Mindanao Malay (21st Century Crisis)

Mindanao Malay (Malay: Melayu Mindanao) also known as Southern Philippine Malay (Malay: Melayu Filipina Selatan) is term referred to the vernaculars of Malay spoken in the southern parts of the Philippine island of Mindanao. It the majority language spoken in the streets between locals in Cotabato City, Marawi City, Zamboanga City (along with Chavacano) with communities of speakers in General Santos City and Davao City.

Mindanao Malay contains heavy differences between itself and its Indonesian and Malaysian variants. It retains much of Old Malay pronounciations and words, and at times, can be mutually un-intelligible than the dialect spoken in the province of Sabah, or Malaysia and Indonesia. It is in a sense, much closer to Brunei Malay, as Bruneians have noted easier communcations with speakers from Mindanao. It is for this reason that Melayu Mindanao is regarded as a seperate Malay dialect from Bahasa Melayu, which is the third official language of the Philippines.

Mindanao Malay is spoken heavily by the aristocratic Muslim families of the south, which forms the Alam Moro or the "Moro realm". It is also spoken by some Christian locals of the southern Philippines, who have been exposed to the language via their Muslim counterparts.

Approximately 30% of Mindanao is fluent in Malay, and 75% of Sulu. Mindanao Malay is currently written in Rumi, Latin script but an Arabic script known as Jawi also exists.