Malay 101: BAHASA MELAYU-MALAY LANGUAGE

HISTORY OF MALAY LANGUAGE

A British scholar named J. Crawfurd has made a comparative study of language in Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the Polynesian. He thought that the original language of this archipelago is derived from the language in Java (Java language) and the language comes from the island of Sumatra (Malay language). Java language and the language of the Malays is the parent of homogeneous language found in the archipelago.

J. Crawfurd adds argument with evidence that the Malays and Javanese people have a high standard of culture in the nineteenth century. This status can only be achieved after a development culture for centuries. He arrived at the conclusion that:

a. The Malays did not originate from anywhere, but spread to other places.

b. The Java language is the oldest language and mother language from other languages.

K. Himly, that basing the comparison based on sound research and design; said Campa and multilingual language in Southeast Asia refute any claim that the Malay language Polynesian language cluster with Campa. This view is supported by P.W. Schmidt in his research on sentence structure and vocabulary of Campa and Mon-Khmer. He found that the Malay language in both languages is only on the language take-up.

Fate Sutan Alisjahbana, while delivering a public lecture at Universiti Sains Malaysia (July 1987) called brown-skinned people who live in Southeast Asia, South Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, and the southern Philippines as Malays are derived from national groups that one. They not only have similarities but similarities skin and body shape different from the Chinese in the east and the Indians in the west.

MALAY (BAHASA MELAYU / بهاس ملايو)

Malay is an Austronesian language spoken in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand. The total number of speakers of Standard Malay is about 18 million. There are also about 170 million people who speak Indonesian, which is a form of Malay.

The earliest known inscriptions in Malay were found in southern Sumatra and on the island of Bangka and date from 683-6 AD. They were written in an Indian script during the time of the kingdom of Srivijaya.

When Islam arrived in Southeast Asia during the 14th century, the Arabic script was adapted to write the Malay language. In the 17th century, under influence from the Dutch and British, the Arabic script was replaced by the Latin alphabet.

ARABIC ALPHABET FOR MALAY (JAWI / جاوي)

FIGURE 1: MALAY ALPHABETS & PRONOUNCIATIONS

ARABIC NUMERALS FOR MALAY(JAWI / جاوي)

FIGURE 2: MALAY NUMERALS AND ITS PRONOUNCATION

MALAY PRONUNCIATION

FIGURE 3: MALAY VOWELS AND CONSONANTS

Notes

v a = [ə] at the ends of words, [a/ɑ] elsewhere

v v and x are only used in loanwords.

v q is used in Arabic loanwords.

v i and u are [e] and [o] respectively in close positions, such as ih, ik.

LATIN ALPHABET FOR MALAY (TULISAN RUMI)

A a	B b	C c	D d	E e	F f	G g	H h	I i
e	bi	si	di	i	ef	ji	hec	ai
J j	K k	L l	M m	N n	O o	P p	Q q	R r
je	ke	el	em	en	ou	pi	kiu	ar
S s	T t	U u	V v	W w	X x	Y y	Z z
es	ti	yu	vi	dabel yu	eks	wai	zed

FIGURE 4: LATIN ALPHABET FOR MALAY PRONOUNCIATIONS

SAMPLE TEXT IN MALAY (LATIN ALPHABET)

Semua manusia dilahirkan bebas dan samarata dari segi kemuliaan dan hak-hak. Mereka mempunyai pemikiran dan perasaan hati dan hendaklah bertindak di antara satu sama lain dengan semangat persaudaraan.

SAMPLE TEXT IN MALAY (JAWI ALPHABET)

TRANSLATION

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malay_alphabet
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/malay.htm

ONLINE MALAY LESSONS

v http://malay.pgoh13.com/

v http://www.bahasa-malaysia-simple-fun.com/

v http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMtJYGHsg4E

MALAY PHRASES

v http://mcs-bristol.tripod.com/learnmalay.htm

v http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUo5QhbQ67c

v http://linguanaut.com/english_malay.htm

ONLINE MALAY DICTIONARIES

v http://www.kamus.com