Brunei Malay is a Malayic language spoken by about 320,000 people mainly in Brunei Darussalam, and also in nearby parts of East Malaysia, including the island of Labuan, Sipitang in Sabah, and Limbang and Miri in Sarawak. Brunei Malay is used in informal contexts and as a lingua franca in the region among speakers of minority languages, Malay-based creoles and Chinese. Standard Malay is used formal situations, such as on TV and radio, and is the official language of Brunei.
Brunei Malay is also known as Bruneian Malay or Bahasa Melayu Brunei. It is closely related to Standard Malay with around 84% of its vocabulary being cognate, however the pronunciation differs significantly. The two languages are almost mutually intelligible, and most speakers of Brunei Malay also speak Standard Malay. Brunei Malay is even more closely related to Kedayan and Kampung Ayer, varieties of Malay which are also spoken in Brunei.
Brunei Malay is written with the Latin alphabet. It was traditionally written with the Jawi (Arabic) script.
Download an alphabet chart for Brunei Malay (Excel)
Masa si Angin Utara sama si Matahari batangkar pasal siapa yang lagi kuat, ada tia urang pangambara datang. Diurang satuju siapa yang dapat manggalkan jubah pangambara atu, iatah yang paling kuat. Si Angin Utara pun maniup sakuat-kuatnya, tapi makin kuat ia maniup, makin tah pulang pangambara atu mamigang banar-banar jubahnya. Si Angin Utara pun mangalah. Udah atu si Matahari lagi mamancar kuat-kuat sampai pangambara atu inda tahan, tarus ia buka jubahnya. Jadi si Angin Utara pun paksa ngakun si Matahari lagi kuat dari kadia.
Angin Utara dan Matahari (The North Wind and the Sun)
Source: https://fass.ubd.edu.bn/research/brunei-malay/angin1.html
An English version of this story
Information about Brunei Malay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunei_Malay
https://fass.ubd.edu.bn/research/brunei-malay/index.html
https://fass.ubd.edu.bn/staff/docs/AC/Clynes-Brunei-Malay.pdf
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-international-phonetic-association/article/brunei-malay/
https://selongkar10.blogspot.com/2022/07/100-perkataan-bahasa-brunei-beserta.html
Banjarese, Bengkulu, Brunei Malay, Indonesian, Kerinci, Malay, Minangkabau, Sambas Malay, Urak Lawoi’
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page created: 07.12.25. Last modified: 07.01.25
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