Noor Azam Haji-Othman

Challenges in Indigenous Language Education: The Brunei Experience

In August 2010 the Language Centre, Universiti Brunei Darussalam took the unprecedented step of introducing modules in Tutong and Dusun, two unwritten traditional languages of distinct indigenous ethnic groups in Brunei. This chapter outlines the challenges faced by the centre in bringing these dying languages into the classroom, defying the official position of the Ministry of Education on teaching indigenous languages, and succeeding in (re)introducing the languages to a new generation of young Bruneians who never had the chance to learn the languages from their parents. No one had ever imagined these languages—that have traditionally only been spoken and have no ‘teachable standard’—would one day form part of a university minor degree programme. Today the classes continue to receive a steady stream of students every semester. This discussion shows how this was achieved mainly through the persistence of linguistic staff who saw merit in formally teaching these languages but also knew the administrative and pedagogical challenges would be onerous.

Bilingual Education Revisited: The Role of Ugama Schools in the Spread of Bilingualism

This chapter considers the role of Islamic religious schools or Ugama schools (ugama lit. ‘religion’ ) in the development of bilingualism and bilingual education in Brunei Darussalam. Brunei’s bilingual mainstream education system has long been the subject of studies which often, rightly to some extent, identify it to be the primary reason for Bruneians’ widespread bilingualism in English and Malay.

The Language Situation in Brunei Darussalam

This chapter aims to provide an introduction to Brunei Darussalam for readers, giving essential background information for the other chapters in this volume and also offering a valuable overview of language issues in the country.

Comprehension of Aspect Markers by Brunei Malay L1 Learners

It has been claimed that there is a universal interaction between grammatical aspect and the inherent lexical aspect of verbs. In other words, in many languages of the world, a given grammatical aspect co-occurs naturally with some verb types but not with others. This chapter tests this claim with Brunei Malay and with children acquiring Brunei Malay as their L1 to determine whether or not the lexical aspect of verbs affects the comprehension of grammatical aspect. Although Brunei Malay is a language that does not have a grammaticalised system for marking tense, it has aspect markers available to its speakers. We identified five markers available in Brunei Malay namely sudah, baru, lakat, masih and tangah, and we tested childrens comprehension of these aspect markers using sentence-to-picture matching exercises, and we looked specifically at the interaction of these aspect markers and the lexical aspect of the verbs. The participants were 108 children aged 3, 4 and 5. The findings suggest that the semantic features of verbs (like telicity or durativity) affect children’s comprehension of aspect markers and may be used to provide support for the Aspect Hypothesis.

The State of Indigenous Languages in Brunei

According to Nothofer (1991), the Austronesian languages and dialects spoken in Brunei are Belait , Bisaya , Dusun, Brunei Malay, Kampung Ayer Malay, Kedayan , Standard Malay, Murut , Tutong, Mukah, Iban andPenan . Nothofer grouped Brunei Malay, Kampung Ayer Malay, Kedayan and Standard Malay together as the ‘Malay group’, and labelled the remaining codes ‘Non-Malay’. Following the treatment of these languages by Martin and Poedjosoedarmo (1996, p. 13), the latter group can be further divided into three groups: the Dusunic languages consisting of Dusun and Bisaya; the Murutic group which just includes Murut (or Lun Bawang ); and the North Sarawak group that consists of Belait and Tutong. Dusun, the subject of the case study presented in this chapter, and Bisaya are ‘mutually intelligible dialects’ (Nothofer 1991, p. 155) despite the fact that they are listed as separate ethnic groups in the Brunei Constitution. All of these languages have undergone language shift , with some languages faring better than others.

The State of in Brunei

According to Nothofer (1991), the Austronesian languages and dialects spoken in Brunei are Belait , Bisaya , Dusun, Brunei Malay, Kampung Ayer Malay, Kedayan , Standard Malay, Murut , Tutong, Mukah, Iban andPenan . Nothofer grouped Brunei Malay, Kampung Ayer Malay, Kedayan and Standard Malay together as the ‘Malay group’, and labelled the remaining codes ‘Non-Malay’. Following the treatment of these languages by Martin and Poedjosoedarmo (1996, p. 13), the latter group can be further divided into three groups: the Dusunic languages consisting of Dusun and Bisaya; the Murutic group which just includes Murut (or Lun Bawang ); and the North Sarawak group that consists of Belait and Tutong. Dusun, the subject of the case study presented in this chapter, and Bisaya are ‘mutually intelligible dialects’ (Nothofer 1991, p. 155) despite the fact that they are listed as separate ethnic groups in the Brunei Constitution. All of these languages have undergone language shift , with some languages faring better than others.

The State of Indigenous LanguagesIndigenous Languages in Brunei

According to Nothofer (1991), the Austronesian languages and dialects spoken in Brunei are Belait , Bisaya , Dusun, Brunei Malay, Kampung Ayer Malay, Kedayan , Standard Malay, Murut , Tutong, Mukah, Iban andPenan . Nothofer grouped Brunei Malay, Kampung Ayer Malay, Kedayan and Standard Malay together as the ‘Malay group’, and labelled the remaining codes ‘Non-Malay’. Following the treatment of these languages by Martin and Poedjosoedarmo (1996, p. 13), the latter group can be further divided into three groups: the Dusunic languages consisting of Dusun and Bisaya; the Murutic group which just includes Murut (or Lun Bawang ); and the North Sarawak group that consists of Belait and Tutong. Dusun, the subject of the case study presented in this chapter, and Bisaya are ‘mutually intelligible dialects’ (Nothofer 1991, p. 155) despite the fact that they are listed as separate ethnic groups in the Brunei Constitution. All of these languages have undergone language shift , with some languages faring better than others.