EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE: THE NEGOTIATION OF PATANI MALAY MUSLIMS

Abstract

What began essentially as an interest in the hierarchy of multilingualism as posited by Smalley (1994) was given a new interpretation as 1 embark on my own journey of understanding (refer to Plate 1) The language hierarchy as discussed by Smalley is a representation of community assumptions about what languages are advantageous to learn. For any community on any level, languages that are perceived to provide the group or individual in wider communication, economic opportunities, prestige and greater protection against exploitation and injustice are languages above them in the hierarchy. The language diversity and language hierarchy in Thailand have come to exist through many long-standing forces at work. Migration, development and growth of cultures, cultural rivalries, military conquests are among the forces that have produced different kinds of interrelationship and language use Thus different languages developed different degrees of prestige and influence. Thailand is a country with eighty languages yet Standard Thai is both the official and national language. On one hand, the Thai nation, Buddhism, Monarchy and National Thai Education order a particular reality for all Thais On the other hand, Islam and Islamic Education, Language (Standard Malay, Pattani Malay, Arabic) and Ethnicity (Malay), exist as cultural markers for the Patani Malay Muslims and are influential to (re) order their realities. The impact of historical events illustrates the ways in which Patani Malay Muslims have ascribed subjective language meanings and realities to these events in order to maintain their cultural symbols and identity in their interaction with the Thai administration. Using a phenomenological approach, I offer a different perspective of the Patani Malay Muslims in their everyday experience It is at the core of my thesis to examine the order and (re) ordering of language meanings and realities for the Patani Malay Muslims