The Historical Development of English in Malaysia - Dissertation Example

The paper is identifying the affected specific linguistic features. The differences between Malaysian English and Standard British English are examined next. This dissertation then looks at the attitude of Malaysians themselves towards Malaysian English; and lastly, gives an outlook on the possible future of Malaysian English.  The study is relevant in understanding the process by which nativized and non- nativized, i.e. standard forms co-exist. This understanding may consequentially lead to an attitudinal change in how Malaysian English is regarded in comparison to Standard English.

CHAPTER ONE

The Historical Development of English in Malaysia

English is today’s most widely spoken language in the world, (Meyer 2010:21) pervading and even dominating most cultures, including those in Muslim territories, which Malaysia belongs to. Due to its widespread use, far exceeding the spread of Latin during the Roman imperial conquest, (Bhatt 2001, cited in Rosman, Rubel & Weisgrau 2009:63) English has become the de facto international language of business and governance. The spread and the continued use of English around the world can be attributed to three historical phenomena: (1) the migration of English speaking immigrants –  US, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand– to newly found territories; (2) the British colonial expansion in the 16th to 20th century reaching ‘parts of Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean’; (Rosman, Rubel & Weisgrau 2009:63) and (3) the rise of US expansionism after WWI in the 1920s, becoming the world superpower after WWII, and today, further consolidating it through globalization. (Lorimer 2002:4, 6, 34)    

• The British Colonial English in Malaysia (1824-1957)

It was only in 1824 under the Dutch Treaty that the Malayan Peninsular and Singapore were formally handed over to Britain by the Dutch. Thus it was the beginning of English incursion into the Peninsula’s everyday life. (Selvaratnam & Labib 2003:64) According to Schneider (2007:144-145), the spread of English had reached Malaysia in the late 18th century when Imperial Britain battled its way to seize the economic and political dominance in the Southeast Asian region from the Dutch and other aspiring European nations.  In 1889 Malaysia and Singapore became a united British Crown colony in a gradual process where the impact of the English language was gradual, too, creating a different type of English with distinct multi-linguistic traces in it.