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Mekong Delta Malay (bạhsa Malayu Cam; lit. 'Malay language of Cham people') is a variation of the Malay language that developed in modern Cambodia and Southern Vietnam, especially along in Mekong River. Brought by Malay traders during the reign of the Khmer Empire even since the 14th century, these Malays eventually developed independently and assimilated with the local Cham and Khmer to become the Chvea Muslims community.

History

The Malay language is known to have a community of speakers outside the Malay Archipelago, this language is also known to have a presence on the Mainland Southeast Asia, namely in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, which are known to have extensive influences from the Malay World. Although the Malays in these three countries are a minority group, even the smallest minority group, they have a fairly strong cultural and linguistic influence.

In Cambodia, Malay language is spoken by people known as Chvea, a mixture of Malay and Cham. As recorded in history, the Cham people originated from Champa, which is currently in the southern region of Vietnam. Cambodian Chams community is mainly located in Siem Reap, Tonle Sap, Phnom Penh, as well as some other places in the south where they have mostly assimilated with the Malays as Chvea. Throughout history, the Champa state was successfully falls several times by Đại Việt, Some of the Cham people chose Cambodia (at that time Khmer Empire) because it was not far from where they lived, while others who were in the same situation fled to the Malay Peninsula, and to Sultanate of Aceh, as told in the Sejarah Melayu (History of Malay).

Despite being a minority group, the Cham and Malay people in Cambodia are not prohibited from using their ancestral language, namely Cham and Cham Malay, and some no longer embraced Islam, especially in 1975–1978 when Democratic Kampuchea was ruled by Pol Pot. With language and education policies similar to Thailand's that aim for the assimilation of all ethnic groups, children grow up educated entirely in Khmer language, the national language of Cambodia. Over time, the Khmer language has become the mother tongue of the Cham and Malay communities, replacing the Cham and Malay languages.

In Vietnam, there are three distinct Cham groups based on their religion, namely the Cham Jat (Balamon), Cham Bani, and Cham Muslim. The first group consists of the Cham Jat tribe who still maintain their original religion (Jat), namely Hinduism with a mixture of local animism. When Islam first came to Champa, estimated to be around the 10th to 11th century AD, some of the Champa population converted to Islam. There are no statistics to rely on, but informants have their own rough estimates of the proportions between these groups, Cham Jat (65%), Cham Bani (25%), and Cham Muslim (10%). The population is said to be less than 100,000 people. The Cham language spoken in Vietnam today is a language that appears to be closely related to Malay language, but not easily understood by Malay speakers in Malaysia and Indonesia. Judging from the word list in the 17th century, the Cham language at that time was a dialect of the Malay language, just like the Malay dialect in Malaysia. This is evident from a set of four lexicons compiled by 17th-century Champa sailors who frequently visited the Malay Archipelago. This collection is a dual dialect, namely Champa Malay and the Malay language commonly used in the Malay Archipelago at that time. John Crawfurd (1852), in his book on Malay grammar and dictionary, noted that the Cham language is Malay but with some elements from other languages (especially Austroasiatic languages). Vietnamese language became the mother tongue of the Cham people due to the state's language assimilation policy, is the only language used in life outside the home and at work. At home, among Cham Muslims, Malay is spoken, which is the mainstream Malay language that can be understood by other Malays in the Malay Archipelago. This is due to the existence of a community program to preserve regional languages through Islamic religious studies in mosques on school holidays and their contact with Malaysia, especially in Kedah and Kelantan. The Baweanese people, who all Muslims, from Bawean Island in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) who came to Vietnam in the 1800s, also speak Malay language, and also their Bawean language as their mother tongue. However, in 2015, out of a total of 400 people, only the elderly were able to speak Malay and Bawean languages.

Writing system

The writing system used to write Mekong Delta Malay is the Jawi script, a variation of the Arabic script for the Malay language. From the Jawi script brought by the Malays, the Cham Jawi script was then derived to write the Cham language by the local population, especially the Western Cham variety.

Distribution and usage

The local variety of Malay and Cham around the Mekong Delta is heavily influenced by Cham language because its speakers are of mixed ethnicity of Cham and Malay. Most of the speakers are Cham Muslims, Meanwhile, the traditional Islamic Cham Bani and the Hindu-animist Cham Jat (Balamon) usually still use the original Cham language (Eastern Cham) and Vietnamese language. There are also speakers from the Baweanese people (considered to be Malay ethnic) in Ho Chi Minh City. The speaker is certainly unknown, but in 1975 there were about 150,000 to 200,000 Cham Muslims according to Po Dharma who could probably speak Malay language.

See also

• Malay language
• Cham language
• Cham people
• Malay World

References

1. ^ Omar, Asmah Haji (2019). "The Malay Language in Mainland Southeast Asia". Asian Linguistic Anthropology. 1 (3). Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: University of Malaya: 23–29. doi:10.47298/jala.v1-i3-a3.
2. De Féo, Agnès (2007). Transnational Islamic movement in Cambodia. Dynamics of contemporary Islam and economic development in Asia, From the Caucasus to China. New Delhi: Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH) and India International Centre (IIC).
3. Omar, Asmah Haji (2003). Omar, Asmah Haji (ed.). "Geolinguistics and the Diffusion of Malay". The Genius of Malay Civilization. Tanjong Malim, Malaysia: Institute of Malay Civilization, UPSI: 333–361.
4. ^ Dharma., Po (2000). Empat Leksikon Bahasa Melayu-Bahasa Cam yang disusun pada abad ke-17 (in Malay). Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Institut Alam dan Tamadun Melayu (ATMA-UKM); Ecole Française d’Extrême Orient.
5. Taylor, P. (2007). Cham Muslims of the Mekong Delta: Place and Mobility in the Cosmopolitan Periphery. Honolulu, United States: University of Hawai’i Press.
6. ^ Bruckmayr, Philipp (2018). Cambodia's Muslims and the Malay World: Malay Language, Jawi Script, and Islamic Factionalism from the 19th Century to the Present. Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-34605-5.
7. ^ "Menelusuri jejak keturunan Indonesia asal Bawean di Vietnam". www.bbc.com (in Indonesian). British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 25 December 2024.

External links

• Beban, Alice (2022). "Unwritten Rule: State-Making through Land Reform in Cambodia". Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia. 37 (3). Singapore: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute: 553–556.

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