National Archives To Host National Colloquial Language Convention In October

KLANG, June 6 (Bernama) -- The National Colloquial Language Convention, aimed at reaching a consensus to sustain the vitality of community languages, will be held on October 15 and 16 with the participation of 300 linguists.

National Archives of Malaysia director-general, Datuk Jaafar Sidek Abdul Rahman said that this inaugural  convention will gather researchers, literary figures, cultural practitioners and the public to discuss the role of colloquial languages in building cultural identity and social cohesion.

He said that the convention is a continuation of the Colloquial Language Talk series at the state level, which began in Pahang on July 13 last year and is being conducted progressively across the country.

"The programme calendar over two years still has four series remaining, which will take place in Terengganu, Melaka, Johor, and Negeri Sembilan, with Selangor being the seventh state to implement this programme.

"After that, a National Colloquial Language Convention will be held, and the findings from all the series will be compiled and published as a Colloquial Language Dictionary or Colloquial Language Encyclopedia as well as the Proceedings of the Colloquial Language Convention," he said.

He told this to reporters during the Colloquial Language Talk program: Sustaining the Vitality of Community Languages "Traversing the Heritage of Selangor Dialects" here today, which was also attended by  Ministry of National Unity deputy secretary-general, Mohamad Sobri Mat Daud.

Jaafar Sidek said that according to the Kamus Dewan Fourth Edition, colloquial language is conversational or informal language typically used in daily conversations.

He explained that colloquial language does not prioritise linguistic rules but rather focuses on understanding and camaraderie between speakers and listeners.

Furthermore, Jaafar Sidek said that in addition to compiling and publishing the findings from the Colloquial Language Talk series, information about colloquial languages gathered from the series will also be accessible to the public in the form of recorded video materials.

He said that the state-level Colloquial Language Talk programme aims to fill the gap in the nation's historical reference sources concerning colloquial languages, as they are also an authentic and reliable source of reference.

"We believe there is still much valuable information about colloquial languages, local languages, or ethnic and tribal dialects that has not yet been collected, preserved, documented, and published. Therefore, cooperation from all relevant parties is greatly needed by the National Archives to succeed in this documentation process," he said.

-- BERNAMA