Sri Lankan Malay Creole

Print

Primary tabs

A language of Sri Lanka

ISO 639-3
sci
Alternate Names
Java Jati, Melayu Bahasa, Sri Lankan Malay
User Population

57,400 (2019), decreasing.

Location

Ampara, Baddulla, Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Hambantota, Jaffna, Kalutara, Kandy, Matara, Matale, Moneragala, and Nuwara Eliya districts, especially Badulla, Colombo, Hambantota, Kandy, and Kirinda urban areas.

Language Maps
Language Status

6b (Threatened).

Classification
Creole, Malay based
Dialects

None known. Not intelligible of Standard Malay [zsm] due to phonological and syntactic differences, and strong influence from Tamil [tam]. May be similar to Malaccan Malay Creole [ccm] (Lim 1981).

Typology

SOV; postpositions; case; adjectives and genitives precede noun heads.

Language Use

Language shift taking place. Malay communities using either English [eng], Sinhala [sin], or Tamil [tam] favor Sri Lankan Malay Creole. Clear shift to English among youth in Colombo. Kirinda is the only vital community of Sri Lanka Malays who have youth who speak it as L1. There is also a desire to acquire Standard Malay [zsm] as a useful economic tool but still preserve Malay identity. Beginning to shift to Standard Malay even in Kirinda. Home, community. Some young people, all adults. All ages only in Kirinda; being lost by youth in every other community. Also use English [eng]. Also use Sinhala [sin]. Also use Tamil [tam].

Language Development

Newspapers. Radio.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Sri Lankan Malay Creole
Writing

Latin script [Latn].

Other Comments

Malay vocabulary with grammatical structure based on Sri Lankan Moor Tamil. Muslim, traditional religion.