NARRATIVES OF MALAYSIAN INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: A HISTORICAL LINGUISTIC STUDY OF THEIR MIGRATION AND SETTLING DOWN BY ASMAH HAJI OMAR. KUALA LUMPUR: DEWAN BAHASA DAN PUSTAKA, 2023. 341PP. ISBN: 9789834935979. BOOK REVIEW

Main Article Content

Sharifah Sophia Ahmad

Abstract

Professor Asmah Haji Omar has written a significant account of the collective memory of the people in Malaysia, represented by the diverse ethnolinguistic groups in Sarawak, Sabah and the Peninsula. The author utlised a historical linguistic approach which has been adept at revealing the interconnection of language and people, as they moved in space and time, the language too was developed into more or less diverse, or retain its unitary system, and in few cases were rendered into extinction. In examining each of the ethnic groups’ narratives, three elements were strung together: the motivation for the venturing out of the homeland; the contact with the other groups at the various points of transits, and the effect a permanent settlement had on the linguistic system of the ethnic groups. The core of the argument is to present ‘Malay’ as a geolinguitic category of identity which inhabits a Southeast Asian-wide identity and language, unites through a common linguistic root and geographical space.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

Section
Book Review