Chapter 3: Lexical and Grammatical Convergence of Chinese Languages and English in Malaysia 1 Ralf Vollmann, Tek Wooi Soon University of Graz, Austria Abstract: Ethnic Chinese Malaysians speak South Chinese varieties and are multi- lingual. The Sinitic varieties are infuenced lexically by the three available standard languages (Mandarin, English, and Malay) which in turn developed localised forms (Malaysian English, Malaysian Mandarin, and Bahasa Pasar). Spoken language data have been collected in everyday interactions; later, speakers were asked to reproduce sentences in their respective languages. The utterances were compared for variation and convergence lexically and grammatically. In order to assess Malaysian English, it is necessary to consider the local Sinitic vernaculars, not Standard Chinese. The same loanwords are usually taken from the standard languages for all spoken variet- ies. Chinese words can be adapted to the Sinitic vernaculars. The spoken Sinitic lan- guages and Malaysian English merge into a complex reservoir of linguistic resources the choice of which can provide socio-pragmatic efects. This creates the unique lin- guistic practice known as bahasa rojak (language mix) through an intricate interac- tion of linguistic resources. Keywords: Chinese varieties; convergence; language contact; Malaysia; multilingual- ism 1. Introduction 1.1. Te contact situation Te long history of Chinese immigration to South-East Asia (Reid, 1996; for an overview, cf. Ansaldo, 2009: chapter 2) brought about the Peranakan culture of Malay/Hokkien descent speaking a contact creole called Baba Malay, and continued with another immigration wave in the frst half of the 20 th century from South China into the Malay peninsula (and other places). 1 Te authors want to thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on a previous version of this study.