A couple of weeks ago, my UBD colleague Bill Duane got married to Hajah Norain Binti Marshal, a Bruneian; and they had a traditional Bruneian wedding. Weddings are extremely important social occasions in Brunei, and the language on the invitation offers a fascinating insight into Bruneian society.
In a previous blog (berkenan), I discussed the special language needed to refer to the activities of important people such as members of the royal family. The language of a wedding invitation similarly shows differentiation for referring to members of the ruling class and others. Here is part of the invitation:
Loosely translated, this says, "We would first like to offer many thanks for the attendance of everyone at this ceremony." However, this fails to capture the intricacies of the message.First, you have keberangkatan ('honoured attendance') to refer to the Pengirans (important aristocrats) while kehadiran ('attendance') is for the ordinary ladies and gentlemen. Next, the first person plural pronoun is also differentiated: abis peramba ('humbly we') is used when offering thanks to the Pengirans, while the common pronoun kami ('we') is for offering thanks to the others.
(My thanks to Adrian Clynes for his help in analysing the language on this invitation.)
