Selective Language Maintenance in Multilingual Malaysia

Aiming to understand the phenomena of language maintenance and shift in Malaysia, this chapter focuses on efforts by Penang's Chinese community to maintain Penang Hokkien alongside other Chinese community languages. The Malaysian Government has explicitly allowed the teaching of Mandarin Chinese in Chinese-medium schools, which resulted in the reduced use of Penang Hokkien and other Chinese community languages among the Malaysian Chinese community. Such a situation has caused sociolinguistic realignment in many Malaysian Chinese families, including in Penang, and raised questions about the survival of these languages in Malaysian society. Based on interviews with participants from Penang's Chinese community, the findings reveal that although past studies have demonstrated a decline in the use of Chinese community languages, the participants expressed their willingness to regularly use them in their daily life in various domains. Despite the announced desuetude of these languages, participants consistently used them and indicated their determination to pass on to the next generation.

An Acoustic Analysis of Cantonese Lexical Tones by Chinese Youths in Seremban, Malaysia

Cantonese is widely spoken among the Malaysian Chinese community. Cantonese speakers are not only native speakers, but also non-native speakers. One of the difficult parts of Cantonese learning is lexical tones. In view of this, this study provides an acoustic analysis of Cantonese lexical tones produced by Chinese youths in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan. This study investigates the acoustic characteristics of Cantonese lexical tones by analysing the length features and pitch features of monosyllabic words. Six female speakers participated in this study. Three of them are native Cantonese speakers, while the other three are non-native Cantonese speakers. Data analysis was conducted by using Praat. In terms of length features, T2 and T6 are the shortest smooth tones, and T7 is the shortest checked tone. In terms of pitch features, T3 and T4 had greater changes compared to the previous study. All lexical tones produced by non-native speakers, with the exception of T2, are level tones. Moreover, in both groups, the vowel duration and pitch value of T2 are relatively the same as T6, and there is a trend of combination.

Bentong Constituency Study Before and After 14th General Election in Malaysia: A Preliminary Chinese News Analysis

Bentong constituency has always been the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) electoral stronghold and under the Barisan National (BN) coalition since Malaysia's independence in 1957. However, during the 14th Malaysian general election (GE14) political tsunami, the MCA has lost this parliament seat (P89 Bentong) to the Democratic Action Party (DAP), which is under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition on 9 May 2018. Besides, Bentong is the traditional constituency of the MCA leadership, such as the first Member of Parliament (MP) for Bentong (1959-1989), Tan Sri Chan Siang Sun, retired as Health Minister cum MCA Vice-President. The second MP for Bentong is Tan Sri Lim Ah Lek (1989-1999), and he retired as Human Resources Minister cum MCA Deputy President. Before GE14, Dato' Sri Liow Tiong Lai was the third MP for Bentong (1999-2018) and retired as Transport Minister cum MCA President. Bentong is a district located in western Pahang, Malaysia. In 2005, Bentong officially declared as Bentong Municipal Council. According to Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM, 2011), Bentong population has reached about 115,000 people with administrative covered area of 335 square miles (868 square km) including Bentong Town, Genting Highlands, Karak, Telemong, Manchis, Sungai Dua and Bukit Tinggi. While its control area covered Sungai Gapoi, Simpang Pelangai, Kampung Shafie, Jambu Rias, Janda Baik and Sungai Penjuring. Keywords: Bentong, GE14, Sinchew, Economics, Chinese

马来西亚华人新生代多语能力与家庭语言规划状况调查——基于两个个案的比较研究

Based on the correlation between the multilingual ability of new generation Malaysian Chinese and language awareness within ethnic Chinese families, this study selects two typical fifth grade students of a Malaysian Chinese primary school as research objects and analyzes the impact of language awareness in two different ethnic Chinese families on children’s language ability. Research by means of two-way questionnaires, in-depth interviews, text analyses of Chinese and English compositions and comparison of Chinese, Malay and English language results reveals outstanding Chinese language ability in Case A while Case B shows remarkable English language ability. The findings indicate that Malaysian Chinese generally possess trilingual advantages while the ability of each particular language varies from person to person, which in turn is profoundly influenced by family language planning and attitude. The paper evinces that cultural consciousness among ethnic Chinese and awareness of ethnic language continuity, as reflected in family language practices, are main factors enabling Malaysian Chinese to retain a high level of Chinese language ability in a society substantially dominated by Malay culture.

Vitamin D insufficiency is high in Malaysia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on vitamin D status in Malaysia

Vitamin D plays an important role in the immune system and many non-communicable diseases. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency for the overall population of Malaysia is unknown. This study systematically reviewed and pooled studies that report vitamin D status from participants residing in Malaysia. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and MyJurnal were searched up to June 2021 without language restrictions. We include studies that reported the 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations and defined their cut-off for deficiency or insufficiency from healthy participants residing in Malaysia. Random effects model was used to pool vitamin D status using established cut-offs of < 30nmol/L, < 50nmol/L, and < 75nmol/L according to age group. We identified 203 studies, of which we included 31 studies in the meta-analysis. The pooled proportion for < 30nmol/L was 21% (95% CI 9–36, n = 2,438 from 10 studies), while the pooled proportion < 50nmol/L was 64% (95% CI 55–72, n = 13,927 from 29 studies), and < 75nmol/L was 85% (95% CI 61–100, n = 1,376 from 5 studies). Heterogeneity was high (I² ranged from 98–99%). Higher proportions of vitamin D insufficiency (defined as < 50nmol/L) were found in participants living in the urban areas (compared to rural areas), in females (compared to males), and in Malays and Malaysian Indians (compared to Malaysian Chinese) ethnicities. In conclusion, vitamin D insufficiency is highly prevalent in Malaysia, despite being a country that is close to the equator. We strongly urge prompt public health measures to improve the vitamin D status in Malaysia.

THE ROLE OF POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION ON FACEBOOK AMONG MALAYSIAN CHINESE

The Barisan Nasional (BN), Malaysia's dominant coalition party that has ruled since 1957, lost the 14th general election. Various analyses were conducted, and many discussions centred on Chinese voters who had switched to opposition, Pakatan Harapan, and rejected BN entirely. This situation raises an interesting discussion about what prompted Chinese voters to make drastic changes in this ethnic-based country's politics. This study, therefore, focuses on whether political socialization in social media will build a political opportunity for Malaysian Chinese. In investigating how social media propaganda can provide Malaysian Chinese a political viewpoint, these studies argue that the internet and social media have led to unparalleled complexity in Malaysia's political socialization process. A bottom-up, constructivist approach is used to decide how social media played their position as Malaysian political socializers.

Positive and Negative Interactions between Mother-in-law and Daughter-in-law: What about Son-in-law?

Mother-in-law (MIL) and daughter-in-law (DIL) relationship is frequently studied due to its turbulent nature. Conflict with mother-in-law also contributes to poorer marital satisfaction. However, few researchers have included son-in-law (SIL) in their studies and neglected how this relationship contributes to couples’ marital satisfaction. This study included son-in-law and investigated the relationships between couples’ positive and negative interactions with mother-in-law and their relationships with marital satisfaction. A total of 197 Malaysian Chinese dual-earners (110 males and 87 females) reported on the following scales: positive and negative interactions with mother-in-law, and marital satisfaction. Gender differences are compared between mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship and mother-in-law/son-in-law relationship. These variables were tested via four hypotheses, the relationship between positive interactions with mother-in-law and marital satisfaction, the relationship between negative interactions with mother-in-law and marital satisfaction, and gender differences in the associations tested. Gender differences were found in negative interactions with mothers-in-law and their associations with marital satisfaction. The results were discussed in regards to the importance of the inclusion of son-in-law in examining in-law relationships and marital satisfaction.