Negeri Sembilan Malay

Negeri Sembilan Malay (Baso Nogoghi or Baso Nismilan; Malay: Bahasa Melayu Negeri Sembilan; Jawi: بهاس ملايو نڬري سمبيلن) is an Austronesian language spoken mainly in the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan, including Alor Gajah and parts of Jasin District in northern Malacca, and parts of Segamat District in the northernmost part of Johor. The language is spoken by the descendants of Minangkabau settlers from Sumatra, who have migrated to Negeri Sembilan since as early as the 14th century.^[2] It is often considered a variant or dialect of the Minangkabau language; lexical and phonological studies, however, indicate that it is more closely related to Standard Malay than it is to Minangkabau.^[3][4]

The Minangkabau people began migrating from the Sumatra highlands to the Malay Peninsula in the 14th century.^[3] Migration skyrocketed from the 15th century to the 16th century.^[5] At that time, trade activity through the Strait of Malacca increased and many migrants were granted protection by the Malacca Sultanate. From the ports of Malacca, groups and groups of Minangkabau settlers started venturing inland. This was the first migration wave of Minangkabau people to Malacca. Most of the Minangkabau migrants were from Luhak Tanah Datar and Luhak Lima Puluh Kota.^[6] This first wave of migration resulted in the opening of a new mukim.

The number of inhabitants inland started increasing due to the rise of migrants and those migrants developed into their own groups of communities. These groups resulted in the creation of 12 clans (suku) as a whole. Different from in Sumatra, the naming of the clans were done based on the origin of the migrants. Migrants from Lima Puluh Kota formed the clans:

• Payakumbuh (Payo Kumbuh/Payokumbuah)
• Batu Hampar (Tompa)
• Mungkal (Mungka)
• Seri Melenggang (Somolenggang/Simalanggang)
• Seri Lemak (Solomak/Sarilamak)
• Tiga Nenek (Tigo Nenek/Tigo Niniak)
• Batu Belang (Batu Bolang)
• Tiga Batu (Tigo Batu/Tigo Batua Situjuah)

Meanwhile, the migrants from Tanah Datar formed the Tanah Datar clan. These migrants also formed three other clans which resulted from intermarriages with communities already settled where the aforementioned Tanah Datar migrants migrated to.^[6] These clans were:

• Anak Acheh
• Anak Melaka (Anak Melako)
• Biduanda (Biduando/Dondo)

The Biduanda clan were seen as the leader of the clans that were present because they formed as a result of the intermingling between the Minangkabau people and the Orang Asli, the native people of the Malay Peninsula.

The opening of new mukims inland resulted in the formation of nine nagaris – also known as luaks – that were governed by Penghulus. The nagaris were:

• Jelebu
• Kelang
• Johol
• Rembau
• Sungai Ujong
• Jelai (also known as Ineh)
• Naning
• Segamat
• Pasir Besar

These nine nagaris later formed a confederation that was called the Board of Negeri Sembilan (Malay: Lembaga Negeri Sembilan). This confederation was under the protection of the Johor Sultanate.

In the 18th century, the Johor Sultanate received several attacks and was in an unpeaceful state. During this period, Negeri Sembilan was under the Bugis, insofar as the Datuks of Negeri Sembilan cooperated to make a request to the Sultan of Johor (Abdul Jalil Shah IV) to invite a king from Pagaruyung to make him the leader, a request which was accepted.^[5] The invitation of the king (Raja Melewar) brought along the second migration wave of Minangkabau people^[7] and resulted in the formation of the state of Negeri Sembilan with the Yamtuan Besar as its leader and Adat Perpatih as its law.^[8]

The two migration waves of Minangkabau people and the assimilation of the Minangkabau language to those of the natives resulted in the formation of Negeri Sembilan Malay. This Malay variety later diverged by the influence of English as an administrative language of the Federated Malay States which Negeri Sembilan became a part of whereas the Minangkabau homeland became a part of the Dutch's Sumatra's Westkust itself instating Dutch into the those people's vernacular. Further incorporation of modern Malaysian and Indonesian variants by the two modern nation-states continues the trend.^[9] The Minangkabau people of Negeri Sembilan have been separated from the Minangkabau people of Sumatra for 500–600 years.^[10] This resulted in Negeri Sembilan Malay developing its own unique features.^[3]

According to Reniwati (2012), Negeri Sembilan Malay has a lexical similarity of 94.74% with Standard Malay and a lexical similarity of 83.16% with Minangkabau.^[3]

Negeri Sembilan Malay test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

• A list of terms in Negeri Sembilan's Malay dialect (Malay)