FACULTY:

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND LANGUAGES

SEMESTER / YEAR:

SEMESTER JANUARY 2015

COURSE CODE:

HBEL 3303

LINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGE TEACHING

MATRICULATION NO : 781117065006001

IDENTITY CARD NO. : 781117065006

TELEPHONE NO. : 019- 4355002

E-MAIL : emyridz@gmail.com

LEARNING CENTRE : PERAK LEARNING CENTER

1. Introduction

The use of English all the way through many countries today was the consequence of the

British Empire who once conquered 1/3 of the world that lead to colonization, migration and

settlement in other parts of the world and was later dominated by the momentum of United

States of America (Rajandran, 2011). The internationalization of English can be recognized

to the political and economic power of its users (Crystal, 1997:7-8). This lead to the

perception of it having a high status in cultural, scientific, technological fields which resulted

in globalized language (Leitner, 1992:186). Due to this wide spread, countries which have

taken up English as a second or foreign language do not follow the mold of Standard English

but create their own home varieties where the language is nativized. Nativize here means to

modify in conformity with local customs or usages (Merriam-Webster, 2012). These second

language English speakers are more comfortable using these different varieties of English

because they are more recognizable with it and these varieties are becoming the suitable

model for each respective country (Thirusanku & Md. Yunus, 2012).

Malaysia is one of the countries where English is adopted as a second language. The

British colonization introduced English to the Malay Peninsula and it held an important

position of being the official language at that time. Over the years, English held different

statuses of importance but was not completely unnoticed. Because of this, many English

words were adopted into Bahasa Malaysia to broaden the lexis of Malay (McArthur, 2003).

English is also being nativized by the usage of Malay words in English to compensate for the

lack of words to describe proper or correct culturally specific ideas resulting in what is

known as Malaysian English (Thirusanku & Md. Yunus, 2012).

2. English in Malaysia

The position of English has been at a defining moment in Malaysia with the debate of its use

and importance across over centuries. The British colonization of the Malay Peninsula in

1786 has made English the official language by using the language in administration,

government, commerce as well as education. This status altered when Malaysia gained

independence in 1957 where English had to coexist with Malay as the official language but

with the view that English will be phased out in 10 years (Thirusanku & Md. Yunus, 2012).

In 1967, English was relegated to be used only as a second language instead of an alternate

official language when the Language Act was passed and Malay became the dominant

language in Malaysia (Subramaniam, 2007). Then in the mid 1990s, the government saw that

English was important for Malaysia to be competitive in the international arena and thus

reintroduced English especially for technical subjects and remained as an important language

until today (Thirusanku & Yunus, 2012). The existence of English at the side of Malay has

led to many Malay words being borrowed from English such as bag (bag), akaun (account),

botani (botany), ekologi (ecology) and kalendar (calendar) (Burhanudeen et al., 2007),

borrowings which allow for the Malay lexis to grow.

Malaysian English (ME), the variety of English that exists in Malaysia, is a product of

nativization where words from Malay are included into the English language to better convey

messages especially when there are no exact words in English to describe a culturally specific

idea. These borrowings vary according to social and racial background of the speakers as

wells as different political, economic and cultural demands that enables the speakers to

communicate socially and informally. ME also tend to have distinct phonology, socially

grounded lexical items and syntactic structure that gives the speakers a sense of identity

(Subramaniam, 2007; Rajandran, 2011; Thirusanku & Yunus, 2012). Even though the formal

ME differs slightly from Standard British English especially in terms of phonology, ME is

still thought to be a ‘corrupt’ lower prestige language because of these differences (Ahmad

Mahir & Silahudin Jarjis, 2007).

Since English is prevalent in Malaysia, the masses have freely borrowed English

words and used them with their Malay language that they use to communicate which almost

everyone in Malaysia understands and this is the basilect form of the language or also known

as “bahasa rojak” which is the mixture of two or more languages. In this form, English words

are assimilated into the Malay lexicon even though there is an equivalent in Malay. This

might be due to the association with English that is considered a prestige language (Abu

Bakar, 2009). The English words are sometimes wholly borrowed and imported to expand the

Malay lexicon or sometimes the English words have a shift in meaning when they are used in

different contexts (Abdul Rahim & Awab, 2008; Thirusanku & Yunus, 2012).

Changes in meaning are made to the English words to suit the Malay language used

by the speakers instead of holding on to its original meaning because as stated by Haley

(1997 as cited in Abdul Rahim & Awab, 2008), words are “culture prototype”. This means

that the changes to the form of the English language and its use would only makes sense in

that particular culture and group of speakers even though the form is not grammatically

correct or have developed different meanings (Abu Bakar, 2009). However, this variety is

frowned upon by language purist because they perceive it as a threat to the national language

and identity where English words are liberally used in Malay. These authoritative figures also

deem the use of English as corrupting and degrading the standard form of Bahasa Malaysia,

the same argument used against the usage of Malay words in English (Abdul Rahim & Awab,

2008).

3. The Findings

According to Fromkin and Rodman (1993), knowing a language means knowing what sounds

are in that particular language and what sounds are not. This subconscious knowledge of the

language is revealed when a speaker pronounces sounds from another language. For example,

if a person is a native-speaker of English, he may substitute English sounds for sounds which

are not familiar to him. This is also true in cases of intonation patterns.

Stress

Malay and English have different stress patterns. Thomson (1996) pointed out that English is

a stress-timed language. Stress is important and has its own functions in the language. Native

speakers of English more often than not, rely on the stress patterns (and intonation) to infer

and identify meanings of words or utterances because different stress could mean differently.

The stress syllables in an English sentence occur at regular intervals. They are usually longer

and louder than the unstressed, often with a higher pitch. The unstressed syllables must be

made to fit in-between the stressed syllables and do not disturb or change the “beat” or

“rhythm”. The unstressed syllables are reduced and said quickly and quietly.

However, Malay, being a syllable-timed language, the stress falls in the same place in the

sentence each time, making it predictable. Juliah (1993) stated that stress does exist in Malay,

but it does not have any particular significant function. The stressed syllables are generally

produced with equal length and loudness. According to Platt and Weber (1980), in a syllable-

timed rhythm, “all syllables, stressed or unstressed, recur at equal interval of time, such as

–’or —’ extending up to —–’.”

Stress in Malay

Stress does not play an important role in Malay. Ramish (1971) says that (as cited in Suhaila,

1994) Malay words are not distinguished by the contrast of stress. Malay speakers do not

depend on stress to give emphasis, but they change the word order to do it. However,

intonation does have its own part in Malay utterances. It is used in spoken Malay mainly to

express emotions and attitudes. The patterns may differ from English intonation. Checketts

(1993) stated that Malay speakers who speak English have the tendency not to use the rising

tone, such in English, to signal lists or sequences of verbs. In addition to that, a rising tone is

always used at the end of a statement or list.

In terms of attitudinal function of intonation, the stress could fall almost anywhere in an

utterance, depending on what is emphasised. A rising, falling, falling-rising and rising-falling

tones are used somehow quite differently from English. As an example given by Checketts

(1993), in giving a list of items, Malay speakers of English tend to use a falling tone with

each item. Due to the differences, English as second language learners, specifically Malay

students whose mother tongue is Malay, encounter difficulties in acquiring the correct

patterns of English intonation and stress patterns.

Malay Language Have No Tenses

The major reason why the Malays find it difficult to learn English is because of the tenses. In

Malay language, there is no such thing as tenses. So, if in English you say things like "I  go to

school" and "I went to school" to denote different times, in Malay you simply say

"Saya pergi ke sekolah" for both. Time makes no difference at all. In Malay, the notion of

time is not as important as in English and it doesn't alter the verb in any way. If you want to

use "had", just use the word "sudah" and you're done.

Differ in Subject Verb Agreement

The English language puts a particular emphasize on the subject-verb agreement. In fact, in

some schools you spend weeks learning this.The reason why Malay speakers often make the

subject-verb agreement errors is simple because such thing doesn't exist in Malay. So if you

say "The student sings" but "Your kids sing" -- where a single noun has a single verb and

plural noun has a plural verb, you could simply say "Pelajar itu menyanyi" and "Anak

anda menyanyi". And like I mentioned above, the verb stays the same even when it is past

tense -- "Your kids sang" still is "Anak anda menyanyi"

The Number of Speaker

In English, you say "I am", or "she is" or "they are" -- which means, who and the number of

people doing the action is important. In Malay, there's no such thing. All the "verb be"

above can be substituted as "adalah". So:

I am = Saya adalah

She is = Dia adalah

They are = Mereka adalah

"I am a student" could be just "I student" -- translated as "Saya pelajar".

"She is a student" becomes "She student" -- "Dia pelajar"

"They are students becomes "They student" -- "Mereka pelajar"

Confusing Singular-Plural Forms

The English language puts a great deal of emphasize of the singular or plurality of the noun.

You turn most singular nouns into plural simply by adding 's' to the end.

baby -- becomes babies

hoof -- becomes hooves

axis -- becomes axes

and other nouns like:

news - looks plural but is always singular as in "The news is depressing"

information - the plural and singular is the same.

This really confuses the Malays. In Malay language, the singular and plural are different.

Here are some examples:

news - Singular is "berita". Plural is "berita-berita"

baby - Singular is "bayi". Plural is "bayi-bayi"

potato - Singular is "kentang". Plural is "kentang-kentang"

Words with different meaning in Malaysian English

Some words and phrases used in Malaysia have different meanings than in British or

American English.This is a compilation of some of the English words that are used in Bahasa

Malaysia and with meanings that differ from the original meaning of the word.

Bahasa Malaysia (Malay language) VS English in Different Meaning.

1. Best

The meaning of the superlative best has been changed to mean something is good or

worthwhile instead of a comparison to something else as illustrated in the following

examples:

“aku tengok movie semalam,best…” (translated…Yesterday, I saw the movie,best…)

2. Blur

Blur is originally associated with something being vague or making something to

become vague, dim or indistinct. The Malaysian speakers’ use blur to describe the state

of a person or themselves as having no clue as to what is going on or generally bored or

uninterested. This essentially changes the original form of the word from a verb or noun

to an adjective as seen in the following examples:

“ Saya tengok awak blur jer today.”

(translated…I see you blur today..)

3. Budget

Apart from having the same meaning in English, budget here has also developed another

meaning which means that a person thinks of him/herself in a way that is not generally

agreed by others as found in the following examples:

“…kau ni budget la..” translated…..You are budget or in English means proud..

4. Bumper

The speed bump is commonly known as a bumper, which refers to different things in its

original meaning which does not include the current definition given by Malaysians such

as in the following examples:

…jaga-jaga bumper tinggi tu…(translated…becareful of the high bumper…)

…bumper ko besar,hahaha…(translated that bumper refer to the big buttock!)

5. Last-last

The word last is repeated to mean “in the end” instead of signaling time or position. This

can be seen in the following examples:

…saya ingat dah siap,last-last tak habis-habis lagi…The word last-last in the sentence

means that the person still did not finished his/her work.

6. Pick up

Pick up gives the impression that something is grasped or gain which can be applied to

many different contexts. The use of pick up in Malay gives almost the same meaning but

it has only one specific context which is to signal that someone is somewhat slow on the

uptake. This is illustrated in the following examples:

…kau ni pick up lambat la…(translated..Your pick up is slow…) actually, that’s means

pick up and slow have the same meaning, SLOW!

7. Power

Power generally means that someone or something has a quality that is really good and is

admired by others because of it as shown in the following examples:

…suara kau power la…translated as your voice is power…

8. Terror

Instead of describing something to be terrifying, terror here has almost the same meaning

and usage with power and can be interchangeably used but this is based on the discretion

of the speaker who would know when it is appropriate to use power or terror. Some of

the examples are:

“Terror betul,dapat tangkap ular hidup-hidup.”

9. Slack

Slack here means that a person is giving someone else a disapproving look, usually

without the recipient knowing the reason why they are given the look as in the examples

below:

“Annoyed tak if ada unknown person tiba tiba pandang slack kat kita?”Translated as…it is annoyed if an unknown person looks slack at us…

10. Corner

The final example of an English word used in Malay that has developed a different

meaning is corner. Here it means to take a turn at using the steering wheel instead of it

being something at the edge of a connecting line. The examples are:

“Jaga-jaga corner tajam tu”…translated as “be careful the sharp corner”.

The ‘corner’ refer to the winding road.

Word /

Phrase

Malaysian meaning American / British meaning

parking lot parking space parking garage (US)

photostat a photocopier; also used

as a verb meaning "to

photocopy"

a historical copying machine using a camera

and photographic paper, which was

superseded by the photocopier.

See Photostat machine.

flat low-cost apartment or flat apartment (US)

apartment medium-cost apartment

or flat

flat (UK)

condominiu

m

high-cost apartment or

flat

commonhold (UK)

to follow to accompany, e.g. "Can

I follow you?" meaning

"Can I come with you?"

or, "I will follow you."

meaning "I will come with

you."

to go after or behind, e.g. "The police car was

following me."

to revert to come back (reply) to

someone, e.g. "I had

sent our clients an email

this morning, but they

have yet to revert."

to return to a previous state, e.g. "We reverted

to our initial plan of hosting the party in a

restaurant."

to send to take someone

somewhere, e.g. "Can

you send me to the

airport?"

to cause something to go somewhere without

accompanying it, e.g. "I sent this letter to my

grandma."

blur condition of a person

who is dazed, confused,

appears mentally slow,

e.g. "You look very blur

right now, take a break."

vague, visually indistinct, e.g. "Everything is

just a blur when I take my spectacles off."

Words only used in Malaysian English

Malaysian English has its own vocabulary which comes from a variety of influences.

Typically, for words or phrases that are based on other English words, the Malaysian English

speaker may be unaware that the word or phrase is not present in British or American

English.

Malaysian British / American

handphone (often abbreviated

to HP)

mobile phone or cell phone

public telephone or public

phone

payphone

Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian

Indian

Chinese Malaysian, Indian Malaysian

keep in view (often abbreviated

to KIV)

kept on file, held for further consideration

MC (medical certificate) sick note, aegrotat

mee (from Hokkien word mi) noodles

bank in (cheque) deposit a cheque (UK) / deposit a check (US)

Between Manglish and English:

I wan Manglish lah… coz… English should prevail because…

* It sounds ‘fake’ for Malaysians to speak proper EnglishMany Manglish speakers worry that if they talk properly, their friends will think that they are putting on airs. ‘Why you tok liedat ah?’ ‘You ting you are a matsalleh, is it?’

* Speaking Manglish makes you sound uneducated“That one no good oledi!” How are you supposed to impress people if you walk about saying things like that? At a job interview, you will die-lah.What happens if you have business overseas with foreigners? They will all laugh at the way you speak. It’s not that difficult to speak properly with a bit of effort, so why sound uneducated?

*If you speak proper English, many Malaysians won’t understandAfter all, there are many people in Malaysia who have an extremely limited grasp of English. If you use bombastic words and phrases (like ‘bombastic’), they will not understand. So to be understood, you need to speak Manglish.

* Manglish isn’t even EnglishManglish can be classified as a pidgin or creole language, a simplified form of English mixed with Malay and Chinese, which is becoming (or has become) a separate language from standard English.

* Language is a communication toolThe purpose of language is to communicate. Manglish actually helps people to communicate better because it is easier to understand. Even in the world of business, people give presentations and write reports in Manglish.

* Manglish prevents Malaysia from being competitiveThe reason the Malaysian government encourages the use of English is to boost the nation’s competitiveness. However, Manglish has exactly the opposite effect. For example, call centres in Cyberjaya are shutting down and moving to other countries because overseas callers are fed up with hearing ‘no-lah’ and ‘ya-lah’ when they call up with a technical problem. Meanwhile, Countries like Thailand, Korea and China are succeeding in raising the level of English over there.

* It’s better to speak broken English than not speak English at allPeople who speak Manglish are trying their best. Just because their English isn’t perfect, you shouldn’t judge them. After all, the Government is trying to improve the standard of English in the country and everyone needs to do their part.

* Even if Manglish is okay for spoken English, it is not appropriate for written EnglishIt is not realistic to use words like ‘oledi’ and ‘liedat’ in written English Imagine what the newspapers would be like if the whole country could only understand Manglish!

* Malaysians have a right to speak their own kind of EnglishIn America, people speak American English. In Australia, people speak Australian English. What’s wrong with Malaysians speaking Malaysian English? After all, every country has its own slang

* If you learn Manglish, you will never improve your EnglishOnce you get into the habit of speaking broken English, it is really difficult to speak proper English. It’s better to learn correct English from scratch.

and accent. For example, Americans say cellphone, Brits say mobile phone and Malaysians say handphone. What’s wrong with that?* Manglish has become part of Malaysian culture and heritageManglish has become something we can be proud of. Why try to hide it? It’s part of our cultural heritage. And it’s something that all Malaysians can participate in, no matter which ethnicity. Muhibbah! Plus tourists think it’s cute when they hear people saying lah all the time.

* To communicate effectively, you need to speak properlyManglish is a simplified form of English. To express yourself well, you need to understand the nuances and subtleties of English. Imagine if Shakespeare had spoken Manglish. Instead of ‘Romeo, wherefore art thou?’ it would be ‘Eh, Lomeo, you where-ah?’

4. The Studies of Malaysian English and Standard English in Malaysia.

There are a range of studies conducted on the use of Malaysian as well as Standard English

in Malaysia. A study conducted by Noriah et al (2006) exposed Malaysian people first choice

on the use of Malaysian English compared to Standard English in their casual conversation.

An evaluation shows that Malay speakers speak Malay mostly but they have a tendency to

code switch when speaking either by using single English words or phrases or entire English

clauses. Hafriza Burhanudeen (2003) also finds that Malay speakers like to code switch

between Malay and English. It is unclear whether professionals code switch less. It appears

that the phenomenon was almost like a norm and it occurred at different interceptions in their

interactions. Even though bilingualism promotes a sense of esteem and pride in cultures and

languages learnt (Ovando and Collier; 2:1985), still it may involve equal competency or

unequal competency (Rosli Talif and Ain Nadzimah; 201: 2000) among its speakers. In

addition, it would indeed be idealistic to demand equal command of two languages. Thus, it

is similar with the case of using Malaysian English. As English is a universal language and

belongs to everyone, Asian countries like Malaysia, Singapore, etc. can follow the Americans

and Australians in adapting the language according to their own circumstances and cultures.

Malaysian English has a sentimental touch to the Malaysians; it “belongs uniquely to them”.

(Wong & Thambyrajah, 1991)

5. Conclusion

As a conclusion, the progress of ME need not be hindered by any assumptions on Native

Speakers’ (NS) records of standardization. What has been implied as ‘Manglish’ or ‘Mangled

English’ or ‘Broken English’ by McArthur (11: 1998) is totally unacceptable. ME, like other

existing varieties can be standardized to cater the present needs of the speech community and

global development. In fact, it can be an equally important partner in the expansion and

enrichment of English. Malaysian English has a sentimental touch to the Malaysians; it

“belongs uniquely to them”. (Wong & Thambyrajah, 1991) More significantly, varieties

replicate the cultures of their speakers and this is another cause of difference between

varieties, as the ways cultural norms are expressed as a result differ across varieties.

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