Cover not available
Part of
Endangered Languages and Languages in Danger: Issues of documentation, policy, and language rights
Edited by Luna Filipović and Martin Pütz
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 42] 2016
► pp. 283–312

The art of losing

Beyond java, patois and postvernacular vitality – Repositioning the periphery in global Asian ecologies

 | University of Hong Kong
This paper discusses issues in endangerment and postvernacularity in the context of Asia, a region with complex dynamics in multilingual ecologies that also includes the presence – dominance – of English, a language that entered the ecologies through colonisation. I use as illustration two minority communities with endangered vernaculars – the Malays of Sri Lanka, brought from various parts of the Malay archipelago by the Dutch and British colonial powers, and their vernacular Sri Lanka Malay, traditionally known as java, a mixed language of trilingual base (Malay, Sinhala, Tamil); and the Peranakans, descendants of southern Chinese merchants who settled in Malaya and intermarried with local women, and their vernacular Baba Malay, a restructured variety of Malay with southern Sinitic influences, usually referred to as patois. I query if linguistic and cultural loss is inevitable, or if such situations of shift – to a language of wider communication or an emergent variety – are in fact instances of empowerment and evolution in response to change, where a repositioning of the periphery in the new global economy brings greater accessibility to and participation in the Centre, and better adaptation for surviving and thriving.
Keywords: Asia, ecology, empowerment, patois, Peranakans, postvernacular, shift, Sri Lanka Malay
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 3 October 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.42.12lim
References (81)
References
Aboh, E.O. & Ansaldo, U. 2007. The role of typology in language creation: A descriptive take. In Deconstructing Creole [Typological Studies in Language 73], U. Ansaldo, S. Matthews & L. Lim (eds), 39–66. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Adelaar, K.A. & Prentice, D.J. 1996. Malay: Its history, role and spread. In Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia and the Americas, S.A. Wurm, P. Mühlhäusler & D.T. Tryon (eds), 673–693. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Alliance for Linguistic Diversity. Baba Malay. Endangered Languages. <[URL]>
Ansaldo, U. 2008. Revisiting Sri Lanka Malay. In Lessons from Documented Endangered Languages [Typological Studies in Language 78], A. Dwyer, D. Harrison & D. Rood (eds), Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2009. Contact Languages: Ecology and Evolution in Asia. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2010. Identity alignment and language creation in multilingual communities. The Native Speaker and the Mother Tongue. Language Sciences 32(6): 615–623.Google Scholar
. 2011. Sri Lanka Malay and its Lankan adstrates. In Creoles, Their Substrates and Language Typology [Typological Studies in Language 95], C. Lefebvre (ed.), 367–382. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ansaldo, U. & Lim, L. 2014. The lifecycle of Sri Lanka Malay. Language Documentation and Conservation 7: 100–113.Google Scholar
. Forthcoming. Citizenship theory and fieldwork practice in Sri Lanka Malay communities. In The Multilingual Citizen: Towards a Politics of Language for Agency and Change, L. Lim, C. Stroud & L. Wee (eds). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Ansaldo, U., Lim, L. & Mufwene, S.S. 2007. The sociolinguistic history of the Peranakans: What it tells us about ‘creolization’. In Deconstructing Creole [Typological Studies in Language 73], U. Ansaldo, S. Matthews & L. Lim (eds), 203–226. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ansaldo, U., Lim, L. & Nordhoff, S. 2006. Variation and shift in Sri Lanka Malay: Preliminary reflections. DoBeS (Documentation of Endangered Languages) Workshop 2006. MPI Nijmegen. 15–16 June.Google Scholar
Ansaldo, U. & Matthews, S.J. 1999. The Minnan substrate and creolization in Baba Malay. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 27(1): 38–68.Google Scholar
Ansaldo, U. & Nordhoff, S. 2009. Complexity and the age of languages. In Complex Processes in New Languages, E.O. Aboh & N. Smith (eds), 345–363. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bailey, R.W. 1998. Majority language, minority misery. In Language Legislation and Linguistic Rights, D.A. Kibbee (ed.), 206–224. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bishop, E. 1983. The Complete Poems 1926–1979. New York NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.Google Scholar
Bloom, D. 1986. The English language in Singapore: A critical survey. In Singapore Studies, B.K. Kapur (ed.), 337–458. Singapore: Singapore University Press.Google Scholar
Braddell, T. 1853. Notes of a trip to the interior from Malacca. Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia 7: 73–104.Google Scholar
Burah, T.A. 2006. Saga of the Exiled Royal Javanese Unearthed. Dehiwala, Sri Lanka.Google Scholar
Documentation of Endangered Languages (DOBES). 2000–2015. Sri Lanka Malay. DOBES/ Volkswagen Stiftung. <[URL]>Google Scholar
Eades, D. 1988. They don’t speak in an Aboriginal language, or do they? In Being Black: Aboriginal Cultures in ‘Settled’ Australia, I. Keen (ed.), 97–115. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. Google Scholar
Earl, G.W. 1837. The Eastern Seas or Voyages and Adventures in the Indian Archipelago in 1832–33–34. London: Allen & Co.Google Scholar
Endangered Language Alliance. 2012. Endangered Language Alliance. <[URL]>
Fernando, C. 1996. The post-imperial status of English in Sri Lanka 1940–1990: From first to second language. In Post-Imperial English, J.A. Fishman, A.W. Conrad & A. Rubal-Lopez (eds), 485–511. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fishman, J.A. 1991. Reversing Language Shift: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Assistance to Threatened Languages. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Garrett, P.B. 2006. Contact languages as “endangered” languages: What is there to lose? Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 21(1): 175–190. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Giles, H., Bourhis, R.Y. & Taylor, D.M. 1977. Towards a theory of language in ethnic group relations. In Language, Ethnicity and Intergroup Relations, H. Giles (ed.), 307–348. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Gunasekera, M. 2005. The Postcolonial Identity of Sri Lankan English. Colombo: Katha.Google Scholar
Gwee, T.H.W. 1993. Mas Sepuloh: Baba Conversational Gems. Singapore: Armour.Google Scholar
. 2006. A Baba Malay Dictionary. Singapore: The Peranakan Association; Tuttle.Google Scholar
Haspelmath, M. 2001. The European linguistic area: Standard Average European. In Language Typology and Language Universals: An International Handbook, Vol. 2. [Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft 20(2)], M. Haspelmath, E. König, W. Oesterreicher & W. Raible (eds), 1492–1510. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heller, M. 2013. Repositioning the multilingual periphery: Class, language and transnational markets in Francophone Canada. In Multilingualism and the Periphery, S. Pietikainen & H. Kelly-Holmes (eds), 17–34. Oxford: OUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hinton, L. 2011. Revitalisation. In The Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages, P.K. Austin & J. Sallabank (eds). Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Ho, M.L. & Platt, J. 1993. Dynamics of a Contact Continuum: Singaporean English. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Hornsby, M. & Vigers, D. (eds). 2013. Breton: The Postvernacular Challenge. Special issue, International Journal of the Sociology of Language 223.Google Scholar
Hussainmiya, B.A. 1986. Melayu Bahasa: Some preliminary observations on the Malay creole of Sri Lanka. Sari 4(1): 19–30.Google Scholar
. 1987. Lost Cousins: The Malays of Sri Lanka. Kuala Lumpur: Universiti Kebangsan Malaysia.Google Scholar
. 1990. Orang Rejimen: The Malays of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment. Kuala Lumpur: Universiti Kebangsan Malaysia.Google Scholar
Kwachka, P. 1992. Discourse structures, cultural stability, and language shift. International Journal of Society and Language 93: 67–73.Google Scholar
Kwan-Terry, A. 2000. Language shift, mother tongue, and identity in Singapore. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 143: 85–106. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kwok, K.W. 2000. Singapore. In The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas, L. Pan (ed.), 200–217. Singapore: Chinese Heritage Centre; Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, P. 1992. Another view of endangered languages. Language 68(4): 809–811. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lim, B.K. 1917. The Chinese in Malaya. In Present Days’ Impressions of the Far East and Prominent and Progressive Chinese at Home and Abroad: The History, People, Commerce, Industries and Resources of China, Hong Kong, Indo-China, Malaya and Netherlands India, W. Feldwisk (ed.), 875–882. London: Globe Encyclopedia.Google Scholar
Lim, L. 2010a. Peranakan English in Singapore. In The Lesser-Known Varieties of English, D. Schreier, P. Trudgill, E.W. Schneider & J.P. Williams (eds), 327–347. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2010b. Migrants and ‘mother tongues’: Extralinguistic forces in the ecology of English in Singapore. In L. English in Singapore: Modernity and Management, Lim, A. Pakir & L. Wee (eds), 19–54. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2011. Tone in Singlish: Substrate features from Sinitic and Malay. In Creoles, Their Substrates and Language Typology [Typological Studies in Language 95], C. Lefebvre (ed.), 271–287. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2013. The politics of English (and Sinhala and Tamil) in Sri Lanka: Kaduva of privileged power, tool of rural empowerment? In The Politics of English in Asia: Language Policy and Cultural Expression in South and Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific, L. Wee, R. Goh & L. Lim (eds), 61–80. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2013–2016. LinguisticMinorities.HK. <[URL]>Google Scholar
. 2014. Yesterday’s founder population, today’s Englishes: The role of the Peranakans in the (continuing) evolution of Singapore English. In The Evolution of Englishes [Varieties of English around the World G49], S. Buschfeld, T. Hoffmann, M. Huber & A. Kautzsch (eds), 401–419. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2016. Multilingual mediators: The role of the Peranakans in the contact dynamics of Singapore. In Multilingualism in the Chinese Diaspora World-Wide, L. Wei (ed.), 216–233. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lim, L. & Ansaldo, U. 2006. Keeping Kirinda vital: The endangerment-empowerment dilemma in the documentation of Sri Lanka Malay. Amsterdam Centre for Language & Communication Working Papers 1: 51–66.Google Scholar
. 2007. Identity alignment in the multilingual space: The Malays of Sri Lanka. In Linguistic Identity in Postcolonial Multilingual Spaces, E.A. Anchimbe (ed.), 218–243. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. Google Scholar
Lim, S. 1988. Baba Malay: The language of the ‘Straits-born’ Chinese. In Papers in Western Austronesian Linguistics No. 3, H. Steinhauer (ed.). Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University.Google Scholar
Liu, G. 1999. Singapore: A Pictorial History 1819–2000. Singapore: National Heritage Board and Editions Didier Miller.Google Scholar
Mufwene, S.S. 2001. The Ecology of Language Evolution. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2004. Language birth and death. Annual Review of Anthopology 33: 201–222. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2007. Population movements and contacts: Competition, selection, and language evolution. Journal of Language Contact 1: 63–91. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2008. Language Evolution: Contact, Competition and Change. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Nathan, J. 1922. The Census of British Malaysia, 1921. London: Waterloo & Sons.Google Scholar
Pakir, A. 1986. A Linguistic Investigation of Baba Malay. PhD dissertation, University of Hawai‘i.Google Scholar
Peranakan Association Singapore. 1994–2008. The Peranakan. (newsletter). Singapore: The Peranakan Association.Google Scholar
Reershemius, G. 2009. Post-vernacular language use in a Low German linguistic community. Journal of Germanic Linguistics 21(2): 131–147. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reid, A. 2000. Charting the Shape of Early Modern Southeast Asia. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books.Google Scholar
Ricklefs, M.C. 1974. Jogjakarta under Sultan Mangkubumi, 1749–179. A History of the Division of Java. London: OUP.Google Scholar
Romaine, S. 2014. Linguistic diversity, sustainable development and the economics of language policy. Landau: Talk delivered at 36th International LAUD Symposium , 31 March–3 April.
Rudolph, J. 1998. Reconstructing Identities. A Social History of the Babas in Singapore. Aldershot: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Saldin, B.D.K. 2000. A Guide to Malay. Kurunegala, Sri Lanka.Google Scholar
. 2001. The Sri Lankan Malays and their language. Kurunegala, Sri Lanka.Google Scholar
. 2003. Portrait of a Sri Lankan Malay. Kurunegala, Sri Lanka.Google Scholar
Saldin, B.D.K. & Lim, L. 2007. Kamus Bahasa Melayu Sri Lanka. A Sri Lanka Malay–Malay–English Dictionary. Frankfurt: Volkswagen Stiftung/DoBeS.Google Scholar
Shandler, J. 2006. Adventures in Yiddishland: Postvernacular Language and Culture. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Siemund, P., Gogolin, I., Schulz, M.E. & Davydova, J. (eds). 2013. Multilingualism and Language Diversity in Urban Areas [Hamburg Studies on Linguistic Diversity 1]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Song, O.S. 1923. One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore. London: John Murray. Reprinted 1967, Singapore: University of Malaya Press.Google Scholar
Sourjah, M.A. 2003. Malays in Sri Lanka: Came with their women-folk. WWW Virtual Library – Sri Lanka. 8 January 2004. <[URL]>Google Scholar
Tan, C.B. 1988a. The Baba of Malacca. Culture and Identity of a Peranakan Community in Malaysia. Petaling Jaya, Selangor: Pelanduk Publications.Google Scholar
. 1988b. Structure and change: Cultural identity of the Baba of Melaka. Bijdragen tot de Taal, Landen Volkenkunde 144: 297–314. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thaliph, M.F. 2003. Book on Malay Grammar (Nahu): A Guide to Write and Speak Grammatical Malay. Wattala, Sri Lanka.Google Scholar
Thomson, J.T. 1875. The Straits of Malacca, Indo-China and China, or Ten Years’ Travels, Adventures and Residence Abroad. London: Sampson Low; Marston: Low & Searle.Google Scholar
Vaughan, J.D. 1879. Manners and Customs of the Chinese in the Straits Settlements. Singapore: The Mission Press.Google Scholar
Whorf, B.L. 1941. The relation of habitual thought and behavior to language. In Language, Culture, and Personality: Essays in Memory of Edward Sapir, L. Spier, A.I. Hallowell & S.S. Newman (eds), 75–93. Menasha: Sapir Memorial Publication Fund, Reprinted in 1956, in Carroll, J. B. (ed.), Language, Thought and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf, 134–159. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press. Google Scholar
Woodbury, A.C. 2005. Ancestral languages and (imagined) creolisation. Language Documentation and Description 3: 252–262.Google Scholar
Yap, K.H. 2008. Here’s re-looking at you, Bibik. The Straits Times, 2 February 2008.Google Scholar
Cited by (5)

Cited by five other publications

Lim, Lisa
2024. Defining migrants. AILA Review 37:1 ► pp. 10 ff. DOI logo
Ridge, Eleanor
2022. Patterns of variation in subject-indexing prefixes in Vatlongos, Southeast Ambrym. Asia-Pacific Language Variation 8:1 ► pp. 72 ff. DOI logo
Lim, Lisa & Umberto Ansaldo
2021. Foundings and futures. In Variation Rolls the Dice [Contact Language Library, 59], ► pp. 243 ff. DOI logo
Lee, Nala H.
2020. Style variation in the second formant. Language Ecology 4:1 ► pp. 115 ff. DOI logo
Lee, Nala H.
2022. Speech style variation in an endangered language. Linguistics Vanguard 8:s5 ► pp. 637 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 8 january 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.