Indigenous language development in East Malaysia

TLDR

In Malaysia, many of the 138 living languages are endangered and shifting toward Malay and English, prompting indigenous groups in Sabah and Sarawak to initiate language development projects over the past 15 years to reverse this trend. The article aims to describe the methods, activities, successes, and challenges encountered by these groups in revitalizing their vulnerable languages. It examines the strategies used in these projects, such as developing writing systems, publishing linguistic papers, and implementing early childhood education programs. The projects have produced writing systems, linguistic papers, and early childhood education programmes that increase speaker numbers and elevate language status.

Abstract

Abstract Many of the 138 living languages in Malaysia are listed as endangered and some listed as vigorous are undergoing language shift. Most of these languages are shifting towards Malay, the national language, and to English, an international language. Since standard Malay is the language of instruction in the government schools, many indigenous parents are speaking Malay to their children with the hope of giving them a better start in school. People in a number of the indigenous minority groups in Sabah and Sarawak recognize that language shift is occurring and are taking steps to reverse it. In the past 15 years several of the indigenous minority groups have been engaged in language development projects and, as awareness grows, more groups are joining them. They have developed appropriate writing systems and produced linguistic papers to increase understanding of the vocabulary and grammar of their languages. They have also implemented early childhood education programmes with the intention of increasing the number of speakers of the languages, and raising their status. This article presents some of the methods, activities, successes and challenges that these groups have experienced in their language development projects while seeking to revitalize their vulnerable languages.