IPOH: Perak has many dialects because it borders many other states, but their usage is fast fading, especially among the younger generation and it has an impact on the community's identity.
Malaysian Linguistic Society president, Professor Dr Nor Hashimah Jalaluddin said through her research on the use of dialects in Perak, she found that the state's youth, especially those aged 15 and under, do not speak the Perak dialect.
She said that one of the reasons given was because they were worried if they would be carried away by writing essays in the dialect when they should only use the formal language in school, besides being embarrassed to speak in the dialect.
She said, another factor contributing to the lack of using the Perak dialect is assimilation of Javanese and Banjar languages into the standard language.
Nor Hashimah also touched on the use of pronouns, including 'Yop' and 'Nyah', which are rarely heard nowadays, while the use of these pronouns can indirectly reveal the identity of the state's community.
"Perak Malays used to be known by names such as Nyah Budin, Hitam Shaari, Yop Burhanuddin, but they do not want to be called such as it will reveal their identity and they think that if used it will give a very rural branding, but when you use Yop Burhanuddin we automatically understand he is the eldest child.
"Nyah is the name for the second child and the respect for that address is felt. We will not scold Yop and Nyah because we have respect for them, that is the philosophy behind the use of that pronoun, but now it is gone," she said.
Nor Hashimah said the culture needs to be reintroduced because it has an element of authority and a philosophy behind its use.
Earlier, she was one of the speakers at the Colloquial Language Discourse: Preserving Community Language Empowering "Moh Labun Perak Dialect" programme here today (October 27).
At the same time, Nor Hashimah said the use of dialect in Perak needs to be exposed to the youth because dialect is considered a treasure and is not something to be ashamed of.
"Dialects can shape their identity just like the people of Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah who remain strong with their respective dialects so Perak Malays should be proud of their dialect," she said.
Nor Hashimah said the community can help revive the dialect by increasing the number of scripts using the Perak dialect with the example of films such as Hantu Kak Limah Balik Rumah, Zombi Kampung Pisang and Man Laksa.
She said the films could still be understood by the entire community in the country and were able to convey the message to the people without any problems even though the movies used the Perak dialect.
"I really admire the late Mamat Khalid's films for using the Perak dialect such as Hantu Kak Limah which was able to attract three million viewers in cinemas, then watched many times through other channels.
"It means that what is to be conveyed (message), reaches (the audience) and is funny in a very relaxed state," she said.
Therefore, she said artists need to be more creative in producing scripts by using the Perak dialect especially because they can also celebrate the culture that is the identity of the local community.
Nor Hashimah also distinguishes between colloquial language which means spoken language while dialect is a sub-variant of standard language.
Meanwhile, actor, film director and writer, Mior Hashim Manap, who was another speaker during the programme, said the role of language is important and one should not look down on dialect.
"Dialect is what actually builds a person's identity and is passed down from your grandfather and father first. That's why we used to do the "Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa" campaign, RTM has the song "Muhibbah", various things have been done but now it's gone," he said.
He said the problem faced by the community now is that they do not recognise themselves, indirectly forgetting the dialect that was often used by their
He said the problem faced by the community now is that they do not recognise themselves, indirectly forgetting the dialect that was often used by their