Hajah Sorianasalwa Haji Mornie
BRUNEI
DARUSSALAM
Language is a
manifestation of identity that defines a country; it bears traditional cultural
values as well as its history. Often
when people project their fear of the loss of a language, they fear and lament
the loss of their cultural heritage, they fear that a part of the memory of
their people that has come with language will be forgotten. They fear that this memory of their ancestors
will become history because when it has become so, there will be no
continuity. Today, we live in a
post-conscious state, after a wake of many happenings. We tend to realize things only when they have
already happened. We realize a language
is dying when it is no longer spoken or when someone who speaks it well is
dying. Only at the brink of extinction
do we feel the need to preserve what is inevitably going to end. Therefore, this paper explores the
possibility of preserving a dying language (Brunei Malay) by immersing it in a
lingua franca (English Language).
Adopting literary theory of post-structuralism or deconstruction and
drawing on the practicality of language as used by its Communities of Practice
(David Crystal), this paper will see the role of creative writing as a tool in
supporting language preservation.
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