A Systematic Literature Review on Spelling Change in Languages of the World: Towards a Reform in Jawi

Khazriyati Salehuddin, Nurjanah Mohd. Jaafar, Sharifah Raihan Syed Jaafar

Abstract


Many languages in the world have gone through changes in how they are visually presented to maintain its relevance in the ever-evolving world – from change in the writing system (e.g., logographic, or syllabic, or alphabetic), to change in the script (e.g., Latin, or Arabic, or Cyrillic, or Greek), to change in orthographic system (e.g., deep orthography, or shallow orthography). Unfortunately, such spelling reformations are not always welcomed by the speech communities in which the languages are spoken; this is why Jawi, the Arabic script of Malay, is now a marginalised script among Malaysians. This Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was conducted with the aim to explore the spelling reformations that take place in the languages of the world. The PSALSAR framework was used to select and review past studies on spelling reformations which were identified via the PRISMA approach from three online databases, namely, Scopus, Web of Science, and Science Direct. From a total of 627 studies, only 37 studies were systematically reviewed. Results show that 25 languages have experienced spelling reformations because of various factors including identity and literacy. The SLR also shows that despite the various challenges faced in attempts to reform the spelling system, the reformation can still be a success with support from the government and tthe community. Results of this SLR provides practical implications for a spelling reform in Jawi so that Jawi will not be a marginalised script among speakers of Malay.

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References


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