Adelaar, a historical linguistics scholar from Australia, states that of the six Malay isoglosses he studied, the Iban isogloss was the least to have been influenced by foreign languages—by this he means Sanskrit, Javanese, Arabic, and Portuguese.

What is interesting from Adelaar’s research is his conclusion that Malay language in general is influenced by the four aforementioned languages. Because such condition is common in Malay region, Adelaar regards the case of the Iban isogloss as an anomaly or deviation.

1. Portuguese Influence: A Historical Perspective

“Maybe Western influence (including Sanskrit and Arabic) mostly infiltrated standard Malay first, then touched other isoglosses through it,” asserts Adelaar (1994:312). His assumption does make sense. The other isoglosses—Adelaar actually prefers the term isolex—get the influence of the foreign languages through standard Malay. Standard Malay was intensely spread for centuries that it made way for languages such as Sanskrit, Arabic, and Portuguese to get in touch with other isoglosses.

The year 1511 CE is important in the history of Malay language. That year, the Portuguese conquered Malacca and took control of it. It is assumed to be the beginning of European colonization in the land of Malay. A big change in Malay language followed soon.

What happened in the early 16th century has been recorded by Collins (2005), who also points out the six major characteristics of Malay language in use at the time.

a. Europeans Recognition of the Potentials of Malay Language

Antonio Pigafetta was the first European to list Malay words and to compose an Malay dictionary (Italian-Malay). It became a reference for the Latin-Malay dictionary and French-Malay dictionary that got published later. Until five hundred years afterwards, some of Pigafetta’s entries still live in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Brunei.

Malay Language of 1522 Apenamaito? Tida taho Sudah macan?   Berapa bahasa tan?

Malay Language of 1997 Apa nama itu? Tidak tahu Sudah makan?   Berapa bahasa tahu?

English What do you call it? I do not know Have you had breakfast/lunch/dinner? How many languages do you know?

Source: Collins (2005:22)

b. Roles of the Missionaries

At about the same time with the Portuguese arrival, Christian missionaries set foot in Malay Archipelago. They soon learned Malay language to then use it to spread their religion—one of their main programs was translating the Bible into Malay language. Javier, for instance, was known for his Malay version of the Old Testament.

c. Efforts to Teach Malay Language in Europe

Researchers, adventurers, and experts—linguists in particular—who had studied Malay language played an important role in the dispersion of the language. Not only did they master the language themselves, they brought it to Europe. Houtman, a Dutch merchant who had been imprisoned in Aceh, published a Dutch-Malay dictionary in Holland. The dictionary was reprinted several times. Malay language turned out to be interesting for Europeans that many of them wanted to visit the Malay world. This intensified the interaction of the two civilizations.

d. Adoption of Latin Alphabets

The Portuguese brought along Latin alphabets. The letters had been used in Europe and were exported around the world. In the land of Malay, they replaced Jawi script in Malay writing and then allowed for European languages like Portuguese to get in more easily.

e. Gradual Borrowing of Words from Portuguese

Although the Portuguese occupation lasted not as long as that of the Dutch, it left a persistent trace especially in Eastern Malay, i.e. the east part of Indonesia. One example is the fact that many Portuguese words are adopted by the local Malay languages. According to Collins, there are two factors that probably made this happen: one, the use of Portuguese together with Malay language in spreading religion and, according to Fernandez (2006), in religious observances until the next five centuries (twenty first century); two, the fact that the missionaries came from Portugal and spoke Portuguese.

As mentioned before, the adoption took a long time and involved in a central life aspect of the Malay speaking people. Religious rituals employed some of Portuguese vocabularies and Portuguese was used as religious language. Frequent contacts with Portuguese language resulted in the local Malay language getting rich with Portuguese words.

f. Printing

It is not yet proven that printing technology was brought to Malay world along with the coming of the Portuguese. Malay scripts should be transferred to Europe to get printed. The first printed Malay script is de Houtman’s handbook of conversation. Houtman was imprisoned in Aceh from 1599 to 1601 before publishing his book in 1603. He gave his script the title Spraeck ende woord-boeck, inde Malyesche ende Madagaskarsche Talen.

2. Portuguese Influence: A Record of a Language Adventurer

Pigafetta was first European to compile Malay vocabularies. The Italian journeyed with Portuguese sailors to many places in the Malay Archipelago, such as Brunei, Ambon, and the Philippines. He managed to produce an Italian-Malay word list.

The following short poem proves the Portuguese influence in the 16th century Malay language.

Malay Language of 1534 Capito D. Paulo Baparam de Punggor Anga’ dia malu Sita pa tau dor

Malay Language of 1997 Kapitan Dom Paulo Berperang di Punggur Nggak dia malu Setapak tak undur

English Captain De Paulo At war in Punggur He was not shy Never withdrawing a single step

Source: Collins (2005)

Capito de Paulo referred in the verse was Captain Dom Paulo da Gama, a sailor famous in Malacca. The name was Portuguese, according to Collins. The rank capito or captain was also existent among Portuguese sailors.

3. Portuguese Influence in the East Part of Malay Archipelago

Fernandez (2007) said that Malay people had come to the eastern Malay before the Portuguese, who arrived in 1520. Malay people migration to the east region came in waves since the 3rd century CE and reached its peak in the 7th century, the golden era of Srivijaya Kingdom.

After the Portuguese arrival circa the 16th-18th century, the two equally strong languages mingled and resulted in a fast development of Malay language as a lingua franca.

This happened because the communication circumstance allowed Malay vernacular to coexist and adjust with Portuguese language. In this case, in Fernandez’ opinion, the roles of merchants and Catholic priests are vital.

The prayer addressed to Santo Antonius de Padua preserved until today is in Portuguese. Santo Antonius himself was Portuguese. However, because the prayer has been passed on orally for generations, it has changed a lot from the original (Fernandez, 2006).

4. East Indonesia’s Linguistic Features and a Shared History

Eastern Malay is different from that of the western. The differences stem in, among others, the shared history of the many places in the east that they have distinct linguistic attributes. The linguistic features of the eastern dialects (according to Adelaar and Prentice, 1996) are:

Possessive construction requires subject + punya + object

Plural pronoun is made of singular pronoun + orang (human being)

The use of ter- and ber- Malay affixes

The use of ada, a Malay signifier for an existence that stands for the progressive aspect

Derivative forms of pronouns ini and itu precede nouns and functions as determiner

The use of the derivative forms of pergi as a verb and/or preposition which means “going to”

Causative constructions that consist of an auxiliary kasi/beri or bikin/buat and a main verb. The use of sama and the likes as multifunctional preposition.

This historical commonality is important, given the length of Portuguese language persistence in the region to left its trace. The influence, Fernandez postulates, can be seen from the number of Portuguese words exist in Malay dictionaries as entries taken from eastern Malay. The number is believed to exceed that of Portuguese words adopted in western Malay.

In eastern Malay, Portuguese influence is strongest in Larantuka, East Nusa Tenggara. Other eastern Malays, like Manado-Malay and Ambon-Malay, seem to be much less affected.

5. Biblical Transliteration in the Eastern Malay Region

Malay language was used for Catholic proselytization in eastern Malay after the Portuguese set foot there in 1520 CE. A Malay translation of the New Testament was created by Daniel Brouwerius and printed in Amsterdam in 1668 CE.

The translation, nevertheless, still made use of foreign words and terms, especially Portuguese such as baptismo “baptism”, cruz “cross”, deos “Allah”, euangelio “the Bible”, spirit sancto “holy spirit”, etc. This in fact hampered common people to understand Brouwerius’ translation quickly.

6. Epilogue

Foreign languages have influenced Malay over the course of time and the first of them might be Portuguese. Portuguese influence is clearly there in the eastern Indonesia, especially in Larantuka-Malay in East Nusa Tenggara. Portuguese occupation made people in the region to share a historical background and, in general, linguistic features.

(SR/bhs/47/10-07)

Translation by Reza Daffi

Sources

Adelaar, K. Alexander. 1994. Bahasa Melayik Purba Rekonstruksi Fonologi dan Sebagian dari Leksikon dan Morfologi. Jakarta: Publikasi Bersama Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa dan Universitas Leiden (RUL).

Collins, James T. 2005. Bahasa Melayu Bahasa Dunia Sejarah Singkat (translator: Evita Elmanar). Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia.

Fernandez, Inyo Yos. 2006. “Pengaruh Portugis terhadap Dialek di Kawasan Berdekatan: Kajian Kes di Kawasan Melayu Timur Indonesia” in Prosiding Persidangan Antarabangsa Pengajian Melayu 2006. Kuala Lumpur: Akademi Pengajian Melayu Universiti Malaya.

Appendix

1. List of Indonesian words borrowed from Portuguese

Indonesian bangku bendera biola bola boneka dansa gancu garpu gereja jendela keju kemeja kertas meja mentega Minggu Natal nina nona nyonya paderi permisi pesta Sabtu (could be from Arabic تبس) sabun sepatu serdadu sinyo terigu terwelu tinta

Portuguese banco bandeira viola bola boneca dança gancho garfo igreja janela queijo camisa carta(s) mesa manteiga Domingo Natal nina dona donha padre pemissão festa Sabado   sabão sapato soldado senhor trigo coelho tinta

English bench flag violin ball doll dance hooked stick fork church window cheese shirt paper table butter Sunday Christmas little girl miss missus father permission fiesta Saturday   soap shoes soldier mister wheat rabbit ink

2. List of words borrowed from Portuguese in local language

Local Language balenso (Ambon, Minahasa) batatas (Ambon) farinya (Ambon, Minahasa) garganta (Ambon) kadera (Ambon, Minahasa) kawalo (Ambon) ose (Ambon) panada (Ambon, Manado) tuturuga (Minahasa)

Portuguese balanço batatas farinha garganta cadeira cavalo você panada tartaruga

English to perform lenso dance potato wheat flour throat chair horse you sandwich sea turtle

Source: Wikipedia Indonesia

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