in their quest and had gained sufficient proficiency in Malay to enable them to indulge in wholesale and retail trades, and, for some of them, to set up permanent homes with indigenous women of Malay stock as their spouses.
At home, they communicated in a language they had developed — one made up of an admixture of commonly used Malay words combined with Hokkien Chinese dialect words because the migrant-settlers had mostly come from the Hokkien-speaking part of China. Being unschooled in either literary Malay or Chinese, they were naturally only familiar with the oral tradition of these languages. Therefore, in the language they created, a large number of Malay words were absent in their vocabulary and words of Hokkien origin which had been incorporated into their dialogue were limited and confined mainly to terms not normally found or associated with the Malay home and society. This then was the mother tongue they passed on to their children and descendants.
As time went by, when members of such families became more numerous, they developed into a community—the Baba community — where the individual male became known as the Baba and the female, the Nyonya or Nonya. The term Baba also denotes Babas and Nyonyas collectively. The need to take Malay women as wives soon ceased as there were by then sufficient candidates from within their own community. Sharing a parallel development, Indian male migrant settlers in Malacca of about the same era also married Malay women and subsequently formed the Chetty Malacca or Malacca Chitty community, which shares many aspects of their culture with that of the Babas. Intermarriages between members of the Baba and Chetty Malacca communities were not uncommon right up to modern times. As a result, cultural elements of their Chinese-Malay-Indian ancestries enjoy a presence in the unique culture of the Baba community.
The language of the Babas actually preceded the very formation of their community itself as it was already in use before the birth of the first generation children of their Chinese-Malay marriages, which was late followed by the formation of the Baba community. Later, Portuguese and Dutch loan words came into the language after the Portuguese (1511) and Dutch (1641) occupation of Malacca respectively. Further loan words came into the language, this time from the British after their founding of Penang (1786) and Singapore (1819) and the eventual Baba migration to these territories from Malacca. In Malacca itself the same phenomenon of English loan words creeping into the Baba language was experienced after the Dutch occupation gave way to that of the British in 1824. Another influence came in the form of the Chinese Peranakan families who spoke a mixture of Malay and Chinese from the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) who had earlier settled in Malacca and later in Singapore and intermarried with the Baba community. The three and a half years of Japanese military occupation of Malaya (1942-45), which included Singapore, did not result in any significant number of Japanese words being accepted by the Babas into their language. Despite changing times and needs young English-educated Babas and Nyonyas in Singapore and Malacca today continue to communicate among themselves in the language created by their original forefathers over four hundred years ago.
The language of the Babas appears to be an enigma. Even some Babas and Nyonyas are of the opinion that proof of their very Baba identity lies in their ability to speak Malay. Paradoxically, in Singapore especially, these same people will readily admit their total inability to understand the romanised Malay newspapers and other publications, or the Malay news and discussions over radio and television. This clearly contradicts their claim to speak, or that their language is, Malay.
When Babas, Malays and other locals communicate with one another at grassroot level, they do so in a common language understood by all parties. It is not in the language the Babas use among themselves, which is incomprehensible to other locals, nor is it in Malay used by the Malays among themselves, which is not normally understood by the majority of the Babas and other locals. This common language is colloquial or bazaar Malay. What then is the language of the Babas? Baba Malay, Baba Patois, Patois, Malay, and Creole are among the nomenclatures that have been bandied by the mass media, authors, researchers, academics, linguistic experts and even among not a few Babas and Nyonyas themselves as the language of the Babas. It is not the intention here to debate the issue. As this is a dictionary of a language, a language of the Baba community, then, simply put, the language is the Baba Language. Although I personally prefer the term Baba Language, the common term today is Baba Malay.
Similarly, the Babas are known by many terms, such as Peranakan (Malay word meaning "local born"), Straits Chinese, and Straits-born. The latter two terms emphasise the fact that the Babas were born in the Straits Settlements of Singapore, Malacca and Penang, which existed collectively as a British crown colony from 1867 to 1946.
There is a need for a Baba-language dictionary because the language is still in use among the Babas. The revival in 1984 followed by the regular performances of sell-out Baba plays and skits in Baba dialogue serves as a further motivating factor for a dictionary to help the audience better appreciate the dialogue. The ultimate booster was Mas Sepuloh published in 1993. Despite the author's assertion that the book is a compilation of gems from the Baba language and not a dictionary, Babas and Nyonyas persistently refer to it as a dictionary, which underscores their subconscious desire for a dictionary of words and idiomatic expressions and phrases of their language. Thus inspired, the Baba dictionary is given life.
While every effort has been taken to ensure this dictionary is fully user-friendly, certain unavoidable factors have led to a few shortcomings. Printing techniques of the past enabled a dash to be added above the alphabet 'e' for Malay-origin words required to be pronounced with an ‘er' sound. Sadly, modern printing techniques are no longer able to duplicate this. As a result, users of the dictionary who are unfamiliar with the pronunciation of Malay-origin Baba words will find themselves at a disadvantage when attempting to pronounce words carrying a single or multiple ‘e', particularly with words spelt the same or nearly the same but pronounced differently. The following are some examples:
| kepeng (ker-peng, piece of bread, cloth, paper) | kepeng (kay-peng, money) |
| tebair (ter-bair, thick) | tebair (tay-bair, to throw / sow with a sweeping motion) |
| tepok (ter-pok, to hit with a flat hand; to clap) | tepok (tay-pok, paralysed in the leg) |
| bengok (ber-ngot, mumps) | bengot (bay-ngot, out of line, awry) |
| genggam (gerng-gam, grip; holding in the closed hands) | genggang (gayng-gang, striped design) |
| selesay (ser-ler-say, to straighten out; to finish up) | selemot (se-lay-mot, blanket) |
It is advisable that when confronted with this dilemma it is best to seek the assistance of those more conversant with the language. Users who expect every word ever uttered by the Babas and Nyonyas to be present in this dictionary may experience a disappointment. Apart from the fact that no ordinary dictionary can claim to possess every single word of the language, accuracy of this dictionary will be compromised and a wrong impression created if uncommon and inaccurately used words peculiar to certain individuals or families alone are included alongside words that are truly associated with the community as a whole. The following are some examples that have come to mind, i.e., words that will not be included because they are not used by the majority:
| binchi | for the word | benchi (to hate, to despise, to dislike) |
| dari | for the word | lari (to run; to flee) |
| delin | for the word | lilin (candle) |
| kepir | for the word | pikir (to think; opinion) |
Likewise, it is beyond the scope of this dictionary to include all borrowed
