I am someone who used to be able to speak this language fluently in childhood but lost the ability to when I had to use English upon moving in the UK, but there is something that’s captured my attention from time to time.
When I look at or hear a piece of text written in Malay, Indonesian or some other Malay language, I do not easily understand it as well as, say, a Philippine language (but I don’t understand Ilokano, where my father is from). However, comparing a Philippine language to a non-Philippine language, one can see more commonalities between the languages of the Philippines than between other Malay languages. I think I remember trying to read and understand some Malay that that happened to be on the label of some packaging when I was very young. I was never taught it, and I simply don’t understand it.
The most striking difference to me is lexical, where the Spanish influence of Philippine languages are far stronger. Additionally, an influence on the orthography seems to play a role, where a silent “h” often seems to appear at the end of words in non-Philippine Malay languages more often – I believe Arabic may have played a part in this, where this distinction may be in part, grammatical.
Aside from differing cultural influences in the past, I’m not entirely sure as to how speakers of Philippine languages would be less easily able to understand speakers of other Malay languages and vice versa. I do not know the extent of influence of outsiders towards the languages but also think some internal influences may have played a part too. What do any more of the informed linguists here think?
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A major reason would probably be geography. If you look at the South East Asian map, the Philippines, an archipelago, is much more isolated and distant compared to other Malay countries. While on the other hand, other Malay countries are clustered together, thus making it easier for trade.
Along with trade (as always) comes the exchange of cultures and languages. It’s easier to trade with people if you know their language and can communicate. Interaction with other languages can lead to the borrowing or exchanging of words, phrases etc.
The Philippines is separated from mainland Asia by the South China Sea, making trade less frequent and to an extension, cultural and linguistic interactions
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