Malaysian Malay

This article is about the official language of Malaysia. For an overview of all languages used in Malaysia, see Languages of Malaysia. For ethnic Malays in Malaysia, see Malaysian Malays.

Malaysian Malay
Bahasa Malaysia
بهاس مليسيا‎
Standard Malay
Bahasa Melayu Piawai
بهاس ملايو ڤياواي‎
Bahasa Melayu Malaysia
بهاس ملايو مليسيا‎
Pronunciation[baˈha.sə mə.la.ju mə'lej.sjə]
Native toMalaysia, Singapore, Brunei
SpeakersNative: Few (2022)[1]
L2: Spoken by the vast majority of those in Malaysia, although most learn a local Malay dialect or another native language first.
Early forms
Latin (Rumi)
Arabic (Jawi)[4]
Malaysian Braille
Manually Coded Malay
Official status
Official language in
Regulated byDewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Malaysian Institute of Language and Literature)
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei (Brunei Language and Literature Bureau)[5]
Majlis Bahasa Melayu Singapura (Singapore Malay Language Council)[6]
Language codes
ISO 639-3zsm
Glottologstan1306
Linguasphere33-AFA-ab
Countries where Malaysian Malay is spoken:
  Malaysia
  Singapore and Brunei, where Standard Malay is an official language
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox language with unknown parameter "mapsize"

Malaysian Malay (Malay: Bahasa Melayu Malaysia) or Malaysian (Bahasa Malaysia)[7] —endonymically within Malaysia as Standard Malay (Bahasa Melayu piawai) or simply Malay (Bahasa Melayu, abbreviated to BM)— is a standardized form of the Malay language used in Malaysia and also used in Brunei and Singapore (as opposed to the variety used in Indonesia, which is referred to as the "Indonesian" language). Malaysian Malay is standardized from the Johore-Riau dialect of Malay, particularly a branch spoken in the state of Johore south of the Malay Peninsula.[8] It is spoken by much of the Malaysian population, although most learn a vernacular Malay dialect or another native language first.[1]

  1. ^ a b Malaysian Malay at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Adelaar, K. Alexander (2000). "Malay: A Short History". Oriente Moderno. 19 (2): 234. JSTOR 25817713.
  3. ^ Mukhlis Abu Bakar (2019). "Sebutan Johor-Riau dan Sebutan Baku dalam Konteks Identiti Masyarakat Melayu Singapura" [Sebutan Johor-Riau and Sebutan Baku in the Context of the Singapore Malay Identity]. Issues in Language Studies (in Malay). 8 (2): 61–78. doi:10.33736/ils.1521.2019.
  4. ^ "Kedah MB Defends Use of Jawi on Signboards". The Star Online. 26 August 2008. Archived from the original on 29 October 2012.
  5. ^ Clynes, Adrian; Deterding, David (2011). "Standard Malay (Brunei)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 41 (2): 259–268. doi:10.1017/S002510031100017X. S2CID 146544336.
  6. ^ "Standard Malay made simple / Liaw Yock Fang - BookSG - National Library Board, Singapore".
  7. ^ Asmah Haji Omar (1992). "Malay as a pluricentric language". In Clyne, Michael G. (ed.). Pluricentric Languages: Differing Norms in Different Nations. Contributions to the sociology of language 62. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 403–4. ISBN 3-11-012855-1.
  8. ^ Ibid. pp. 402, 413-417.