Brian is a linguist and independent researcher from Penang, Malaysia. He speaks 8 languages fluently and is currently working on the revival and revitalisation of specific Aboriginal languages in New South Wales, Australia. He has a YouTube channel dedicated to Austronesian languages and a second one on indigenous languages in Australia and North America. He is currently working on his first science fiction novel.
The Malay language is spoken by over 200 million speakers across a huge area of Southeast Asia. From Southern Myanmar, down the Malay Peninsula to Singapore, from the south and east of Sumatera stretching across the Riau Archipelago to the Natuna Islands and coastal regions of Borneo, a huge range of Malay dialects exist. There are also creolised forms of Malay spoken far to the east: in Sulawesi, the Moluccas and various parts of Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia, besides transplanted varieties that have spread as far as Sri Lanka and even South Africa. Varieties of Malay form the basis of the official languages of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei as well as the national language of Singapore. This presentation will focus on phonological and grammatical features of the various lesser-known Malay dialects spoken between Southern Myanmar and the Riau Islands and from Sumatera across the South China Sea to the west coast of Borneo.