Malay language

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Not to be confused with the Malayalam language, spoken in India.
Malay
Bahasa Malaysia / Bahasa Melayu, بهاس ملايو
Spoken in: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, southern Thailand, southern Philippines
Total speakers: 20–30 million 
Ranking: 54
Language family: Austronesian
 Malayo-Polynesian (MP)
  Nuclear MP
   Sunda-Sulawesi
    Malayic
     Malayan
      Local Malay
       Malay 
Writing system: Rumi (Latin alphabet) (official in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia; co-official in Brunei) and Jawi (Arabic script) (co-official in Brunei). Historically written in Pallava, Kawi and Rencong 
Official status
Official language in: Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, East Timor (working language)
Regulated by: Majlis Bahasa Brunei Darussalam - Indonesia - Malaysia (Brunei Darussalam - Indonesia - Malaysia Language Council), Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Institute of Language and Literature) Pusat Bahasa, Indonesia
Language codes
ISO 639-1: ms
ISO 639-2: may (B)  msa (T)
ISO 639-3: variously:
msa – Malay (generic)
mly – Malay (specific)
btj – Bacanese Malay
bve – Berau Malay
bvu – Bukit Malay
coa – Cocos Islands Malay
jax – Jambi Malay
meo – Kedah Malay
mqg – Kota Bangun Kutai Malay
xmm – Manado Malay
max – North Moluccan Malay
mfa – Pattani Malay
msi – Sabah Malay
vkt – Tenggarong Kutai Malay
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Malay language (ISO 639-1 code: MS)[1][2] (Malay: Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesia) | Bahasa Malaysia (Malaysia) | Bahasa Melayu (Singapore and Brunei); Jawi script: بهاس ملايو) is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people and people of other races who reside in the Malay Peninsula, southern Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau islands and parts of the coast of Borneo.[3].

Malay is an official language of Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, and East Timor. In Indonesia and East Timor, the language is formally referred to as Bahasa Indonesia, which literally translates as "Indonesian language." It is also called Bahasa Kebangsaan (National Language) and Bahasa Persatuan/Pemersatu (Unifying Language) in Indonesia. In Malaysia, the language was once officially known as Bahasa Malaysia, ("Malaysian language".)

The term, which was introduced by the National Language Act of 1967, was in use until the 1990s, when most academics and government officials reverted to "Bahasa Melayu," used in the Malay version of the Federal Constitution. According to Article 152 of the Federal Constitution, Bahasa Malaysia is the official language of Malaysia. "Bahasa Kebangsaan" (National Language) was also used at one point during the 1970s.

Indonesia announced Malay as its official language when it gained independence, calling it Bahasa Indonesia. However, the language had been used as the "lingua franca" throughout the archipelago since the 15th century. Since 1928, nationalists and young people throughout the Indonesian archipelagos have declared it to be Indonesia's only official language, as proclaimed in the Sumpah Pemuda "Youth Vow."

Indonesian and Malay are separated by some centuries of different vocabulary development. Indonesian is distinct by its vocabulary from Malay as spoken in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, where the language is known simply as Bahasa Malaysia. 'Bahasa Malaysia' is defined as Brunei's official language in the country's 1959 Constitution.

Many Malay dialects, however, are mutually unintelligible; for example, Kelantanese pronunciation is difficult even for some Malaysians to understand, while Indonesian has a lot of words unique to it that are unfamiliar to other speakers of Malay who are not from Indonesia.

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.

Contents

[edit] Classification and related languages

See also: Austronesian languages#Cross-linguistic Comparison Chart

Malay is a member of the Austronesian family of languages which includes languages from Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, with a smaller number in continental Asia. Malagasy, a geographic outlier spoken on the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, is also a member of this linguistic family.

Malay belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the family, which includes the Languages of the Philippines and Malagasy, which is further subdivided into Outer Hesperonesian languages and Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian of which Malay is a member. Malay's closest relatives therefore include Javanese, Acehnese, Chamorro and Palauan.

Although each language of the family is mutually unintelligible, their similarities are rather striking. Many roots have come virtually unchanged from their common Austronesian ancestor. There are many cognates found in the languages' words for kinship, health, body parts and common animals. Numbers, especially, show remarkable similarities.

[edit] Writing system

Main article: Malay alphabet

Malay is normally written using Latin alphabet called Rumi, although a modified Arabic script called Jawi also exists. Rumi is official in Malaysia and Singapore, and Indonesian has a different official orthography also using the Latin script. Rumi and Jawi are co-official in Brunei. Efforts are currently being undertaken to preserve Jawi script and to revive its use amongst Malays in Malaysia, and students taking Malay language examination in Malaysia have the option of answering questions using Jawi script. Latin alphabet, however, is still the most commonly used script in Malaysia, both for official and informal purposes.

Historically, Malay language has been written using various types of script. Before the introduction of Arabic script in the Malay region, Malay was written using Pallava, Kawi and Rencong script. Old Malay was written using Pallava and Kawi script, as evident from several inscription stones in the Malay region. Starting from the era of kingdom of Pasai and throughout the golden age of Sultanate of Malacca, Jawi has gradually replaced these scripts as the most commonly used script in the Malay region.

[edit] Extent of use and dialects

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 1974. English continues, however, to be widely used in professional and commercial fields and in the superior courts. 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. In addition, parade commands in the military, police and civil defence are given only 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.

Due to earlier contact with the Philippines, Malay words — such as dalam hati (sympathy), luwalhati (glory), tengah hari (midday), sedap (delicious) — have evolved and been integrated into Tagalog and other Philippine languages.

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, Indonesian is widely spoken and recognized under its Constitution as a 'working language'.)

Besides Bahasa Indonesia that is developed from Riau dialect, there are many Malay dialects spoken in Indonesia [1], divided into : western and eastern group. Western Malay is predominantly spoken in Sumatra, known as Sumatran dialects, such as: Riau, Langkat, Palembang and Jambi. Minangkabau and Bengkulu language are believed to be Sumatran Malay language descendants. Meanwhile Jakarta dialect (known as Betawi) also belongs to western Malay group.

The eastern dialects are spoken in easternmost part of Indonesian archipelago such as: Manado dialect [2](in north Celebes) and Maluku dialect (known as Ambon dialect that also spoken as lingua franca in West Papua).

The differences among both groups are quite observable. For example the word 'kita' means "we, us" in western, but means "I, me" in Manado, meanwhile "we, us" in Manado is 'torang' and Ambon 'katong' (originally abbreviated from Malay 'kita orang' (means "we people"). Another difference is the lack of possessive pronouns (and suffixes) in eastern dialects. Manado use verb 'pe' and Ambon 'pu' (from Malay 'punya' means "to have") to mark possession. So "my name" and "our house" are translated in western Malay as 'namaku' and 'rumah kita' but 'kita pe nama' and 'torang pe rumah' in Manado and 'beta pu nama', 'katong pu rumah' in Ambon dialect.

The pronunciation may vary in western dialects, especially the pronunciation of words ended vowel 'a'. For example Malaysian pronounce 'kita' as /kitə/, Riau /kita/, Palembang /kito/ and Betawi as /kitɛ/.

Betawi and eastern dialects are sometimes regarded as Malay creole, because the speakers don't belong to Malay ethnics

[edit] Phonology

Note: this article uses the orthography of Malaysian Malay. For Indonesian orthography, see Indonesian language.

Table of consonant phonemes of Malay
Bilabial Labio-
Dental		 Dental Alveolar Post-
Alveolar		 Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ ny /ɲ/ ng /ŋ/
Plosive p /p/ b /b/ t /t/ d /d/ k /k/ g /g/
Affricate c /tʃ/ j /dʒ/
Fricative f /f/ v /v, ʋ/ s /s/ z /z/ sy /ʃ, ʂ, sj/ h /h/
Approximant r /r/ y /j/ w /w/
Lateral l /l/

Orthographic Note:

  • The combination of /ŋg/ is represented as ngg.


Table of vowel phonemes of Malay
Height Front Central Back
Close i /i/ u /u/
Mid e /e, ɛ/ e /ə/ o /o, ɔ/
Open a /a/ a /ɑ/
Table diphthongs of Malay
Orthography IPA
ai /aɪ̯, ai/
au /aʊ̯, au/
ua /ua/

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/.

[edit] Grammar

[edit] Word Formation

Malay is an agglutinative language, and new words are formed via three methods. New words can be created by attaching affixes onto a root word (affixation), formation of a compound word (composition), or repetition of words or portions of words (reduplication).

[edit] Affixes

Root words are either nouns or verbs, which can be affixed to derive new words, 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.)

Other examples of the use of affixes to change the meaning of a word can be seen with the word ajar (teach):

  • ajar = teach
  • ajaran = teachings
  • belajar = to learn
  • mengajar = to teach
  • diajar = being taught (non-transitive)
  • diajarkan = being taught (transitive)
  • mempelajari = to study
  • dipelajari = being studied
  • pelajar = student
  • pengajar = teacher
  • pelajaran = subject
  • pengajaran = lesson, moral of story
  • pembelajaran = learning
  • terajar = taught (accidentally)
  • terpelajar = well-educated
  • berpelajaran = is educated

There are four types of affixes, namely prefixes (awalan), suffixes (akhiran), circumfixes (apitan) and infixes (sisipan). These affixes are categorised into noun affixes, verb affixes, and adjective affixes.

Noun affixes are affixes that form nouns upon addition to root words. The following are examples of noun affixes:

Type of noun affixes Affix Example of root word Example of derived word
Prefix pe(N)- duduk (sit) penduduk (population)
ke- hendak (want) kehendak (desire)
juru- acara (event) juruacara (event host)
Infix -el- tunjuk (point) telunjuk (index finger, command)
-em- kelut (dishevelled) kemelut (chaos, crisis)
-er- gigi (teeth) gerigi (toothed blade)
Suffix -an bangun (wake up, raise) bangunan (building)
Circumfix ke-...-an raja (king) kerajaan (government)
pe(N)-...-an kerja (work) pekerjaan (occupation)

(N) and (R) indicate that if a word begins with certain letters (most often vowels or consonants k, p, s, t), the letter will either be omitted or will undergo nasal mutation or be replaced by the letter l.

Similarly, verb affixes are attached to root words to form verbs. In Malay, there are:

Type of verb affixes Affix Example of root word Example of derived word
Prefix be(R)- ajar (teach) belajar (to study) - Intransitive
me(N)- tolong (help) menolong (to help) - Active transitive
di- ambil (take) diambil (is being taken) - Passive transitive
mempe(R)- kemas (tidy up, orderly) memperkemas (to arrange further)
dipe(R)- dalam (deep) diperdalam (is being further deepen)
te(R)- makan (eat) termakan (to have accidentally eaten)
Suffix -kan letak (place, keep) letakkan (keep) - Imperative transitive
-i jauh (far) jauhi (avoid) - Imperative transitive
Circumfix be(R)-...-an pasang (pair) berpasangan (in pairs)
be(R)-...-kan tajuk (title) bertajukkan (to be titled, to entitle)
me(N)-...-kan pasti (sure) memastikan (to make sure)
me(N)-...-i teman (company) menemani (to accompany)
mempe(R)-...-kan guna (use) mempergunakan (to utilise, to exploit)
mempe(R)-...-i ajar (teach) mempelajari (to study)
ke-...-an hilang (disappear) kehilangan (to lose)
di-...-i sakit (pain) disakiti (to be hurt by)
di-...-kan benar (right) dibenarkan (is allowed to)
dipe(R)-...-kan kenal (know, recognise) diperkenalkan (is being introduced)

Adjective affixes are attached to root words to form adjectives:

Type of adjective affixes Affix Example of root word Example of derived word
Prefix te(R)- kenal (know) terkenal (famous)
se- lari (run) selari (parallel)
Infix -el- serak (disperse) selerak (messy)
-em- cerlang (radiant bright) cemerlang (bright, excellent)
-er- sabut (husk) serabut (dishevelled)
Circumfix ke-...-an barat (west) kebaratan (westernized)

In addition to these affixes, Malay language also has a lot of borrowed affixes from other languages such as Sanskrit, Arabic and English. For example maha-, pasca-, eka-, bi-, anti-, pro- etc.

[edit] Compound word

In Malay, new words can be formed by joining two or more root words. Compound words, when exist freely in a sentence, are often written separately. Compound words are only attached to each other when they are bound by circumfix or when they are already considered as stable words.

For example, the word kereta which means car and api which means fire, are compounded to form a new word kereta api (train). Similarly, ambil alih (take over) is formed using the root words ambil (take) and alih (move), but will link together when a circumfix is attached to it, i.e. pengambilalihan (takeover). Certain stable words, such as kakitangan (personel), and kerjasama (corporation), are spelled as one word even when they exist freely in sentences.

[edit] Reduplication

There are four types of words reduplication in Malay, namely

  • Full reduplication
  • Partial reduplication
  • Rhythmic reduplication
  • Reduplication of meaning

[edit] Measure words

Another distinguishing feature of Malay is its use of measure words (penjodoh bilangan). In this way, it is similar to many other languages of Asia, including Chinese, Vietnamese, Burmese, and Bengali.

Measure words can not be translated into English. Examples are :

measure word used for measuring literary translation example
buah thing (in general) 'fruit' dua buah meja (two tables), lima buah rumah (five houses)
orang person, human 'person' seorang lelaki (a man), enam orang petani (six farmers), seratus orang murid (a hundred students)
butir rounded object 'grain' sebutir telur (an egg)

[edit] Part of Speech

In Malay, there are 4 parts of speech:

  • Nouns
  • Verbs
  • Adjectives
  • Function words

[edit] Function words

There are 16 types of function words in Malay which performs a grammatical function in a sentence. [4] Amongst these are conjunctions, interjections, prepositions, negations and determiners.

[edit] Negations

There are two negation words in Malay, that is bukan and tidak. Bukan is used to negate noun phrases and preposition in a predicate, whereas tidak is used to negate verbs and adjectives phrases in a predicate.

Subject Negation Predicate
Lelaki yang berjalan dengan Fazila itu
(That boy who is walking with Fazila)		 bukan
(is not)		 teman lelakinya
(her boyfriend)
Surat itu
(The letter)		 bukan
(is not)		 daripada teman penanya di Perancis
(from his penpal in France)
Pelajar-pelajar itu
(Those students)		 tidak
(do not)		 mengikuti peraturan sekolah
(obey school regulations)
Penguasaan Bahasa Melayunya
(His command of Malay language)		 tidak
(is not)		 sempurna
(perfect)

The negative word bukan however, can be used before verb phrases and adjective phrases if the sentence shows contradictions.

Subject Negation Predicate Contradiction
Karangannya
(His composition)		 bukan
(is not)		 baik sangat,
(very good,)		 tetapi dia mendapat markah yang baik
(but he received good marks)
Kilang itu
(The factory)		 bukan
(is not)		 menghasilkan kereta Kancil,
(producing Kancil cars)		 sebaliknya menghasilkan Proton Wira
(instead is producing Proton Wira)

[edit] Grammatical gender

Malay does not make use of grammatical gender, and there are only a few words that use natural gender; the same word is used for he and she or for his and her. Most of the words that refer to people (family terms, professions, etc.) have a form that does not distinguish between the sexes. For example, adik can both refer to a younger sibling of either gender. In order to specify the natural gender of a noun, an adjective has to be added: adik laki-laki corresponds to "brother" but really means "male younger sibling". There are some words that are gendered, for instance puteri means "princess", and putera means "prince"; words like these are usually absorbed from other languages (in these cases, from Sanskrit).

[edit] Pluralization

Plurals are often expressed by means of reduplication, but only when the plural is not implied in the context. For example, "cup", which is 'cawan', would be 'cawan-cawan'. This can be shortened to 'cecawan', but this only applies to a limited number of words. Reduplication to mark pluralization is often in complementary distribution with numeral markers, for example "one thousand cups" would be 'seribu cawan' and not 'seribu cawan-cawan'.

[edit] Verbs

Verbs are not inflected for person or number, and they are not marked for tense; tense is instead denoted by time adverbs (such as "yesterday") or by other tense indicators, such as sudah, "already". On the other hand, there is a complex system of verb affixes to render nuances of meaning and denote active and passive voices. Some of these affixes are ignored in daily conversations.

[edit] Word order

The basic word order is Subject Verb Object. Adjectives, demonstrative pronouns and possessive pronouns follow the noun they describe.

[edit] Borrowed words

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

  • abjad - alphabet/alefbet (from Arabic & Persian] abjad)
  • ahli - member (from Arabic ali)
  • agama - religion (from Sanskrit agama)
  • aksi - action (from Dutch actie)
  • almari - cupboard (from Sanskrit armario)
  • anggur - grape (from Persian انگور/angur)
  • askar - soldier (from Persian عسکر /askar )
  • bahasa - language (from Sanskrit bhāshā)
  • bandar - port (from Persian بندر/bandr)
  • bangku - stool (from Portuguese banco)
  • bas - bus (from English)
  • bendera - flag (from Portuguese bandeira)
  • biara - monastery (from Javanese)
  • bihun - rice vermicelli (from Hokkien bi-hun)
  • biola - violin (from Portuguese viola)
  • biskut or biskuit - biscuit (from English)
  • bomba - fire brigade (from Portuguese bomba, "pump", or bombeiro, "fireman", lit. "pumper")
  • boneka - doll (from Portuguese boneca)
  • buat - do (from Sanskrit wuat)
  • buku - book (from Dutch boek)
  • bumi - earth (from Sanskrit bhumi or from Sanskirtam "buumi")
  • butuh - penis (from Greek buto)
  • cawan - cup (from Mandarin cháwǎn)
  • cibai - cunt (from Mandarin chee bái)
  • dakwah - sermon (from Arabic da'wah)
  • dayang - maiden (from Cantonese)
  • dekan - dean (from Portuguese decano)
  • dewan - hall (from Persian دیوان/diwan "administration")
  • duka - sadness (from Sanskrit duhkha)
  • dunia - world (from Arabic dunyā)
  • falsafah - philosophy (from Arabic falsafah)
  • gandum - wheat (from Persian گندمGandm)
  • garpu - fork (from Portuguese garfo)
  • gereja - church (from Portuguese igreja)
  • gratis - for free (from Portuguese)
  • guru - teacher (from Sanskrit)
  • had - limit (from Arabic hadd)
  • halal -permitted (from Arabic )
  • haram - forbidden ( (from Arabic )
  • hisab - counting/arithmetic (from Persian حساب /hisāb, Arabic hasabba)
  • huruf - word character/letter (from Arabic ḥurūf)
  • ilmu - knowledge/science (from Persian & Arabic alm/ilmi)
  • ini - this (from Persian این)
  • jawab - to answer (from Arabic jawāb)
  • jendela - window (from Portuguese janela)
  • Khamis - Thursday (Arabic al-khamis)
  • kamus - dictionary (from Arabic qāmūs)
  • kapal - ship (from Tamil kappal)
  • katil - bed (from Tamil kattil)
  • kaunter - counter or desk (from English)
  • keju - cheese (from Portuguese queijo)
  • kemeja - shirt (from Portuguese camisa)
  • kepala - head (from Sanskrit kapala "skull")
  • kereta - carriage, car (from Portuguese carreta)
  • komputer - computer (from English)
  • kongsi - share (from Hokkien kong-si 公司)
  • korban - sacrifice (from Arabic Qur-ban)
  • kuda - horse (from Hindustani kudh)
  • kuih - cake (from Hokkien 粿)
  • kurma - date (from Persian خرما/Khurma)
  • limau - lemon/orange (from Portuguese limão "lemon")
  • lobak - carrot (from Cantonese 蘿蔔)
  • maaf - sorry (from Hindustani māf "forgiveness")/(from Arabic Ma3fu
  • maha - great (from Sanskrit)
  • makmal - laboratory Arabic
  • mangga - mango (Ultimately from Tamil Mankay)
  • manusia - human being (from Sanskrit manuṣya)
  • masjid - mosque ( (from Arabic )
  • mentega - butter (from Portuguese manteiga)
  • mee/mi - noodles (from Hokkien miᴺ)
  • meja - table (from Portuguese mesa)
  • misai - moustache (from Tamil meesai)
  • miskin - poor (via Arabic miskiin from Persian Miskin مسکین)
  • nafas - breath ( (from Arabic )
  • najis - excrement (from Arabic )
  • muflis - bankrupt (from Arabic muflis)
  • nama - name (from Sanskrit naam)
  • nenek - grandmother (from Mandarin né né)
  • neraka - hell (from Sanskrit naraka)
  • nujum - astrologer (from Arabic al-nujum)
  • nanas/nenas - pineapple (from Portuguese or Arabic ananás)
  • nusantara - archipelago (esp. the Malay Archipelago) (from Javanese)
  • paderi - priest (Christian) (from Portuguese padre)
  • pahlawan - hero/warrior (from Persian پ‍ﮩ‍لوان /pahlawān)
  • pantat - vagina (from Thai pantat)
  • perpustakaan - library (base word "pustaka" is the Sanskrit word for "book")
  • pau - bun (from Hokkien pau 包)
  • pesta - party (from Portuguese festa)
  • pita - tape (from Portuguese fita)
  • puasa - fasting (from Sanskrit)
  • putera - prince (from Sanskrit putra "son")
  • raja - king (from Sanskrit rāja)
  • roda - wheel (from Portuguese roda)
  • roti - bread (from Sanskrit roṭi)
  • sabun - soap (from Arabic) sàbuun
  • sains - science (from English)
  • sama - same (from Sanskrit)
  • salji - snow (from Arabic thalji)
  • sama-sama - together (derived from loanword sama via reduplication)
  • sayang - love (from Tagalog sayang)
  • sekolah - school (from Portuguese escola)
  • seks - to have sex (from English)
  • selamat - safe, well-being (from Arabic salamat, used for greeting phrases as 'selamat pagi', etc)
  • sengsara - suffering (from Sanskrit saṃsara)
  • sembahyang - to pray (from Mandarin)
  • sepatu - shoe (from Portuguese sapato)
  • singa - lion (from Sanskrit)
  • soldadu - soldier (from Portuguese soldado)
  • syariah - Islamic law (from Arabic shāri`ah)
  • syukur - thankful (from Arabic shukr)
  • syurga - heaven (from Tamil சொர்கம் /sorgam)
  • sistem - system (from English)
  • suka - happiness (from Sanskrit sukha)
  • tangki - tank (from Portuguese tanque)
  • tauhu - beancurd (from Hokkien tao-hu)
  • tarikh - date (from Arabic tārīkh)
  • teh - tea (from Hokkien tɛ)
  • teksi - taxi (from English taxi)
  • teko - teapot (from Hokkien tɛ-ko)
  • televisyen - television (from English)
  • tuala - towel (from Portuguese toalha)
  • tukar - to exchange (from Portuguese trocar)
  • unta - camel (from Hindustani ūnṭ)
  • utara - north (from Sanskrit uttara)
  • warna - colour (from Sanskrit varnam)
  • wibawa - authority (from Javanese wibawa)
  • waktu - time (from Arabic waqt)
  • wanita - women (from Spanish Juanita)
  • zirafah - giraffe (from Arabic zirāfah)


There are some Malay words which are spelled exactly the same as the English word e.g hospital.

Some Malay words have been borrowed into English. See the list of words of Malay origin at Wiktionary, the free dictionary and Wikipedia's sister project.

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

[edit] Some simple phrases in Malay

In Malaysia, to greet somebody with "Selamat pagi" or "Selamat sejahtera" would be considered very formal, and the borrowed word "Hi" would be more usually among friends; similarly "Bye-bye" is often used when taking one's leave.

Malay Phrase IPA English Translation
Selamat datang /səlamat dataŋ/ Welcome (Used as a greeting)
Selamat jalan /səlamat dʒalan/ Have a safe journey (equivalent to "goodbye", used by the party staying)
Selamat tinggal /səlamat tiŋgal/ Goodbye (Lit translation: "Good stay", used by the party going)
Terima kasih /tərima kasih/ Thank you
Sama-sama /sama sama/ You are welcome (as in a response to Thank You)
Selamat pagi /səlamat pagi/ Good morning
Selamat petang /səlamat pətaŋ/ 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 /səlamat sədʒahtəra/ Greetings (formal)
Selamat malam /səlamat malam/ Good night
Jumpa lagi See you again
Siapakah nama awak?/Nama awak apa? What is your name?
Nama saya ... My name is ... (The relevant name is placed in front. For example, if your name was Mawar, then you would introduce yourself by saying "Nama saya Mawar", which translates to "My name is Mawar")
Apa khabar? How are you? / What's up? (literally, "What news?")
Khabar baik Fine, good news
Saya sakit I'm sick
Ya /ja/ Yes
Tidak ("tak" colloquially) No
Saya sayang awak I love you (In a more of a family or affectionate sort of love, e.g.: mother to daughter)
Saya cinta awak I love you (romantic love)
Saya tidak faham (or simply "tak faham" colloquially) I do not understand
Saya tidak tahu (or "tak tau" colloquially or "sik tau" in Sarawak) I do not know
(Minta) maaf I apologise ('minta' is to request)
Tumpang tanya "May I ask...?" (used when trying to ask something)
(Minta) tolong Please help (me) ('Tolong!' on its own just means "help")
Apa What
Tiada Nothing

[edit] Colloquial and contemporary usage

Contemporary usage of Malay includes a set of slang words, formed by innovations of standard Malay words or incorporated from other languages, spoken by the urban speech community, which may not be familiar to the older generation, e.g. awek (girl); balak (guy); usha (survey); skodeng (peep); cun (pretty); poyo/slenge (horrible, low-quality) etc. The Malay-speaking community, especially in Kuala Lumpur, also code-switch between English and Malay in their speech, forming Bahasa Rojak. Examples of the borrowings are: Bestlah tempat ni (This place is cool);kau ni terror lah (How daring you are; you're fabulous). Consequently, this phenomenon has raised the displeasure of language purists in Malaysia, in their effort to uphold the proper use of the national language.

The following are some contractions used by Malay-speaking youths:

Non-formal
Word		 Formal
Word		 English
Translation
tak tidak no, not
bleh boleh can, able to
ko engkau you
nape kenapa why
gi pergi go
kat dekat/di at
ne mana where
tau tahu know
je sahaja only
awek gadis girl/grilfriend
balak pemuda boy/boyfriend
skodeng mengintai peep
cun cantik pretty
poyo/selenge buruk horrible
blah beredar go away
meh mari come
apsal apa pasal why
tak yah tidak payah not necessary
pastu selepas itu after that
amik ambil take
sudey sudah enough

[edit] Dictionary

There are many, different Malay dictionaries. In Malaysia, the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) dictionary is the chief arbiter for the language, and is considered the authority in defining Malay usage. Some other dictionaries are:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Alpha-3 Codes Arranged Alphabetically by the English Name of Language." _The Library of Congress_. 7-11-2006. Accessed 13-11-2007.
  2. ^ "Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages Part 2: Alpha-3 Code." _The Library of Congress_. 14-11-2006. Accessed 13-11-2007. Note: "ISO 639 provides two sets of language codes, one as a two-letter code set (639-1) and another as a three-letter code set (this part of ISO 639) for the representation of names of languages."
  3. ^ Ethnologue report for Netherlands
  4. ^ http://faculty.unitarklj1.edu.my/ALD0063/week/week6/MORFOLOGI/GOLONGAN%20KATA.doc

[edit] External links

Wikipedia
Malay language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wikisource