Malay Profile

Story of Malay

The 3 Periods: History Of Malay Language

To simplify it, the history of the English language can be divided into three periods: Old Malay, Classical Malay, and Modern Malay. Throughout these periods, the Malay Language was heavily influenced by other languages, due to colonization and migration.

Old Malay

Based on history, around the year 2500 to 1500 BC, the Ancient Malays, also known as "Proto-Malays," undergo a wave of migration to the Archipelago of Malaysia. These ancestors of the Malays and Indonesians eventually moved deeper on the land, and a new wave of migration happened around the land. The new migratory family was called "Deutero-Malays" and settled all around present-day Malaysia and Indonesia. As a result, the language used by the Austronesian people was slowly developed into what they classify as the Old Malay.

Old Malay was heavily influenced by Indian cultures and religion, including the Sanskrit language. The Indian influence was due to the Srivijaya regime that ruled the Malacca Sultanate between 1402 and 1511 BC. And because people spoke it in West Malaysia, Riau Archipelago, and Sumatera- basically among travelers and traders who pass through Malacca- the language was labeled as the lingua franca (adopted common language) of the time. Pallava, an ancient Tamil script from South India, was accepted as the Malay writing system, and later on, the people also accepted Kawi, an ancient Javanese script, as their writing system.

Lembah Bujang, or Bujang Valley, in Kedah, Malaysia, is the richest archeological area in Malaysia. It also has the oldest man-made structure to be recorded in Southeast Asia. The remains found are proof of Old Malay and Indian influence on the land.

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