Malay language
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
Indonesian, known locally as
Bahasa Indonesia, the official language of
Indonesia, but differentiated in (local) 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 Indonesian 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).
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
Constitution of Malaysia, 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, Indonesian 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, Indoensian 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.
| Consonants | colspan=3> Vowels & diphthongs | | Letter | English Approximation | IPA | width=25%> | Letter | English Approximation | IPA |
|---|
| b | b | [] | | a | ah | [, ] |
| c | ch | [] | | e | eh | [, ], [] |
| d | d | [] | | i | ee | [] |
| dz | th, dh | [] | | o | oh | [, ] |
| f | f | [] | | u | oo | [] |
| g | hard g
(as in go) | [] |
| h | h | [] | | ai | bye | [, ] |
| j | j | [] | | au | bough | [, ] |
| 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 | [, ] |
| w | w | [] |
| x | x, s, z | [] |
| y | y | [] |
| z | z | [] |
There are two vowels represented by the letter "e", i.e. [, ] and []. 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 [].
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:
* aksi -
action (from
Dutch actie)
* almari -
cupboard (from
Portuguese almaria)
* bahasa -
language (from
Sanskrit)
* bandar -
town (from
Persian)
* bendera -
flag (from
Portuguese bandeira)
* bihun -
rice vermicelli (from
Hokkien bi-hun)
* bomba -
fire brigade (from
Portuguese bomba, "pump", or
bombeiro, "fireman", litt. "pumpman")
* buku -
book (from
English)
* cawan -
cup (from
Mandarin char-wan)
* duka -
sadness (from
Sanskrit dukkha)
* dunia -
world (from
Arabic dunya)
* gereja -
church (from
Portuguese igreja)
* guru -
teacher (from
Sanskrit)
* had -
limit (from
Arabic hadd)
* huruf -
word character/letter (from
Arabic)
* jawab -
to answer (from
Arabic)
* kamus -
dictionary (from
Arabic)
* kapal -
ship (from
Tamil kappal)
* katil -
bed (from
Tamil kattil)
* kaunter -
counter or
desk (from
English)
* keju -
cheese (from
Portuguese queijo)
* komputer -
computer (from
English)
* kongsi -
share (from
Hokkien kong-si)
* kuda -
horse (from
Urdu kudh)
* limau -
lemon/orange (from
Portuguese limão, or directly from
Arabic laimun)
* manusia -
human being (from
Sanskrit mannushya)
* mentega -
butter (from
Portuguese manteiga)
* mee/mi -
noodles (from
Hokkien miᴺ)
* misai -
moustache (from
Tamil meesai)
* nanas/nenas -
pineapple (from
Dutch ananas)
* roti -
bread (from
Sanskrit)
* sains -
science (from
English)
* sengsara -
suffering (from
Sanskrit samsara)
* syariah -
Islamic law (from
Arabic)
* sistem -
system (from
English)
* suka -
happiness (from
Sanskrit sukkha)
* tauhu -
beancurd (from
Hokkien tao-hu)
* tarikh -
date (from
Arabic tarikh)
* teh -
tea (from
Hokkien tɛ)
* teko -
teapot (from
Hokkien tɛ-ko)
* unta -
camel (from
Urdu unth)
* utara -
North (from
Sanskrit uttara)
* waktu -
time (from
Arabic waqt)
* zirafah -
giraffe (from
Arabic zarafah)
Some Malay words have been borrowed into
English. See the
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).
| 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) |
| -Saya bencikan mu | 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!") |
Many Malay words originated from Sanskrit(from which Hindi is also derived). Some examples are:
*Bumi - Earth
*Sabun - Soap (of
Arabic origin)
*Putera - Prince (son)
*Mangga - Mango
*Buat - Do (Sanskrit
wuat)
*Raja - King
*Maha - Great
*Maaf - Sorry (of
Arabic origin "ma'afi" > (forgiven)
*Bahasa - Language
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.
*The
list of Malay words and
list of words of Malay origin at
Wiktionary, the free dictionary and Wikipedia's sibling project
*
Jawi, an adapted
Arabic alphabet for Malay
*
Indonesian language*
Differences between Malay and Indonesian*
Malay-based creole languages*
Malay dialects in Indonesia*
Manado Malay*
Manglish, an English-based creole spoken in Malaysia.
*
Swadesh list of Malay words*
Hamzah Fansuri, a famous Malay poet
*
Ethnologue report for Malay*
Basic Course in the Malay Language (GOH Peng Joo)*
Malay-English Dictionary (Dr Bhanot's)*
Malay-English Dictionary (All Free Dictionaries)*
Malay - English Dictionary (from Malay to English only) from
Webster's Dictionary*
Good Translation Service. English-Malay & Malay-English*
Guide to Malay Language*
English-Bahasa Melayu Dictionary
