Malacca Creole Portuguese in the 19th century
Evidence of a wider lectal range?
Earlier linguistic research suggested that Malacca Creole Portuguese (MCP) had existed without diglossia with Portuguese ever since the Dutch conquest of Portuguese Malacca in 1642, yet it had experienced some contact with Portuguese in the 19th and 20th centuries. The present study adds significantly to this discussion. It considers a range of information from sociohistorical studies and archival sources (including linguistic data) relating to the Dutch (1642–1795, 1818–1823) and early British (1795–1818, 1823–1884) colonial periods. For the Dutch period, it is seen that contact with other Creole Portuguese communities is likely to have persisted for some time. Most significant, however, is the finding that 19th century texts in Portuguese and creole Portuguese, recently identified in archival sources in London and Graz, show that Portuguese continued to be part of the Malacca sociolinguistic setting until the early British period, and that missionary Indo-Portuguese also had a presence at that time. It is concluded that, rather than presenting a narrow lectal range akin to that of the MCP community in the late 20th century, the creole lectal grid in the 19th century was more complex, and included dimensions of a continuum in a diglossic relationship with Portuguese.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Background – Pieces of the puzzle
- 3.Archival sources
- 4.Framework
- 5.The Malacca Portuguese community during the Dutch period
- 6.A window on the early 19th century
- 6.1Public notices
- 6.2Bills for services rendered
- 6.3Personal, unformulaic correspondence
- 7.Missionary activities in Malacca in the early 19th century
- 8.MCP in the 19th century
- 9.Portuguese and Creole Portuguese in early 19th century Malacca
- 9.1The socio-demographic context of the creole community
- 10.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Abbreviations
-
References -
Archival sources
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.00016.bax
References
Archival sources
India Office Records (Malacca Dutch Archive) – British Library
IOR-9-29-3 – Goverment Proclamations and Public Notices
IOR-9-12-37 – Estate papers of Johannes Rodrigues who died at Malacca on 28 Aug 1823 (in Dutch and Portuguese),
IOR-9-12-26 – Estate papers of Jacob Dusker, 3 Nov 1818–25 May 1819 (in Dutch and Portuguese)
IOR-9-12-36 – Papers regarding the bankrupt estate of the late Bernaldus Bruijns, 30 May 1804–30 Aug 1823.
IOR R/9/36/5 and IOR/9/36/6 – housing surveys of Malacca in 1826/1827
London Missionary Society Missionaries at Malacca. Council for World Mission Archives, Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London
Anon. 1829. De os principios de Religião: com Orações Curtos. Printed at the Malacca Mission Press.
Garling 1830 – Letter from Mrs Garling, dated March. 28.1830. Malacca – Incoming letters, Box 3.
Report 1830. Report of the Chinese Mission at Malacca. Printed at the Mission Press.
Hugo Schuchardt Archiv. Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria
Nr. 11.23.6.1 – New Testament chapters; Mattheus, Lucas, João.
Nr. 2614 – New Testament: First Epistle of Corinthians.
Nr. 8844 – Letter from Fr Nicolau Inácio Teófilo Pinto to Prof Hugo Schuchardt, 17th March 1884, with annexes.
Nr. 10725 – Personal letter dated 11/10/1883.
Nr. 9684.1 – Personal letter, dated 10/2/1884.
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