The Malay Chetty creole language (also known as Malaccan Creole Malay, Malacca Malay Creole[1] and Chitties/Chetties Malay) is a Malay-based creole spoken by the Chetties, a distinctive group of Tamil people found mainly in Malacca in Malaysia and Singapore, who are also known as the "Indian Peranakans" and have adopted Chinese and Malay cultural practices whilst also retaining their Hindu heritage.[2]
| Malay Chetty creole | |
|---|---|
| Malaccan Creole Malay Malacca Malay Creole Chitties/Chetties Creole | |
| Native to | Malaysia |
| Region | Malacca |
| Ethnicity |
|
Native speakers | 300 (no date) |
Language family | Malay-based creole
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ccm |
| Glottolog | mala1482 |
| 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. | |
Spoken since the 16th century by descendants of Tamil merchants of the Malacca Straits, Malay Chetty creole may be historically related to Sri Lanka Creole Malay. The current language status is moribund, due to inter-marriage and out-migration. There has been a language shift towards Malay instead.[1]
Malay Chetty creole is a mix of Malay, Tamil and English, although the latter's presence in the creole is not as prominent compared to the first two languages. Because of the strong influence of Malay on this creole, Malay Chetty creole is not very different from other Malay dialects, especially the Middle Malacca Malay dialect. That said, despite the many similarities to other Malay dialects, Malay Chetty creole is considered a creole for two reasons, one, a pidgin becomes a creole once it's become the mother tongue of a community and two, unlike a pidgin, a creole develops as a language in terms of vocabulary, structure, style and others to accommodate its function as a mother tongue.[3]
As Malay Chetty creole is very similar to other Malay dialects in terms of structure, it is generally not very different from other Malay dialects. Nonetheless, it does have its own unique features.[4]
Malay Chetty creole shares many features with Baba Nyonya Malay, suggesting that they may have come from the same source language with the source language being Bazaar Malay.[5]
| Standard Malay | Malay Chetty creole | English Translation |
|---|---|---|
| halwa | alua | 'sweets' |
| anak angkat | anak piara | 'adopted child' |
| mak ciik/adik emak | bibik | 'auntie'/'female sibling of mother' |
| berkata | bilang | 'say' |
| cahaya | caya | 'light' |
| tanah/tanah pamah | darat | 'land'/'lowland' |
| dakwat | dawat | 'ink' |
| dosa | deraka | 'sin' |
| gagap | gagok | 'stutter' |
| kamu | lu | 'you' |
| kamu semua | lu orang | 'you' (plural) |
| pak cik | mama | 'uncle' |
| mak cik | mami | 'auntie' |
| cawan | mangkok | 'cup' |
| bidan | dukon | 'midwife' |
| nafas | napas | 'breathe' |
| hari ini | nyari | 'today' |
| pergi | pi | 'go' |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)