Malaysian creole: an attitudinal analysis of private university undergraduates

ABSTRACT In light of the historic linguistic vibrancy, Manglish, the unique Malaysian patois, emerges as a survivor through the hybridization of its words, expressions, and idioms that consists of local languages. The de facto national code of Malaysia, with all its creativity & complexity is exhibited as aversive to Standard English. This study explored the position of the colloquial variety as a creole by accentuating its significance in the global context on the grounds of socio-cultural and socio-economic history, further encouraging the glocalization of the English language. A mixed qualitative-quantitative method was adopted for this research and data was obtained by investigating Malaysian private university undergraduates’ attitude towards Manglish by means of online survey questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that a large majority of young Malaysians are positive towards Manglish, signalling survival through the test of time, yet it demands due recognition as a creole due to its heritage value.