Contact languages
Aong the lower Rajang River in Sarawak, a Malay-based contact language, heavily influenced by Iban, often serves as an inter-ethnic language.
The interaction of speakers of different languages in a wide range of social activities has led to the development of several contact languages in Malaysia, including pidgins. As more Malaysians have become proficient in Malay, colloquial Malay (bahasa basahan) has become the contact language most widely spoken; other contact languages are often limited to particular regions of the country. All of the contact languages exhibit some degree of linguistic simplification and hybridization; this is particularly so with pidginized versions.
- Information in the full article includes
- Colloquial Malay
- Other languages of wider communication
- Pidgins