Jambi Malay

Jambi Malay
Baso Jambi بهاس ملايو جمبي
Native to	Indonesia (Jambi and southern Riau)
Region	Sumatra
Ethnicity	Jambi Malay, Batin, etc.
Native speakers	1 million (2000 census)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (disputed) Malayic Malay Jambi Malay
Dialects	East Tanjung Jabung Jambi City Muaro Jambi Batanghari Tebo Bungo Sarolangun Marangin
Writing system	Latin (Indonesian alphabet) Jawi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	jax
Glottolog	jamb1236
The region where the Jambi Malay language is predominantly spoken includes the entire eastern part of Jambi, part of the city of Sungai Penuh in western Jambi, and part of the Kerinci Regency.
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Jambi Malay (baso Jambi, Jawi: بهاس ملايو جمبي), is a Malayic language spoken by the Jambi Malay people in Jambi, Indonesia. The Jambi Malay language is a dialect of the Malay language spoken primarily in Jambi, but it is also used in the southern part of Riau and the northern part of South Sumatra.^[2] In Jambi, the Jambi Malay language has eight dialects, including the East Tanjung Jabung dialect, Jambi City dialect, Muaro Jambi dialect, Batanghari dialect, Tebo dialect, Bungo dialect, Sarolangun dialect, and Merangin dialect. The Jambi Malay language is used as a lingua franca and for interaction among the various ethnic groups in Jambi. The differences between each dialect in the Jambi Malay language range from about 51 to 80 percent.^[3]

Historically, the people of Jambi are part of the Malay world. This can be seen from archaeological and historical research findings, such as the discovery of charters and inscriptions like the Karang Berahi and Kedukan Bukit inscriptions, which use the structure of the Malay language, commonly referred to as Old Malay. The Karang Berahi and Kedukan Bukit inscriptions were found in the upper reaches of Jambi, located on the banks of the Marangin River, a tributary of the Batang Hari River.^[4] Between the 17th century and the 19th century, Jambi was part of the Malay Sultanate of Jambi, which also encompasses parts of Riau and South Sumatra.^[5] Due to influences from Javanese culture and cordial relations between the Jambi Sultanate and the Mataram Sultanate in the past, the Jambi Malay language has absorbed significant loanwords from Javanese.^[5][6]

Classification

Jambi Malay is a dialect of Malay, which is a member of the Austronesian family of languages, which includes languages from Taiwan, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia. Malagasy, a geographic outlier spoken in Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, is also a member of this language family. Although these languages are not necessarily mutually intelligible to any extent, their similarities are often quite apparent. In more conservative languages like Malay, many roots have come with relatively little change from their common ancestor, Proto-Austronesian language. There are many cognates found in the languages' words for kinship, health, body parts and common animals. Numbers, especially, show remarkable similarities.^[7]

Jambi Malay is closely related to Palembang Malay spoken in neighboring South Sumatra, specifically in terms of phonology and vocabulary.^[8] It is also related to Riau Malay spoken in Riau and the surrounding islands, and Bengkulu Malay spoken in Bengkulu.

Distribution and usage

Jambi Malay is spoken throughout Jambi as well as the southern part of Riau.^[9] It is the most spoken language in eastern Jambi and also partly spoken in western Jambi, where Kerinci and Minangkabau are the dominant languages. The Batin people, a subgroup of the Minangkabau people living in Jambi, speaks a dialect of Jambi Malay that is heavily influenced by Minangkabau.^[10] In Jambi, Indonesian is the primary language used in formal situations and education, while Jambi Malay serves as the lingua franca in informal contexts. It facilitates communication among the diverse ethnic groups residing in Jambi, such as the Javanese, Banjarese and Bugis.^[11] Migrants in Jambi tend to code-switch between Jambi Malay, Indonesian and their native languages, especially in the market.^[12] In addition, Jambi Malay is also spoken by Jambi diaspora living in other parts of Indonesia.

Malay is the everyday language of the Jambi people, passed down by their ancestors throughout their lives. The use of Malay as a daily spoken language also impacts various fields such as history, religion, business, education, customs, traditions, architecture, literature, writing, as well as art and culture.^[9] Based on historical evidence that has been found, such as inscriptions discovered in Jambi, Palembang, and Bangka, it can be concluded that the Malay language, which has long been used in Indonesia, especially in Sumatra, was prevalent in a major influential kingdom at that time. The development of Malay was closely linked with the growth and expansion of Srivijaya Empire.^[9] The rise of Malay kingdoms and sultanates such as the Jambi Sultanate also contributes to the spread of Malay in Jambi.

Dialects

There are eight different dialects of Jambi Malay, including the East Tanjung Jabung dialect, Jambi City dialect, Muaro Jambi dialect, Batanghari dialect, Tebo dialect, Bungo dialect, Sarolangun dialect, and Merangin dialect.^[3] Each dialect has its own subdialects, which may also differ from one another. Nevertheless, all of these dialects are generally mutually intelligible.

The Jambi City dialect is regarded as the prestige dialect of Jambi Malay due to its historical role as the court language of ancient Malay kingdoms and sultanates based in Jambi City.^[13] Interestingly, Jambi City itself has two urban areas separated by the Batang Hari River, where each area has its own sub-distincts dialect: Jambi Kota dialect and Jambi Kota Seberang dialect.^[14] Jambi Kota and Jambi Kota Seberang are administratively part of the city of Jambi. However, they exhibit different variations of the Malay language. For example, 'close the door' in Jambi Kota Malay is tutup pintu, which is the same as in Indonesian, while in Jambi Kota Seberang Malay it is kancing lawang. These examples differ lexically but share similar meanings and usage. Jambi Kota and Jambi Kota Seberang differ significantly because historically, Jambi Kota Seberang served as a center of concentration for native Malay inhabitants and some immigrants, while Jambi Kota served as the administrative center. Lexically, some vocabulary in the Jambi Kota Seberang dialect may not be understood by speakers of the Jambi Kota dialect.^[14]

The Jambi Malay dialects spoken outside the city of Jambi exhibit even greater variation compared to those spoken within the city limits. These dialects differ in lexicon, phonology, and grammar. For example, words that end with the vowel "a" in Indonesian normally become "o" in the Jambi Malay variety spoken in Jambi City, such as mata 'eye' → mato, lada 'pepper' → lado and apa 'what' → apo.^[15] However, in the East Tanjung Jabung dialect, words ending with the vowel "a" change to "e", and in some cases, the letter "a" changes to "i", such as kemana 'go where' → kemine, siapa 'who' → siape and apa 'what' → ape. From a phonological perspective, the Jambi Malay dialect in East Tanjung Jabung Regency closely resembles Malay language spoken in Riau and the Malay Peninsula.^[15] Additionally, each variety may also show influences from other languages. For example, the Malay dialect spoken in Tebo Regency is influenced by Minangkabau, owing to its proximity to West Sumatra.^[16] On the other hand, the Jambi City dialect, similar to Palembang Malay spoken in Palembang, has strong influence from Javanese, as Javanese was once the court language of the Jambi Sultanate.^[15][17]

Below are examples of lexical differences in Jambi Malay based on each dialects:^[17]

Phonology

There are 25 native phonemes in Jambi Malay. These native phonemes consist of 19 consonants and 6 vowels.

Consonants

Notes

• /p/, /t/ and /h/ are unreleased and become [p̚], [t̚] and [h̚] and /k/ becomes a glottal stop [ʔ] in the syllable-final position.
• /k/ and /ɡ/ become palatal [c] and [ɟ] and /h/ become velar [x] when they appear before the phoneme /i/.
• /ʁ/ is pronounced as trill [r] at the end of a word.

Vowels

References

Bibliography

• Gani, Erizal; Nura, Amris; Nazurti (2000). Tata Bahasa Melayu Jambi [Language Structure of Jambi Malay] (PDF) (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation.
• Husin, Nurzuir; Zailoet; Semi, M. Atar; Karim, Isma Nasrul; Radjah, Desmawati; Djurip (1985). Struktur Bahasa Melayu Jambi [Structure of the Jambi Malay language] (PDF) (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation.
• Dahlan, Saidat; Syair, Anwar; Manan, Abdullah; Jakub, llyas; Sabrin, Arnrin; Razak, Abdul; Mujiono; Yulisrnan (1985). Pemetaan Bahasa Daerah Riau dan ambi [Mapping of the Regional Languages in Riau and Jambi] (PDF) (in Indonesian). Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation.
• Rahima, Ade; Zahar, Erlina; Tara, Firman; Sujoko (2023). Morfosintaksis Numeralia Bahasa Melayu Jambi [Morphosyntax of Numerals in the Jambi Malay Language] (PDF) (in Indonesian) (1st ed.). Jambi: Eureka Media Aksara. ISBN 978-623-151-071-6.
• Yanti; Tadmor, Uri; Cole, Peter; Hermon, Gabriella. 2015. Critò Kitò: A collection of Jambi stories in the Seberang Dialect. Jakarta: Masyarakat Linguistik Indonesia [Indonesian Linguistic Society]. ISBN 978-602-17161-3-7 [Includes word list.]
• Żaneta Krulikowska, Nadra Nadra, & Muhammad Yusdi. (2020). Phonological Sketch of Malay Jambi Language of Sarolangun, Indonesia. Arbitrer, 7(2), 173–181. https://doi.org/10.25077/ar.7.2.173-181.2020

External links

• Traditional Jambi Malay

Jambi Malay test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator