THE PERANAKAN CHINESE OF KELANTAN - Culture, Language & Identity of a Chinese Sub-Community in Malaysia
Teo Kok Seong
Content Page


   This book predominantly but not exclusively investigates the language and linguistic behaviour of the Kelantan Peranakan Chinese community in Malaysia, a group who have assimilated extensively to the Kelantanese rural Malays, and to some extent to the Kelantan Thai community, culturally as well as linguistically. The major findings and discussions of this work are reported in three main chapters.

   Chapter 2, discusses the formation as well as the ethnic development of the Peranakan Chinese of Kelantan. This is followed by a discussion of their ethnicity or identity and culture. Chapter 3 is a linguistic investigation of the language spoken by these Chinese. A sociolinguistic history of them is also addressed besides a discussion of the varieties of the language. Reference to as well as a comparison of the language of the Peranakan Chinese with the local Malay dialect, local Thai language and standard or mainstream Hokkien as spoken in the state of Kelantan, are also made. Chapter 4 discusses the communication patterns and discourse organisations of their interaction with the wider society. The verbal as well as non-verbal aspects of language are discussed as a process of inter-related elements working together to sustain the strong inter ethnic bond between the Peranakan Chinese and the local Malays. Chapter 5 sums up with a discussion on the ethnolinguistic status of these Peranakan Chinese.

About the Author

   Teo Kok Seong is a lecturer in sociolinguistics and anthropological linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at the National University of Malaysia.