%0 Journal Article
%T Contact of Dialect Clusters: The Malay Peninsula and Sumatera
%A Asmah Haji Omar
%A Salinah Jaafar
%A Siti Ruhaizah Che Mat
%J Open Journal of Modern Linguistics
%P 459-469
%@ 2164-2834
%D 2015
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/ojml.2015.55040
%X Contact between speakers of clusters of Malay
dialects of the Malay Peninsula and Sumatera has been going on from historical
times until today. This study discusses contacts as reflected in the literary
genres of the <i>syair</i> and the <i>hikayat</i>. A research was conducted on
a real life situation of the contact of the Bengkulu dialect cluster of
Sumatera and that of the southern peninsula Malay dialect in a Bengkulu settler
community in the latter region, to assess the receptivity of the speakers of
the minority settler community of the norms of the host region. The findings
showed that although there was adaptation on the part of the minority
community, it did not come readily. Norms that determine the preferred use and
usage of language, as well as the social pragmatics of adaptation are the
motivating factors for acceptance. Stability of the minority as part of a
larger community leads to uninhibited awareness of the traditions of the
(former¡¯s) parent community, which in turn motivates a regeneration of
erstwhile practices.
%K Dialect Cluster
%K Cluster Contact
%K Settler Community
%K Host Community
%K Regeneration
%U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=60230