Wong, Jane Kon Ling (2012) Sabah Malay dialect : phonological differentiation in social context / Jane Wong Kon Ling. PhD thesis, University of Malaya.
Abstract
Sabah Malay Dialect (SMD) or ‘the speech of Sabah’ is used widely as a lingua franca in interaction between different ethnic groups, and within single groups in Sabah. The broad sociolinguistic setting of the people of Sabah has influenced the formation of SMD. This is enhanced by migrations from Indonesia, the Philippines and other states in Malaysia. Consequently, the vast socio-cultural and socio-economic settings have resulted in language variations in SMD. SMD displays distinctiveness especially in its phonology compared to Standard Malay and other dialects. SMD is indeed a dialect in its own right as shown by this study. Adopting the methodology of Urban Dialectology, this study explores the phonological characteristics of SMD as a dialect of Malay by observing its phonological differentiations, which arise from usage in social contexts. In doing so, this study determines the social functions of the linguistic variables as spoken by the various ethnic groups of Sabah. Samples were taken from the city of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah involving 120 informants between the ages of 15 to 64 from various socio-cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Nine linguistic phonological variables were determined in the study: (a), (), (e), (o), (h), (k), (r), (t) and (). Social variations in this study take into account gender, age, ethnic membership and social stratification. Formality of speech is measured from the most formal to the least formal by integrating four stylistic contexts originally introduced in a study by Labov (1966). These variations are Word-List Style (WLS), Reading-Passage Style (RPS), Formal Style (FS) and Casual Style (CS). This study has identified the phoneme inventory of SMD and the complimentary distribution of the phonological differentiation. It has also identified the distinctive phonological features of SMD, which include a significant realisations of /a/ as [], /r/ as trill [r], and /k/ as [k] in word-final position, // as [a], /e/ as [i], /o/ as [u], /t/ as [s] in word-initial and word-medial positions; an extensive insertion of glottal in final open syllables; and an exhaustive deletion of /h/ in most word positions. This study has also found that there is a significant correlation between phonological, social, and stylistic variations. This is evident as the younger age groups use more of the standard variants, while the older age groups use more of the non-standard variants. The higher the social class, as compared to the lower the social class, the more the standard variants are preferred. The ethnic groups of Bugis (BGS) and other bumiputera (BMP) use more of the standard variants as compared to other ethnic groups. Females are found to be using more of the standard variants then males. The more formal the stylistic context, the more the standard variants are used, and vice-versa. This correlation has become the markers of social differences in the SMD speech community. From this study it is found SMD is indeed a Malay dialect specifically spoken in Sabah.
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