Bahasa Rojak (Malay for "mixed language") orRojak language is a Malaysianpidgin (trade language) formed bycode-switching among two or more of the manylanguages of Malaysia.Bahasa means "language", whilerojak means "mixture" in Malay,[1] and is alocal food of the same name.
Rojak language ofMalaysia can be traced back to 1402, in the earlyMalacca ofParameswara, an international port where more than 80 languages from a variety of cultures were spoken. Worldwide traders, settlers, and original dwellers speaking multiple languages in a conversation was common.
According to theEncyclopedia of Malaysia (Languages and Literature), it is acontact language, specifically apidgin, known in modernMalaysia as rojak language. The uniqueness of rojak language is in its code-switching style. A person who speaks rojak language may begin withstandard Malay, continue withEnglish, then mix one or two words inCantonese garnished withTamil, and finish withMandarin Chinese or some fashionableJapanese words. During Parameswara's time, when two groups of traders without a shared language met, they would try many possible languages in order to best understand each other, and the result would be a pidgin orrojak.
In the early 16th century,Portuguese visitorTome Pires found in Malacca
"Moors from Cairo, Mecca, Aden, Abyssinians, men of Kilwa, Malindi, Ormuz, Parsis, Rumi [Turks living abroad], Turks, Turkomans, Christian Armenians, Gujaratis, men of Chaul, Dabhol, Goa, of the kingdom of Deccan, Malabars and Klings, merchants from Orissa, Ceylon, Bengal, Arakan, Pegu, Siamese, men of Kedah, Malays, men of Penang, Patani, Cambodia, Champa, Cochin China, Chinese, men from Liu Kiu [Formosa] and Brunei, Luzonese, men of Tamjompura, Laue, Bangka, Lingga (and in this area 1000 more Islands are known), from the Moluccas, Banda, Bima, Timor, Madura, Java, Sunda, Palembang, Jambi, Tongkal, Indragiri, Kappatta, Menangkabau, Siak, Arcat, Aru, Bata, from the country of the Tomjano, Pase, Pedir, from the Maldives."
These peoples came toMalacca with ships, and by 1511,Malacca had a population of 50,000 people, including a resident trade community that spoke 84 languages.
The British brought in large numbers of immigrants fromChina andIndia from the late 18th to mid 20th century. The presence of local Malays,Orang Asli,Peranakans,Portuguese settlers,Siamese Thais, newly arrivedChinese andIndians, Sarawakians and Sabahans, as well as the others resulted in the wide use of mixed language.
Colloquial and contemporary usage of Malay includes modern Malaysian vocabulary, which may not be familiar to the older generation, such as:
New plural pronouns have also been formed out of the original pronouns popularly nowadays and the wordorang (person), such as:
In addition, Arabic terms that are originally used in Standard Malay nowadays have been popularly changed where some of the words or pronunciations in the involved terms have been added by the local conservative Muslims by disputing the terms suggested by theDewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP), claiming that the involved terms with implementation of the additional words or pronunciations is the real correct terms as same as stated in the Qur'an, where it is predominantly used by the local Muslim netizens in the social media nowadays. The several involved terms in comparison to Standard Malay that is popularly used, such as:
"Jangan lupa diri" ("Do not forget your roots") is a rallying cry commonly heard among Malaysians interested in protecting their linguistic heritage. This statement suggests that, regardless of race, the Malaysian people have their own roots and ancestral origin to protect. In 2002, Tun Dr. Mahathir proposed that English be 'a tool' to obtain knowledge in the sciences and mathematics, as part ofeducation in Malaysia.
Code-switching between English and Malaysian and the use of novel loanwords is widespread, formingBahasa Rojak. Consequently, this phenomenon has raised the displeasure oflinguistic purists in Malaysia, in their effort to uphold use of the prescribedstandard language.
Bahasa Rojak is widely used, especially by Malaysian urban youths, which has triggered concerns about continued proficiency in the Malaysian (specifically Malay) and English languages being mixed, and consequent risks to job opportunities for new graduates. TheMalaysian government is promoting the use of standard Malay (bahasa Melayu (baku)) since the end of 1980s, especially in the private sector, and discouraging the usage of Bahasa Rojak, similar to theSingapore Government'sSpeak Good English Movement and its discouragement of the use of theSinglish (Singaporean-English) pidgin. For example, Malaysian TV stationTV3 in April 2006[2] changed the name of its carnivalKarnival Sure Heboh toKarnival Jom Heboh as a result of this concern.
Comic magazines are often criticized for using Bahasa Rojak. Words or phrases written in Bahasa Rojak are often printed in boldface to enable readers to identify them. By the end of 2003,Gempak magazine began using a more formal language style and minimizing use of Bahasa Rojak, including the usage of bold lettering for words deemed colloquial.
During the Standard Malay Language Framework Congress held in November 2017,[3] former Malaysian Deputy Prime MinisterAhmad Zahid Hamidi expressed his disappointment at the poor usage of the national language. Despite Malaysia having achieved 60 years of independence, there are still many Malaysians (especially Malays) who could not speak proper Malay despite being born, raised, and educated in Malaysia.[4][5]