[1][2] The acrolect is used by those with near-native level of proficiency in English, and only a relatively small percentage of Malaysians are fluent in it.

Most professionals and other English-educated Malaysians speak mesolect English informally between themselves, but they may also use a basilect depending on the circumstances.

Its lexis is strongly influenced by local languages, with many non-English nouns and verbs commonly used, and it is significantly different grammatically from Standard English.

In Manglish, Malay or Chinese grammatical structure may be used with English words, which is often done quite spontaneously, sometimes for comic effect.

For example, in pronunciation, diphthongs tend to become monophthongs in Malaysian English, stops may be used instead of dental fricatives and the final consonant clusters often become simplified.

There are, however, slight differences in pronunciation in the states in the central and southern parts of the Malay Peninsula from those in the north and the east of Malaysia.

For example, articles and past-tense markers may sometimes be omitted, question structures may be simplified, and the distinction between countable and mass nouns may be blurred.

Particles are commonly used in colloquial Malaysian English, a notable one being an enclitic "lah" used at the end of a sentence.

Typically these are words for which there is no direct equivalence in English or those that express local reality; for example, bumiputera, kampong, as well as titles such as Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Tunku.

[4] In the mesolect, local words and phrases for which there are English equivalents may also used, for example, tidak apa ("never mind", "it does not matter") or ulu (or hulu, meaning "head", "upper reaches of a river", "interior of a country").

However, in the postcolonial era (since 1957), the influx of American TV programmes has influenced the usage of Malaysian English.

Many words of Malay origin have made it into the standard form of Malaysian English used in the media, literature and formal speech.

Most of Malaysian companies and organisations have started using their official name in English instead of Malay to keep up with modernisation in recent years.

There are several English language national daily and business newspapers based in Kuala Lumpur namely The Malaysian Reserve, The Edge, The Star, The Sun, New Straits Times and Malay Mail.

The Government National Language policy requires local television stations to air at least 25% Malaysian-made programmes (either Malay or English).