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Malay (language)

Malay
Bahasa Melayu
بهاس ملايو‎
Native to
Native speakers
77 million (2007)
Total: 200–250 million (2009)
Early forms
Standard forms

Latin (Malay alphabet)
Arabic script (Jawi alphabet)
Thai alphabet (in Thailand)

Historically Pallava alphabet, Kawi alphabet, Rencong alphabet
Manually Coded Malay
Sistem Isyarat Bahasa Indonesia
Official status
Official language in
 Indonesia (as Indonesian)
 Malaysia
 Brunei
 Singapore
 Cocos (Keeling) Islands (de jure) (territory of  Australia)
Recognised minority
language in
Indonesia
(Local Malay enjoys the status of a regional language in Sumatra apart from the national standard of Indonesian)
Regulated by Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa;
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Institute of Language and Literature);
Majlis Bahasa Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia (Brunei–Indonesia–Malaysia Language Council – MABBIM) (a trilateral joint-venture)
Language codes
ISO 639-1 ms
ISO 639-2  (B)
 (T)
ISO 639-3 inclusive code
Individual codes:
zlm – Malaysian Malay
zsm – Standard Malaysian
ind – Indonesian
lrt – Larantuka Malay ?
kxd – Brunei ?
meo – Kedah Malay ?
zmi – Minangkabau language
dup – Duano’ ?
jak – Jakun ?
orn – Orang Kanaq ?
ors – Orang Seletar ?
tmw – Temuan ?
Glottolog indo1326  (partial match)
Linguasphere 31-MFA-a
Malaysia Spoken Area Map v1.png
  Indonesia
  Malaysia
  Singapore and Brunei, where Standard Malay is an official language
  East Timor, where Indonesian is a working language
  Southern Thailand and the Cocos Isl., where other varieties of Malay are spoken
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Latin (Malay alphabet)
Arabic script (Jawi alphabet)
Thai alphabet (in Thailand)

Malay (/məˈl/;Malay: Bahasa Melayu) is a major language of the Austronesian family. It has an official status in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. It is spoken by 290 million people across the Strait of Malacca, including the coasts of the Malay Peninsula of Malaysia and the eastern coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, and has been established as a native language of part of western coastal Sarawak and West Kalimantan in Borneo. It is also used as a trading language in the southern Philippines, including the southern parts of the Zamboanga Peninsula, the Sulu Archipelago and the southern predominantly Muslim-inhabited municipalities of Bataraza and Balabac in Palawan.

As the Bahasa Kebangsaan or Bahasa Nasional (National Language) of several states, Standard Malay has various official names. In Singapore and Brunei it is called Bahasa Melayu (Malay language); in Malaysia, Bahasa Malaysia (Malaysian language); and in Indonesia, Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language) and is designated the Bahasa Persatuan/Pemersatu ("unifying language/lingua franca"). However, in areas of central to southern Sumatra where the language is indigenous, Indonesians refer to it as Bahasa Melayu and consider it one of their regional languages.


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