| The history of Malay language is divided | | | | |
| intofour periods : Old Malay, Early Modern | | | | This was also a time of flourishing |
| Malay, Late Modern Malay and Contemporary | | | | classicalliterature. Adapting Arabic into |
| Malay.The above divisions excludes | | | | Jawi script enabled the Malays to record |
| inconclusive "scholarly" debates pertaining | | | | their experiences, religious laws and oral |
| to pre-historic Malay in which diverse | | | | literature into a collection of Malay |
| origins of Austronesian speakers,from which | | | | classical literature. An example is the Malay |
| Malay is derived, are proposed. | | | | Annals preserved by British Historian Sir |
| | | | Richard O. Winstedt. |
| Old Malay ( 682 -1500 C.E.) begins with | | | | |
| records of poems and thoughts on writing | | | | Late Modern Malay ( c1850 - 1957 ) By this |
| materials made from plants described as the | | | | time Malay has absorbed numerous loan words |
| sharp cursive Rencong, an ancient script | | | | from the colonists namely: Portuguese, Dutch |
| believed to be native to South-east Asia. | | | | and English. Standardized dictionaries and |
| Unfortunately no evidence from that early | | | | grammars appeared together with a study of |
| period survived. When the Indians set their | | | | regional Malay dialects and codification of |
| feet on the Malay Archipelago, they brought | | | | literature. A prominent figurein this field |
| along Vatteluttu or Pallava, an ancient | | | | was Zainal Abidin bin Ahmad, better known as |
| Tamilscript from South India. Pallava was | | | | Za'ba, exerted great influence on pre- |
| accepted as the Malay writing system and | | | | independent Malay by codifying Malay grammar |
| gradually evolved into an ancient royal | | | | and modifying the Jawi spelling system. |
| Javanese script called Kawi. | | | | |
| | | | Malay was elevated to the status of the |
| Even though Islam most probably introduced | | | | National language of Indonesia, Malaysia and |
| Arabic script to the Malay world as early as | | | | Singapore when all of these nations gained |
| the seventh century, Old Malay was very much | | | | independence, a process hastened by the |
| under Indian influence with its extensive use | | | | Japanese Occupation. |
| of Sanskrit vocabulary. The Malays tried to | | | | |
| use Pallava and Kawi to express their new | | | | Contemporary Malay ( after 1957 ) Malaysia, |
| Islamic faith but foundboth to be unsuitable | | | | Indonesia and Brunei set up their |
| to pronounce the verses of the Quran and | | | | respectivenational language planning |
| Hadis. They thus experimented and created | | | | agencies, in an effort to unify their |
| Jawi script based on Arabic. The Jawi script | | | | different versions of Malay. There were |
| has been in used for more than 600 years by | | | | trials and errors and for a while, obstacle |
| now and is synonymous with the Malay language | | | | due to Indonesia's confrontation against the |
| itself. | | | | formation of Malaysia. As relationship |
| | | | between Indonesia and Malaysia normalized by |
| Early Modern Malay ( 1500-c1850 ) This was a | | | | 1966, theirlinguistic collaboration |
| time of turmoil and radical change. The | | | | continued, resulting in a common spelling |
| Malacca Sultanate as a patron of the Malay | | | | system in 1972. Thanks to this project, |
| language played an important role in using | | | | instead of several spelling systems, today |
| the language to spread Islam thus changing | | | | there is only one spelling system for Malay |
| Malay's pro-India nature to pro-Arabic. | | | | in Malaysia. |
| Portuguese conquest of Malacca in 1511 and | | | | |
| subsequent persecution of Moslems causedthem | | | | Above is a brief recap of the history of |
| to disperse throughout the Malay Archipelago, | | | | Malay language covering a period of 1,500 |
| establishing new regional centers. | | | | years, ina more digestible form. |