Brunei Malay
The Brunei Malay language, also called Bruneian Malay language (Malay: Bahasa Melayu Brunei; Jawi: بهاس ملايو بروني), is the most widely spoken language in Brunei and a lingua franca in some parts of Sarawak and Sabah, such as Labuan, Limbang, Lawas, Sipitang and Papar. Though Standard Malay is promoted as the official national language of Brunei, Brunei Malay is socially dominant and it is currently replacing the minority languages of Brunei, including the Dusun and Tutong languages, existing in a diglossic speech, wherein Brunei Malay is commonly used for daily communication, coexisting with the aforementioned regional languages and Malay creoles, and standard Malay used in formal speech; code switching between standard Malay and Brunei Malay is spoken in informal speech as a lingua franca between Malay creoles and regional languages. It is quite similar to Standard Malay to the point of being almost mutually intelligible with it, being about 84% cognate with standard Malay. Standard Malay is usually spoken with Brunei pronunciation.
Brunei Malay | |
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Bahasa Melayu Brunei | |
بهاس ملايو بروني | |
Native to | Brunei, Malaysia |
Ethnicity | Bruneian Malay, Kedayan |
Native speakers | 320,000 (2013–2019) |
Austronesian
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Writing system | Latin (Malay alphabet) Arabic (Jawi) |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | kxd |
Glottolog | brun1242 |
Area where Brunei Malay is spoken |