Majeed M. Ethnocultural Space in Malaysian Literature in English: Symbolic-Conceptual Representation.

The thesis aims at exploring symbols and concepts to achieve the ethnocultural space in Malaysian literature in English. Malaysian literature becomes distinctive due to the use of native words to make their work more realistic. The topics that are covered include political, cultural and social issues in multicultural and multilingual society, where three main groups live together (Tamil Hindus, Chinese Taoists, and Malay Muslims) and also the lifestyle, the role of women, family, and religion. All these issues are reflected in Malaysian literature in English. Five novels published in the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century are the material of the research: 1) Lloyd Fernando "Scorpion Orchid", 1976, 2011; "Green is the Colour", 1993. 2) Rani Manicka "The Rice Mother", 2003. 3) Preeta Samarsan "Evening is the Whole Day", 2008. 4) Tan Twan Eng "The Garden of Evening Mists", 2012.