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Malay language

Encyclopedia : M : MA : MAL : Malay language

 

Not to be confused with the Malayalam language, spoken in India.

The Malay language, also known locally as Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Malaysia, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people who reside in the Malay peninsula, southern Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau islands, and parts of the coast of Borneo. It is an official language of Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore. It is also used as a working language in East Timor. It is very similar to Bahasa Indonesia, the official language of Indonesia, but differentiated in name for political reasons. The official standard for Malay, as agreed upon by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, is the form spoken in the Riau Islands just south of Singapore, long considered the birthplace of the Malay language.

In Malaysia, the language is known as Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Malaysia, which means the Malay, or Malaysian, language. The latter term, which was introduced by the National Language Act 1967, was predominant until the 1990s, when most academics and government officials reverted to the older term, which is used in the Malay version of the Federal Constitution. Indonesia adopted a form of Malay as its official language upon independence, naming it Bahasa Indonesia. In Singapore and Brunei it is known simply as Malay or Bahasa Melayu. The reason for adopting these terms is political rather than a reflection of linguistic distinctiveness, as standard Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia are mutually intelligible. However, many Malay dialects are not as mutually intelligible: for example, Kelantanese pronunciation is difficult even for some Malaysians to understand, while Javanese tends to have a lot of words unique to it which will be unfamiliar to other speakers of Malay. The language spoken by the Peranakan (Straits Chinese, a hybrid of Chinese settlers from the Ming Dynasty and local Malays) is a unique patois of Malay and the Chinese dialect of Hokkien, which is mostly spoken in the former Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. The use of this interesting language is dying out, however, with the Peranakan now choosing to speak either Hokkien or English.

Malay is normally written using the Roman alphabet, although a modified Arabic script called Jawi also exists. It is an agglutinative language, meaning that the meaning of the word can be changed by adding the necessary prefixes or suffixes. Root words are either nouns or verbs, e.g. masak (to cook) yields memasak (cooks, is cooking, etc.), memasakkan (cooks, is cooking for etc.), dimasak (cooked - passive) as well as pemasak (cook - person), masakan (cooking, cookery). Many initial consonants undergo mutation when prefixes are added: e.g. sapu (sweep) becomes penyapu (broom); panggil (to call) becomes memanggil (calls, is calling, etc.), tapis (sieve) becomes menapis (sieves, is sieving, etc.)

Another distinguishing feature of Malay is its use of measure words (penjodoh bilangan).

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Extent of use

The extent to which Malay is used in these countries varies depending on historical and cultural circumstances. Bahasa Melayu is the national language in Malaysia by article 152 of the Malaysian Constitution, and became the sole official language in West Malaysia in 1968, and in East Malaysia gradually from 1973. English continues, however, to be widely used in professional and commercial fields and in the superior courts. Chinese, Indian and other minority languages are also commonly used by the country's large ethnic minorities. The situation in Brunei is similar to that of Malaysia.

In Singapore, Malay was historically the lingua franca among people of different races and nationalities. Although this has largely given way to English, Malay still retains the status of national language and the national anthem, Majulah Singapura is entirely in Malay. Most residents of the five southernmost provinces of Thailand — a region that, for the most part, used to be part of an ancient Malay kingdom called Pattani — speak a dialect of Malay called Yawi (not to be confused with Jawi), which is similar to Kelantanese Malay, but the language has no official status or recognition.

In the Philippines, Malay words have evolved and been integrated into Filipino, such as:

Malay Filipino
Selamat datang. Salamat sa pagdating. (Welcome.)
Saya sakit. May sakit ako (I am ill.)
Tauhu Taho (In Filipino, it is soy bean curd sweetened with syrup.)
Tolong. Tulong. (Help.)
Mangga Mangga (Mango)
Bihun Bihon (Rice vermicelli, fine and transparent)

Some words are carried over unchanged, such as sakit.

By contrast, Bahasa Indonesia has successfully become the lingua franca for its disparate islands and ethnic groups, in part because the colonial language, Dutch, is no longer commonly spoken. (In East Timor, which was governed as a province of Indonesia from 1976 to 1999, Bahasa Indonesia is widely spoken and recognised under its Constitution as a 'working language'.)

Malaysians are easily identified due to the fact that they change their speaking styles in accordance with the person being spoken to. They may adopt a completely different slang and accent when speaking to someone of a different race, or of a similar race. This is not, however, a form of discrimination -- it is considered casual and endearing.

Phonology

Consonants Vowels & diphthongs
Letter English Approximation IPA   Letter English Approximation IPA
b b a ah ɑ]
c ch e eh ɛ], [ə]
d d i ee
dz th, dh o oh ɔ]
f f u oo
g hard g
(as in go) 		[g]
h h ai bye ai]
j j au bough au]
k k ua ua
kh loch
l l
m m
n n
ny ny, ñ
ng ng
ngg ngg
p p
q gh, k
r r
s s
sy sh
t t
ts th
v v ʋ]
w w
x x, s, z
y y
z z

There are two vowels represented by the letter "e", i.e. [e, ɛ] and [ə]. Learners of Malay are expected to distinguish between the two sounds while learning each new word.

In some parts of Peninsular Malaysia, especially in the central and southern region, most words which end with the letter a tends to be pronounced as [ə].

Borrowed words

The Malay language has many words borrowed from Arabic (in particular many religious terms), Sanskrit, Tamil, Portuguese, Dutch, Urdu, certain Chinese dialects and more recently, English (in particular many scientific and technological terms). Some examples follow:

Some Malay words have been borrowed into English. See the [[Wiktionary:Category:Malay derivations|list of words of Malay origin]] at Wiktionary, the free dictionary and Wikipedia's sibling project.

Malay language has also heavily influenced the forms of colloquial English spoken in Malaysia (Manglish).

Some simple phrases in Malay

Malay Phrase English Translation
Selamat datang Welcome
Selamat jalan Have a safe journey (equivalent to "goodbye", used by the party staying)
Selamat tinggal Goodbye (Somewhat equivalent to "stay safe", used by the party leaving)
Terima kasih Thank you
Sama-sama You are welcome (as in a response to Thank You)
Selamat pagi Good morning
Selamat petang Good afternoon/evening (note that 'Selamat petang' must not be used at night as in English. For a general greeting, use 'Selamat sejahtera')
Selamat Sejahtera Greetings (formal)
Selamat malam Good night (Use when ending a meet during the night. To greet someone at night, use 'Selamat Sejahtera')
Jumpa lagi See you again
Siapa nama Anda?/Nama awak siapa? What is your name?
Nama saya ... My name is ... (The relevant name is placed in front. For example, if your name was Mangkuk, then you would introduce yourself by saying "Nama saya Mangkuk", which translates to "My name is Mangkuk")
Apa khabar? How are you? / What's up? (literally, "What's news?")
Khabar baik Fine, good
Saya sakit I am ill
Ya Yes
Tidak ("tak" colloquially) No
Saya sayang akan kamu I love you (In a more of a family or affectionate sort of love, e.g.: mother to daughter)
Saya cintakan mu I love you (romantic love)
I hate you
Saya tidak faham (or simply "tak faham" colloquially) I do not understand
Saya tidak tahu (or "tak tau" colloquially) I do not know
(Minta) maaf Sorry or Excuse Me ('minta' is to request. Begin with 'Minta Maaf' when trying to talk to strangers)
Tumpang tanya "May I ask...?" (used when trying to ask something)
(Minta) tolong Please help (me) ('Tolong!' on its own just means "help!")

About 10% of Malay words originated from Sanskrit and some Indian languages. Some examples are:

Usage among the younger generation

While typing their SMS on their mobile phones, or being logged into Internet chat rooms, Malay-speaking youths tend to abbreviate their words to save message space or simply be quick in sending their messages, e.g. x - tak, tidak (no; not); bkn - bukan (not); bleh - boleh (can, i.e. able to). They even alter the spellings of certain full words, e.g. ko - (eng)kau (you); ye - ya (yes). They even merge two words into a new one in place of a word of the same meaning in formal Malay, e.g. diorang (dia and orang) - mereka (they).

There is a new set of slangs spoken by the urban youth, which may not be familiar to the older generation, e.g. awek (girl); balak (guy); usya (survey); skodeng (peep); cun (pretty); poyo (horrible, low-quality) etc. The youth also tend to mix Malay with English words, forming Bahasa Rojak. Example of this pidgin is: Bestlah tempat ni (This place is cool);kau ni terror lah (How daring you are; you're fabulous). This issue has raised the displeasure of language purists in Malaysia, in their effort to uphold the proper use of the national language.

See also

External links

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