The history of Malaysia's linguistic politics and policies reflect so much of what has been a... more The history of Malaysia's linguistic politics and policies reflect so much of what has been at the heart of Malaysia's creation of its own identity, and in more recent times, what it sees as its special roles in. the wider world. In another perspective, it could be argued that this linguistic history reflects a shift from a reactive language policy seeking to solve pressing internal tensions, largely ethnic in nature, in the period from 1957 to the early 1990s, to a clearly more proactive policy which is heavily involved in forging a newer Malaysia with external priorities and often asserted aspirations of playing a larger role on the global stage. It is probably also true to say that much of this latter shift to a proactive stance is closely associated with Dr Mahathir's administration, and with the present Defence Minister, Najib Tun Razak, who as Minister for Education in the early 1990s made much of the public running for the shift allowing - indeed, encouraging - a ...
One of the potentially most frustrating aspects of any work on national language planning and lan... more One of the potentially most frustrating aspects of any work on national language planning and language policy is to balance the broadly political and wider social-ethnic-global perspectives with the educational aims of implementation. This is crucial for a deeper appreciation of the range of factors working with and sometimes against declared policies. This volume by Rappa and Wee [R & W] employs this most useful approach as it delves into the language policy frameworks and implementation in four regional nation states – Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Both authors come from varied backgrounds in political science and language and combine well to give this necessary wider perspective. R & W also concentrate on the impact of modernity, and this combination of both language and modernity provides the core justification for using these four case studies, particularly as each nation state has had to grapple both with local languages and with wider pressures for econom...
This paper analyses Malaysia’s English language policies, especially since the mid 1990s, in the ... more This paper analyses Malaysia’s English language policies, especially since the mid 1990s, in the light of more recent claims for a united Malaysian nation (under the banner of bangsaMalaysia) and in the context of English language and its potential for Malaysia to forge more of an externalised identity. It examines the impact of post-independencemeasures to boost the status ofMalay by switching the languagemedium in schools toMalay (BahasaMalaysia). Thishadan immediate effect onEnglishmedium schools, but the samemeasurewas not carried through toChinese or Tamil schools. For the latter, students nonetheless had to demonstrate competence in Bahasa Malaysia and so there evolved an effective bilingualism for non-Malays – a bilingualism that was not generally available for the bulk of Malay students. By the 1990s, Malaysia sought to reintroduce English language competence via its schools and tertiary educa-tion. This measure is part of an overall effort to engage with the globalising world.
... But perhaps the most interesting factor for Singapore is that a local 'standard' fo... more ... But perhaps the most interesting factor for Singapore is that a local 'standard' form of English is well recognised and often fiercely distinguished from the more colloquial Singlish a variety that senior government figures are often at pains to urge Singaporeans to avoid ...
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 03147539608713077, Feb 27, 2007
... and sticks, including requiring competence for government appointments, by using Malay as a .... more ... and sticks, including requiring competence for government appointments, by using Malay as a ... Report emphasised that national unity was to be attained through Malay, despite retaining ... to access newer technologies and wider business communication via English, and there is ...
... But perhaps the most interesting factor for Singapore is that a local 'standard' fo... more ... But perhaps the most interesting factor for Singapore is that a local 'standard' form of English is well recognised and often fiercely distinguished from the more colloquial Singlish a variety that senior government figures are often at pains to urge Singaporeans to avoid ...
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2012
We owe much gratitude to the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) for encouraging soc... more We owe much gratitude to the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) for encouraging sociolinguistics scholars to research and write on language variation in the polyglot nation of Malaysia, and to advance the knowledge of language varieties and their speakers in this underrepresented part of the world. It also graciously offered one of the editors a six-week fellowship in Leiden (February-March) during which we could polish and finish our manuscript. We would like to express our thanks to all the authors who have provided individual chapters (and especially for their patience through the multiple rounds of editing!). We are grateful for the indefatigable energies of Dr Paul van der Velde, the General Editor of the IIAS/ICAS Publications Series and its Publications Officer Martina van den Haak (MA) for supporting the entire project. We also would like to thank the editorial support team at Amsterdam University Press and Danny Lim for the excellent photograph on the cover. Our gratitude also goes to our home institutions: The Shanghai International Studies University and The University of Malaya, for supporting our research and providing the resources which make our scholarly work possible.
... But perhaps the most interesting factor for Singapore is that a local 'standard' fo... more ... But perhaps the most interesting factor for Singapore is that a local 'standard' form of English is well recognised and often fiercely distinguished from the more colloquial Singlish a variety that senior government figures are often at pains to urge Singaporeans to avoid ...
The history of Malaysia's linguistic politics and policies reflect so much of what has been a... more The history of Malaysia's linguistic politics and policies reflect so much of what has been at the heart of Malaysia's creation of its own identity, and in more recent times, what it sees as its special roles in. the wider world. In another perspective, it could be argued that this linguistic history reflects a shift from a reactive language policy seeking to solve pressing internal tensions, largely ethnic in nature, in the period from 1957 to the early 1990s, to a clearly more proactive policy which is heavily involved in forging a newer Malaysia with external priorities and often asserted aspirations of playing a larger role on the global stage. It is probably also true to say that much of this latter shift to a proactive stance is closely associated with Dr Mahathir's administration, and with the present Defence Minister, Najib Tun Razak, who as Minister for Education in the early 1990s made much of the public running for the shift allowing - indeed, encouraging - a ...
One of the potentially most frustrating aspects of any work on national language planning and lan... more One of the potentially most frustrating aspects of any work on national language planning and language policy is to balance the broadly political and wider social-ethnic-global perspectives with the educational aims of implementation. This is crucial for a deeper appreciation of the range of factors working with and sometimes against declared policies. This volume by Rappa and Wee [R & W] employs this most useful approach as it delves into the language policy frameworks and implementation in four regional nation states – Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Both authors come from varied backgrounds in political science and language and combine well to give this necessary wider perspective. R & W also concentrate on the impact of modernity, and this combination of both language and modernity provides the core justification for using these four case studies, particularly as each nation state has had to grapple both with local languages and with wider pressures for econom...
This paper analyses Malaysia’s English language policies, especially since the mid 1990s, in the ... more This paper analyses Malaysia’s English language policies, especially since the mid 1990s, in the light of more recent claims for a united Malaysian nation (under the banner of bangsaMalaysia) and in the context of English language and its potential for Malaysia to forge more of an externalised identity. It examines the impact of post-independencemeasures to boost the status ofMalay by switching the languagemedium in schools toMalay (BahasaMalaysia). Thishadan immediate effect onEnglishmedium schools, but the samemeasurewas not carried through toChinese or Tamil schools. For the latter, students nonetheless had to demonstrate competence in Bahasa Malaysia and so there evolved an effective bilingualism for non-Malays – a bilingualism that was not generally available for the bulk of Malay students. By the 1990s, Malaysia sought to reintroduce English language competence via its schools and tertiary educa-tion. This measure is part of an overall effort to engage with the globalising world.
... But perhaps the most interesting factor for Singapore is that a local 'standard' fo... more ... But perhaps the most interesting factor for Singapore is that a local 'standard' form of English is well recognised and often fiercely distinguished from the more colloquial Singlish a variety that senior government figures are often at pains to urge Singaporeans to avoid ...
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1080 03147539608713077, Feb 27, 2007
... and sticks, including requiring competence for government appointments, by using Malay as a .... more ... and sticks, including requiring competence for government appointments, by using Malay as a ... Report emphasised that national unity was to be attained through Malay, despite retaining ... to access newer technologies and wider business communication via English, and there is ...
... But perhaps the most interesting factor for Singapore is that a local 'standard' fo... more ... But perhaps the most interesting factor for Singapore is that a local 'standard' form of English is well recognised and often fiercely distinguished from the more colloquial Singlish a variety that senior government figures are often at pains to urge Singaporeans to avoid ...
Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2012
We owe much gratitude to the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) for encouraging soc... more We owe much gratitude to the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) for encouraging sociolinguistics scholars to research and write on language variation in the polyglot nation of Malaysia, and to advance the knowledge of language varieties and their speakers in this underrepresented part of the world. It also graciously offered one of the editors a six-week fellowship in Leiden (February-March) during which we could polish and finish our manuscript. We would like to express our thanks to all the authors who have provided individual chapters (and especially for their patience through the multiple rounds of editing!). We are grateful for the indefatigable energies of Dr Paul van der Velde, the General Editor of the IIAS/ICAS Publications Series and its Publications Officer Martina van den Haak (MA) for supporting the entire project. We also would like to thank the editorial support team at Amsterdam University Press and Danny Lim for the excellent photograph on the cover. Our gratitude also goes to our home institutions: The Shanghai International Studies University and The University of Malaya, for supporting our research and providing the resources which make our scholarly work possible.
... But perhaps the most interesting factor for Singapore is that a local 'standard' fo... more ... But perhaps the most interesting factor for Singapore is that a local 'standard' form of English is well recognised and often fiercely distinguished from the more colloquial Singlish a variety that senior government figures are often at pains to urge Singaporeans to avoid ...
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