A Study About My Family: The Role of Language in Family Communication

Introduction

Valdes (n.d) observes that over 50% of the total populace is bilingual or even multilingual than monolingual. At this era of globalisation, it is very rare to find a person who spoke only one language to themselves. Surely, this bilingualism marvel wanders further to the hypothesis of diglossia presented by Ferguson in 1959, whereby Deterding (1998) depicted diglossia is a circumstance where two dialects or language varieties happen one next to the other in a network, and each has a clear scope of capacities, which has been influencing most family in the world including my family. When writing about my family essay, it is impossible not to acknowledge the influence of diglossia, as both languages that coexist in our household have distinct functions and purposes.

Essay: My Family

When asked to write an 'Essay: my family', I always begin by introducing my parents, my siblings, and their various occupations and educational pursuits. My family includes my father, Haji Talipudin bin Haji Bungsu, 53, a religious teacher, originates from Kampong Ayer. My mother, Ummi Kalthum binti Haji Singgil, 50, also a religious teacher, initially from the Temburong District specifically Kampong Senukoh area. The eldest is Ummi Farhanah binti Haji Talipudin, 28, an engineer. The second eldest is Ummi Fakhrina binti Haji Talipudin, 24, and a businesswoman. My brother, Muhammad Muizzuddin bin Haji Talipudin, 21, a third-year student at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Myself, Ummi Fayyadhah binti Haji Talipudin, 19, a first-year student at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Next are my two younger sisters, Ummi Fasihah binti Haji Talipudin and Ummi Farwizah binti Haji Talipudin, 15 and 8 respectively. Ummi Fasihah binti Haji Talipudin is a secondary school student from Maktab Sains. Ummi Farwizah is an elementary student. Lastly, the youngest Muhammad Mahran As-Saqif Bin Haji Talipudin, 6, is also an elementary student.

We are a Malay race family apt to the exposure of multiple languages and dialects in our everyday life, nonetheless, in most of our conversations the usage of Brunei Malay is common, especially towards each other. However, we try to Standard Malay during writing, formal speech, or talking to an important person like a public figure.

Language Use by My Family

My father basically utilizes Brunei Malay, being a religious educator. The predominant language of utilization in religious instruction is Brunei Malay (Noor, McLellan, & Deterding, 2016). He associates with individuals for the most part on a social dimension, in this way utilizing the most widely recognized tongue that is Brunei Malay. For instance, he would ask, “bisuk kitani ada panggilan kah?” – In this context the phrase “panggilan” means an invitation, asking if there is any event to attend tomorrow. He solely speaks English on official interactions, which are rare.

My mother speaks both Brunei Malay and Kedayan Malay, she often speaks the former in her daily activities, work, and at home. While on social interactions such as formal events, she mainly communicates in Brunei Malay. Although she is Kedayan initially, she turns out to be progressively versatile to Brunei Malay due her marriage for two decades. Even so, she still uses Kedayan Malay especially among her siblings in Temburong or her childhood friends. She speaks Kedayan Malay regularly on events, for example, wedding gatherings. For instance: “Auu uja nimu aaji antaie lai selaju ko tuun tembuung” – In this context she speaks in Kedayan Malay, telling her daughter that her grandfather told her to go straight back to Temburong. The word “nimu aaji” here means your grandfather. Other examples: “haing bau mantuka mu atu dang uleh duyan, baiktahko bersihkan dulu” – In this context she code mix from Kedayan Malay to Brunei Malay, telling her daughter that her car smells due stench of Durian, asking if she could clean her car. The word “duyan” means Durian a traditional fruit, in Kedayan Malay the letter “R” is mostly not pronounced in every word.

My elder sisters both speak Brunei Malay in our family setting and with friends and English which is mainly used when communicating with their associates and at their places of work. Consequent to their consistent usage of English in their daily work, they tend to use English all the more frequently in social circumstances, in the family and talking between themselves. Sometimes, they tend to code mix in both Brunei Malay and English (Manglish). For example: “I thought sudah you siapkan eh the work I gave you tadi” – The eldest stated that she thought my second older sister already did the work she gave her. They sometimes speak Kedayan Malay, the use of this language comes naturally, particularly when excited, in circumstances when they are furious, and exceptionally upbeat especially when telling jokes. For example: “Eh beluih jua kitani sumpit ah!” – In this context “beluih” means “belurih” which we take as “earn” in English. The statement means they are showing off, exclaiming about the fish they got while fishing.

My older brother and younger sisters basically speak the same, they speak Brunei Malay most of the time, especially at home. They seldom speak Kedayan Malay with my mother’s side of friends or family. They tend to speak in English only when needed for example amid English Language class or coursework. My younger sister, Ummi Fasihah binti Haji Talipudin however, speaks a tad of Korean due to her admiration in the Korean entertainment industry. For example: “neo mwohaneungeoya?” – In this context she is asking someone “what are you doing right now?” She is also trained to speak Arabic in her former school. For example: “ الخير صباح ” is pronounced as “Sabah alkhair” - in this context she means good morning.

My youngest brother cannot speak consistently due to speech delay, he cannot make full sentences. However, he speaks English as his primary language of instruction since he is tutored at a speech therapy academy and their therapist is an English native speaker. Due to this weekly exposure, he speaks English more often than Brunei Malay. For instance: “ceache angy” – in this context he means that his teacher is angry. Here, he cannot really pronounce “R” and “T’ consonants yet. Even so, he can understand complete sentences in both English and Malay.

Myself, I speak Brunei Malay most of the time, especially at home. I try to practice Standard Malay whether I am at home or out with friends because it was stated in Language Use & Language Change in Brunei Darussalam by Ozog (1996) that “The official language of the state shall be the Malay Language” (Gov. Brunei, 1959, Brunei Constitution, Article 82:1). For example: “Esok ada sebarang acara kah?”- I asked that is there any event tomorrow. I sometimes prefer to code-switch from Malay to English depending on the situation and the environment. Most of the time in University I tend to speak English often, due to most of the lessons taught are in English, especially to my friends or lecturers of different races. Making English as my main mode of communication language in University is easing my task for group projects as English can be easily understood and it is an international language that is used worldwide. However, as mentioned before our overall preferable choice is Brunei Malay, rather than Standard Malay rational with Deterding’s & Salbrina’s (2013) research of principal Lingua Franca.

My Attitudes towards Language Use Jones (2007) expressed that countries and individuals understand that they cannot exist in seclusion, that access to English is imperative and it is the means by which one obliges this language that matters instead of attempting to construct obstructions to keep its utilization, in this manner English is a critical extension to break the barrier of communication. I find language mixing to be useful in certain ways easing the burden of language barriers.

My views on the usage of language differ according to different circumstances, I tend to code mix or code switch more depending on whom or where I talk. For instance, during the time of work, my colleagues are of different races, hence I tend to code mix Brunei Malay and English most of the time to ease their understanding as English is the bridge for communication globally while also teaching them the use of Brunei Malay. This practice has enabled me to communicate extensively and in detail, and to a wider audience than I would ordinarily achieve. As indicated, code-exchanging is a system so as to be better understood and that a few ideas are preferably conveyed in one languageover another (Heredia & Altarriba, 2001).

Conclusion

To summarize, the usage of the English language is vital to breakdown the boundary of communication in regular day-to-day life, regardless any nation you are visiting or staying we tend to code switch or mix when we know multiple languages at the same time, hence having English as the bridge for our communication is a basis for all. My family and I code mix when needed to break down the hindrance of communication as we are bilingual, but also use Brunei Malay more in our everyday life as our native language regularly to preserve the culture and heritage of Brunei. Despite the fact that it is imperative to use English for our communication, we must realize that the English language should not outperform our native language as our mother tongue.

References

1. Deterding, D. (1998). Approaches to diglossia in the classroom: the middle way. REACT, 2, pg. 18.
2. Deterding, D., & Salbrina, S. (2013). Brunei English: A New Variety in a Multilingual Society. Dordrecht: Springer.
3. Heredia, R.R., & Altarriba, J. (2001) Bilingual Language Mixing: Why Do Bilinguals Code- Switch?. Current Directions In Psychological Science (Wiley- Blackwell), 10(5), 164
4. Jones G. M. (2007). 20 years of bilingual education: Then and now. In D. Prescott (Ed.), English in Southeast Asia: Varieties, literacies and literatures (pp. 246-258). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
5. Noor, A. H.-O, McLellan, J., & Deterding, D. (2016). The Use and Status of Language in Brunei Darussalam: A Kingdom of Unexpected Linguistic Diversity. Singapore.
6. Ozog, A. C. K. (1996). The Unplanned Use of English: The Case of Brunei Darussalam. In P. W. Martin, C. Ozog & Poedjoedarmo (Eds.), Language Use and Language Change in Brunei Darussalam (pp. 156-172). Athens, Ohio: University Center for International Studies.
7. Valdes, G. (n.d.). Multilingualism | Linguistic Society of America. Retrieved 25 February, 2019, from https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/multilingualism