Brunei Malay

Brunei Malay
Bruneian Malay
Bahasa Melayu Brunei
بهاس ملايو بروني
Native toBrunei, Malaysia
EthnicityBruneian Malay, Kedayan
Native speakers
320,000 (2013–2019)
Dialects
  • Brunei Malay (main)
  • Kampong Ayer
  • Kedayan
Latin (Malay alphabet)
Arabic (Jawi)
Language codes
ISO 639-3kxd
Glottologbrun1242
  Area where Brunei Malay is spoken

The Brunei Malay, also called Bruneian Malay (Malay: Bahasa Melayu Brunei; Jawi: بهاس ملايو بروني), is the most widely spoken language in Brunei Darussalam and a lingua franca in some parts of Sarawak and Sabah, such as Labuan, Limbang, Lawas, Sipitang, and Papar. Though Standard Malay is promoted as the official national language of Brunei, Brunei Malay is socially dominant and it is currently replacing the minority languages of Brunei, including the Dusun and Tutong languages, existing in a diglossic speech, wherein Brunei Malay is commonly used for daily communication, coexisting with the aforementioned regional languages and Malay creoles, and standard Malay used in formal speech; code switching between standard Malay and Brunei Malay is spoken in informal speech as a lingua franca between Malay creoles and regional languages. It is quite similar to Standard Malay to the point of being almost mutually intelligible with it, being about 84% cognate with standard Malay. Standard Malay is usually spoken with Brunei pronunciation.