What does it mean to be a Bidayuh? Language maintenance and identity in East Malaysia

Teresa Wai See, Ong and Ting, Su Hie and Florence, Gilliam Kayad (2023) What does it mean to be a Bidayuh? Language maintenance and identity in East Malaysia. [Magazine and Newsletter]

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Abstract

Our study showed that maintaining Bidayuh in the current era is difficult and challenging due to the stiff competition from English as a language of education and career, Standard Malay as the official language of communication in the government sector, and the perceptions of the Malay dialect and Iban as strong languages in Sarawak. Nevertheless, having a strong ethnic identity is associated with more frequent use of ethnic languages. About 70% of the Bidayuh in the study are considered as having a strong Bidayuh identity because of their pure Bidayuh parentage, and they frequently speak Bidayuh. The remaining 30% are those with half Bidayuh parentage and do not speak Bidayuh as first language and on a daily basis. Because the Bidayuh community is rather small, these figures are considered as positive and thus, efforts should be made continuously to document Bidayuh and teach it in the schools. With that, the Bidayuh language will continue to live on.

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