Introduction To

Linguistic
TSL 3101
 TOPIC 1- History of English Language

2. People throughout the world speak English as

an International Language. But, English is spoken
in many varieties, as what is known as World
Englishes. For instance, in Malaysia people speak
Standard English and Malaysian English
(Manglish). Discuss how Standard English differs
from Malaysian English. Provide examples to
justify your answer.
 Spelling

Differences
between
Pronunciations
Standard Grammatical
English and structure
Malaysian
English

Vocabulary
Differences in vocabulary
0 Words or phrases which have one meaning in Standard English
and another in Malaysian English.
0 Eg: “driver” where in Malaysian English means a personal
chauffeur while in Standard English it is anybody who drives.
0 Some of the words are only used by Malaysian English and not
Standard English.
Standard English Malaysian English
eggplant or aubergine brinjal
mobile phone or cell phone hand phone
used held for further KIV
consideration
sick note MC
yes / no can / cannot
0 Malaysian English also often add in suffixes in their English. Eg:
“meh”, “ke”, “ar”, “lah”, “mar”
0 Standard English does not use suffixes as it does not give specific
meaning
0 The example can be taken such as “Sure ar?” as in “Are you sure?”
Malaysian English uses the word “horn” as a verb. This reveals
how language use may be changed by a group of speakers,
whereas standard English uses “horn” only as a noun.

Malaysian English: The man horned loudly.

Standard English: The man sounded his horn loudly.
In standard English, horn is a noun, not a verb.

Malaysian English: Please off the lights when you leave the
room.
Standard English: Please switch off the lights when you
leave the room.
In standard English, on and off are not verbs.
 Differences in
pronunciations of words
0 Malaysians speaks many different dialects such as in Kelantanese
English, Kedahan English, Sabahan English and Perakian English
whereas British is only one main language spoken which is
Standard English
0 Most of the pronunciations mistake relates to mother tongue
interference
0 There are some examples that differs the pronunciations
between Malaysian English and Standard English

Words Standard English Malaysian English

Karaoke /kæriˈəʊki/ ca (as in carry)-ri-o-ki ka-ra-o-kay
Debt /det/ det debt
Wednesday/ˈwenzdeɪ/ wenz-day wed-nes-day
Question /ˈkwestʃ(ə)n/ ques-chen ques-tion
 Differences in
grammatical structure
0 Many of Malaysian English grammatical structures are
taken from Chinese dialects
0 For instance, the phrase "Why you so like that one?”.
In Standard English it means "Why are you behaving
in that way?". In Malay, it can be translated as "Kenapa
engkau macam itu?” In Cantonese, a similar phrase
would be rendered "tim kai lei kum keh?”
0 From the sample phrase, it is noted that the "one"
does not literally mean the numeral one, instead it is
used more as a suffix device.
0 Direct translation is often used in Malaysian English
especially during conversation.

Standard English Malaysian English

"I haven't seen you in a "Long time no see”
long time” (Lama tak jumpa)
“It should be done like “Like that one”
that!” (Macam itulah)
Differences in spelling
British spelling is commonly used in Malaysian English

However, the influence of American English modes of expression and slang

is strong because of the mass media

When using computers, Malaysian citizens seldom aware of the differences

between British and American English and uses the default settings on their
software spell-checker.

For example, centre (British) is typically spelt center

(American)
 For Malaysian English,
Nevertheless, for
the spelling is not fixed.
Standard English there is
Some may spell “centre”
already fixed spelling for
or “center” and “colour”
each word.
or “color”.