It functions as a lingua franca alongside standard Indonesian, enabling communication among the diverse ethnic groups in the area.
However, the use of Pontianak Malay faces a slight threat as many speakers are gradually shifting to Indonesian, the national language.
The Malay varieties spoken in Pontianak, Kubu Raya, and Mempawah differ slightly from each other, especially in terms of vocabulary and phonology.
[7] Speakers of Malayic languages are spread from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Southern Thailand, to the southernmost part of the Philippines.
Malagasy, a geographic outlier spoken in Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, is also a member of this language family.
There are many cognates found in the languages' words for kinship, health, body parts and common animals.
[10] Pontianak Malay is spoken in the lower Kapuas River Valley, where its waters flow into the South China Sea.
For instance, the Pontianak city government frequently promotes pantun, a traditional Malay poetic form, on their social media platforms.
[16] Furthermore, in 2020, Pontianak Malay was officially recognized as an "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Indonesia" (Warisan Budaya Tak Benda; WBTB), with registration number 202001197.
Another notable feature of the accent is the voiced velar fricative in pronouncing the letter R which similarly used in Sarawakian Malay.
In addition, the spoken interjection of Bah is widely used in Pontianak Malay , corresponding to the usage of language observed throughout coastal Borneo.
[21][22] Notes: Pontianak Malay features nineteen primary consonants: /p, t, t͡ʃ, k, ʔ, b, d, d͡ʒ, g, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, s, h, ɣ, l, w, j/.
[23] The table below presents some examples of affixes used in Pontianak Malay, along with their meanings and examples: In Pontianak Malay, word reduplication serves only an inflectional function, such as forming plurals, indicating frequentative actions, or adding emphasis.
[33] For example: If the base form is a verb, reduplication indicates that the action is performed leisurely and over an extended period.
[33] For example: If the base form is an adjective, reduplication conveys that the objects possessing the described quality are numerous.
The morphological characteristic of basic nouns in Pontianak Malay is that they are typically formed from a single free morpheme.
Nouns can be derived by adding affixes, including prefixes, suffixes, and circumfixes, to other word classes such as adjectives and verbs.
For example: Affixed adjectives are typically formed by attaching the circumfix sə-...-ə to base words.
[43] What is meant by an interrogative pronoun is a question word that asks about things, people, or situations that can replace the position of an object.
[45] Examples of its usage are shown below: Pontianak Malay is influenced by other languages due to the region's heterogeneous population.
[47] In the past, the Jawi script played a significant role in the daily life of the Pontianak people, being used for writing manuscripts,[48] inscriptions,[49] medicinal recipes,[50] and royal correspondence, including letters sent by the Sultan of Pontianak to other kingdoms and empires.
The colonial powers, particularly the Dutch, promoted the Latin alphabet as part of their efforts to standardize administration, education, and communication across the archipelago.
Over time, the use of Jawi diminished, particularly in urban centers, while the Latin script became the standard for written communication across Indonesia.
These initiatives include teaching students in pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) to conduct Quranic recitations using the Jawi script, ensuring the continuity of this traditional form of writing in religious practices.