The Minnan substrate and creolization in Baba Malay

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to reevaluate the role of the Minnan element in Baba Malay (BM). Spoken by the Straits-born Chinese of Melaka and Singapore, BM has been described as a Creole based on Malay with a Minnan substrate (Lim 1981, Holm 1989). However Pakir (1986) regards it as a dialect of Malay, and in Grimes (1992) BM is described as a Malay dialect with some borrowings from Hokkien. In this paper we attempt to resolve this question, showing that the Minnan element in BM represents a case of substrate influence rather than borrowing. Inspired by the framework of Thomason & Kaufman (1988), we believe that the nature of a language is a function of the history of its speakers. The historical context of BM, and the evidence given by a careful analysis of its structure, clearly argue in favor of treating the language as a Creole. We then consider the structural influence of Hokkien on BM in terms of shift and substrate influence, focusing on syntactic features of BM including possessive and passive constructions and the TMA system.

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