morphology online

http://www.ling.udel.edu/idsardi/101/notes/morphology.html

http://www.uni-duisburg-essen.de/SHE/REV_MorphologySyntax.htm

http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang/engstruct.htm#int

syntax online

http://www.ling.udel.edu/idsardi/101/notes/syntax.html

hmt329wikispaces

trying to use this for this semester's class. sedang mencuba mengunakan ini untuk kelas semester ini.

http://hmt329anakon.wikispaces.com/

Another Lesson on Semantics - Ketuanan Melayu vs Special Position

Published: Sunday November 30, 2008 MYT 6:24:00 PM
Updated: Sunday November 30, 2008 MYT 7:27:34 PM

Use ‘special position’ instead of ‘ketuanan Melayu’: Koh Tsu Koon

GEORGE TOWN: Use the term “special position” instead of ketuanan Melayu, Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon urged.

“The term ketuanan Melayu would give rise to a tuan and hamba (master and slave) situation so let’s use the proper term as provided for in the Federal Constitution.

“Article 153 safeguards the special position of the Malays and natives, the Rulers and Islam as well as protects the legitimate interests of non-Malays.

“We must understand the Federal Constitution, parliamentary democracy system and constitutional monarchy in totality.

“The needs of rakyat Malaysia must come first especially in light of global challenges,” he said after opening the party’s life member council meeting on Sunday.

He earlier announced that the party’s central working committee (CWC) was appointed on Saturday during the central committee’s (CC) second meeting.

“CC member and Deputy Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Senator A. Kohilan Pillay was appointed party vice-president to replace Datuk Dr S. Vijayaratnam who passed away recently,” he added.

Members of the 2008-2011 CWC are Dr Koh, Perak Gerakan chief Datuk Chang Ko Youn; secretary general Teng Chang Yeow; Kelantan state chairman Datuk Ng Chiang Chin; vice-presidents Datuk Mah Siew Keong, Huan Cheng Guan, Datuk Seri Chia Kwang Chye and Kohilan; Wanita chief Tan Lian Hoe and youth chief Lim Si Pin.

Dr Koh said Datuk Gooi Hoe Hin has been appointed as National Delegates Conference (NDC) Deputy Speaker while Datuk Lim Kheng Guan and Dr Asharuddin Ahmad were sworn in as CC members.

Party adviser Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik was elected Gerakan immovable property committee chairman.

Dr Koh also noted that the party’s various central bureaux were “revamped and rejuvenated” to better articulate the party’s stand and deal more effectively with identified major areas and issues of public concern.

“We now have 11 including the new Legislature Liaison; Government Administrative Affairs; Environment, Safety and Quality of Life; and Public Health and Social Development bureaux.

“Our main focus now is the economy. We have targeted several groups including the poor and SMIs to see how we can help.

“The average Malaysian worker’s welfare is our priority,” he said, before calling on the government to revise the existing poverty line.

“This should be done every six months because more people are getting poorer due to falling purchasing power.

“Because we have liquidity and strong fundamentals, Malaysia survived the first financial tsunami although many countries like the US and UK were badly effected.

“However, we must now prepare for the second and third wave which is the drop in demand for our exports,” he said.

source: http://thestar.com.my/news/nation/

Creolization in Baba Malay:)

Creolization in Baba Malay

Research Interest

Spoken by the Straits-born Chinese of Malacca, Penang and Singapore, Baba Malay has been accorded different status according to various scholars. Baba Malay has been described as a creole based on Malay with a Minnan substrate (Lim 1981). However, Pakir (1986) views it as a dialect of Malay and in Grimes (1992), Baba Malay is described as a Malay dialect with some borrowings from Hokkien. Chia (1989) sees it as a “corrupt form of the Malay tongue.”

Of particular interest to this paper is the attempt to resolve these different views and to show that the Hokkien element found in Baba Malay represents a case of substrate influence rather than borrowing. The historical context of Baba Malay, coupled with the evidence given by an in-depth analysis of the grammatical structures, point to the direction that Baba Malay should be treated as a creole.

Methodology

The core structure of this paper will adhere to the following guidelines. We will consider the structural influence of Hokkien on Baba Malay in terms of substrate influence. Also, the chief focus will be on the syntactic features which will include the possessive and passive constructions. An examination of the loan words incorporated into Baba Malay will also be considered.

In the course of this paper, we will argue that based on both historical and structural grounds, Baba Malay should rightfully not be considered a dialect of Malay, but rather a creole with Malay as the lexifier and Hokkien as the substrate language.

Introduction: From History to Contemporary

The Babas who were considered the first descendents of Fujian Chinese and the local Malay women can be found in Malacca, Penang and Singapore (which were collectively known as the Straits Settlement of Malaya from 1826 to 1957). The most significant defining feature of a Baba is that he has mixed Chinese-Malay ancestry. These intermarriages took place for a number of reasons. As Chia (1980) points out, the Fujian Chinese immigrants were all adventurers who came to seek a fortune or make a living. As such, many did not or could not afford to bring their womenfolk along owing to poverty. Also, they did not have any intention of making Malaya their home at the initial stage. The most important reason was attributed to the fact that while the males were free to come and go as they wished, women immigrants were subjected to a strict watch placed over them by the Chinese authorities. It is out of this inter-racial background that the language of the Baba community developed. Such a historical context represents a likely context for creolization to take place, although it differs in some respects from the more familiar creolization contexts created by the slave trade.

While Malacca claims the status as the original birthplace of the Baba Malay language, Penang and Singapore were the places to which many of the Malacca Babas migrated to, especially during the turn of the nineteen-century.

The men of the Baba community are known as babas and the women nyonyas. We will use the term ‘babas’ in this paper to refer to the community as a whole. Interestingly, there are other forms by which the Babas have been known to be associated with. Common examples are ‘peranakan’, ‘Straits-Chinese’ and ‘Straits-born Chinese’. As Pakir remarks, “all these names developed over the time that the Babas were evolving as a distinct cultural identity in Malaya over the centuries.” Baba Malay too, has its fair share of other names such as the ‘peranakan community speech’, ‘language of the Straits-Chinese’ and ‘language of the Straits-born Chinese’.

The distinctive culture which supported the use of Baba Malay as a first language has been in decline since World War II and most fluent speakers are elderly, mostly in their seventies. The fate of Baba Malay in these three communities is very different. In Singapore, the Baba community completely switched to a totally different language which was English. As for Penang, the strong substrate influence of Hokkien, or Penang Hokkien to be more precise, has been noted. This is a reversal of the normal upward trend we would associate a post creole continuum with (where the acrolectal degree of sophistication is the ultimate goal). In Malacca, decreolization has taken place as Baba Malay speakers assimilate towards the lexifier language in the form of Standard Malay. This was largely because of changes in the educational policy of Malaysia where the medium of instruction in schools is Standard Malay.

Once a prestigious language used for trade cum other purposes and as an expression of their unique cultural background, Baba Malay has lost much of its lustre and has in fact gone through a period of steady decline. Scholars acknowledge that Baba Malay is a dying language.

In Singapore for example, the once rich Baba community’s fortunes took a dramatic turn for the worse during the Japanese Occupation. In fact, it has been noted by Turnbull (1977) that Babas lost their cultural heritage and unique social status during this period (15 Feb 1942 – 15 Aug 1945) as a result of the measures adopted by the Japanese. The Babas had to do tough labour and manual work which they never did in their lives such as ploughing and farming and as Chia puts it, “the ones who had softer skin suffered the most because the bigger the calluses grew”. These measures relegated their status and in turn led them to socialize with the Chinese. As time passed, Baba grandparents could then no longer force their rich culture and language upon their half or non-Baba grandchildren. It is also sad to note that although one can claim to have Baba blood running through the veins, he or she may not necessarily know how to speak Baba Malay.

Syntactic Features of Baba Malay

Kasi

Kasi in informal Malay is used as a main verb, whose lexical meaning is ‘to give’. In Baba Malay however, kasi is used in several other ways which are not used in Standard Malay. The influence of the different uses of kasi in Baba Malay which are absent in Standard Malay, comes from Hokkien. Kasi is the counterpart of the Hokkien ho, and in Baba Malay has all the grammatical functions of the latter based on their similarities. The four uses of kasi as a marker of causative constructions, a cause verb in causative constructions, the main verb and as an agent marker in passive constructions will be discussed.

Kasi as a marker of causative constructions

Kasi acts as a conjunctive connecting cause and consequence clauses. It means ‘to let, so that’. Hokkien ho has the same function and meaning.

bukak jok tu kasi dia kena ujan

Kasi as a cause verb in causative constructions

Kasi functions as the cause verb meaning ‘let, make’ which has a parallel in Hokkien ho. Kasi like ho can denote intention or non intention.

kita kasi tau kita mia kawan

(we kasi know our friend)

Glosses: We let our friend know

Hokkien : lan ho lan e peng iu zai

(we ho our friend know)

Kasi can have a negative prefix attached to it i.e. tak kasi or can be preceded by an auxiliary i.e. pi kasi. Similarly, Hokkien ho can be negated i.e. bo ho or have an auxiliary before it i.e. khi ho. The function of kasi as the cause verb can be found in the Standard Malay equivalent beri.

Kasi as the main verb

Kasi and ho both functions as the main verb, meaning ‘ to give’.

kasi gua ayam

(give me chicken)

Hokkien: ho gua quae

(give me chicken)

In informal Malay, there are similar constructions with kasi. In Standard Malay, kasi carries the function of the main verb too. This is the only function which Standard Malay kasi, Baba Malay kasi and Hokkien ho have in common.

Kasi as an agent marker in passive construction

dia kasi gua pukol

Hokkien: i ho gua phaq

(he ho I hit)

As the above example shows, kasi in Baba Malay and ho in Hokkien both function as the agent marker in passive constructions. The use of kasi and ho suggest adversity in this function. The action being done by the agent to the ‘undergoer’ is undesirable. This feature of adversity is a common one in many Asian languages.

In Standard Malay, the agent in passive constructions is marked by the preposition oleh. This however is a neutral passive, not an adversative one. The four functions of kasi in Baba Malay are analogous to the functions of ho in Hokkien.

Only one out of four possible usages of kasi in Baba Malay parallels the only usage of kasi in Standard Malay; that of the main verb. Kasi in Baba Malay has an equivalent in Malay’s beri as seen, but has no equivalents. While the links between kasi in Baba Malay and ho in Hokkien are consistent, the same cannot be said for the usages of kasi in Baba Malay and kasi in Standard Malay.

Kena

Kena is the equivalent of tioq in Hokkien in function but is regarded as colloquial Malay in form. In Standard Malay, kena is not used.

Kena used in passive constructions

Kena in Baba Malay is used to mark the passive construction. Kena is not followed immediately by the agent unlike in kasi. A passive construction containing kena may be agentless or the agent may be expressed in the post-verbal position. The agent might also precede kena. Baba Malay kena in this function has no Hokkien equivalent. Hokkien ho used in the passive construction is always followed by the agent, since it is an agent marker. Hokkien tioq in the passive construction does not require an agent.

Hokkien: i tioq may

(he tioq scolded)

Glosses: He was scolded

However such passive constructions containing tioq has restricted usage, and is used only to inferiors. In Taiwanese Hokkien, such usage is completely absent. This is the only function of kena that is not paralleled by Hokkien tioq or any other morpheme in Hokkien.

Kena used in incurred constructions

Kena in Baba Malay means ‘contact’ of an adversative, but non-volitional nature. The agent is not obvious and is not indicated. Hokkien tioq has the same meaning as Baba Malay kena in this function and is used in the same way as Baba Malay kena. In the previous function, it was stated that a construction like i tioq may was very rare. This is because the agent in the above construction was obvious though deleted. Hokkien tioq can only be used when the agent is not obvious.

dia kena racun

(he kena poison)

Glosses: He was poisoned

Hokkien : i tioq tok

(he was poisoned)

Kena as main verb

Kena in Baba Malay is analogous in function as the main verb to Hokkien tioq. Baba Malay kena and Hokkien tioq both mean to ‘hit a target or strike a target’.

gua kena capjiki

(I kena gambling game)

Glosses: I struck the winning combination in the gambling game

Hokkien : gua tioq capjiki

(I struck gambling game)

Kena and tioq carry positive, non-adversative connotations.

Kena as auxiliary

Kena is used as an auxiliary verb in Baba Malay, meaning ‘have to (do something)’.

gua kena pigi

(I kena go)

Glosses: I had to go (i.e. I had no choice)

Hokkien: gua tioq khi

(I tioq go)

The one difference between Baba Malay kena and Hokkien tioq is that while the latter may signify both the notions of obligatory and non-volition, kena signifies only non-volition. The twin semantic components of tioq are split and distributed in Baba Malay between two lexemes, kena (non-volition) and misti (obligation) as illustrated below.

kita kena jalan sana

(we kena walk there)kita misti jalan sana

(we misti walk there)

Glosses: We must walk there

The use of kena as auxiliary verb shows influence from H tioq, though the influence is not total. Of the four functions of kena, three of these parallel the functions of tioq. Kena used as a passive marker is an additional feature which Baba Malay kena has acquired in addition to the functions of Hokkien tioq. At times, kena and tioq parallel each other. On other occasions, kena is nearly equivalent to tioq. Thus influence of Hokkien in Baba Malay is considerable.

Mo

Mo in Baba Malay is the phonologically reduced version of mau. Mau is commonly used in Colloquial Malay, but is not used in Standard Malay. Baba Malay mau has several functions whose influence can be seen to come from Hokkien beq.

Mo as main verb

Mo is used as a main verb, whose lexical meaning is ‘want or desire’

lu mo brapa ayam

(you mo what many chickens?)

Glosses: How many chickens do you want?

The equivalent of mo as Main verb in Hokkien is ai. However general influence in mo does not come from Hokkien ai as ai does not parallel the later functions of mo, as we shall see.

Mo as auxiliary verb

Baba Malay mo can denote simple futurity, intention or expectation depending on the context in which it is used. Hokkien beq as an auxiliary verb parallels Baba Malay mo in this respect.

mo ujan; angkat payong

(mo rain; carry umbrella)

Glosses: It’s going to rain, carry an umbrella

Hokkien : beq lo hor; gia ji ki hor suah

(beq to rain; take an umbrella)

Ali mo beli buku

(Ali mo buy book)

Glosses: Ali wants to buy a book

Hokkien : Ali beq buay cek

(Ali beq buy book)

dia mo mati skali tak jadi

(he mo die once cannot become)

Glosses: He was about to die but it didn’t happen

Hokkien : i pi ka beq si au lai ho khi lai

(he sick until beq almost die later recover)

As shown, Hokkien beq parallels Baba Malay mo in its function as an auxiliary verb. Malay however has different morphemes for the denotations of simple futurity and intention respectively. Akan functions as an auxiliary verb signifying simple futurity. Hendak is used to signify intention. Standard Malay does not have an auxiliary verb signifying expectation.

Pigi/Datang

Pigi which means ‘to go’ is a member of the class of full verbs in Baba Malay as well as the minor class of function-words. Pigi in its guise as a function-word has a parallel in the Hokkien khi also meaning ‘to go’. Both pigi and khi indicate ‘direction away from the speaker’ when juxtaposed with a verb of motion.

gua pake parka pigi sekola

(I wear parka pigi school)

Glosses: I wear a parka to school

Hokkien : gua cheng parka khi o-tng

(I wear parka khi school)

Pigi has as its complementary opposite the word datang (literally meaning ‘to come’) which is again paralleled by the Hokkien lai. Both mean direction towards the speaker when preceded by a motion verb.

Punya

Punya is widely used in Baba malay and is often phonologically reduced to mia. In Standard Malay, punya is a verb whose lexical meaning is ‘to possess’. It is never phonologically reduced. On the other hand, Baba Malay punya is a grammatical morpheme. Baba Malay punya has three main functions which parallel the functions of Hokkien e. Three uses of punya will be discussed.

Punya as possessive marker

This is the most common use of punya in Baba Malay. The syntactic structure containing punya as a possessive marker is Possessor punya Noun which is possessed. This is analogous to the way in which Hokkien e is used. Hokkien e too carries the function of a possessive marker. Punya and e are used as suffixes which attach to the Possessor.

dia mia menantu

(he mia daughter-in-law)

Glosses: His daughter-in-law

Hokkien : i e sin pu

(he e daughter-in-law)

lu mia sukak

(you mia like)

Glosses: As you wish

Hokkien : li e sukak

(you Ie wish)

Baba Malay punya and Hokkien e when used with pronouns form the genitive case and when used with nouns form possessives.

Punya as marker of modifying phrases

Baba Malay punya and Hokkien e both can be attached to phrases or clauses to turn them into modifiers. Thus, a phrase in Hokkien marked with e and a phrase in Baba Malay marked with punya are phrases which modify a noun. Punya like e can be a marker of temporal modifiers and markers of locative modifiers and a variety of other types of phrases.

dulu mia orang

(past mia people)

Glosses: People of the past

Hokkien: korca e lang

(last time e people)

dekat Bedok mia skolar

(preposition place mia school)

Glosses: The school in Bedok

Hokkien : bedok e o-tng

(bedok e school)

jahat mia orang (wicked mia people)

Glosses: wicked people

Hokkien : pai sim e lang

(bad-hearted e people)

beli buku punya duit

(buy book punya money)

Glosses: the money for buying books

Hokkien : buay cek e lui

(buy book e money)

Punya as nominalizer

Punya when used with a deleted object functions as a nominalizer. Hokkien e can be used in a similar fashion too.

skrang mia

(now mia)

Glosses: that which belongs to the present

Hokkien : cit cun e…

(present e…)

The use of punya in Baba Malay shows consistent syntactic influence from Hokkien e. Baba Malay pays very little attention to the use of suffixes and prefixes which is essential in Malay grammar. Such prefixes and suffixes include ber, mo, me, per, ter, kan, nya, lah, kah.

dia baca buku

(he read book)

Glosses: He reads a book

Hokkien : yi kua cek

(he read book)

Malay : dia membaca buku

(he read book)

The lack of inflexional morphology is a prominent feature in most pidgins and creoles. This has its roots in the situations in which pidgins developed, whereby syntactic structures were simplified for limited functions.

Word Order

The word order in Baba Malay has already been dealt with briefly when discussing punya and its usages. Lim (1988) remarks that word order in Baba Malay, as we have seen is patterned after Hokkien rather than Standard Malay in that modifiers of all types may precede the head nominal. These modifiers may be locative phrases, adjectives, temporal phrases or full sentences. If they precede the head nominal, they will have to occur with punya, which serves as a relativiser.

Adjective + Nominal

bese punya ruma

(big punya house)

Glosses: A house which is big

Locative phrase + Nominal

sini punya orang

(here punya people)

Glosses: the people who are here

Temporal phrase + Nominal

tiga bulan punya holiday

(three months punya holiday)

Glosses: the holiday which is of three months

Full sentence + Nominal

orang tarek punya cia

(man pull punya vehicle)

Glosses: the vehicle which is pulled by the man)

None of the above patterns are permissible in Malay, but they are fully permissible in Hokkien where the above examples may be regarded as noun-phrases containing an embedded sentence. This further strengthens the argument that the Hokkien substrate plays an influential role in the syntactic structures of Baba Malay.

Interestingly, another area or word order in which Baba Malay differs from Malay because it is patterned after Hokkien word order is found in the positioning of determiners in relation to the nominal. The most commonly cited example is the following.

Baba Malay : itu orang and Hokkien : hi e lang

(the person) (the person)

Glosses: the person

as compared to Malay : orang hitu

(person the)

It is Pakir’s claim that Baba Malay is a dialect of Malay, based on seeming similarities between Baba Malay and Standard Malay in syntax. She frequently compares Baba Malay with Colloquial Malay. However it should be noted that Colloquial Malay itself had absorbed external influences from many sources, one of which is Hokkien. Colloquial Malay and Baba Malay might both have grown out of a common pidgin in which Chinese played an important role in shaping. Hence in the above analysis, we have used Standard Malay as the superstrate language and the basis of comparison with Baba Malay. Although Standard Malay might have equivalents for different functions of a morpheme in Baba Malay, these functions are separated into different morphemes in Standard Malay. This is unlike Baba Malay, where a single morpheme is representative of collective functions. This syntactic phenomenon is found in Hokkien whereby a morpheme can have lexical and grammatical uses. In the discussion of kasi, kena, punya, pigi and mo, we have successfully shown that language shift from Hokkien into Baba Malay has been consistent and prominent. Processes characteristic of creolization, like lack of inflexional morphology and grammaticalization, are apparent in Baba Malay. Baba Malay’s syntax is also contrastive with Standard Malay’s syntax. These provide evidence of Baba Malay being a creole.

Lexis

It is obvious that the majority of the Baba Malay lexicon is of Malay origin, thus supporting the argument that Baba Malay derives its lexis from its lexifier language Malay. Grimes (1984) defines Baba Malay as “a creole developed from Malay with some Chinese borrowings.”

Png Poh Seng (1967) as quoted by in Pakir’s thesis conducted a survey to determine the number of Hokkien loans in Malay and concluded that there are about 400 Hokkien loanwords in Standard Malay. In fact, many of these Hokkien loanwords are also Baba Malay words, thus suggesting the possibility that Baba Malay might have taken some Hokkien words directly from its lexifier language (i.e. Malay) instead of borrowing them from Hokkien. Hence, Baba Malay ties to Malay might be stronger than are initially realized using the very evidence of some Hokkien borrowings in Baba Malay. Examples of Hokkien words which are present in both Baba Malay and Malay are given in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Hokkien words present in both Malay and Baba Malay

Examples	Meaning
Capjiki	a lottery of twelve numbers
Popia	Chinese spring rolls
Mi	Noodles
Tauge	Bean sprouts
Taucio	Preserved soy beans
Konsi	(a) company or firm (b) to share

Although a large proportion of Baba Malay comes from its lexifier language, Standard Malay, Babas have cultural systems which are uniquely Chinese. Chinese loan words are necessary when referring to things which have Chinese origin. The Chinese loan-words which are mostly derived from Hokkien dialect include ‘nyun-lo‘ (incense pot), ‘teyian‘ (religious donation), ‘lap-cai‘ (bridal gifts), ‘hok‘ ( good fortune and happiness) and ‘sang-ke-m‘(female bridal attendant). Chinese loan words are also used when referring to domestic items, food, kinship and utensils. They include ‘keyah‘(kitchen shelves) from Hokkien ‘ke-a‘, ‘teko‘ (kettle), ‘capcai‘ (mixed vegetable dish) from Hokkien chap-chai, ‘yunko‘(mushroom) from Hokkien ‘hiu-ko‘, ‘binpoh‘(face towel), ‘loteng‘ (upstairs) from Hokkien ‘lau-teng‘ and ‘jeuk‘ (mattress) from Hokkien ‘jiok-a‘. It is no doubt the above are some examples of borrowings from Hokkien, but according to Pakir, the importance of the Hokkien element in Baba Malay has been over-estimated. The use of the Chinese loanwords does not make Baba Malay anymore Chinese-Malay than say, Malay is Portuguese-Malay because of the presence of several Portuguese loanwords in Malay. Since the bulk of the lexis in Baba Malay is still from Standard Malay, we can conclude that Baba Malay derives its lexis from Standard Malay, its one and only lexifier language. In fact, according to a lexical count of the data collected by Pakir, almost all of Baba Malay’s basic vocabulary and much of the exchange between Baba Malay speakers would have all or only Malay words. In addition, any of the conversations among Baba Malay speakers can be fairly understood by Malay speakers. In Pakir’s words, “Hokkien influence in the lexicon … is obvious, though shallow.”

The stand that Baba Malay derives its lexis from Standard Malay (its lexifier language) can also be seen from the fact that we can find loanwords from various sources (other than Hokkien) that are present in both Standard Malay and Baba Malay. Many of these loanwords must have entered into Standard Malay at an earlier stage and then come into Baba Malay later when the latter took its lexis from the former. Examples of foreign loanwords (other than Hokkien) shared by both Standard Malay and Baba Malay would include dunia ‘world’ from Arabic, kahwin ‘marry’ from Persian, kolam ‘pond’ from Tamil and bola ‘ball’ from Portuguese.

Conclusion

Some studies on Baba Malay are clearly permeated by the idea that recognizing the creole-like nature of Baba Malay would somehow diminish its status, that the idea of a creole as a corrupt, bastard language would endanger the originality of Baba Malay. But the historical circumstances under which Malay women cum Chinese men formed a community, coupled with the syntactic and lexical evidences unearthed throughout this paper clearly point to the direction that Baba Malay should be treated as a creole.

We do not deny that there has always been a stigmatised view against pidgins and creoles. Nevertheless, what continues to fascinate us is that the existence of pidgins and creoles demonstrate the amazing innate capacities of mankind for communication. Two groups of people with absolutely no prior contact could give birth to a distinctively new language which is representative of a unique culture. Baba Malay as a dual-input creole is one such proof of mankind’s linguistic and communicative abilities.

Bibliography

Chua, Felix. 1980. The Babas. Singapore: Times Books International

Grimes, Barbara. 1992. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics

Lim, Sonny. 1981. ‘Baba Malay: The Language of the “Straits-Born” Chinese’. MA Thesis, Monash University

Lim,Sonny. 1988. ‘Baba Malay: The Language of the “Straits-Born” Chinese’ in Papers in Western Austronesian Linguistics No.3. Pacific Linguistics.

Pakir, Anne. 1986. ‘A Linguistic Investigation of Baba Malay’. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Hawaii

Turnbull, CM. 1977. A History of Singapore, 1819-1975. Singapore: Oxford University Press

October 10th 1999 Posted to research paper

source: http://www.longtaizi.org/1999/10/10/creolization-in-baba-malay/

Passivization in street linguistics;)

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Passivization in street linguistics

If there's anything I understood in Syntax 1 last fall, it's passivization. Here's what happens:-

"Passivization is a syntactic process in which the passive morpheme suppresses the external argument and strips off from the verb the ability to license accusative case to its complement. The surface subject is generated as a complement of the verb but moves to the specifier of IP to get nominative case."
-taken from Satoshi Tomioka's lecture notes for Ling609, Fall 2007.

Before you dismiss this as another jargon-laden linguistics entry, let me first try to explain to you what's really happening and illustrate with some examples. Take a normal sentence, for example:-

1) Tempe kicks Jendol.

In the sentence above, the verb "kicks" assigns accusative case to the object NP (Noun Phrase) "Jendol". The subject NP "Tempe" gets nominative case. Let's see what happens when passivization occurs:-

1') Jendol is kicked (by Tempe).

In sentence 1', we can see that the verb has already taken the passive morpheme (underlyingly "-en", "-ed" on the surface), and its ability to assign accusative case has been blown away by the winds of passivization. This motivates the NP "Jendol" to move up to the front to get nominative case. The original subject NP "Tempe" is now in a "by-phrase" and its realization in the surface has become optional.

Lately I have been feeling like a verb undergoing passivization, as though my ability to assign categories to things around me has been stripped off. And like the verb above, the original subject of my existence has become optional and not obligatory. And the object has moved to the front, because of my inability to offer any justification for its existence in its original position (post-verbal). Consequently, I have now become lazy and accepting to anything that comes my way and thus, I am marked with a sign of passivity (not unlike how the passive morpheme marks the verb).

...Ok, maybe the metaphor above is too abstract. Please forget the last paragraph.

Let's get to the real deal now. There is another type of passive sentences in English:-

2) Jendol got kicked (by Tempe)

The passive sentences are known as 1) be-passive and 2) get-passive respectively. They are both used in everyday speech.
In Malay, the standard passive form of is the di-passive, which is exemplified below.

3) Tempe tendang Jendol
Tempe kick Jendol <--- word-by-word translation, also known as glossing
Tempe kicks Jendol.

3') Jendol ditendang (oleh Tempe).
Jendol di-kick by Tempe
Jendol is kicked by Tempe.

Sentence 3 corresponds almost directly to sentence 1' (with the exception of the 'be' verb, of course, as there is no 'be' verb in Malay). One can argue that "di-" is the passive morpheme as it attaches itself to the verb in the passive sentence. However, this is hardly ever used in KL Malay, in which the latter form, I would like to argue, is more ubiquitous (but is frequently unnoticed):-

4') Jendol kena tendang (dengan Tempe).
Jendol affective kick by Tempe
Jendol got kicked by Tempe.

In the passive sentence above, instead of "di-", we see the affective marker "kena" surfacing, indicating that the NP "Jendol" is affected by the action. Comparatively, this looks much more like the get-passive in English.

Interestingly, in Manglish, we sometimes hear the sentence below (I know I used it during my primary school years in La Salle PJ):-

5) He sure kena caught one
He will surely get caught.

Example 5) seems to testify that KL Malay speakers favor the kena-passive more, even to the extent of importing it to English.

I hope more Malay linguists would notice this little thing happening in KL Malay, and do some research on real everyday speech, instead of how Malay speakers are supposed to or thought to speak. In other words, we need more street linguists (with attitude).

Source: http://theelsewherecondition.blogspot.com/2008/02/passivization-in-street-linguistics.html

A Lesson on Semantics 2

"Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on? how then? Can honour set to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honour hath no skill in surgery then? No. What is honour? A word. What is that word, honour? Air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. Is it insensible then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it:- therefore, I'll none of it: Honour is a mere scutcheon, and so ends my catechism." Shakespeare.-King Henry IV. Part I. Act V. Scene 1. (Falstaff.)

What's in a name? that which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet - A Lesson on Semantics

2008/11/18

DEWAN DISPATCHES: Scary economic words to stay clear in staving off the recession

By : Azmi Anshar

DEWAN RAKYAT Nov 18, 2008:

Before the global recession infects Malaysia’s briskly paced economy sometime between April and September next year (according to the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research’s gloomy prediction) and grind growth to a heaving halt (that’s absolute zero to minus zero for us all), the authorities have devised various programmes to circumvent the possibility of an economic battering.

The authorities’ initiatives look like a regular melange of preventive measures for an economic downfall – a RM7 billion stimulus package, boosting consumer spending by decreasing employee EPF deductions by three per cent, freeing RM4.8 billion to be splurged on the either the new smartphone or a new coat of paint for the aging home. Then there are the SMEs scheme to maintain healthy cash flow and the banks’ sensibility in not enforcing the credit crunch.

So, it needs to be blared all over the country: Malaysia is NOT in a recession. The Deputy Finance Minister said so today in the Dewan Rakyat, bolstered by Government statistics that GDP growth last year was 6.3 per cent while in the first quarter of 2008, a smart 7.1 per cent expansion was registered, followed by a healthy 6.3 per cent augmentation in the second quarter.

The Finance Minister was more upbeat last week: After outmanoeuvring the Opposition in trumping the RM7 billion stimulus package as an add-on to Budget 2009, Datuk Seri Najib Razak shrugged off the European banking giant UBS’ forecast that Malaysia would experience zero growth next year and heartily disagreed with MIER’s projection of a recession.

Najib demonstrated gutsy stance in dismissing UBS as “not infallible”, citing them as failing to predict the US sub-prime and banking meltdowns. His cojones to go ahead with his programme is the antidote needed in a high-anxiety economic climate. But as upbeat as he was, Najib still exuded caution, pointing out that the plan will work if “nothing extraordinary” strikes the external economy even as the Government was confident that the 3.5 per cent growth target was attainable with the stimulus package.
Despite his pragmatic position, Najib has gotten the whole economic spending truism spot on too with this visionary declaration: strengthening domestic economy by boosting consumers’ disposable income as the key focus of the RM7 billion stimulus package. Increased domestic consumption will help the nation weather the global recession wreaking havoc on developed nations. Whether Najib learned his financial chops from understudying Dr Mahathir Mohamad in the 22 years of his administration or heeded the consultancy of savvy financial advisers, he’s there in the same book with the spenders. It’s all for the economy.

Granted, stimulus package to spur customer confidence and spending won’t be the one-size-fits-all solution to buttress economic preservation. Some of the execution that the Finance Minister needs to check would include solidifying intra-agency cooperation and cut down turf wars, prod producers/manufacturers to make stuff with quality that’s beyond reproach, market the goods according to revolutionary techniques not taught in business schools and yet spread virally and the clincher, guarantee after-sales services that would compel clients to take you home to mum for a private dinner.

However, you get a feeling that all that is possibly being conceived to stave off the recession is somewhat insufficient. There is the matter of the words politicians, economists, bankers, financiers and money lenders utter or advocate in times of trouble that should never be thought, written or spoken out loud, in the media – scary, frightening economic or economic-related words.

How are such words scary? Here are some “gory” examples: belt-tightening, shelving, prudent, cost-cutting, increased savings, interest rates hike, save for rainy day, high unemployment, banks stop lending, austerity drive, cost-conscious, cutback, stretch ringgit, thrifty.

Every one of these words has a debilitating connotation when used in the right context. “Belt tightening”, “prudent”, “cost-conscious”, “cutback” and “thrifty”, for instance, are words loathed intensely by retailers in hypermarkets, spanking new mega shopping centres and specialists. These troubling words mean consumer cut back on their spending and there goes the bottom line.

“Interest rate hike” means harder loans to borrow by frantic entrepreneurs needing that bridging finance to shoo away the loan sharks, while “shelving” and “austerity drive” is felt like twin taboos in Penang, where the Pakatan Rakyat State Government is desperate for federal funds to kick-start several mega projects to swing the state economy on an upsurge scale.

Yes, they are everyday, mundane words spouted unsparingly, unwittingly and unkindly by ignorant powers-that-be and too-smart-for-their-own-good politicians and consumer advocates as they pass off these words as wisdom, practical advice and useful tips. Before a recession, such words merely irritate but during a recession, it is downright frightening.

The thrust of these words are often simple but fearsomely impactful: it effectively tells consumers, spenders and buyers to lay off or at least cut down (another scary word) the basic, instinctive urge to buy, purchase and acquire material things and services that you take for granted when times are good although in bad times, the inherent argument is that you must continue spending as much as you can. Or everything will go bust! Remember your mum or dad’s sage advice on your spending habits? Save for a rainy day. There is a Malay proverb “prepare an umbrella before the thunderstorm.” It all harks back to your spending habits or the profligate part of it.

Sarah Palin spent more than US$150,000 on luxury clothes for herself and her family as part of her official apparel to look presentable for her US vice-presidential campaign, doomed from the start after it was established that she could not resist her stupefying campaigning ways. The US electorate, on a pro-Barack Obama bent anyway, detested her spending spree but that’s not the point. Because of Sarah Palin, retailers survived cash flow problems, their shops continue to survive the bitter economic onslaught and inspired others like to do the same, and hence the rippling effect it had on the economy, no matter how small and underwhelming on the whole.

Malaysians of the spending type: be wary of politicians, eager-beaver consumerists and parents who warn you incessantly to tighten your belt and be prudent in your spending. The advice will, inadvertently, ruin the economy or dampen it badly enough to be unable to recover when the global upswing recoils positively. Stick with your financial gut instincts. Think like the Finance Minister.

Why do you think the RM7 billion stimulus package is for? Why do you think the EPF has subtly reduced the percentage they cut from your wages? So that you can continue your binge on wine, women, song, food, clothes, shelter, and all the necessary things in life that is not necessarily good for you but for the sake of the economy, it’s good for everyone.

If you are Mr Big Spender or anything like Carrie Bradshaw of Sex and the City, keep on spending…normally. Don’t keep your money in the bank, don’t stuff it in the piggy-bank or slip it under the mattress. SPEND the money but spend it in the way that still leaves you enough to continue binging the next day or the next week, or the next month until your next salary kicks in.

Remember, your local retailer, trader, merchant, sundry shopkeeper, stalls and peddlers depend despairingly on your profligacy, only if it means surviving until the next quarter. Their families, groupies, hangers-on and freeloaders would also depend, on their knees praying, on you too.

Meluaskan Hal-Hal yang Dibicarakan

Mulai hari ini blog ini akan meluaskan bicaranya ke semua perkara berkaitan linguistik dan tidak terhad kepada morfologi dan sintaksis semata-semata; hence apa-apa linguistik or anything linguistics. Right. It's as if I hadn't not done this before. Just look at the post before this. It's about linguistic choice in education. That did not include those about the Olympic Games 2008. Now I am rambling. Must be from all the stress that I am facing at the moment - reading the students' papers and the stuff in the papers, I mean newspapers. I wish all of us can live peacefully ever after, irrespective of race, religion, age, gender, etc etc etc.

Anyhow to the kidz of HBT213 - selamat bercuti dan ambil peluang menggunakan lebuhraya PLUS dan ELITE dari 12 am hingga 7 am supaya anda berupaya menikmati diskaun entah berapa peratus. Dan pastikan kenderaan anda berada dalam keadaan selamat. Begitu juga dengan diri anda. Tidurlah puas-puas dari 7.01am hingga 11.59pm. Belajarlah jadi Count Dracula.

Dan anda boleh kaitkan semua ini dengan Prinsip Kerjasama Grice.

spoon feeding, rote learning, English vs native tongue

Tuesday November 18, 2008

Umno men can change system

WONG Chun Wai’s On the beat column “For our kids’ sake, check the slide,” (Sunday Star, Nov 16) echoes the feelings of many parents but those in power can only sympathise as their hands are politically tied.

Our Prime Minister-in-waiting Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak studied at St Johns and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah studied at Tunku Kushiah College.

Both benefited from English schools and understand the commercial and intellectual values of a solid English education.

In this country, the real power resides in Umno delegates.

Only Umno delegates can give political will to the Education Minister to make drastic changes in the education system.

All they have to do is to pass a resolution calling on the Government to reintroduce English medium schools.

With consensus, the resolution will then be tabled at the Umno Supreme Council which will endorse it for recommendation to the Government.

And who is the Government? It is the same people in Umno who hold government posts.

It will be debated in Parliament where getting it through will not be a problem except for objection by a few opportunists.

The majority of us want the Government to reintroduce English medium schools while retaining vernacular schools.

It is the duty of any government to give the option to the majority and not the minority.

If the the minority want their children to study in vernacular schools, then they should not deny others from studying in English medium schools.

Chun Wai mention 60,000 unemployed graduates because “...many are unable to express themselves, because of poor communications skills (in English) thus limiting their job options...”.

I agree. Look at those Indian-subcontinent graduates who have no problem getting jobs at the United Nations or any UN agencies or in other English speaking countries because they come from an English medium education system.

But Indonesians graduates are only marketable in their own country as they are proud of their national language.

Let’s face reality. Bahasa Malaysia cannot help our students to be competitive in the job market either locally or otherwise.

The fact that they are handicapped in English contribute to their low self-esteem and misery.

And when they work they have a tough time polishing their English so as not to look like fools in the eyes of their bosses, colleagues and foreign executives.

My son obtained 5A’s in his UPSR. But I notice he couldn’t converse fluently in English compared to my in-law’s son who was a Grade One student in the International School in Romania.

His general knowledge could put our undergraduates to shame.

Having a good grasp of English, he is a prolific reader.

He has since grown up and is now one of Malaysia’s brightest diplomats.

The syllabus of an International School covers world history, geography and English literature.

Their approach is one of acquiring knowledge and creativity whereas our Sekolah Kebangsaan is one of spoon-feeding, rote learning and getting a string of A’s but not knowledge.

One reason why the youths of today are restless and aimless is because they are unable to channel their energy to knowledge due to lack of English.

In the old days, the British Council and USIS were full of students.

Today the British Council and bookshops selling the latest best-sellers from US and Britain are patronised by adults and a sprinkling of English-speaking students.

The rest of the youths either hang out in the malls or become Mat Rempits as they can’t even read English newspapers.

It is a pity. Once upon a time the poor could study at government English schools.

Today only the rich can send their children to International Schools.

HASSAN TALIB,

Gombak, Selangor.

Thanx Eileen;)

source : http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/11/18/focus/2570335&sec=focus

when there's a wheel...

Pemandu teksi terima sarjana

SYABAS... ISHAK Ismail menunjukkan isyarat bagus selepas menerima Ijazah Sarjana Komunikasi Korporat pada Konvokesyen Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, semalam.

KUALA LUMPUR 19 Okt. – Iltizam untuk menjadi idola kepada lima anaknya membakar semangat seorang pemandu teksi, Ishak Ismail, 56, untuk meneruskan pelajaran sehingga ke peringkat ijazah sarjana.

Hari ini, impiannya itu menjadi kenyataan apabila beliau menerima ijazah Sarjana Komunikasi Korporat dari Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Serdang pada Majlis Konvokesyen UPM Ke-32 di sini.

Semangat Ishak untuk menimba ilmu terus menyala dan selama 13 tahun memandu teksi di sekitar Shah Alam, beliau sentiasa berfikir untuk mengisi setiap masa terluang dengan perkara yang berfaedah.

‘‘Saya sedar peringkat usia saya agak tua berbanding mahasiswa lain tetapi berbekalkan kelulusan Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM), saya nekad sambung belajar peringkat ijazah pada tahun 2002,’’ katanya ketika ditemui selepas majlis konvokesyen itu di sini hari ini.

Sebaik sahaja menamatkan pengajian ijazah dalam bidang komunikasi dua tahun lepas, datuk kepada tiga orang cucu ini meneruskan pengajian ke peringkat Sarjana Komunikasi Korporat.

Kejayaan hari ini, katanya, adalah berkat doa dan sokongan moral yang diberikan oleh isteri dan keluarga.

Justeru, jelasnya, pengorbanan keluarganya itu tidak akan dipersia-siakan kerana selepas ini, beliau tidak lagi akan menjadi pemandu teksi.

‘‘Cukuplah selama 13 tahun saya jadi pemandu teksi. Saya mahu mengubah kehidupan kami sekeluarga.

‘‘Cuma kenangan manis sepanjang menjadi pemandu teksi tidak akan dilupakan kerana sewaktu menunggu penumpang, itulah masanya saya mentelaah,’’ katanya yang belajar selama dua jam setiap hari.

Beliau berkata, tiga daripada lima orang anaknya kini berjaya menjejakkan kaki ke menara gading.

Menurutnya, berbekalkan ijazah sarjana yang ada di tangannya itu, beliau bersedia untuk menjadi pensyarah sambilan jika ditawarkan oleh mana-mana institusi pengajian tinggi.

http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2008&dt=1020&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Muka_Hadapan&pg=mh_02.htm
Utusan Online 20Oct2008 Rabu/Wednesday

http://www.comcol.umass.edu/dbc/pdfs/Reece_LitReview.pdf

Have a look at this page and see how an essay is written.

http://www.comcol.umass.edu/dbc/pdfs/Reece_LitReview.pdf

ini ada gambaq ghaya lagi.. sumber rahsia, tp u kno hu u r;)

diz iz wat apen wen d blogr iz in d wel - kopi n pes

gud 2 c al uv u ad fun 4 d raya do... op al wil b fine 4 d exam, n nt b in d wel like me... now deepavalli tak daq ke, bharati, punita, vani amcm????

sumber: http://lovingkuroneko.blogspot.com/

Untuk Pelajar yang Berminat Sambung ke Program MA

Salam sejahtera,

Sukacita dimohon maklumat ini dihebahkan kepada semua pelajar tahun akhir untuk menghadiri satu sesi taklimat program
Headstart bagi mendapat maklumat seperti:-

a) Program Ijazah Tinggi di PPIK
M.A dan Ph.D (mod campuran dan mod penyelidikan)

b) Bantuan kewangan yang boleh dipohon


Sesi taklimat ini akan diadakan pada:-

Tarikh : 24 Oktober 2008 (Jumaat)
Jam : 3:00 - 5:00 petang
Tempat : Dewan Mesyuarat, PPIK

Penceramah: Prof. Madya Sohaimi Abdul Aziz, dan
Wakil dari Institut Pengajian Siswazah

Saya mohon agar maklumat berkenaan taklimat ini dihebahkan kepada semua pelajar tahun akhir ijazah pertama.

Sekian, terima kasih.



b/p Prof Madya Sohaimi Abdul Aziz
Timbalan Dekan
Pengajian Siswazah & Penyelidikan

lukn @ diz..mek mi tink had

"bertungkus-lumus...we drown in rajah pohon" bt d ting iz leh lak pozn sakan bg nk rak.. rofl ... mst b ade baywac lifegad ni...

sebagai menampung FASA 1

Rabu: 8 Oktober 2008. DKB 8-9 pagi.

Pastikan anda bawa kertas dan alat tulis lain yang mencukupi. Tidak dibenarkan berkongsi.

now all can read :)

http://vincentlivesforfood.blogspot.com

PPIK BERBUKA PUASA: MASJID USM 25 OKT 2008

Adalah dengan ini diumumkan bahawa PPIK akan menjadi tuan rumah untuk berbuka puasa hari ini.

Dengan itu, SEMUA diwajekkan pi makan friiiiiiiiiiiii waktu berbuka hari ni di masjid USM, and kali ni sapa yang tak daq seluaq, p la pinjam kaen cadaq sapa2...

sebagai bukti, gambaq anda p makan di masjed mlm ni WAJIB ada ngan tagheh dan waktu tercatat di gambaq ngan teghang...

AP bel83d bday, anak pak jamil!!!

i baked this personally using my virtual kitchen. hope you like the taste. if you want it, you can go to secret recipe, and pay for it yourself;...) OR you can make it yourself. i can tell you it IS heavenly delicious.....

HERSHEY'S "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water
• "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING(recipe follows)

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.

VARIATIONS:
ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.


"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

saws: http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipes/detail.asp?id=184

hmmnn...mana p yang laen, noo...????

luk yummy.....

Pesanan dari Kumpulan Kitar Semula USM,

Assalamualaikum dan salam sejahtera,



Menjelang Aidilfitri yang bakal menjelma ini, menjadi amalan sesama kita
untuk menghantar kad ucapan kepada rakan-rakan taulan serta saudara.
Tidak kurang juga amalan sebegini dalam kalangan jabatan, unit dan pusat
pengajian.

Oleh yang demikian, kami dari kumpulan kitar semula ingin menyarankan
untuk anda yang belum menghantarkan kad ucapan supaya memulakan amalan
menghantar kad ucapan maya 'e-card' sebagai alternatif yang lebih mesra
alam daripada kad ucapan 'hard copy' seiring dengan saranan universiti
kita ke arah kelestarian.

- Mesej dari Kumpulan Kitar semula USM (USM Household Recycling Team)

Reevany Bustami, Ph.D.
Timbalan Dekan / Deputy Dean
Akad dan Pembangunan Pelajar / Acad & Students Dev
Pusat Pengajian Sains Kemasyarakatan
/ School of Social Sciences
Universiti Sains Malaysia
No. Tel : 604-6533361
No. Fax : 604-657091

versi baru RP;), nt RAP ye..

sos/sauce/source:tst;)

Salam dari MIROS - don't be a stat, ape2 jadi bio slamat!!!

MIROS (Institut Penyelidikan Keselamatan Jalan Raya Malaysia) ingin
mengucapkan kesejahteraan Hari Raya Aidil Fitri.

Dalam keseronokan kita balik ke kampung berhari-raya, ingat bahawa kita
semua mampu mengubah kedudukan keselamatan jalan raya kita.

“Wahai para pemandu, memandu adalah amanah, oleh itu tunaikanlah amanah
dengan sempurna dan janganlan pengabaian amanah mengakibatkan kematian
dan kecederaan diri sendiri, orang lain, terutamanya mereka yang
tersayang di dalam kenderaan anda.”


“Wahai para ahli keluarga, dan para penumpang bas, pastikan yang memandu
menjalankan amanah dengan baik. Mainkan peranan anda.”


“ANDA MAMPU MENGUBAHNYA”


DENGAN USAHA KITA, SEMOGA KITA DILINDUNGI DARI MENJADI STATISTIK
KEMALANGAN JALAN RAYA

SELAMAT HARI RAYA DAN MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN

Salam dari MIROS





Professor Dr. Ahmad Farhan Mohd Sadullah

Director General
Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS)
Lot 125-135, Jalan TKS 1, Taman Kajang Sentral
43000 Kajang, Selangor
Tel: +603 8924 9200
Fax: +603 8733 2005
e-mail: farhan@miros.gov.my
web: www.miros.gov.my

JIKA ADA SOALAN, LETAKKAN DI 'comments' POS INI

Jika anda ada soalan tentang bahagian sintaksis, sila letakkan di bahagian 'comments' pos ini.

Tetapi untuk soalan bahagian semantik, sila tanya terus kepada Dr. Goh, ye.

wat 2 se? ingrish blong 2 ol ma..

Thursday September 11, 2008

What a howling shame

ALONG THE WATCHTOWER
By M.VEERA PANDIYAN

We cannot just stand by and watch idly as the standard of English competency continues to slide.

BAD English (I certainly don’t mean the rock band) provides good laughs among Malay-sians. We tend to titter over badly constructed sentences, grammatical blunders and malapropisms.

We are also not expected to take pains to speak proper English among friends.

If we do, chances are someone is likely to chide in Manglish: “Wah, your England so powderful!”

As such, the much-blogged about advertorial on the conferment of an honorary doctorate was deemed to be highly hilarious. As a howler, it takes the cake.

But seriously, it is no matter of mirth. The citation published by an English daily on Aug 23 – no doubt inadvertently – is a clear reflection of how low our standard of English has fallen to.

What’s more appalling is that the atrocious use of the language came from a university.

And one that bears the name of the country’s illustrious third Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn, whose son is the current Minister of Education.

With apologies to recipient of the doctorate, Her Royal Highness Raja Zarith Sofiah (who happens to be a fellow columnist in The Star), here are some excerpts:

Yang Amat Mulia Raja Zarith Sofiah binti Almarhum Sultan Idris Al-Mutawakil Alallahi Shah has born on 14th of August 1959 in Hospital Batu Gajah, Perak.

YAM Raja Zarith is a third son to Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Sultan Perak Darul Ridzwan and Duli Yang Maha Mulia Raja Mazuwin binti Almarhum Raja Arif Shah.

In the month of September 1972, YAM Raja Zarith Sofiah have set forth to England for further education in Chaltenham Ladies College, Gloucester-shire to form six.

Then, YAM continue learning it in Davies College London in September 1977 and his following year in receive enter to Somerville College, London after having passed Oxford Entrance Examination.

After graduated at Oxford University with Bachelor of Art in June 1983 and follow the traditional University of Oxford, YAM Raja Zarith will receive Master of Art after three years in 1986.

YAM also is a linguist follow several courses including language Mandarin at the tertiary level, French and Italy language.

As his father, YAM Raja Zarith is a person that talented in picture arts. Refinement of soul, YAM always watching natural beauty environment immortalize in the form photograph and painting to make look and reference.

YAM performance become guide to deliver the message education to general public. YAM concern on women and natural world and it custody aspect in become deep theme in painting.

And that’s just a part of it. One cannot imagine the anguish and embarrassment suffered by the learned princess as a result of its publication.

It was obviously written by someone trying to translate the original citation in Bahasa Malaysia without having any basic grounding in English, the difference between genders included.

Of late, there has been much bickering over the teaching of science and mathematics in English. The more compelling issue is the rueful state of English and its continuing downslide.

What is the competency level of teaching and using English in schools, colleges and varsities out there? Can they speak English without errors in grammar or pronunciation? Or write decent paragraphs without bloopers?

We need honest answers and the Education Ministry’s policy wonks must be sincere in accepting that it is a grim problem.

We cannot seriously hope to earn respect as an educational hub, if the command of our English continues to be lampooned.

It is indisputable that English is the lingua franca of science and technology, global business and ICT. Young Malaysians have no other choice but get a better grasp of it to understand the world and the future that it holds for them.

Over the past weeks, some have suggested bringing back English medium schools as a solution, noting the language competency among older ministers and senior civil servants who went to such schools. But that is wishful thinking.

There is nothing wrong with progressing with the National Language in the long-term advantage of unifying all Malaysians, although many ministers, MPs and top government officers are inclined to send their own children to international schools and tertiary education abroad.

Given such hypocrisy, there shouldn’t be so much narrow mindedness and jingoism linked to the usage of Bahasa Malaysia at the expense of English. Gnashing teeth over this just to score political points can only result in Malaysians lagging further behind.

It has been 11 years since the Education Ministry set up two high-powered panels to plan programmes to improve proficiency levels among secondary school and university students.

Among the strategies were better training and development of teachers, progressive teaching and learning methods, diversifying resources, innovative testing systems, effective monitoring and research and development.

It is plain that these plans have not worked. We have to wake up to reality and catch up with the rest.

Associate Editor M. Veera Pandiyan likes this assertion by 1992 Nobel laureate Derek Walcott: “The English Language is nobody’s special property. It is the property of imagination: it is the property of the language itself.”

sauce;) http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/11/columnists/alongthewatchtower/20080911073517&sec=along

gracias eileen!