Such is the case w ith ASEAN.. ASEAN can be d iv id ed into tw o groups: continental and isla n d /p en in su la countries... The situ atio n of language contact in ASEAN g eographical r
Trang 1VNU Journal of Science, Social Sciences and H um anities 23, No SE (20307) 53-59
Asean from a geolinguistic perspective
Dinh Van Due*
College o f Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU, 336 Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Vietnam
R eceiv ed 5 M ay 2007
A b s tr a c t T h e p a p e r fo c u se s o n th e fo llo w in g :
1 G e o lin g u istic s a d d re sse s th e m ix tu re a n d d istrib u tio n of la n g u a g e s fro m a g eo g rap h ical
p e rsp e c tiv e th a t is a lw a y s associated w ith econom y, p o p u la tio n a n d society A g eo lin g u istic
p e rsp e c tiv e , th e re fo re , can sh ed m o re lig h t on th e specificities of a ce rta in socio-politicai sp ac e in
e x isten ce a n d d e v e lo p m e n t Such is th e case w ith ASEAN.
2 A SEA N o rig in a lly (1967) w a s a political allian ce for m ilita ry co n fro n tatio n R egional a n d
in te rn a tio n a l p o litical ch a n g es in th e last few d ec ad es h av e g ra d u a lly tu rn e d it in to a n alliance of
p a rtn e rs for e c o n o m y a n d sec u rity of th e w h o le area of S ou th East A sia G eo lin g u istically , how ev er,
th is sp a c e is ra th e r special: it is m o re d iv e rse th a n u n ifo rm e d , m o re d iv e rg e n t th a n co n v erg en t
ASEA N c o m p ris e s tw o g ro u p s of cou n tries: th o se on la n d a n d o n islan d s; th e ir p o p u la tio n s are
ac c o rd in g ly v a rie d G eo g rap h ica l influences from C h in a a n d In d ia re su lt in a p p a re n t eco n o m ic an d
c u ltu ra l co n se q u e n c e s, a n d the la n g u a g e m a p sh o w s o b v io u s g eo g ra p h ic a l seg reg atio n , w h ich
p ro v id e s a lm o s t n o g ro u n d s for assem b ly a n d linkages.
3 U n lik e A frican, L atin A m erican, C arrib e an a n d A rabic c o m m u n itie s w h ic h h a v e a lw a y s h a d
v ery clo se g e o g ra p h ic a l a n d lin g u istic linkages, S ou th East A sia n space, b o th in h isto ry a n d at
p re sen t, h a s se e n m o re d istin c tio n s th a n u n ifo rm ity in th e ir la n g u a g e s in te rm s o f stru c tu re ; a n d
th e ir in te r-c o n ta c ts h a v e b ro u g h t a b o u t d iffe ren t c o n c e p tu a liz a tio n s as w ell as p ractices of la n g u a g e
p olicies in o r d e r to h a rm o n iz e v a rio u s in tere sts for d ev e lo p m e n t.
4 G e o -re g io n a lism in la n g u a g e contact also h a s created c u ltu ra l c o u n te r-flo w s - th e in v asio n of
th e S a n sk rit w ritin g sy ste m from th e In d ian su b -c o n tin e n t a n d th e s q u a ris h Sino ch a ra c te rs from
th e C h in e se c o n tin e n t, a n d later th e forccd contact w ith E nglish, French, D u tch a n d S p an ish
b ro u g h t a lo n g b y colonialism
5 It is d iffic u lt to find a m o n g th e n a tiv e la n g u a g e s a com m on, p o p u la r la n g u a g e for A SEA N in
th e fu tu re T h e existence of cu ltu ra l g a p s u n d e rly in g th e la n g u a g e d is trib u tio n is also of im p o rta n c e
a n d in tere st.
6 T h e p a p e r c o n c lu d e s w ith forecasts of la n g u a g e tre n d s w h ic h m a y stre n g th e n in the
g e o g ra p h ic a l re g io n of ASEAN.
1 O rig in atin g from Europe, geolinguistics
h ad co n trib u ted to identifying the dialect
m ap of G erm an y in the 19th cen tu ry before it
* C o rre sp o n d in g a u th o r Tel.: 84-4-8589679
E-mail: d m h v an d u c2002@ yahoo.com
w as a d o p te d by m o d e rn linguistics, particu larly in m ethodological aspect, w hich
h elp s reveal the m ix tu re an d d istrib u tio n of regional lan g u ag es from a geographical
p erspective th a t is alw ays associated w ith econom y, p o p u la tio n an d society A
53
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g eo lin g u istic perspective, therefore, can shed
m o re lig h t on th e specificities of a certain
socio-political space in existence and
d ev elo p m en t Such is the case w ith ASEAN
2 O n e C h in ese saying goes, "D om ains
u n d e r heaven, after a long p eriod of division,
te n d s to unite; after a long period of union,
te n d s to divide" (Luo G u an zh o n g 's opening
s ta te m e n t in Sanguo [zhi] yanyi, Three
K in g d o m s o r T hree W arring States or
R om ance of T h ree K ingdom s) A t the age of
40, ASEAN is uniting, enh an cin g and
e x p a n d in g co o p erativ e and integrating
activities A retro sp ectiv e look reveals that
this is o rig in ally a political alliance of m ilitary
colors th a t reflects the confrontation of the
C old W ar p e rio d an d the V ietnam W ar The
n am e "A ssociation of South East Asian
N ations" (ASEAN, 1967) d isplays the ally
relatio n sh ip w ith o u t m an y geographical,
econom ic a n d cu ltu ra l criteria Yet currently
it is aim in g at those criteria an d w an ts to
fo rw a rd on th o se bases
3 ASEAN g eographically com prises a
g ro u p of co u n trie s on land, p en in su las and
islan d s fo rm in g a w ok-likc shape betw een
In d ia an d C hina, situ atin g in the m id d le of
th e East-W est m arin e trajectory, linking the
In d ia n a n d the Pacific O ceans, w hich is very
c o n v en ien t for tra d e an d IS significantly
im p o rta n t geo-econom ically and geo-
politically H o w ev er, in term s of p o p u latio n
a n d culture, this region is n o t an
am alg am atio n Its d iv ersity and
m u ltid im en sio n ality , even the cultural
d istin ctio n s a m o n g the nations, diffuse the
p ossibility to m o v e to w ard a type of unity
like E urope, W est Asia, C arribee or South
A m erica
4 T here exist three big issues relating to
g eo lin g u istics in this region First, the
regional language m ap d istrib u tes diversely, distinctively and n o n -concentrating Second, lan g u ag e contacts w ith the o u tsid e w orld vary considerably an d are diverse and
m u ltidim ensional, w hich exerts decisive
im pacts on trad itio n al lan g u ag e policies of each nation, an d on a b ro ad er, regional sense, will influence ASEAN lan g u ag e policies in the in tegration process L a n g u a g e diffusion is pro b ab ly an obstacle to o vercom e on the w ay
to w ard a com m u n ity of the A ssociation
m em ber states
5 Possibly no o th er regions in the w orld are as n arro w as South East Asia and yet w ith such a high d en sity and d iv ersity of languages ASEAN can be d iv id ed into tw o groups: continental and isla n d /p en in su la countries Those on land lying betw een the
tw o sub-continents - In d ia a n d C hina - have distinctive linguistic features Even th o u g h som e w ere originally related to A ustroasiatic (like V ietnam ese), typologically, they are
m ostly isolating and to n al languages (V ietnam ese, Laotian, Thai, Burm ese, etc.),
w h ile A ustronesian and p e n in su la languages (M elayu, Tagalog) from S u m atra to the
P hilippines have p artia lly ag g lu tin atin g
m orphological stru ctu re A ro u n d the ASEAN 'w ok' are h u n d re d s of eth n ic m inority languages influenced by v ario u s language families: Sino-Tibetan, M eo-Yao, M on-K hm er
on land and M alay-P olynesia on the sea They m ig h t have h ad certain contacts or
m igrated, b u t basically they localized geographically L anguage, cu ltu re and religion in term ingled in accordance to
in ternational isoglosses w h ich d istin g u ish the statu s of each area of in h ab itan ts In the past,
d u e to low and slow ly g ro w in g pro d u ctiv ity , econom ic exchanges in the region w ere low
a n d totally u n m atc h e d w ith each n atio n 's
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potentials W hen econom ic capitalism
a p p eared , contacts and exchanges w ith the
o utside w o rld w ere p red o m in a n t, b u t the
volum e of goods and intra-regional
transactions w ere very lim ited Prior to 1945,
m ost of the region w as m ag n etized to the
orbit of colonialism (the UK, France, the
N eth erlan d s, Spain, the US), and com m ercial
and cultural tran sactio n s in the colonies w ere
p rim arily o rien ted to m o th er countries;
regional exchanges, therefore, w ere even
m ore restricted "H ouses are stan d in g back to
back, yet their entrances are m iles aw ay" w as
the case for a long tim e am ong South East
A sian nations
6 L anguage contact is a geo-linguistic
universal The situ atio n of language contact
in ASEAN g eographical region is dissim ilar
to th at in Europe, W est Asia or Carribee
Tw o m ajor issues em erge: language and
w riting in the contacts Linguistically, d u e to
typological d iv ersity (language structure),
together w ith historical o p p o rtu n ities and
risks, lan g u ag e contacts here contain both
intra-regional and transregional contacts
T h ro u g h o u t the historical process,
transregionai contacts w ere influenced by
m igration, com m erce an d religion The tw o
m ajor ro u tes of contacts rem ain ed In d ia n and
China O n th e regional scale, Sino (Chinese)
language h ad h ad contact w ith Japanese and
Korean, a n d V ietnam ese in the so u th for tw o
th o u san d years, a n d even fu rth er so u th w ith
A ustroasiatic languages of M alay and
Singapore H ow ever, d u e to differences in the
form of contact, there ap p eared in
V ietnam ese a w ay of Sino-V ietnam ese
pronunciation, w hich w as u n iq u e an d d id n ot
recur in so u th e rn nations In M alaysia,
S ingapore a n d p a rt of the islands, a n u m b er
of com m unities spoke Sino as p a rt of the
national languages; nevertheless, contact
b etw een Sino an d in d igenous lan g u ag es w as not significant and d id n ot resu lt in considerable diffusion nor a rem ark ab le
p ro d u c t both in term s of s tru c tu re and function V ietnam d id n ot h av e su ch a Sino lan g u ag e-in h ab itan t co m m unity C ho Lon precinct in H o Chi M inh C ity h as large
C hinese D iasporas, yet V ietnam ese rem ain s the official language in all tran sactio n s and social activities L anguages from the In d ia n sub-continent m oving to S outh East A sia d id have certain inter-typological contacts an d interchanges These interchanges, a p p a re n tly
h aving occurred on the islan d s from S u m atra
to East Tim or (form er territo ry in Indonesia), and tra n s-islan d /p en in su la areas in M alaysia,
w ere open, and contacts in lan g u ag e stru c tu re (vocabulary and m o rphology) w ere m o re
ev id en t th an those relating to Sino a n d Thai
In the 17th century, w h en w este rn cap italist econom y developed, new contacts em erg ed
in South East Asia C om m ercial tran sactio n s and Catholic m issionaries b ro u g h t E u ro p ean languages to exotic shores S panish,
P ortuguese, English, French, D u tc h lan g u ag es one by one cam e into contact w ith in d ig en o u s languages Im m ediately a fte rw ard , these contacts w ere segregated in acco rd an ce to colonial regions: Indochina w ith French,
M y an m ar and M alaysia w ith English,
In d o n esia w ith D utch, th e P h ilip p in es initially w ith S panish an d th en E nglish (w hen they becam e a u s colony, 1898) Such contacts
b lew a n ew breeze in to in d ig e n o u s languages, b u t colonial seg reg atio n led to increased situ atio n of "houses are sta n d in g back to back, yet th eir en tran ces are m iles
aw ay" am ong the nations u p till now
7 W ith reg a rd s to in tra-reg io n al lan g u ag e contacts, the language p a n o ra m a is also
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pieced and patched: 5 nations o n lan d (3
Indochinese countries, T hailand and
M yanm ar), despite territorial borderlines, the
language m ap is extensively covered by Thai,
V ietnam ese and M on-K hm er languages, and
language contacts w ere obvious L anguages
of A ustroasiatic origin p resen t in som e areas
(In Tay Nguyen - the C entral H ig h lan d in
Vietnam , for exam ple) w ere restricted only in
certain geographical localities and h ad little
contact w ith V ietnam ese M eanw hile, in
A ustronesian areas, the largest intra-regional
contact occurred w ith M eleyu, originally the
language of p a rt of M alaysian and Indonesian
population Influenced by Islam outreach,
contact of this language b ro u g h t ab o u t
e v id en t results: the geographical expansion of
M elayu language use in M alaysia, Indonesia,
Brunei and Singapore as a distinct space from
continental countries A language w ith large
g ro u p s of speakers on the Eastern Sea (South
C hina Sea), Tagalog in the P hilippines,
th o u g h having contact w ith continental and
island regions in the w est (w ith M eleyu
language), continued eastw ard to m ake
contact w ith languages orig in atin g from W est
Pacific H istorical differences in the w riting
system s am ong the nations n atu rally resulted
in cultural distinction (on N ew G uinea
islands and au stro n esian region)
8 L anguage contact in term s of the
w riting system s is an o th er peculiarity of the
region The Indian an d Sino w riting system s
also initiated cultural and religious contacts
in the region The w ritin g system originating
from ancient Indian (Sanskrit) w as u sed to
dissem inate B uddhist canons eastw ard as far
as Tibet and C hina, an d so u th w a rd to
present-day B angladesh, M yanm ar, T hailand,
Laos PDR and C am bodia Such contact, as
e v id en t in the cu rren t use of Sanskrit-origin
w ritin g system in m an y nations, en tailed an extensive diffusion of influences from Indian- origin languages as w ell as Tay-Thai and
M on-K hm er language g ro u p s, p a rtic u la rly in the lexicon, personal an d geographical nam es U nlike S anskrit w ritin g , Sino characters m o v ed so u th th ro u g h exam ination
p ath s and d issem in atio n of C onfucianism ideological teaching V ietnam w as the place
w h ere Sino w ritin g w as the m o st influential;
p rio r to the ap p earan ce of phonological
w ritin g system (Q uoc-ngu), th e V ietnam ese people h ad created the N o m scrip t b ased on Sino sq u arish characters, a n d a few o th er
w ritin g system s of V ietnam ese ethnic
m inorities w ere fo rm u lated in the sam e w ay
D ifferences in the w ritin g system s intensify cultural distinctions am o n g in h ab itan t com m unities in the region R om an w ritin g acquired increasing p red o m in a n ce ip the region, w hich partially stre n g th e n e d the use
of English as a com m on lan g u ag e in ASEAN transactions
9 Let us now tu rn to lan g u ag e policies Policies involve natio n al p lanning, an d language guid elin es d eriv e from each
co u n try 's reality and desires ASEAN lan g u ag e m ap is a com plexity M ost countries
in the A ssociation are m u ltilin g u al nations (V ietnam , Laos TDK, T hailand, M alaysia, etc.)
In each country, h ow ever, a m ajority language m ay p red o m in a te , b u t it can n o t cover the colors of o th er lan g u ag es, an d the differences in d e v e lo p m e n t levels and language usability in social life exist as a
n atu ral necessity N atio n al lan g u ag e policy
m aking d ep e n d s on v ario u s calculations norm ally involving, for instance, the m ajority native speakers, the actu ality of lan g u ag e distrib u tio n on p o p u la tio n basis, historical
an d c u rre n t m igration, w ritin g traditions,
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lan g u ag e contact, native speakers'
consciousness, lan g u ag e trad itio n s in artistic
poetics, am o n g st others
10 Specific lan g u ag e policies, in relation
to geolinguistics, of ASEAN nations are quite
flexible O n the continent, the three
Indochinese countries, T hailand and
M yanm ar, each has the lan g u ag e of an ethnic
m ajority selected as the national language
(Viet over 80%, Laotian 70%, Thai nearly 90%,
B urm ese 70%, K hm er over 80%), and in each
of the natio n al lan g u ag es the policies are
realized in different w ays: The G o v ern m en t
of V ietnam considers V ietnam ese the national
language, and p u rp o rts to d ev elo p and
preserv e th e v alues of ethnic m inority
languages Laos also has policies on equality
of ethnic languages, w hile such rules are not
explicit in T hailand w h ere m inority
languages, except C hinese and M alay, seem
to be en co u rag ed to in teg rate into Thai, the
national language This is n o t the case w ith
isla n d /p en in su la nations In three island
nations of M alaysia, In d o n esia and Brunei,
tho u g h M eleyu em erges as an official
language, it is n o t y et a tru e rep resen tativ e of
the in h ab itan ts' languages M eleyu is of
A ustroasiatic origin and belongs to M alay-
Polynesian lan g u ag e fam ily Initially, it w as
the lan g u ag e of M elayu co m m u n ity (Proto-
M alay); a ro u n d 60% of this nation's
p o p u latio n w as in d ig en o u s in h ab itan ts of
Indonesia an d n eig h b o rin g areas (it is
possible, in a b ro a d e r scope, to m en tio n such
oth er V ietnam 's eth n ic m in o rity languages as
Cham , Ede, G iarai, etc.) Later, M elayu
lexicon w a s su p p le m e n ted w ith m ore
vocabulary from east-w est contacts an d its
scope of u se e x p a n d e d to becom e a language
spoken by a m ajority of sp eak ers th ro u g h o u t
Indonesia (nearly 90% of the 200 m illion
p opulation) R ealizing this fact, the three island nations agreed to stren g th en M elayu and co o rd in ated their control th ro u g h the
T rans-N ational L anguage Council It is necessary to a d d that in these island nations, along w ith M elayu, there exist h u n d re d s of
o th er in d ig en o u s m inority languages U nlike continental countries, how ever, C hinese and
In d ian lan g u ag es are also w idely used alongside English in these nations, and in fact, people h av e the right to use w hichever language of their preference in social
co m m unication and transaction
11 The P h ilip p in es and Singapore are exceptional S ingapore is an island-city state
w ith diverse p o p u latio n C hinese people account for nearly 80%, yet M elayu is considered the national language, desp ite the fact th at M alay-origin inh ab itan ts only account for ab o u t 15% In fact, besides
C hinese an d M elayu, English enjoys a critical statu s as the fo u n d atio n of the national
ad m in istrativ e language Flexibility in lan g u ag e policies is one of the dynam ics for this co u n try 's cultural, scientific and technological d ev elo p m en t This is not the case w ith the Philippines W ith m ore th an 80
m illion p o p u latio n , b u t as an isolating island state in the w est Pacific, the Philippines experiences u n e v en in h ab itan t distribution: the Bisai peo p le account for 35%, the Tagal 25%, the Illoca 12%, etc A m ong these, Tagalog soars as a w ell-know n language, for Tagalog speakers, th o u g h accounting for only 25%, reside in cu lturally an d econom ically dev elo p ed areas in central an d so u th ern
L uzon Island The P h ilip p in es becam e a colony of S pain q u ite early, an d w as tran sferred to the u s in 1898, so the use of Spanish and English along w ith the
in d ig en o u s Tagalog lan g u ag e grew n atu rally