SITI NUR NAJMIN BINTI AMINUDDIN
Matric No: TGB130001
Linguistic Biography of a Language Consultant
On the 12th of April 2015, a group of Field Linguistic students from the Faculty of
Language and Linguistics of University Malaya were given an opportunity to carry out a
research on a small community in the Portuguese Settlement in Malacca. Data was gathered
from observations and interviews with members of the Portuguese Settlement's speech
community. The aim of the research is to study the language, Papia Kristang, or Malacca
Portuguese Creole. Kristang is the language used by the descendants of the Portuguese who
conquered Malacca in 1511. However, in 1984, the creole, was listed in the UNESCO Red Book
of Endangered Languages as it has experienced language shift. In order to carry out the
research, a language consultant, Gerard de Costa, was selected to be interviewed about his
language use interviewing session. The recording was conducted at his home using a Sony
PJE10 video recorder and a Sennheiser mic. Written consent was obtained from him to be
video-recorded. The interview was based on a structured interview questions constructed by the
researcher. (See Appendix 1).
Although the Portuguese withdrew from Malaya more than 500 years ago, there still
exists today in the town of Malacca a substantial Eurasian population calling itself Portuguese,
and speaking a creolized variety of that language. Living in the Portuguese Settlement for
almost 50 years of his life, Gerard has a greater exposure to his mother tongue as well as
having the opportunity to be able to practise the language often. Gerard said that his parents
and even his grandparents were born in that Settlement. Thus, there is no doubt that Kristang
became Gerards dominant language in his daily life especially when communicating his own
family and the community around him, particularly those who are staying in the Portuguese
Settlement. Gerard also said that other than Kristang, English is also a dominant language
among his parents, siblings and extended family. He believes that the Kristang speech
community is shifting strongly towards English, which is now used in most age-groups, and is
also strong in the family and friendship domains. Based on the research observation during the
field trip, most fluent speakers of Kristang are mostly over 40 years of age, and elderly Kristang
mother tongue speakers are few. It is believed that the transmission to the younger generations
is severely weakened (Pillai, Soh, & Kajita, 2014).
Gerards wife, Anne de Mello also belongs to the same to the same ethnic group and
comes from the same Settlement. Therefore, Gerard mentions that even after he got married he
is still able to speak Kristang at home as Gerard and his wife share the same mother tongue.
After years of getting married, Gerard and his wife are blessed with three wonderful children. As
mentioned by Gerard, all of his children can converse in Kristang, English and Malay. However
their dominant language is English. This is due to the fact that his children are widely exposed
to the English language especially when they are hanging around with their other friends who
are not belong to the same community and when they are in school. His children speak Kristang
when they are at the the Portuguese Settlement particularly with Gerard and his wife besides
the community in that Settlement. Gerard claims that he tries his best to make sure his children
can master the Kristang language as well as preserve the language. Hence, Gerard always tries
his best to speak Kristang to all of his children.
When he was in primary and secondary schools, Gerard mentioned that he spoke
English to most of his friends. This is because many of his classmates and friends in primary
and secondary were not from the same ethnicity. Gerard said he only spoke Kristang with his
friends who shared the same mother tongue. Even though Malay was the medium of instruction
for all the subjects he learnt in schools except for English subject, Gerard said that most of the
time he would speak English to his friends. He only spoke Malay in schools when he talked to
some of the teachers and friends who spoke that language. Since he was young until now,
Gerard mostly speaks Kristang whenever he speaks to his neighbours who are from the
Settlement. Most of his neighbours are Catholic which is the same as Gerard and his family.
Although Kristang is the dominant language around the people in that Settlement, he said that
all of them use English when they are praying at home or church. Besides, Gerard also said
that he does not know any prayers or hymns in Kristang.
Working as a technician for Tenaga Nasional Berhad gives an opportunity to Gerard to
meet a lot of people almost every day as he indicates that he involves with loads of field work.
Accordingly, he is exposed to different kind of languages and this requires him to converse in
different kind of language that he can speak such as Kristang, Malay and English. According to
Gerard, he always speaks in Malay and English when he meets people for work. He seldom
uses Kristang as the majority of the people he meets while he is working are not using the same
language as his mother tongue. Other than working full time as a driver in Tenaga Nasional
Berhad, Gerard is a lead singer of the 1511 O Maliao Maliao Dance Troupe, the vibrant music
and dance of the Portuguese community of Malacca. Gerard together with most of his family
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members as well as some of the people from the Portuguese Settlement involve with this group.
Gerard believes that 1511 O Maliao Maliao Dance Troupe assists
in
strengthening
the
community besides preserving it and its unique culture from effacement.
(955 words)
Bibliography
Baxter, A.N. & Patrick de Silva. (2004). Kristang-English Dictionary. Pacific Linguistics
Publishers: Canberra
Hancock, I.F. (1973). Malacca Creole Portuguese: A Brief Transformational Outline. Te Reo,
16,23-44.
Marbeck, J. (1994). Experiencia ungua kristang na Malaka. Papia 3(2), 88-97.
Pillai, S., Soh, W.-Y., & Kajita, A. S. (2014). Family language policy and heritage language
maintenance of Malacca Portuguese Creole. Language & Communication, 37, 7585.
Sarkissian, M. (2000). DAlbuquerques Children: Performing tradition in Malaysias
Portuguese Settlement. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Sarkissian, M. (2005). Being Portuguese in Malacca: The politics of folk culture in post colonial
Malaysia. Ethnogrfica,1, 149-170
Sta Maria, B. (1982). My People my country. The story of the Malacca Portuguese community.
Malacca: The Portuguese Development Centre.
Sudesh, N. (2000). L a n g u age maintenance and shift among the Po r t u g u e s e - Eurasians
in the Portuguese Settlement. Masters thesis. Universiti Malaya.
Appendix
Appendix 1
Interview questions
1. Personal
a. What is your name?
b. How old are you?
c. How long you have been living here?
d. What is your occupation? Do you work?
e. How many languages do you speak? And what are they?
2. Childhood language/s
a. What is your race? Is this on your ic? What do you prefer to say your
race is?
b. Where and when were you born?
c. Tell me about your parents. Where were they born?
d. How many brothers and sisters do you have?
e. Where were your grandparents born? And what languages did or do
they speak?
f. What is your mother tongue? Which name do you prefer more for your
language?
g. Did you speak this language when you were growing up? With whom
(eg father,mother, siblings and grandparents)?
h. Did you speak any other language at home? What languages? With
whom(eg father,mother, siblings and grandparents)?
3. Current family language/s
a. Are you married?
(i)
If yes, what languages do you speak with your spouse? (which one
is more dominant)
(ii)
Do you have children? If yes, what languages do you speak with
them? (which one is more dominant)
(iii)
What languages do your children speak to you? (which
one is more dominant)
(iv)
Do you think it is important to speak Kristang to your
children?/ For them to learn? And why?
(v)
What languages do they speak to their grandparents?
b. If you are not married, who do you live with? And what languages do
you speak with them? (which one is more dominant)
c. What languages do you speak to your family members (aunty, uncle,
older relatives, and siblings)? (which one is more dominant)
4. Language in the community
a. What language do you use when you speak to your neighbors? (which
one is more dominant)
b. What is your religion?
c. What language do you pray in at home and church?
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d. Do you know any prayers and hymns in Kristang?
5. Education
a. What language did you learn in school?
b. What language did you study your subjects in primary/secondary
schools?
c. In what languages did mostly you speak to your school mates?
d. Did you speak Kristang in school?If yes, with whom? And when?
6. Work
a. In what languages did mostly you speak to your colleagues?
b. Did you speak Kristang in office?If yes, with whom? And when?
c. How many languages do you have daily exposure to? And what are they?
Appendix 2
Pictures
Mr. Gerard de Costa
Interview session