later compleme nted by Hokki en and othe r Chinese varietieswhe n massive immi gr ati on fro m China began , by Standard Malay,which has been a compulsory subjec t in schoo l since Independ en ceand, more recentl y, by Mandarin. The language spoken most fluen tlysee ms to be Eng lish (88.3%) followed by Baba Malay (81.3%), whereasthe latter appea rs to be still the first lan guage learn t (74 .4%), follow edby Eng lish (44.1%). As the figures make clear , most of th e resp on­dent s spea k more than one language fluentl y and have more thanone first language.

Table 4: Lan guage kn owledge

1) You speak m or e fluen tlyBab a Ma layStandard Ma layEng lish

35 (81. 3%)19 (44 .1%)38 (88.3 %)

Is th e Bab a Nyon ya a doom ed min or ity? 121

2)

MandarinHokkienOther sWhaL is your first language/ moth er ton gu e?Baba Ma laySta nda rd MalayEnglishMandarinHok kienOthers

9 (20.9%)13 (30.2%)

2 (4.6%)

32 (74.4%)2 (4.6%)

19 (44.1%)3 (6.9%)4 (9.3%)1 (2.3%)

Qu esti on s 3 to 5 pr obed the relati onship between Baba Malay andethnic belon gin g, an d th e relationship between th eir speaking BabaMalay and the wa y th ey are/were treat ed, particularly by the Hok ­kierr' t/Mand arin speaki ng larger Chinese community. TI1e lar ge ma­jo rity of th e respondents (81.3%) beli eve th at to be part of th e BabaNyon ya community it is imp or tant to spea k Baba Malay, eventh ough thi s has led to some form of discriminati on (41.8% of th e res ­pondents often 0 1' occasiona lly suffered discriminati on ). TI1e majorityof th e answers (55.8%), however, show no signs of discrimination.On th e other hand , nearly half of th e answe rs to qu esti on 5 pointedto negative att itude s toward s the Baba Nyon yas on th e part of th eChinese community, who expect the Baba Nyon yas to sho w more'Chinese ethnic pride' by speaking Chinese and not a Malay dialect.Sti ll 30.2% of th e respo ndent s thought that th e ove ra ll att itude of th e'other' Chinese is positi ve.

Table 5: Ethnic belon gin g and relat ion ship with th e lar ger Chinesecommunity

3) To be part of the Baba Nyon ya co mm un ity is it import an t to speakBaba Malay ?Yes 35 (81.3%)No 3 (6.9%)It dep ends 6 (13.9%)

4) Have yo u ev er bee n discriminaLed for spea king Baba Malay?Yes, ofte n 6 (13.9%)Yes, occasi on ally 12 (27.9%)No 24 (55.8%)

11 Hokki en is th e most wid ely spo ken Chinese variety in Melaka,but othe r varieties are pr esent, such as Cantonese and Hakk a. Infact , on e of the 'other lan guages ' in the qu estionnair es that werecomp let ed was Cantonese.

122 Paolo Co luzz i & Patricia Nor a Riget & Rie Kitad e

NR 1 (2.3%)5) On the w ho le wh at is th e Ch inese communi ty 's att itude towards

Baba-Nyo nya s who speak Baba Ma lay ?Indi fferent 12 (27.9%)Pos it ive 13 (30.2%)Negative, they expect us to speak Chinese 20 (46.5%)

Qu esti on s 6 to 12 pr obed lan gu age use with famil y member s, inclu ­din g boyfri ends and girlfr iends . As far as the most imp ortant dom ainfor lan gu age mainten an ce is conce rne d, th e most spoke n lan gu agewithin th e respondents' family is Baba Malay (79%), eve n th ou ghEng lish came out as bein g spoke n almost as frequently (76.7%). Onth e whole, then, th e Baba Nyonyas ' family lan guages ar e Baba Mal ayand Eng lish, which th ey may use separately or in code switc hing ,eve n though 20.9% of th e respondents do use Chines e (Mandarinand/o r Hokkien ) within th e famil y, normally together with th e otherlan gu age s of th e repertoire , especially if one of the members of th efamil y has come from the lar ger Chinese community. How ever , if w elook at th e lan gu age used with differ ent gene ra tions, we begin to seequite big differ en ces. The ove ra ll tenden cy is to use mostl y Baba Ma ­lay with grandparen ts (90.6%), wh ereas th e use of th e heritage lan ­guag e gradually decrcases in pa ra llel with th e decrease of th e age ofth e in te rloc u tors. With par ents th e percentage of use of Baba Ma layhas alread y dec reased to 86%, while most significan tly th e use ofEnglish has increased from 11.6% (with gra ndpa re nts) to 44.1%, fourtimes mor e. The use of Manda rin has doubled, fro m 4.6% w ith gra nd ­par ents to 9.3%. With siblings English has alread y ove rtake n BabaMalay as th e most spo ke n lan gu age (Baba Malay 69.7%, Eng lish 79%) ,wh er eas th e use of Mandarin ha s doubled aga in, from 9.3% withparents to 23.2%; let us not for get that most or perhap s all the res ­pondents usin g Mandarin with th eir siblings or children atte nded na ­tional -type schools where Mandarin is th e lan guage of instruction.As ca n be expected , with the respondents ' partners th e most us edlan gu age is English (72%) , as they may come from outside the BabaNyon ya community . With children and eve n more with grandc hil­dr en , th e mo st spoken lan guage has becom e Eng lish (96.2% and 100%resp ectiv ely, th ese per centages bein g of th e respondents ac tua lly ha­ving childre n and gra ndchildren) , in th e first case bein g used onethird more th an Baba Malay (no rma lly spo ke n by 66.6% of th e res ­pondents with th eir children) , and in th e second case as mu ch as five

Is the Bab a Nyonya a doomed minority? 123

tim es more (normally spoken by 18.1% of the respondents with theirgrandchildren). These figures show a clear shift from Baba Mal ay toEnglish.

Table 6: Lan guage use within the family

6) Which lan gu age do yo u normally use with in th e family?Baba Malay 34 (79%)Sta nda rd Malay 1 (2.3%)En glish 33 (76.7%)Mandarin 5 (11.6%)Hokk ien 4 (9.3%)Others 1 (2.3%)

7) Which lan gu age do/did yo u normally use with yo ur grandparen ts?Baba Malay 39 (90.6%)Sta nda rd Malay 2 (4.6%)English 5 (11.6%)Mandarin 2 (4.6%)Hok kien 3 (6.9%)Othe rs 1 (2.3%)NR 1 (2.3%)

8) Which lan gu age do/did yo u normally use with yo ur par ents?Bab a Malay 37 (86%)Sta nda rd Malay 2 (4.6%)Eng lish 19 (44.1%)Ma nda rin 4 (9.3%)Hokkien 3 (6.9%)

9) Which lan gu age do yo u normally use with yo ur siblings ?Baba Malay 30 (69.7%)Sta ndard Malay 3 (6.9%)Eng lish 34 (79%)Manda rin 10 (23.2%)NR 1 (2.3%)

10) W hich langua ge do yo u nor mall y use w ith yo ur wi fe/gi rl fri en d/hu sband/b oyfriend?Bab a Malay 14 (32.5%)Sta nda rd Malay 3 (6.9%)English 31 (72%)Ma ndarin 5 (11.6%)Hokkien 1 (2.3%)NR 7 (16.2%)

11) Which lan gu age do yo u normally use with yo ur chi ldren?Baba Malay 18 (41.8%)Sta nda rd Malay 1 (2.3%)

124 Paolo Coluzz i & Patricia Nor a Riget & Rie Kitad e

Eng lish 26 (60.4%)Mandarin 4 (9.3%)Hokk ien 2 (4.6%)Ot he rs 1 (2.3%)NR 16 (37.2%)

12) W hic h lan gu age do yo u no rma lly use with yo ur grandch ild ren?Baba Malay 2 (4.6%)Standard Malay 0Eng lish 11 (25.5%)Mandarin 1 (2.3%)NR 32 (74.4%)

If we move on from lan gu age use within th e famil y to outside the fa ­mily dom ain , that is from informal to more form al dom ain s (ques­tion s 13-17), we see the use of English and Chinese vari eti es increa ­sing , with Baba Malay as expec ted bein g used only with friends (sup ­posedly belon gin g to the Baba Nyon ya community, 62.7%) and mu chless with neighb ours (27.9%), wh en sho pping locally (18.6%) and withwo rk and c1assma tes (20.9%). However, in ge ne ra l the use of Eng lishprevails (93% with friends , 67.4% with neighb ours, 83.7% wh en shop ­pin g locally, 90.6% with the doctor " and 83.7% wi th work or c1ass­mat es). Wh at can also be noti ced is that Chinese va rieties , espec iallyManda rin, are used ex tens ive ly, ran gin g from 18.6%of use of Manda­rin wi th wo rk and c1assma tes to 32.5% whe n shopping locally."Standa rd Malay is used jus t slightly more, from 23.2% with neigh ­bours and doctor s to as mu ch as 58.1% wh en sho pping locally. Ob ­vious ly her e the lan gu age cha nges acco rding to the ethnic ity andeduca tion of th e int erl ocutor s, Chi nese va rieties and English bein gused with othe r Chinese, and Standa rd Malay and Eng lish with theMalays or othe r ethnic groups .

12

13

The ans we rs of the two respondents wh o declar ed they use BabaMalay with the doctor stand out as rath er peculi ar. Their doctormay be a Baba or they used Baba Malay expec ting th e doctor tounder stand as the lingui sti c distanc e from Sta nda rd Malay is notlar ge.Acco rding to Clamme r (1979, 12), th e number of Baba Nyon yaswh o could speak Chinese in 1975 was already approx ima tely 42%in Melaka.

Is the Bab a Nyon ya a doom ed minority? 125

Table 7: Langua ge use out side the famil y

13) W h ich lan gu age do yo u normally use w ith yo ur friends?Baba Malay 27 (62.7%)Sta ndard Ma lay 10 (23.2%)English 40 (93%)Man dar in 13 (30.2%)Hokkien 3 (6.9%)Othe rs 2 (4.6%)NR 2 (4.6%)

14) Which lan gu age do you normally use with your neigh bours?Baba Ma lay 12 (27.9%)Standa rd Malay 12 (27.9%)English 29 (67.4%)Mandarin 10 (23.2%)Hokkien 5 (11.6%)Others 1 (2.3%)NR 2 (4.6%)

15) Which lan gu age do yo u normally use wh en yo u go sho ppinglocally?Baba Malay 8 (18.6%)Sta nda rd Malay 25 (58.1%)English 36 (83.7%)Mandar in 14 (32.5%)Hokkien 4 (9.3%)Ot hers 1 (2.3%)NR 2 (4.6%)

16) W hi ch lan gu age do you normally use wi th the doct or ?Bab a Malay 2 (4.6%)Sta nda rd Malay 10 (23.2%)English 39 (90.6%)Mandarin 4 (9.3%)NR 2 (4.6%)

17) Which lan gu age do yo u normally us e with yo ur w ork/classm ates?Baba Malay 9 (20.9%)Standa rd Malay 13 (30.2%)Engl ish 36 (83.7%)Mand arin 8 (18.6%)NR 3 (6.9%)

Quest ions 18 and 19 focus more specifically on the Baba Malay spo ­ken by younger and older spea kers . In fact, even if a min ority lan ­guage seems to be maintained by a community, the 'quality' of the

126 Paolo Coluzzi & Patricia Nor a Riget & Rie Kitad e

lan guage might be cha ng ing, influ en ced by the mor e prestigious lan ­guages in the repert oire. In fact, most of the respond ents declar e thatthe Baba Malay spoken by the different gene ra tions is different(74.4% of th e respond ent s thought that th e lan gu age spoken by olderpeople is different fr0111 that spoken by younge r people), as younge rpeople use more Standard Malay or English word s and struc tures(46.5 %) and /o r they pron ounce Baba Malay differentl y (37.2 %). Thesta tus of Sta ndard Malay and the fact th at a goo d part of Baba Nyo­nyas atte nd/a tte nded nati on al schoo ls havin g Standard Malay as th elan guage of ins truc tion may have led to a degree of 'decreolization 'of the lan gu age, which may have become mor e similar to Stan dardMalay (Lim 1988) .

Tablc 8: Lan guage differen ce between younge r and older spea kers

18) Is th e Baba Ma lay spoken by olde r peopl e approx ima te ly th e sa meas th at spoken by young er peopl e?Yes 9 (20.9%)No 32 (74.4%)

ot sur e 1 (2.3 %)NR 1 (2.3%)

19) If not , how is it different ?Youn ger people use more Standard Malay 0 1' Eng lish 20 (46.5%)word s and struc turesYou nger people pr on ounce it difTere nt ly 16 (37.2%)Younger people mix Bab a Malay w ith ot her languages 1 (2.3%)NR 2 (4.6%)

The last part of thi s sec tion (ques tions 20-24) focuses on lan guageatt itudes. As can be obse rve d, att itudes tow ard s Baba Malay on thewho lc see m to be positive, as the majority of the respondents wouldlike to learn or improve their Baba Malay (58 .1%),14 would like to seeth eir herit age lan gu age officially pr otected (86 %), think that a perio­dical partly or wholly in Baba Malay should be available to the com ­munity as in the past (83.7%), as weil as radi o progr ammes in theher itage lan gu age (74.4 %). As far as the respond ents' per ception to­wa rds th e vita lity of Baba Malay is conce rne d, the grea t majority is

14 However , we are und er the impression that wh at man y of thosewho declar ed they did not want to improve their Baba Malay,probably did so because they th ought their Baba Malay was al­ready fluent and they did not need to improve it, not because ofnegati ve atti tudes .

Is th e Baba Nyon ya a doom ed minority? 127

rather pessimistic (and probably realisti c) as they th ink that theirlan guage will be spoken less in tw enty years ' tim e (88.3 %).

Table 9: Lan gua ge att itudes

20) W ou ld you lik e to learn/i mprove yo ur Baba Malay?Yes 25 (58.1%)No 10 (23.2%)It dep ends 8 (18.6%)

21) Sho uld Bab a Malay be officia lly pr ot ected ?Yes 37 (86%)No 6 (13.9%)

22) Sho uld a peri odi cal in Bab a Malay be ava ilable to the co mmun ity ?Yes, a ll in Baba Malay 20 (46.5%)Yes, some artic les in it 16 (37.2%)No 6 (13.9%)NR 1 (2.3%)

23) Should th ere be radi o pro gr ammes in Baba Ma lay?Yes 32 (74.4%)

o 10 (23.2%)NR 1 (2.3%)

24) In about 20 ye ars' t ime do yo u think Baba Malay w ill be spo ke n lessth an now ?Yes 38 (88.3%)No 2 (4.6%)Mo re or less th e sa me 3 (6.9%)

7. Lan gn age shift

50 far th e data have shown quite a high retention of Baba Malaywithin the Baba Nyonya community . How ever , if th e answers pr ovi­ded by the younge r respondents (age d between 15-30, 10 resp on ­dents) and the older ones (from 51 yea rs old up , 24 respondents) arecompared (apparent time hypothesis), th e predicam en t of Baba Ma­lay and its degree of endangerment come clearly to the fore.

5tarting with the kn owl edge of the lan gu ages in the respon ­dents ' repertoire, whereas Baba Malay is the lan gu age the olde r ge ­ner ation spea ks most fluently (87 .5%), for the younger generation themost fluent language is English (9 0%). In addition, wh ereas only onememb er (4. 1%) of the older gene ration spea ks Mandarin most fluent ­Iy, thi s percentage increases to as mu ch as 50 % amo ng th e younge rresponden ts. Even Hokki en is spoken mo re fluently by younger Baba

128 Paolo Co luzzi & Patricia Nor a Riget & Rie Kitad e

(70%)(60%)(90%)(50%)(40%)

(20%)

(80%)(20%)(10%)

15-30 (10)

(87.5%) 7(37.5%) 6(83.3%) 9

(4.1%) 5(29. 1%) 4

(8.3%) 0

51+ (24)

2)

1)

Nyonyas (40%) than by olde r on es (29.1%). Pr obabl y on account ofsch ooIing in Malay, th e per centage of yo ung respondents who haveplaced Standa rd Ma lay amo ng th e lan gu ages th ey speak most fluent ­Iy is almo st as high as for Baba Malay (60%), wher eas only 37.5% ofth e older resp ondents feIt th at Standa rd Malay co uld be placedamong th e lan gu ages they could speak most fluently.

As for th e lan gu age th ey learn ed first within th e family , mo styo ung Baba Nyon yas deelar ed thi s is En gIish (80%), wher eas for th eolde r ge neration it was elearly and ove rwhe lm ingly Baba Malay(95.8% aga ins t 20% amo ng the yo unge r responden ts). Thi s means thatfor most yo ung Baba Nyon yas , Baba Malay is really a seco nd langua­ge th at is used less th an EngIish .

Table 10 : Language kn owl edge

(age group)You speak m or e fluentlyBaba Malay 21Sta n da rd Ma lay 9English 20Ma ndar in 1Hokkien 7Othe rs 2Wha t is yo ur fir st lan gu age/mot her ton gue?Baba Malay 23 (95.8%) 2Sta nda rd Ma lay 0 0English 7 (29.1%) 8Ma nda r in 0 2Hok ki en 1 (4 .1%) 1

Othe rs 1 (4. 1%) 0

As far as the importance of Baba Malay as the main ethnic marker isconcern cd, th e ans we rs p rovided by the two groups are very similar,both ag reeing th at to be par t of the Baba Nyo nya co mmunity it isimportan t to spe ak the heritage lan gu age (olde r generation: 83.3%;young er genera tion : 90%). The ans we rs cha nge d quit e dr am ati cally,th ou gh , when th ey we re asked abo u t their own expe r ience of discri ­mination for being Baba Malay speake rs . In fact , wh er eas 45.8% ofth e olde r resp ondents affirme d th at th ey had been discriminat ed ,whether often or ju st occa sionally , as man y as 90% of th e yo unge rgroup sta ted they had never been discriminat ed . Thi s may be partlydu e to th e fact th at th e latt er group is mor e pr oficient in Chinese va -

Is the Baba Nyonya a doomed minority? 129

rieti es, or thanks to the rec ent ' rev iva l' of Baba Nyon ya culture th atbegan at th e end of th e 1990s. Inter estingly , w hile th e olde r respon ­dents divid e their opinions about th e Ch inese corn munity 's at ti tudestowards Baba Nyon yas into three exa ctly equa l part s - th ose wh o be ­lieve th at th eir att itude is indiffer ent, positi ve or negati ve - , th e ma­jo rity of yo unger res po nden ts believe th at th e Chi neses ge neral a tt i­tu de tow ards th em is negati ve, as th ey expect th e Ba ba Nyon yas tobe mor e Chinese by speaking a Chinese va riety .

TabIe 11: Ethnic belon gin g and relati on shi p w ith th e wider Ch inesecommunity

(age group) 51+ (24) 15-30 (10)3) To be part of th e Baba Nyonya co rn mun it y is it irnp ort ant to speak

Baba Malay?Yes 20 (83.3 %) 9 (90 %)No 2 (8.3%) 1 (10 %)It depends 2 (8.3%) 1 (10%)

4) Have you ever been discriminated for speaking Baba Malay?Yes, often 3 (12.5%) 0Yes, occasionally 8 (33 .3%) 1 (10%)No 12 (50%) 9 (90%)NR 1 (4. 1%) 0

5) On the whole what is the Chinese corn munity's attitude towardsBaba-Nyonyas who speak Baba Malay?Indifferent 8 (33 .3%) 2 (20%)Positive 8 (33 .3%) 4 (40 %)Negative, they expect us to speak Chinese 8 (33.3%) 6 (60 %)

Moving on to lan gu age use, the percen tage s of respond ents usin g th ediffer ent lan gu ages of the repertoire w ithi n th eir family are sim ilar ,even th ou gh th e greate r use of Chi nese va rieties by th e yo unger ge­ner at ion stands clea rly out, with 50% of the younger respon den tsusin g Mand ar in or Hokkien within th e fami ly, aga inst 8.2% of th e 01­der gene ra tion. However , if we look at th e patterns of use of BabaMa lay with relati ves belon gin g to differ ent generations, we canclearly see that it is mostl y used by th e young er res po nd en ts to talkto th eir grandpare n ts (70%) and pare n ts (60%), eve n th ou gh w ith thelatter th ey prefer to use Eng lish (80%). In th e past , Baba Ma lay wasbas ically th e on ly lan gu age used wi th par ents and grandpa ren ts,eve n th ou gh w ith siblings English was used equally (83.3% of th eolde r age group). On th e othe r hand, th e yo unge r res po nden ts prefer

130 Paolo Coluzz i & Patricia Nor a Riget & Rie Kitad e

to use Mandarin and English when communicating with their sib­lings (70% and 60% respe ctiv ely) , whil e Baba Malay is only used by40% of the yo unge r respondents. The use of the differ ent lan guagesin the repertoir e is similar in the case of th eir use with the partners,with English bein g the most spoken lan gu age (olde r respondents:70.8%; younge r respondents: 70%), at least partly due to the high ra ­tes of exogamy. TI1e use of th ese lan gu ages appears to be similarwith resp ect to int er action with the respondents ' children (andgra ndchildre n as far as the older genera tion is conce rne d), but withan increased use of English . In fact 50% of the yo unge r respondentsdeclar ed they use Baba Malay with th eir children (this is out of th efour respondents who have childre n), pr obably together with othe rlan gu ages, Eng lish bein g the most spoken one (100%). TI1e older ge­ner ati on seems to be usin g more Baba Malay (72.2%) and a somewha thigh er per centage of Eng lish (94.4 %) wi th their childre n, and eve nmor e Eng lish but mu ch less Baba Malay with their gra ndchildre n(res pec tive ly 100% and 10% of the respondents wh o have gra ndc hi l­dr en ). These da ta seem to indi cat e that only half or pr obabl y less (ifth ose passin g down th e lan gu age are mainl y the gra ndparents , as wehave often heard ) of th e lat est ge nera tion of Baba Nyon yas, th osestill in pr e-sch ool age, may have a cha nce to learn Baba Malay , whileth e majority will spea k Eng lish and Mandarin.

Table 12: Lan gu age use within the fam ily

(age group) 51+ (24) 15-30 (10)6) Which lan gu age do yo u no rma lly use w ithi n th e fam ily?

BabaMalay 19 (79.1%) 7(70%)Sta ndard Ma lay 0 1 (10%)Eng lish 21 (87.5%) 8 (80%)Manda rin 1 (4.1%) 3 (30%)Hokkien 1 (4.1%) 2 (20%)Othe rs 1 (4.1%) 0

7) Which lan gu age do/did yo u normally use w ith yo ur grandparen ts?Baba Malay 24 (100%) 7 (70%)Sta nda rd Ma lay 0 2 (20%)Eng lish 1 (4.1%) 3 (30%)lvla nda rin 0 2 (20%)Hokkien 1 (4.1%) 1 (10%)Othe rs 0 1 (10%)

8) Which lan gu age do/did yo u nonnally use wi th yo ur par ents?Bab a Malay 23 (95.8%) 6 (60%)

Is th e Bab a Nyon ya a doom ed minority? 131

Stand ard Malay 0 2 (20%)Eng lish 6 (25%) 8 (80%)Mandarin 0 3 (30%)Hokkien 1 (4.1%) 2 (20%)

9) Which lan gu age do yo u normally use w ith yo ur sib lings?Bab a Ma lay 20 (83.3%) 4 (40%)Sta nda rd Malay 0 2 (20%)Eng lish 20 (83.3%) 6 (60%)Mandarin 0 7 (70%)NR 0 1 (10%)

10) Which lan gu age do yo u nonnally use w ith yo ur w ife/g irlfriend/husband/b oyfri end?Baba Malay 10 (41.6%) 3 (30%)Stand ard Malay 2 (8.3%) 1 (10%)Eng lish 17 (70.8%) 7 (70%)Mandarin 0 0Hokkien 1 (4.1%) 0NR 4 (16.6%) 2 (20%)

11) Which lan gu age do yo u normally use with yo ur ch ild ren?Baba Malay 13 (54.1%) 2 (20%)Sta nda rd Malay 0 1 (10%)Eng lish 17 (70.8%) 4 (40%)Ma nda rin 1 (4.1%) 2 (20%)Hokki en 2 (8.3%) 0Othe rs 1 (4.1%) 0NR 6 (25%) 6 (60%)

12) Which lan gu age do yo u normall y use wit h yo ur g rand­ch ildre n?Baba Malay 1 (4.1%) 0Sta nda rd Malay 0 0Eng lish 10 (41.6%) 0Mandarin 1 (4.1%) 0NR 14 (58.3%) 10 (100%)

As far as langu age use outside the family is concern cd , in gene ra l wccan see a lcsser use of Baba Malay on the part of th e yo unge r respon ­den ts, which may be due to broader social network s than in the caseof the older genera tion. Onl y wit h (supposedly Baba Nyon ya) friendsthe younge r genera tion seems to be using a fair amo unt of Baba !VIa­lay (50%), wh ereas as man y as 75% of the older ge ne ra tion uses BabaMalay with friend s. Int erestingly eno ug h, Standard Malay is used alittl e more than Baba Malay by the younge r age group (60%), and de ­finit ely more than the older gene ra tion (8.3%). In th e rest of the

132 Paolo Co luzzi & Patricia Nor a Riget & Rie Kit ade

(10%)

(20%)(80%)

(100 %)(80%)

(20%)(40%)

(100%)(40%)

(50%)(60%)

(100%)(80%)

16)

15)

14)

13)

eases, th e lan gu age pr evailing is definitely English, partieul arl y onthe part of the yo unge r respondents, all of them usin g it outsid e thefami ly do ma in, eve n thou gh one of them dec lared he/sh e didri 't useEnglis h wi th his/h er werk 0 1' dass mates. The greatest differe nee bet ­ween th e tw o ge nera tions, however , is in their use of Mandarin ,whic h is spoken mu eh more by the yo unge r res po nde nts, up to 80%of them usin g it for exa mp le with friends and whe n sho pping loeally(res pee tively 8.3% and 12.5% in the ease of the olde r respondents).While some of the olde r respondents might have used Hokkien in allthese do ma ins (apa rt fro m the doe tor and dass or wo rk mates), onlyManda rin is used by th e yo unge r generation, supposedly even withHokkien spea kers .

Table 13: Lan gu age use outsi de the famil y

(ag e group) 51+ (24) 15-30 (10)W hic h lan gu age do yo u normall y use wi th yo ur fr iend s?Bab a Malay 18 (75%) 5Sta n da rd Malay 2 (8.3%) 6Englis h 22 (91.6%) 10Mandarin 2 (8.3%) 8Hokkien 3 (12.5%) 0Others 2 (8.3%) 0NR 1 (4.1%) 0Which lan gu age do yo u normall y use with yo ur neighbours?Bab a Malay 9 (37 .5%) 2Sta n da rd Mal ay 5 (20.8%) 4Englis h 15 (62.5%) 10Mandarin 2 (8.3 %) 4Hokki en 5 (20.8%) 0Othe rs 1 (4.1%) 0NR 1 (4.1%) 0W h ich lan guage do yo u nor m all y use w hen yo u go shopp inglocall y?Baba Ma lay 5 (20.8%) 2Sta n da rd Malay 12 (50%) 8En glish 20 (83.3%) 10Mandar in 3 (12.5%) 8Hokki en 4 (16.6%) 0Others 1 (4.1%) 0

NR 1 (4.1%) 0W h ich langu age do yo u norm ally use w ith th e doctor ?Bab a Malay 1 (4. 1%)

Is the Baba Nyonya a doom ed min ori ty? 133

5 (20.8%) 16 (25%) 5

21 (87.5%) 92 (8.3%) 51 (4.1%) 0

17)

Sta nda rd Ma lay 5 (20.8%) 3Eng lish 22 (91.6%) 10Mandar in 0 0NR 1 (4.1%) 0Which lan gu age do yo u normally use w ith your w ork/classmat es?Baba MalaySta nda rd MalayEng lishMa nda r inNR

(30%)(100%)

(10%)(50%)(90%)(50%)

(90%)

(40%)

(100%)

4

o

9

o10o

(4.1%)

(29.1%)(66.6%)

(4.1%)

(29.1%)7

716

119)

18)

As for th e respondents' per cepti on of th e differen ce between th e Ba ­ba Malay spoken by the olde r and th e YOUl1ger ge nera tion, eventh ou gh th e Baba Nyon yas in th e tw o age groups see me d to ag ree onth e two varieties not being th e same, th e younger respondents seemto be more aw are of th e differences, with 100% of th em agree ing th eBaba Malay they spea k is different from that spo ken by th eir seniors(only 66.6% of th e olde r gene ra tion perceived any differen ce at all).As for the reason s th at acco unt for th e differen ces, man y mor e yo un ­ger Baba Nyon yas th an older ones (younge r responden ts: 90%; olde rrespon dents: 29.1%) believe they may be du e to th e influen ce ofStandard Malay and English on th e lexicon and stru ctures. Olderrespond ents see m to be more inclined to believe th at it is mostl y amatt er of pronunciation (41.6%), eve n th ough a sim ilar per centage ofyo unge r respondents (40%) believe th at th e difference may conce rn(also) pr onunciation.

Table 14: Lan gu age difference between yo unge r and olde r speakers

(age gro up) 51+ (24) 15-30 (10)Is th e Baba Ma lay spo ke n by olde r peop le approx imately th esa me as tha t spo ke n by yo unger peop le?YesNoNot sureIf not, how is it differe n t?Younger peopl e use more Sta ndardMalay or Eng lish wo rds and st ructuresYoun ger people pronounce it di ffer ent- 10 (41.6%)IyNR

134 Pao lo Coluz zi & Pa tricia Nor a Riget & Rie Kitad e

To conclude thi s secti on on language shift, a look at the answe rs pr o ­vided to th e qu estion s on lan gu age attitudes clearl y sho ws th at bothage groups sha re very goo d attitudes tow ard s th eir heritage lan gu a­ge, with as man y as 90% of the yo unge r respond ents bein g willing tolearn/improve their Baba Malay (45.8% of th e older ge ne ra tion), andall of them believin g that Baba lvla lay sho uld be officially pr otected(83.3% of the olde r gene ra tio n). On the othe r hand, perh aps becau seth ey dori 't list en to the radio mu ch , as man y as 40% of th e yo unge rrespondents do not think that th ere sho uld be radi o pr ogr ammes inBaba Malay , eve n th ou gh usin g Baba Malay in some periodicals,whe the r together with othe r lan gu ages or not , seems a goo d idea toboth yo unge r and older respondents (younger genera tion: 80%; oldergeneration: 87.4%) . Finally the grea t majority of both olde r and yo un­ger Baba Nyon yas are equa lly rath er pessimi sti c that Baba Ivlalaymay be spoken the same as now or mor e in the future (87.5% of th eolder respondents and 90% of the yo unge r ones think that in abo uttwenty yea rs ' tim e Baba Malay will be spoken less than now).

(90 %)

(10%)

(10 %)

(100%)

(90 %)

15-30 (10)

91o

(87 .5%)

(4. 1%)

(8. 3%)

2 1

12

24)

23 )

22 )

2 1)

20)

Table 15: Lan gu age att itudes

(age group) 51+ (24)

Would yo u like to learn/improve your Ba ba Malay?Yes 11 (45. 8%) 9

No 8 (33.3%) 0

It dep en ds 5 (20 .8 %) 1

Sho uld Baba Ma lay be officially pr ot ect ed ?Yes 20 (83.3%) 10

No 4 (1 6.6%) 0

Sho uld a period ical in Baba Ma lay be ava ilab le to the commu nity?Yes , all in Baba Ma lay 11 (45. 8%) 6 (60 %)

Yes, some ar ticles in it 10 (41.6%) 2 (20 %)

No 3 (12 .5 %) 2 (20 %)

Sho uld th er e be ra d io pr ogr ammes in Baba Ma lay ?Yes 18 (75 %) 6 (60 %)

No 6 (25 %) 4 (40 %)

In ab out 20 years' tim e do you th in k Baba Ma lay w ill be spokenless th an now?YesNoMore 0 1' less th e sa m e

15 the Baba Nyon ya a doom ed min orit y?

8. Discussion

135

The data that have ju st been ana lyzed lead to one main conclus ion:Baba Malay is an endange red langu age that may disappear in the notso distant future. It seems as if Mandar in will repl ace it , which willmake the community trilingu al with English and Mandarin both aslow and high varieties, and with standa rd Malay as the nati on al lan ­guage to be used wit h the Malay community and in some more for ­mal contex ts. In addition to Baba Malay bein g used less by th e yo un ­ger ge ne ratio n who completed our qu estionnair e, the comme nts wereceived when talk ing to vari ous mem bers of the Malaccan BabaNyon ya community seem to confirm thi s downw ard trend, parti cu­larl y when the Iingu ist ic skills of Baba Nyonya ch ildren were discus­sed. Most of th e peopl e we talk ed to told us they have not comeacross any sma ll children fluent in Baba Malay, bu t they ju stifi ed thi sby adding that at least some of them may be usin g it at home, espe­cially with their gra ndparents . All children, or at least the urb an oneswho now tend to atte nd nati on al-typ e Chinese schools, wo uld useEng lish and Mand arin outside the hom e, relegating the use of Sta n­dard Malay to int eraction with Iv1alays and othe r Bumiputras whocan no t spea k English . Onl y perhaps some rural Baba Nyon ya chil­dren, th ose who normally atte nd nati on al schools in Malay, may justbe usin g Standard Malay and EngIish, both with relat ives and outsidethe family dom ain. With the data at our disposal it is at prese nt verydifficult to sta te the rat e of lan gu age shift from Baba Malay, but if weacce pt the figures in table 12 showing th at 2 out of the 4 yo unge rresp ond ents (50%) who have ch ildren use Baba Malay with th em , wecan see that in a matt er of one gene ration half of the potential spea­ker s may be lost , pr obably even more if it is tru e that th ose passingdown the her itage language tend to be the gra ndpa rents, th ose forwh orn Baba Malay is the first lan gu age. In the latt er case the childrenlearning Baba Malay may be as few as one tenth of the tot al numb erof Baba Nyon yas. 1his mean s that the approx ima tely 80% of the BabaNyonyas who can spea k Baba Malay fluently (table 4), which maycorres pond to 6400-8000 individuals." may decrease to no more than4000, possibly as few as 800 in fifty-sixty yea rs' tim e.

15 1his figure is also cons istent wi th Tari's es tima te that th ere we reapp rox ima tely 5000 Baba Malay spea ke rs at the end of the 70s(Ta n 1979, 20, in Pakir 1986, 7).

136 Paolo Coluzz i & Patricia Nor a Riget & Rie Kitade

For all these reasons Baba Malay has been given a level of vita li­ty that may waver between 6b and 7 according the EGIDS parameterof lan gu age enda nge rme nt (see table 2). 6b corresponds to the label' threa tene d ' (1h e lan gu age is used for face-to-face communicationwithin all ge ne ra tions, but it is losin g users), wh ereas 7 correspondsto th e label 'shifting' (111e child-bea ring ge ne ra tion can use the lan ­guage amo ng th em selves, but it is not being tran smitted to childre n).Lee 20 14, on the othe r hand, reckon ed that Baba Malay might be se­ve re ly enda nge red acco rding to ano ther par am eter of lan gu age vita­lity, the LEI (Lang uage Endan germent Ind ex), whi ch is used to assesslevels of lan gu age end an gennent in the Cata logue of Endang eredLan guages of the Univ er sity of Haw ai 'i (Lee 2016). However, as men ­tion ed above, this assessm ent was onl y based on observation and noton hard socioling uistic dat a, and it may be a littl e too pessimistic. Ifwe apply th e results of our resear ch to thi s equa lly exce llent frame ­work of lan guage enda ngerment, we get a slightly more positive re ­sult: 'endangered', which still does not leave any room for com pla­cency , perhap s only some room for hop e that lan gu age shift may besome ho w rever sed .

9. Conclusions

Is th e Baba Nyon ya a doom ed community th en ? As rem arked above ,our sampie was rather limited and th e results that our survey pr o­duced sho uld ther efore be seen as a so rt of pr eliminar y study . How ­eve r, if Baba Malay is the most imp ortant mark er of ethnic identityas our resp ondents see m to believe, and if nothing is don e to slowdown lan guage sh ift, we are afra id th at the ans we r may be 'yes' . TheBaba Nyon yas we talk ed to are all hop eful that Baba Nyon ya identitymay be som eh ow maintained even in case the lan gu age disapp ear s,but can ju st life style, mentality and some traditions - particularlythe popular Baba Nyon ya cuisine or the kebaya dress now onl y wornby Nyon yas in spec ial occasions - keep ethn ic identity alive indefi­nit ely? These are differen ces that are nonnally found wirhin any eth ­nie or nati on al group whi ch do not lead to any ethnic regrouping.Obviously histor y and materi al culture can help , but we are afra idthey may not be eno ug h. Even th ou gh Baba Malay is at pr esent notofficially pr ot ected , not tau ght anyw he re in Malays ia, eve n th oughvery littl e written and audio materi al is ava ilable (if we ex clude the

15 the Baba Nyon ya a doomed min orit y? 137

re lati ve ly abundan t literature that was published until th e middle oflast cen tury), all thi s might slow ly change if so me lan gu age planningstra teg ies wer e to be initiat ed at th e grassroot level. As difficul t as re­vita lizing a lan gu age may sound, th ere are man y successfu l cases inth e world to dr aw inspiration from , whi ch w er e helped by se tt ing upclasses, radi o progr ammes, publicati on s, etc .

The Baba Nyon ya is a very spec ial com munity, for having h ist o­rically embra ced the multilingu ali sm and multiculturali sm th at are somu ch part of what defin es Malaysia, a mul tilingu ali sm and multi cul­turali sm that help ed them to reach a h igh socia l and eco no mic posi ­tion in th e past thanks to their ability to speak, under st and and relat eto all the other mai n com mu niti es w ith whom they lived. Eventhou gh Baba Nyon yas are clearly keeping th eir mul tilingu al ism , theyare some wha t losing an important part of it, i.e. the Malay vari etythat has defin ed them for centur ies and that is so mu ch part of th eiridenti ty . Learning Mandarin has enlarge d th eir hori zon and help edth em to ge t rid of the discriminati on th e wider Chinese co mmunityused to subjec t th em to; maintaining Baba Malay wo uld on ly help tomak e th eir identity stro nge r, to maintain goo d ties with th e Malayco mmunity and to stre ng the n lan gu age diver sit y in Ma laysia and th erest of th e wo rld. The livin g presence of Baba Ma lay may eve n helpth e tourist and othe r Baba-r elat ed industries in Melaka to im provetheir busi ness!

10. Acknowledgments

W e would like to ackno wledge the fin an cial suppo rt pr ovid ed byUnive rs ity of Malaya under the Ban tuan Khas Pen yelidikan (BKPSpec ial) gra nt BKS066-2017.

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