Impact of language planning on language choice in friendship and transaction domains in Sarawak, Malaysia

Abstract

This paper shows that language planning in government-controlled domains has a spill-over effect in domains where language use is not regulated by language policies. Language planning in post-colonial Malaysia can be broadly divided into three phases: status planning whereby English was replaced by Bahasa Malaysia as the official language; remission in status planning whereby English was allowed restricted status as the medium of instruction for science and mathematics; and reinforced status planning for Bahasa Malaysia as a tool for unity. By ensuring that Malaysians are proficient in Bahasa Malaysia, the government has engendered the voluntary use of Bahasa Malaysia and its varieties for inter-ethnic communication in the friendship and transaction domains. There is a gradation in language use from the lower to the upper end of the transaction domain for inter-ethnic communication as follows: Bazaar Malay in the market, Sarawak Malay in shops, and Bahasa Malaysia in hotels. The role of English as a language for inter-ethnic communication is gradually being supplanted by Bahasa Malaysia, leaving English to function in domains such as law, the private sector, and higher education. The prominence of these two languages in the national and international arena, respectively, reduces the priority given to ethnic languages in friendship and transactional domains.