1. Introduction

When the Crivijaya Kingdom was on its glorious period, in the 7^th century C.E., the ancient Malay language was used broadly all over Nusantara (Malay Archipelago). The Malay language had been spoken for both colloquial communications in the kingdom and religious rites (Hindu and Buddha). However, the usage of the ancient Malay language gradually decreased and no longer used as the official language in the last of 13^th century C.E. Based on the inscriptions found by the archaeologists, several features and forms of the ancient Malay language can be deduced. It was done through comparing the inscribed texts on the inscriptions to the Malay language in the period coming after.  

Even though the interval time of Malay language usage in Nusantara were long (from the 7^th century to the 15^th century), the amount of inscriptions written on the Malay language is relatively fewer than that on the ancient Javanese language. Rohaedi (2007) argued that the reason for this is that the Malay native speakers likely preferred spoken language than written language. It means that the literary tradition was not popular among Malay people.   

Another reason for the few amounts the Malay inscriptions is the domination of scholars, religious leaders and royalties over the written language. Most of ordinary people lacked of knowledge and skill on writing. The position of Sanskrit in the “top level language” (Collins, 2005) proves that the language was learned and understood by certain groups of people. Hence, it is believed that the written language was also prevalent merely among those people.    

However, some linguists are able to deduce several aspects regarding the ancient Malay language, especially its main features: outside influence, phonologic and morphologic features, and vocabularies. All these features will be elucidated below as the brief description of language form of the ancient Malay.      

2. Sanskrit Influence

The obvious evidence on the Malay language is the significant influence of Sanskrit on it. The major reason is that most of Malay speakers were the Hindu and Buddha believers which commonly used Sanskrit as the religious language. (Collins, 2005). In addition, the “strata” of Sanskrit among noblemen had contributed to the Sanskrit influence on the Malay. Linguistically, Malay language was considered as an open language which can adapt to several languages especially “rich language” such as Sanskrit.  

Therefore, over the years, many foreign languages mostly Sanskrit words have enriched and expanded the ancient Malay language. This absorption added the Malay language vocabularies and in turn made it as the knowledge language and means for transferring messages engraved on the inscriptions. 

3. The Influenced Aspects

The aforementioned influences are evident in several aspects

a. Orthography

The ancient Malay used Pallawa and Dewanagari letters which were both Sanskrit letters

b. Phonology

There are several phonemes in Malay language affected by Sanskrit phonemes. These phonemes were absent in the ancient Malay language. Sound of aspirated consonants like ch and kh in word sukhatchitta are some of the examples. Other examples are sounds of bh, ch, th, dh, kh, and h.

c. Loanwords

The ancient Malay language possessed several loan words which were directly taken from Sanskrit. Some of those words are still in use (with or without alteration of form and meaning). For example,

Loanwords	Words	Meaning
Syukasyitta	Sukacita	Happiness
Athava	Atau	Or
Karana	Karena	Because
Tatakala	Tatkala	When, at the time

d. Phrase combination

Many linguists find that the phrase combination of the ancient Malay language resembles to that of Sanskrit

Below is the summary of the ancient Malay language features

a.	Many loanwords from Sanskrit
b.	Using pallawa orthography
c.	The sentence structure in the ancient Malay language used Malay/Indonesian style (this aspect is not influenced by Sanskrit)
d.	“b” sound in Malay derived from “w” sound in the ancient Malay language. For example, sound /bulan/ is derived from /wulan/ (moon)
e.	“ə” sound didn`t exist. For example, sound /dengan/ is derived from /d(a)ngan/ (with)
f.	Prefix ber- in Malay/Indonesian language is derived from mar- in the ancient Malay language. For example, /ber-lepas/ is derived from /mar-lapas/ (being released)
g.	Prefix di-  in Malay/Indonesian Language is derived from ni-  in the ancient Malay language. For example, /di-perbuat/ is derived from /ni-parwuat/ (being done)
h.	The ancient Malay language had sound of aspirated consonants such as bh, ch, th, ph, dh, kh and h. For example in word sukhatchitta
i.	Intervocalic H word is unvoiced in Malay/Indonesia language. For example, semua from samuha (all/entire), saya from sahaya (I, me)
j.	Prefix di- in Malay/Indonesian language is derived from prefix ni- in the ancient Malay language, and prefix diper- is derived from nipar- Ancient Malay Language Malay Language Meaning ni-makan di-makan being eaten ni-minum-na di-minum-nya being d nipar-vuat diper-buat being done

k.	Prefix ber- in Malay/Indonesian language is likely the same with prefix mar- in the ancient Malay language Ancient Malay Language Malay Language Meaning mar-vanum ber-bangun To wake up mar-vuat ber-buat To do

l.	Suffix –nya in Malay/Indonesian language is derived from  suffix –na in the ancient Malay language

Bahasa Melayu Kuno	Bahasa Melayu
vini-na	bini-nya
vuah-na	buah-nya

 

4. The Ancient Malay Language as Lingua Franca

The ancient Malay language reached its glorious period from the 7^th century C.E to the 13^th century C.E. (during the domination of Crivijaya Kingdom). The speakers of the language included people in Malay Peninsula, Riau islands, and Sumatra islands. The Malay language became the lingua franca and gradually elevated to be the official Kingdom language for several reasons:

1. Relatively simple and considered as the open language (open to outside influence)
2. Free from speech level. It is different from Javanese language
3. Having simple structure compared to the Javanese language

However, the Malay language experienced changes in the early of the 17^th century C.E. At the mean time, the Javanese language started developing in the end of the 16^th century while the Malay language had spread all over Nusantara (Colins, 2005) along with strong influence of Arabic language and Islam.   

5. Comparison Examples

The relation between the ancient Malay language and modern Malay/Indonesian language can be noticed from the words that had been used in the ancient time and are still used in recent time such as curi (steal), makan (eat), tanam (plant), air (water). In addition, there are several words that have similarities with the ancient Malay language such as

Ancient Malay Language	Malay/Indonesian Language	Meaning
vulan	Bulan	Moon
nasyik	asyik	Happy
(mang)alap	(meng)ambil	To take
(ma)mava	(mem)bawa	To bring
(sa)ribu	(se)ribu	Thousand
dangan	dengan	With
vanak(na)	banyak(nya)	The amount
sukhacitta	sukacita	Happiness
ko	ke	To

Note: These ancient Malay words are engraved in Kedukan Bukit inscriptions which is assumed to be written in 683 C.E

(SR/bhs/39/08-07)

(HQ/ter/62/8-07)

References:

• http://www.ensiklopedia.net
• http://ms.wikipedia.org
• http://www.tutor.com.my
• Collins, James T. 2005. Bahasa Melayu Bahasa Dunia Sejarah Singkat (Translator: Evita Elmanar). Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia.
• Setiawan, B (General Director) dkk. 1988. Ensiklopedi Nasional Indonesia. Jakarta: PT Cipta Adi Pustaka. Jilid 10 huruf M.
• Harahap, Darwis. 1992. “Bahasa Melayu Kuno” (in Asal-usul bahasa Melayu).  http://www.penerbit.usm.my

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