1. Introduction
Negara Brunei Darussalam is one of smallest and richest country in Southeast Asia, known for its oil and natural gas. Brunei has several of spoken language can be found in the country, for example; Standard Malay, Brunei Malay, English, Brunei English, Tutong, Belait and so on. In this report, I will only be focusing on the second important language in Brunei which is English. The emergence of English has started during the British colonization. However, Rasidah (2013) reported on Professor Collin concerned on “some Bruneians no longer speak the language of their parents, but use English or Brunei Malay instead”. Another concern is the emergence of Brunei English, in which it has become a first language choice by the majority of this generation. Hence, this report will be discussing on the current status of Brunei English and also, the future.
1.1 The status of Language in Brunei
According to Gunn (1997), before Brunei has been colonized by the British, the education system of Brunei is focusing “to an Islamic education” such as reading the Quran, “master tajwid or the reading of Arabic texts with the correct enunciation” (pg. 68). However, the emergence of English started after the discovery of oil, where the need of having and learning English came, in order to communicate with the oil workers (Jones, 2002, pg.178). Constantly, English medium schools have also been set up throughout the following years.
Up to now, English is seen as a global language
1.2 Brunei English
According to Deterding and Salbrina (2013), Brunei English is “an independent variety of the language” (pg.117). If we were sitting at one of the café or restaurants in Brunei, we would not be surprised of hearing Bruneians mixing Malay and ...
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...of Brunei Darussalam. In P.W. Martin, C. Ozog & G. Poedjosoedarmo (Eds.) Language use & language change in Brunei Darussalam (pp. 156-172). Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Center for International Studies.
3. Deterding, D. & Salbrina Haji Sharbawi. (2013). Brunei English: A New Variety in a Multilingual Society. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
4. Gunn, G.C. (1997). Language, power and ideology in Brunei Darussalam. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.
5. Rasidah, HAB (2013, October 21). Language use changing in Brunei. The Brunei Times. Retrieved on 14 November, 2013 from http://www.bt.com.bn/news-national/2013/10/21/language-use-changing-brunei
6. Yap, A. (2013, November 13). English not a threat to Brunei identity. The Brunei Times. Retrieved on 15 November 2013, from http://www.bt.com.bn/news-national/2013/11/13/%E2%80%98english-not-threat-brunei-identity%E2%80%99
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Platt, J. & Weber, H. (1980). English in Singapore and Malaysia: Status, Features, Functions. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press
Campbell, G. L. 1991. Compendium of the World's Languages, Vol. 1 - 2. London and New York : Routledge.
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