Malaysian English/Manglish:
Malay is the lingua franca of Malaysia, a federation of former British colonies and similar dependencies. Manglish is a beautiful mix of Malaysian and English–a hilarious mix of languages–informal yet cryptic to the outsider. English is a foreign language with no official status, but it is commonly learned as a second or third language. The Malaysian English accent is a melding of British, Chinese, Tamil, and Malay, influences. Many Malaysians adopt different accents and usages depending on the situation and location. For example, an office worker may speak with less colloquialism and with a more British accent on the job than with friends or while out shopping.
The grammatical and pronunciation characteristics include: syllable-timing, where speech is timed according to syllable, akin to the English of the Indian Subcontinent. Elsewhere, English accented speech is usually timed to stress; a quick, staccato, style, with “puncturing” syllables and well-defined, drawn out tones; non-rhoticity [no hard r’s], like most varieties of English language in England. So, caught and court are homophonous as [kăt]; can’t rhymes with aren’t [kawnt/awnt]. The “ay” and “ow” sounds in raid and road are pronounced as monophthongs, i.e. with no “glide”: [red] and [rod]; thin=tin and then=ten; many words at the end of sentences that indicate the role of the sentence in discourse and the mood it conveys, employ “lah”, “leh”, “mah”, “hor”, etc. E.g., Good loh=Yeah it’s all right. I don’t have any particular views about it though; It’s good gua=I don’t know much about it, but I guess it’s good?; It’s good meh=Huh, I don’t think it’s good at all. Manglish makes use of several articles not regularly found in written or spoken Standard English. Take for example, “ah”; Take care ah!; This is your office ah? David ah! Come let’s have a drink. Lah; Don’t be like that lah! (Firm); Come out and play lah! (Firm); Never-mind lah, it’s ok. (Gentle).
Exclaiming that something is obvious, similar to English’s “Duh.” If you’re tired, then stay at home loh. It’s made from chicken; so, it tastes like chicken loh. Leh can have one of two meanings: 1. Indicates that a speaker is surprised by what they are saying (interchangeable with ‘wor’. 2. Indicates that a speaker is uncertain about what they are saying. Eh, this does taste like chicken leh. Surprised by own answer–it really does taste like chicken! You really want to go and play badminton? I haven’t played in years leh. (Uncertain).
In Cantonese gua expresses that a speaker does not have a particular opinion about the topic at hand; similar to English “probably”. Mmmm. Judging from the taste, this is chicken gua.
I’m not sure what I’ll be doing this afternoon either. Watch the movie gua. Cantonese meh expesses that the speaker doubts what someone has just said, and probably disagrees with it. Nasi lemak is made out of coconut milk meh? You said you spent New Years Eve alone? Really meh? (Really meh is very commonly used in Hong Kong English. Mou in Cantonese indicates that the speaker is seeking a yes or no response. Want to eat Nasi Lemak mou? Nasi Lemak mou?
Le/ liao in Hokkien indicates that something has already happened; I ate the fried chicken liao. Manchester is down 2-0 this match surely lose liao. Wor expresses a speaker’s surprise and can often be used to replace “leh”. That looks like chicken, smells like chicken, feels like chicken, but not chicken wor! It’s some vegetarian mock meat.
