a while back i stumbled upon an article in a local malay newspaper which drew my attention greatly and wished i had something that i could write about it earlier. I had put a lot of thinking, time and effort i could feasibly muster on this one because i really want to do this without sounding like an idiot since this post takes me up a few notches into the world of profesional writing that is highly intellectual. Sorry i just exegerrated that.
So the article was about Malay language. How intriguing can it get? But yes, The writer, who apparently claimed to be one badass malay grammar police,expressed his worry to the malay-speaking community, and put a huge blame on them especially the young generations for a large misusage of the language.
I can’t really tell which newspaper was it in, but what i can tell is that there are at least that many people who loves to talk bullshit and start to lay and spread their mental groundwork to justify the world with their own terms. And sadly, they are no other than one of those self-indugent ass who clearly wasn’t given much attention by their peers.
Im quoting some of his statements; (literally translated)
The language is largely built on a such strong influence of the English language. I am deeply saddened by the fact that people are more tend to choosing loanwords (kata pungut) over malay’s.
Why kreatif instead of daya cipta? And realiti instead of kenyataan?
This worship of the english language has to stop.
First off, language evolves with time. Language is believed to first appear between 30,000-100,000 years ago. Those who’re all for Darwins, you may say language evolves at the same time as the human evolves. But the other see it as an adaptation and a non-adaptive element arising as a byproduct of other processes. That’s why you don’t see someone talks symbols nowadays.
You don’t see people talk sanskrit. And you expect people to use Melayu-tulen in this age? Not going to happen. The only Malay words that is genuinely originated from the Malay roots are nasi(rice), rumput(grass), batu(rock), and babi(boar). [credits to kimi] These mere 4 words. Try to translate everything to those four words.
Old Malay(Melayu kuno) is heavily influenced by Sanskrit. Some Malay words used today represents a small part aftermath of the evolution of language from the earlier ancient Malay times.
Sanskrit(Old Malay) Malay
marvuat berbuat
nimakan dimakan
mamava membawa
sukhacitta sukacita
As such, in the course of adaptation, which conveys the very process of evolution, consequential inluence of other languages is inevitable. If it’s the worship that worries him, which is not the crux of the issue, then his ignorance is blinding.
(Arabic) isnin selasa rabu, sahabat khianat ikhlas,
(Portugese) almari, garfu, gereja, tuala, limau,
(Persian) anggur, askar, bandar, dewan
(Tamil & Hindustani) kakak, kapal, misai, unta
(Spanish) Wanita
(Dutch) buku, aksi
(English) komputer telefon biskut, januari februari mac, bas van motosikal,
Tell me how he overlooked this. Well Im not surprised.
There are a lot of great deal to examine and introspect every details, pros and cons on this matter, but what whet my appetite is the diversity. That’s is what so beautiful about language. How it changes and advance through the ladder of time. It’s giving such a capacious opportunity thus bring it to a whole new dimension of space for development.
Or you wish to stick with “itĕk chedera telah semboh”, “perabut yang chantĕk“. It’s clearly your choice.
Although i find his statement rather disconcerted and incoherent, there are times when we are in the same wavelength on one particular matter. Im quoting his other statement to back this up;
I find the hugest abuse of Malay language is from the media sector. One of our local National broadcasting station introduced their new catchphrase: “infotainmen” for their malay-based channel lately. It’s just two english words that were mashed together and carries no meaning nonetheless. This upsets me.
Ditto! Those from the media are brainless anyway. Everything is viewed from their closeted point of view and it’s very much justifyable solely based on thier own perspective and logic. They ditch truth, facts, and basis. And the most gullible of all would surely fall for it.
I watched this one documentary show about misuse of malay language in the market. How the signboards and the labels have wrong spellings on them. Then there is one part when they show a signboard “rumah istirahat” denoting that it’s wrongly spelled. They might get the idea of “istirehat” was the right word. Istirahat is the right word for it and they can at least do some research and get their facts right.
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p/s: 50th post! Thank you friendster! I’ve been writing for three years plus now and still counting. My writing is provocative, offensive and ridiculous as always, but they were all for the sake of sheer entertainment. I always remind people to not take it too seriously. There are a lot of typos and grammatical errors in my writing, but I
hardly ever re-read my posts to correct them so I tend to leave it as
that. I enjoy writing alot, and i did it initially for personal purposes. I wanted to read what i’ve written in my earlier days when i got old, just to be reminded of what state of mind was I in. But i’ve been getting quite positive feedback from my friends and it’s very interesting to know that some people really enjoy reading them. So im going to continue writing and thank you for all the suports!
