Malay in a very corrupt form, disfigured by ignorance of the character of the language, and the arbitrary intermixture of foreign words, has become the ordinary means of intercourse between Europeans and the natives of the Indian Archipelago. This is called Low-Malay, and differs in almost every locality.
Malay is written with the Arabic character. Through the contact with Europeans the use of the Roman alphabet is gaining ground.
The affinities of Achinese are still very obscure, and we have no vocabulary of the native language except that in Marsden’s miscellaneous works; therefore Mr. Crawfurd errs when he calls Achinese (p. lix.) “a cultivated and written language,” for the literary language of the Achinese is genuine Malay. P. J. V.
Malayalim, Malayalma.
Dravidian: vernacular speech of Malabar, and other provinces of the Madras presidency; it is closely allied to Tamul, using an alphabet of somewhat similar character. It has stages; anct. and mod. Grammar by Peet, Cottayam, 1860; School Dicty., Mangalore, 1870.
Malayan.
Class name for all dialects of the Malay family.
Malayo-Polynesian.
Crawfurd’s term. See [Malagasy].