What kind of language was ‘Chinese Malay’ in late colonial Java?

Abstract

ABSTRACTDid the Chinese in late colonial Java have their own variety of Malay? The books, newspapers and periodicals issued by Chinese-owned publishing houses indeed feature an idiosyncratic linguistic style. It is less clear how this variety differed from the Malay of other ethnic groups. This has led to the belief that ‘Chinese Malay’ was a purely political concept detached from linguistic reality. Taking issue with this assumption, I call attention to four sociolinguistic phenomena in the Netherlands Indies that have been labelled as ‘Chinese Malay’: (1) mixed languages consisting of elements from local Malay, Javanese and Hokkien; (2) a Chinese-influenced idiom seen in translated books; (3) code-mixing with Hokkien as a deliberate tool to inscribe ethnic difference; and (4) the use of stereotyped Chinese accents for humorous purposes. I approach these phenomena as mutually complementary lenses to investigate the linguistic character of the Chinese-authored Malay publications that shaped the literary landscapes of late colonial Java. Doing so provides novel insights into the society in which they were produced, especially in the under-explored domains of inter-ethnic contact, popular literature, cultural identification, and humour.