"Can the authorities, no matter how well-meaning and nationalistic their motivation, really police the way people use a language? So asks this article about concerns, perhaps overblown, that the Malay tongue is "under attack".

why is Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim getting hot under the collar for the alleged contamination of our national language? According to him, Malaysians are “destroying the language” by mixing it with other languages, particularly English.

a decision was made by the Government to amend the DBP Act 1959 so that the literary body would be given the "powers to act against any quarters that 'contaminate' the use of the Malay language" ... The Act appoints the DBP as the custodian of Bahasa Malaysia. Its objectives include encouraging the correct use of the national language, but if all goes as planned, the DBP will be able to impose fines on those who use "the language incorrectly in terms of grammar and sentence structure".

[Professor Lim Swee Tin] is of the opinion that it is impossible to prevent foreign words from creeping into Bahasa Malaysia, [but] these words must undergo a formal process before they are officially accepted and declared to be part of the language.

Yes, after its language is completely destroyed, the Thai and Singaporean armies can invade and Malaysia will be no more. Ha ha!

quote:

Originally posted by shufitz:
"...these words must undergo a formal process before they are officially accepted and declared to be part of the language.[/LIST]

Will they, perhaps, have to be workshopped?

;-)

WM

Aren't all languages "contaminated" with other languages? Doesn't that add a richness to the language? Remember my post in the Foreign Words forum about See-TRESS?

This seems to me to be a completely unworkable idea. I look forward to seeing how they're going to prevent people from using their language the way everyone normally uses language.

Perhaps they could use the hy-u-o-ook-kuh, or given the part of the world, a caning.