Makassar Malay population estimate

[David Mead]

Hi,

I have my doubts about the population estimate for Makassar Malay 
given in the Ethnologue 16th ed, namely 1,880,000 speakers 
(2000).  In the 15th edition the reported figure is 1,876,548 with 
the source as (2000 WCD).  Prior to that, Makassar Malay was not 
listed in the Ethnologue.

One reason (among others) why I doubt this figure is that the total 
population of the entire city of Makassar on South Sulawesi, 
Indonesia, is only aroung 1.2 or 1.3 million people..

I emailed WCD (World Christian Database) some time ago asking about 
their source of their Makassarese Malay estimate (since they are 
obviously a secondary, not a primary, source), but never recieved a 
reply.  Does anyone out there who has studied Malayic varieties have 
(or know of) a different estimate -- especially in terms of L1 versus 
L2 speakers?

Conversely, is anyone willing to support the reported estimate?  My 
own hunch about this is that somewhere along the way someone confused 
Makassar Malay http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=mfp 
with the Makassar (Makasar) language 
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=mak (for which an 
estimate of 1.9 million speakers is reasonably in the ballbark).

David Mead


P.S.  I also came across this on the internet.  Whether others would 
dispute Scott's statement or not I don't know. However, if Makassar 
Malay had upwards of 2 million speakers I don't think he'd be making 
it at all.

  Endangered Malay Varieties: The Malay Contact Varieties of Eastern Indonesia
Scott Paauw (University of Rochester)

The role of the Malay language historically as a trade language gave 
rise to a number of contact varieties of Malay in Eastern Indonesia. 
These varieties include some which never gained significant numbers 
of native speakers (Makassar Malay, Alor Malay), some which have only 
gained significant numbers of native speakers relatively recently 
(North Moluccan Malay, Papuan Malay), and five varieties which have 
been used as a native language by communities for hundreds of years 
(Ambon Malay, Manado Malay, Banda Malay, Kupang Malay and Larantuka 
Malay). For a long time, these varieties were stable, existing as the 
native tongues of their communities, and often as a regional lingua 
franca with speakers of other languages as well.  
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