also known as Malaccan (Creole) Portuguese, or simply as , is a creole language spoken by the Kristang, a community of people of mixed Portuguese and indigenous Malay ancestry, chiefly in Malaysia (Malacca), Singapore and Perth, Western Australia.
In Malacca, the language is also called , (), (), or simply (). In Singapore, it is generally known as Kristang, where it is undergoing sustained revitalisation.
In Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger published by UNESCO, Kristang is classified as a "severely endangered" language, with only about 2,000 speakers. Up to 2014, linguists concerned with Kristang have generally accepted a combined speaker population of about 1,000 individuals or less. The language has about 750 speakers in Malacca. A small number of speakers also live in other Portuguese Eurasian communities in Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia, and in other diaspora communities in Canada, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere.
Etymology
Its endonym is taken from Portuguese ('Christian language'). The papia element of the name is cognate with Papiamento, another Portuguese-based creole spoken in the Dutch West Indies.
History
Origins
The Kristang language originated after the conquest of Malacca (Malaysia) in 1511 by the Portuguese Empire. Until a takeover by the Dutch in 1642, Malacca served as one of the key ports in the trade and administration network of Portuguese establishments along with Goa and Hormuz, allowing Portugal control over main Asiatic trade routes. The lingua franca of Malacca then was a pidginised form of Malay known as Bazaar Malay or Melayu Pasar, used amongst the resident foreign population which then consisted mainly of Javanese, Tamils and Hokkien Chinese. The constant traffic of Portuguese and traders of other origins such as India eventually gave birth to Papia Kristang, one of many Portuguese-derived contact languages which resulted from Portuguese colonial expansion during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A pidgin Portuguese preceding the Kristang creole has also been proposed, whereby a reduced system based on Portuguese converges with other languages present in the contact situation.
Even after Portugal lost Malacca and almost all contact in 1641, the Kristang community largely preserved its language. The demographics of Malacca in the mid-17th century was still predominantly made up of the Portuguese even under Dutch control. The Irmang di Greza (Brothers of the Church), a manifestation of the bond between language and religion in the Kristang culture, acted as an intermediary between the priest and the remnants of the Portuguese population despite prohibition by the Dutch. Liturgy and pastoral sessions were conducted in Kristang in Malacca, which contributed to the longevity of the language into a period as late as the 20th century.
Kristang also had a substantial influence on Macanese, the creole language spoken in Macau, due to substantial migration from Malacca after its conquest by the Dutch.
Attrition of Kristang
The ceding of Malacca by the Dutch to the British via the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 directly caused the decline of the Kristang language. By the mid 19th century, many Kristangs flocked towards clerical and auxiliary positions provided by their new colonial masters. As such, the Kristang language saw a decline in use compared to English. In addition, the rising affluence of the region meant more job opportunities, resulting in many Kristangs moving away from Malacca. Moreover, the language is not taught at school, although there are still some Church services in Kristang.
In the context of Singapore, Kristang arrived in the 1820s due to the large influx of Eurasian immigrants from Malacca. However, there was little exposure and recognition of Kristang in Singapore, especially when English became entrenched as the sole language of education and the major language used in most spheres of society after the country gained independence in 1965. As a result, the intergenerational transmission of Kristang ceased almost completely.
The upkeep of Kristang can largely be attributed to its connection with the dominant religion of the Portuguese and their relative social standing in their communities between the 1600s to the late 1800s. The core Kristang-speaking communities gradually eroded due to better socioeconomic opportunities elsewhere. Post-World War Two, the new generation of Catholic priests that arrived to replace the pre-war priests who had been executed demonstrated little sensitivity towards the Kristang language and culture. Eventually, the bond between Kristang and religion was severed due to the association of the Portuguese Mission with the St Xavier's Church.
Migration overseas and intermarriage with other nationalities have also led to Kristang speakers leaving the Portuguese Settlement in order to live and work in other parts of Malaysia. Furthermore, the dominantly Kristang-speaking middle-class gradually began to speak English for practical reasons, altering the prestige of English with regards to Kristang. To many in the community, they grew to accept that speaking English was a key to employment instead of Kristang, facilitating a breakdown in the transmission of Kristang.
Revitalisation efforts
Papia Kristang is facing a steep decline in language use within the community. There has been an apparent language shift to English and Malay due to the reduced prestige and accessibility of Kristang. However, revitalization efforts have begun in recent years in both the Portuguese Settlement in Singapore and Malacca. Such efforts have seen some success, nearly tripling the number of Kristang speakers of varying fluency.
Malacca
The Kristang-speaking community located at the Portuguese Settlement, or Padri sa Chang ("The Priest's Land") was able to undertake more sustained revitalisation efforts and publicise itself to non-Eurasian Malaysians, and the language. Notably with texts, stories and phrasebooks in Kristang produced by Joan Margaret Marbeck and through investments and interest from individuals and organisations outside the community. Joan Marbeck has produced three publications: Ungu Adanza (An Inheritance), Linggu Mai (Mother Tongue) and the Kristang Phrasebook. She is also credited with writing probably the only play in Kristang, called Seng Marianne (Without Marianne) and was also instrumental in staging a musical in Kristang – Kazamintu no Praiya which translates to 'Wedding on the beach'. Support was also received from the Lisbon-based Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, which funded and published Marbeck's Kristang text.
Within the community, there were efforts made together with the help of academics to promote their culture and the Kristang language. In 1988, Alan Baxter published A Grammar of Kristang based on his fieldwork within the community.
!Meaning
!Kristang
!Origin Word
!Origin Word Language
|-
|shrimp paste
| /
|
| rowspan="4" |Malay
|-
|walking stick
| /
|
|-
|hoe
| /
|
|-
|jellyfish
| /
|
|-
|lime
| /
|<br>
| rowspan="2" |Tamil
|-
|grandfather
|
|<br>
|-
|spatula
|
|<br>tsian-sî
|Hokkien
|-
|convent
| /
|
| rowspan="2" |Portuguese
|-
|hospital
| /
|
|-
|toilet
| /
|
| rowspan="2" |Dutch
|-
|tombstone
| /
|
|}
Metathesis was common in the derivation of the Kristang lexicon from Portuguese root words.
e.g.
- Portuguese → Kristang godru "fat"
Orthography
Polynomy
Kristang is a polynomic language, where standardisation of the language's spoken and written forms is dispreferred and the natural morphophonological and orthographic variation that Kristang developed as a result of its history and sociocultural context is preferred. This variation is usually concentrated around "famililects" spoken by families rather than geographical dialects, with Kristang famililects generally being categorisable into three distinct forms:
;1. A system based on Portuguese orthography
:The 19th and 20th centuries saw a rise in the use of Modern Portuguese-based orthography (for example, Rego (1942)) due to the perception of Kristang as a variety of Portuguese instead of a distinct creole language partially based on Early Modern Portuguese. This is characterized by the use of diacritics such as acute accents (á, é, í, ó, ú). The system has been adopted by some native Kristang speakers as well.
;2. A system based on a mixture of Portuguese, English and Malay
:Other speakers have used a system influenced by Portuguese, English and Malay orthography. This creates an issue as the system is inconsistent in the representation of Kristang sounds and are not immediately intelligible to both speakers and non-speakers of Kristang.
;3. A system based on Malay orthography
:There are many observable parallels between the phonology of Malay and Kristang which has led to inherent similarities in the orthographic representations of the two languages as well. The first proposal for a standard Kristang orthography was made in 1973 by Ian F. Hancock
Phonology
The acoustic and articulatory properties of Kristang have not been extensively studied. However, Hancock (1969, 1973), Batalha (1981), and most recently, Baxter (1988)
Adverbial clauses are headed by antis di "before", kiora "when", chuma "as", kantu "if", padi "in order to", kauzu ki "because", kifoi "because", etc., yet may also be indicated by parataxis without conjunctions.