Malay Chetty creole language

The Malay Chetty creole language (also known as Malaccan Creole Malay, Malacca Malay Creole and Chitties/Chetties Malay) is a Malay-based creole spoken by the Chetties, a distinctive group of Tamil people found mainly in Malacca in Malaysia and Singapore, who are also known as the "Indian Peranakans" and have adopted Chinese and Malay cultural practices whilst also retaining their Hindu heritage.

Malay Chetty creole
Malaccan Creole Malay
Malacca Malay Creole
Chitties/Chetties Creole
Native toMalaysia
RegionMalacca
EthnicityChitty people
Native speakers
300
Malay-based creole
  • Malay Chetty creole
Language codes
ISO 639-3ccm
Glottologmala1482

Spoken since the 16th century by descendants of Tamil merchants of the Malacca Straits, Malay Chetty creole may be historically related to Sri Lanka Creole Malay. The current language status is moribund, due to inter-marriage and out-migration. There has been a language shift towards Malay instead.

Malay Chetty creole is a mix of Malay, Tamil and English, although the latter's presence in the creole is not as prominent compared to the first two languages. Because of the strong influence of Malay, Malay Chetty creole is not very different from other Malay dialects, especially the Middle Malacca Malay dialect. Nonetheless, it does have its own unique features.

Malay Chetty creole shares many features with Baba Malay, suggesting that they may have come from the same source language that is Bazaar Malay.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.