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Brunei English (similar and related to British English) is a regional dialect of English that is widely spoken in Brunei Darussalam, even though the national language is Malay. Although the lingua franca in the country is generally the local dialect of Malay,[1] all educated people are proficient in English, as it has been the medium of instruction from the fourth year of primary school since 1985.[2]
There are various features that make Brunei English distinct: for pronunciation, the sound at the start of a word such as three is often [t] rather than [θ], and there is usually a full vowel rather than [ə] in function words such as as, than, and of; for grammar, furnitures and jewelleries are treated as plural nouns, and there is variable use of the third-person −s suffix on present-tense verbs; and for lexis, many words are borrowed from Malay to reflect local customs, including titah (a speech by the Sultan) and tudung (a head scarf). Some of these features are shared with other varieties of Southeast Asian English, but others make Brunei English a distinct variety.
Colloquial portmanteau words for Brunei English are 'Brulish' (recorded from 2003) and 'Brunglish' (recorded from 2007).[3]