Academic ExercisesIn M8I8y Studies

THE LANGUAGE OF THE EDITORIALSIN MALAY VERNACULAR

NEWSPAPERS UP TO 1941

Mohd. Taib bin Osman

DAN PUSTAKA

THE LANGUAGE OF THE EDITORIALS IN MALAY

VERNACULAR NEWSPAPERS UP TO 1941

(A study in the Development of the Mala yLanguage in meeting New Needs)

An Academic Exercise in Fulfilment of the Requirementsfor the B.A. (Honours) Degree In Malay Studies

University of Malaya. Singapore . 1958

by

MOHD. TAIB BIN OSMAN

I(P

JB 1724DEWAN BAHASA DAN PUSTAKA

KEMENTER IAN P ELAJARAt" MALAYSIA

KUALA LIDIPUR

1966

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

FOREWORD V

INTRODUCTION ix

I Aim and Purpose of the Study ixII Choice of Editorials ix

III Choice of Period xIV Scope and Method xV Limitations xi

VI Acknowledgements xiiABBREVIATIONS xiv

CHAPTER ONE: ENGLISH ELEMENTS IN VOCABULARYI Direct Borrowing of English Words 1

II Further Uses of English Words 5III Borrowed Words in Malay Grammatical System 6IV The Introduction of English Words 7V English Words in Jawi 8

VI General Observations and Conclusion 9

CHAPTER TWO: ARABIC ELEMENTS IN VOCABULARYI · Words Adapted to Convey Current Ideas 11

II Stylistic Use of Words and Phrases 14III Words Extended in their Meaning 15IV Compound Words 16V General Observations and Conclusion 16

CHAPTER THREE: NATIVE ELEMENTS IN VOCABULARYI Extension in Meaning of Words 19

II The Use of Affixes 22III Specialisation in Meaning of Words 23IV Creating New Words Through Compounding 24V Translation 25

VI Further Process of Word Creation ThroughEnglish 27

VII Use of Explanatory Phrases 28VIII General Observations and Conclusion 28

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CHAPTER FOUR: MODE OF EXPRESSION

I The Early Phase ...II The Second Phase (1907-1930)

III The Last Phase (The Thirties)IV General Observations and Conclusion

30333538

40CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 'A' Extracts from Some of the Editorials ofthe Period 44

APPENDIX 'B' Short Biographical Sketches of Some of theLeading Journalists of the Period 79

APPENDIX 'C' (i) Primary Sources ...(ii) Secondary Sources and References

(iii) General Bibliography

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848789

INTRODUCTION

1. Aim and Purpose of the Study

THIS academic exercise is a study of the language of the editorials(or leading articles) in Malay vernacular newspapers from thesecond last decade of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of thePacific War (December 1941). The chief aim of this study is toexamine how the Malay language had been developed by theMalay journalists of the period to meet the needs of the changingworld. The source for the study of such development of the Malay;language is best provided by newspapers as there was a conspicuouslack of books on general knowledge during the period under dis­cussion. Journalists, in order to bring their readers up-to-date,had to develop the language to meet modern journalistic require,ments.

This study is confined to newspapers; thus it excludes periodicalspictorial weeklies, and others of the kind. On the other hand, itis not confined to dailies only; it includes all that can be classifiedas newspapers.!

II. Choice of Editorials

The writer has restricted himself to editorials or leading articlesin the newspapers and used these as the basis for this study. Fromthe view-point of the study of language , editorials or leading articlesperhaps best serve the purpose, for apart from being a distinctmedium of self-expression, editorials are written with deliberationand care, especially in the use of words and the mode of presenta­tion. The news section, which is usually hard-pressed for time,may not have such opportunity. Thus, the choice between coin­ing a new word or straightaway borrowing a foreign word will be

I. The writer adopts the following criteria as guides:-a) The self-identification of the paper itself-whether akhbar (surat khabar)

or Majallah etc.b) The newspaper contains the latest news and in the case of weeklies,

the presentation is not in digest form .c) In newspapers priority is given to news rather than other features­

that is, the emphasis is on presentation of news, not special features.

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much affected. As for the advertisements, the text may be suppliedby the advertiser concerned and thus is not the actual work of theeditor.

III. Choice of PeriodThe choice of period is by no means an arbitrary one. The

growth of the Malay press during this period had been one ofcontinuous progress, each newspaper having the same outlook andworking within more or less the same environment throughout.Its characteristics thus remained the same, and a study of it istherefore instrumental to the study of the development in language.During the Japanese regime, the Malay press was relegated to therole of a Japanese propaganda machine and thus utterly devoidof free expression. After the war, at least from the point of viewof language, the Malay papers belong to a different world. First,many more words have been created and borrowed since the SecondWorld War and journalists seem to be less hesitant in using foreignwords or coining new Malay words. Second, the influence of theIndonesian language is very conspicuous in this period. And finally,the period is too recent to be of any value to the study.

IV. The Scope and Method

The main stress of this academic exercise is on the study of howthe Malay language had been developed by the journalists of theperiod to meet the new needs in the modern world. Thus, it islargely confined to an analytical study of the treatment of foreignelements were developed to serve the purpose. The study is basedlargely on the collection of Malay newspapers in the Collection ofthe University of Malaya Library, supplemented by extracts fromeditorials in 'Tarikh Surat Khabar':» The writer is grateful toTuan Hj. Zainal Abidin bin Ahmad, Head of the Malay StudiesDepartment, for his help in selecting the most influential news­papers of the period, to which the writer paid particular attention,especially in their mode of presentation. As the study is approachedmore from an analytical angle rather than a statistical one, examplesand references are made where they serve the purpose best. Usu-

1. Mohammad bin Dato' Muda: 'Tarikh Surat-khabar ; Bkt. Mertajam, 1940.

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ally, references as given in footnotes are taken to indicate roughlythe period in which a word was in popular use. Thus, referenceto a word is made only once though it might have occured reopeatedly throughout the period. Quotations are given only wherethe examples are not self-explanatory.

V. Limitations

(a) In the period before 1930, the leading article or editorial wasnot a very distinguishable nor a regular feature of Malay news­papers. Thus it is quite difficult to ascertain whether an articleis a leading article or merely an ordinary essay. 1 In the presentstudy it has not been easy for the writer to determine whether anysuch article should be regarded as an editorial or otherwise , exceptwhen there is a caption at the top, which is not always the case.However , in cases where this is not clear, the writer has used as aguide the fact that an editorial is the voice of the paper or theeditor. It must carry comments even if it is interspersed withnews, reviews etc, " and must have a markedly editorial tone even

1. It was not until after 1930 that editor ials can be said to be a permanentand prominent feature in Malay newspapers. Before this time, newspaperswere apparently regarded only as newscarriers. Utusan Melayu (WartaFree Press ) for a per iod between 1907 and 1914 and Lembaga Melayu(Malaya Tribune) just before the Great War carried leading articles quiteregularly, but during the Great War itself, the whole paper was taken upby news items. It was not until 1928/1929 that editorial writ ing wasresumed in Lembaga Melayu.In Jawi Peranakan, there was a feature bearing the title "Pernimpin Penga­rang", but it was far from being the editorial as shown by the following :-

"Ada pun Pemimpin Pengarang yang tersebut di-bawah ini daripadaorang yang bijaksana tetapi tidak kita tanggong atas sakal ian karangan­nya atau paras bahasa-nya melainkan kita turut selalu bagaimana nas­khah-nya tidak di-tukar ubah ." J .P. 15/8/1887; 30/5/1887. (Most ofthe contents unlike Aesop's fables. )

Again, in ldaran Zaman, we find "Kepala Renchana" which was in factnot a leading article at all. In Bahtera , the leading article was headed bythe caption "Editorial" and in papers like " Saudara", "Lembaga"; "WartaMalaya" , " M aills" etc. the editorials are easily recognised for by then, i.e,after 1930, it had become a permanent and prominent feature of Malaynewspapers.

2. During the years when Turkey was at war with the Balkan States and Italy,just before the Great War, the editorials of U.M. (WFP) were full of newsdigest with comments here and there. In 1912, 113 out of 153 issues con­tained editorials of this nature and in 1913, about half of the 150 issues.

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if sometimes this takes the form of personal rather than generalcomments on matters of public interest. 1

(b) It is to be noted that though all the papers referred to arein Jawi script, the quotations in this exercise have to be given inromanised script. In fact , as far as possible, Jawi script is avoidedhere, due to the technical difficulties encountered in typing.

(c) Lastly, one important point has to be clarified. The use ofsome Arabic words in Malay dates from about six centuries ago,and thus, in the course of time, a good many Arabic loan-wordshave been assimilated into the Malay language. For the purposeof this exercise, such words-the Arabic loan-words-are to beclassified as Malay words. However, mention must be made ofthe role of Arabic words in helping the Malay journalists of theperiod to improve the Malay language to meet modern needs .Consequently a distinction has to be made. Admittedly, therecan never be a clear-out demarcation between these two categories;however, the writer has had to make the distinction as useful tothe study as possible. Thus to some extent , the distinction betweenthe two has to be arbitrary. However, it is to be generally under­stood that Arabic words treated in this exercise are those whichwere particularly used by the journalists to serve their purpose.Thus words connected with writings on religious matters are avoided,as Islam and the use of Arabic can never be separated. However,there may be cases where a word is classified under both categories,but assuredly, this is because they have special purposes, especiallyin showing how composite words are formed.

VI. Acknowledgements.

The writer wishes to record his thanks to the undermentionedpersons for their help in the course of writing this Academic Exer­cise:-

1. The Editor of Sekola Melayu , for example, took the liberty of making aquite personal attack as is seen in the following: ...... hamba tahu siapaMohd. Ya'acob itu anak Bombai peranakan Kampong Bangkahulu ber­tutor bahasa Melayu pun ia tidak ketahui ini-lah hamba perkenalkanpada tuan . . .. .. S.M. 21/11/1888.

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Tuan Haji Zainal Abidin bin Ahmad, Head of the Malay StudiesDepartment, for his supervision and advice.

The Librarian of the University of Malaya Library and his staffin the photographic section for their assistance in enablingthe writer to consult the collection of newspapers in thecollection of the Library.

Che' Atan bin Kadir for his services in typing this AcademicExercise.

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CHAPTER ONE

ENGLISH ELEMENTS IN VOCABULARY

IN THIS chapter the writer endeavours to show the extent to whichEnglish elements influenced the language evolved by the Malayjournalists of the period to meet a new need in a changing world.New things and ideas introduced into the society had to be ex­pressed in the newspapers. One of the easiest ways was to borrowand manipulate English word s to suit Malay journalists expression.Right from the beginning the Malay journalists were conscious ofthe influence of English 1 and though they favoured keeping thelanguage pure , at least in basic grammar. ? they had to admit ulti­matel y the importance of English elements in the language of Malayjournalism. 3

1. Direct Borrowing of English Words s

The reason for direct borrowing of English words by the journa­lists were many and varied, but the most obvious was that no Malayequ ivalents could be found or satisfactorily evolved for tho sewords . Thus they represented things and ideas not only new butforeign to the life of the Malays of the time . The words borrowed

I. See Append ix A (v) Editor ial : Sekola M elayu 16/1/1889.2. See Editorial: Saudara 5/3/1932 .3. In Warla Ahad dated 2/6/1940 a special correspondent writes : " Bahasa kita

Melayu ia-Iah suatu bahasa yang banyak memakai pinjaman daripadabahasa asing terut ama Arab dan Inggeris bahkan sa-tengah perkataanbahasa2 asing itu telah menjadi sa-bagai daging darah di-dalam Bahasakita .. . . "

4. For the sake of convenience, English words are given in their originalspelling.

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