Attitude towards Bahasa Melayu among the Speakers in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia

The study empirically analyses the attitude and acceptance of the urban and rural societies toward Bahasa Melayu (Malay Language). This study focuses on the speakers of Bahasa Melayu in the east coast of the Peninsular or more specifically in the state of Pahang Darul Makmur. Six districts in Pahang have been chosen as the area of study, namely Temerloh, Maran, Jerantut, Muadzam Shah, Kuala Lipis, and Kuantan. In this study, the attitude and view of the urban and rural communities on the capability and commercial value of Bahasa Melayu will be evaluated and compared to see if there have been any changes. The study observed closely the attitude towards the language while adopting a sociolinguistic approach as a theoretical framework. As many as 200 questionnaire forms had been distributed to respondents aged between 10 to 61 years old. Other than the questionnaires, data was also obtained using the interview and the observation methods. Data was analysed using SPSS. The findings indicate that the language attitude of the East Coast community varies according to the variables such as age, generation, religion, educational level and residential location which indicate significant differences in attitude. However, from the income level and marital status, the language attitude does not show significant difference. All in all, based on the tests of validity and reliability, the finding shows that the attitude and acceptance of Bahasa Melayu in the Malay community residing in the East Coast have been very positive.