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ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554 Vol. 4, Issue 2, June 2016 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE

THE COMPARISONS AND CONTRASTS BETWEEN ENGLISH AND

Mohd Nazri Latiff Azmi Lidwina Teo Pik Ching Norbahyah Binti Jamaludin Muhammad Nur Haziq Bin Ramli Muhammad Habibbullah Bin Razali Muhammad Ammar Yasser Bin Amram Kauselya A/P Jayakumar Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Email: [email protected]

APA Citation: Azmi, M. N. L., Ching, L. T. P., Norbahyah, Haziq, M. N., Habibullah, M., Yasser, M. A., & Jayakumar, K. (2016). The comparison and contrasts between English and Malay languages. English Review, 4(2), 209-218

Received: 22-02-2016 Accepted: 29-03-2016 Published: 01-06-2016

Abstract: English and Malay languages are categorized as popular languages in the world. However, both languages underwent different history and composition. This study investigates the languages in terms of history, , loanwords, grammar, morphology and semantics. The purposes of studying the comparisons and contrasts of both languages are not only to analyze the uniqueness of the languages but also to identify the process of understanding the languages especially the view of second learners. It is found that two languages come from different background; somehow they share similar characteristics such as the sounds, loanwords and semantics. However, the learners face difficulty in learning both languages especially in pronunciations and spelling. Keywords: , , history of language

INTRODUCTION language. Acquiring a language implies Language is a complex way of acquiring all those structures. This paper communication that is used by human aims to compare and contrast two beings to communicate with each other; different languages that are English and there are tons of different languages that Malay. are used by people today and more yet Both of the languages can be to be discovered. There are scientific divided into three periods. For English studies of languages called as linguistics language, history can be explained as scientists learn about the comparison through three phases which are Old and contrast of pronunciation and English (450-1100 AD), Middle English grammatical structure of a language. As (1100-1500 AD) and Modern English languages gradually develop and (1500 AD). On the other hand, for Malay expand, they started to have their Language, Old Malay (682-1500 .E), structure that every language has its Modern Malay (c.1500-1957) and unique structures and different from one Contemporary Malay (1957) were three another. Beginning with the sound significant periods in whole Malay system to meaning also known as history. semantics, they form the foundation of a

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The beginnings of these languages Scandinavian language brought slightly differ from one another. For Old influence in English Language. Around English, three Germanic tribes (Saxon, 878 AD, Danes and Norsemen called Angles, & Jutes) came to the British Isles Vikings invaded the country and English from various parts of northwest got many Norse words including sky, Germany at 5th century AD. These tribes egg, cake, skin, window, husband, call, were warlike and pushed out most of the die, etc. Furthermore, in Middle English, original, Celtic-speaking inhabitants the contributes its from England to Scotland, Wales and influence. By about 1200, England and Cornwall. One group migrated to France had split, English changed a lot Brittany Cost of France where their because it was mostly being spoken descendant still speaks the Celtic instead of being written for about 300 Language of Breton today. Through the years. The period of Old English was years, the Saxon, Angles, Jutes mixed almost over after William the Conqueror, their difference Germanic dialects. This The Duke of Normandy and his nobles group of dialects forms what linguists who spoke French and Middle English refer as Old English whereas old Malay was being formed. Examples of Old begins with records of poems and English word used such as Crown, thoughts on writing material made from Castle, Parliament, Banquet, art, poet, plants described as the sharp cursive romance, servant (Newmark, 1988). Rencong, an ancient script believed to be According to Nik (1989), in the native to South-East (Nor history of Malay language, a few Hashimah, 2004). languages influence in it. At the Both of the languages do have beginning of old Malay, many Pallava influences from other languages in some words from Vatteluttu, India bring aspects. In the history of English changes in Malay language. This is due language, the Latin language played a to Indians set feet on . role. Roman came to Britain and brought Other than that, brings Latin to Britain which was part of the influenced in Malay vocabulary. Roman Empire for over 400 years. Many Examples of words used such as Agama, word passes on from this era and those Akasara, Angkasa, Anugerah, Bahasa, Bakti, corned by Roman Merchants and soldier. Bangsa, Barat, Biara, Bidadari. Portuguese Examples of word used such as Win language also brought changes in the (Wine), Candel (Candle), Belt (belt) and Malay language. In the year 1511, the Weal (wall). The arrival of St. Augustine Portuguese conquered and in 597AD and the introduction of Latin Alphabets in place of Jawi writing Christianity into Saxon England brought called Rumi. Although the conquest is many words into English Language. short lived, the impact of Portuguese There were mostly concerned with Language is large. Words used in naming of church, dignitaries, and are Almari, Baldi, ceremonies. Church, Bishop, baptism Bangku, Biola. came indirectly from Latin. Other than that, Celtic language brought changes. METHOD This Celtic language was seen in names This comparative study involves of rivers. For instance, Kent, York, only document analysis in which Dover, Cumberland, Thames, Avon, established and well-accepted texts Trent etc. In addition, Norse language or pertaining to the contexts, processes and

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ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554 Vol. 4, Issue 2, June 2016 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE procedures were scrutinized and ‘laut’ (sea) and /oi/ in ‘boikot’ (boycott). analyzed. A thorough study of the These examples show that the three important elements of both languages Malay are the same as three we checked and corrected by several of English diphthongs that are /aɪ /, experienced linguists of both languages /aʊ/ and /ɔɪ / respectively. and given a serious concern. There are seven important places of articulation in English according to RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Kristin Denham and Anne Lobeck, that The phonology of English and are bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, Malay languages is different in the palatal, velar and glottal but Malay quantity of vocals and diphthongs, place phonology has labio-velar and no and manner of articulation. In English labiodentals and dental sounds. For sound system, there are 12 vocals, 24 manner of articulation, both Malay and consonants and 8 diphthongs whereas English have six manners there are 6 vocals, 27 consonants (19 with voiced and voiceless pronunciation native consonants and 8 consonants that respectively. In English, they are stop, appear only in borrowed words) and 3 , , nasal, diphthongs in Malay sound system. and glide. In Malay, they are or (Tien-Ping Tan, Bali Ranaivo-Malançon). affricate, fricative, nasal, trill, The vocals that are similar in approximant and lateral. Two tables English and Malay languages include [a], below show the consonant chart of both [e], [i], [o], [u] and schwa. For example, English and Malay Languages. [a] sound appears in ‘up’ and ‘awal’ Based on the Table 1 and 2, it can (early) respectively; [e] sound shows in be said that [w] sound in ‘one’ is the ‘bed’ and ‘enak’ (tasty) accordingly; [i] example of glide in English but in ‘wajar’ sound appears in ‘igloo’ and ‘ikan’ (fish) (reasonable) is the example of respectively; [o] sound presents in approximant in Malay etc. It is ‘opposite’ as well as ‘oleh’ (by) undeniable that the sound [b] is similar accordingly; [u] sound appears in in both English and Malay that are ‘unicorn’ and ‘ubat’ (medicine) ‘barber’ and ‘batik’ (one type of cloth) as respectively; schwa sound appears in examples respectively (Murni, 2013). ‘awhile’ and ‘emak’ (mother) As we know, Malay language or accordingly. On the other hand, /æ/ in Bahasa Melayu is the in ‘cat’, /ɒ / in ‘hot’, /i:/ in ‘see’ etc. are the Malaysia, while English is the second instances for the vocals that are included language and also the international in and different from language. Both of them are two . important languages in Malaysia that Moreover, there are eight began from British colonization. As we diphthongs in English phonology and can see, Malay language tends to borrow three in Malay. In English phonology, a lot of English words rather than vice they are /aɪ / in ‘five’, /aʊ/ in ‘now’, versa. English seems to be the dominant /eɪ / in ‘say’, /oʊ/ in ‘go’, /ɔɪ / in language in this case because some ‘boy’, English loanwords in Malay are more /eə/ in ‘air’, /ɪə / in ‘near’ and /ʊə/ in than that of Malay loanwords in English. ‘pure’. Meanwhile, in Malay phonology, they are /ai/ in ‘kain’ (cloth), /au/ in

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Table 1. International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Chart

Table 2. Malay Consonant Chart

According to Deterding (2013), a category is the loanword that remains its loanword is a word adopted from a spelling for both languages and brings with little or no the same meaning. For example, ‘atom’ modification. It also can be referred as a in Malay language is spelled the same as word borrowed from a donor language ‘atom’ in English. The other examples and incorporated into a recipient are drama, bonus and hotel. language without translation. It is Next, the English loanword has distinguished from a ‘calque’ or loan changes in its spelling but the translation whereby a meaning from pronunciation remains the same in another language is translated into Malay. For example, ‘carbon’ in English existing words or roots of the host is translated into ‘karbon’ in Malay that is language. This type of translation different in the first alphabet. Other remains the pronunciation of the word in instances are block (blok), script (skrip), the original language when the word is graphic (grafik) and activity (activiti). being translated into another language. Besides that, there are few words English loanwords in Malay can be in Malay that are being translated and divided into a few categories. The first became valid words in English recently.

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ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554 Vol. 4, Issue 2, June 2016 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE

For example, the word ‘lepak’ which describe actions that are factual or refers to hang out with friends, loiter habitual things that occur in the present about and do absolutely nothing. The but not necessarily happening right now. other word is ‘amok’ which comes from For example, ‘My train leaves tomorrow Malay word ‘amuk’, refers to behave morning’. The verb ‘leaves’ is a present uncontrollably and disruptively. Other tense although this situation shows an words in Malay that is being officially event that is going to happen. Usually in used in English are , , English, the usage of the ‘-ing’ is , and . widely applied in present tenses. For In conclusion, it can be said that instance, ‘I am walking’ for singular noun both of the languages have a correlation. and ‘We are walking’ for plural noun We can see that they influence each other (Imran, 2000). from the loanwords. There are numerous In Malay Language, the original vocabularies in Malay that resemble in verb is not disturbed as we do not English. This shows that English had change the verb instead we use another influenced the Malay language in term to show the situation happen in the vocabulary aspect. past, present or future. For example, the According to Baker (2011), in sentence ‘Saya sedang berjalan’ is for grammar, there are similarities and singular and another sentence contrasts between English and Malay ‘Kami sedang berjalan’ is for plural subject. languages such as field of tenses, plural The word ‘sedang’ shows the action is and singular nouns. Among the field of going on at that time and the meanings tenses, there are past, present and future of the Malay examples corresponded to tenses. The past tense is a grammatical that of English examples. tense to show or indicate an event or Future tense indicates an action situation in past time. Past tense in a that is going to happen in the future. sentence shows a grammatical tense to This situation applies to a situation that indicate the situation had occurred in the is going to happen later, next day, next past. Usually, the verb to show past week or even next month. tense is to be added a suffix -ed. For According to englishpage.com, future example, the word ‘walked’. The verb tense has two different forms that are walk is added -ed to become ‘walked’. ‘will’ and ‘going to’. For example, ‘I will However, not all the verbs can be added help him later’ and ‘You are going to meet the suffix -ed such as the verb ‘put’. For Jane tonight’. example, I put the book on my table last In Malay language, the term ‘akan’ night. is often used to indicate a future In Malay Language, we do not situation. For example, ‘Saya akan have specific to indicate the membantu dia nanti’ that means ‘I will help situation happened in the past. For him later’. instance, if we want to say ‘Ammar scored Besides, the forms of singular and a goal’, we would say ‘Ammar telah plural nouns in English are also different menjaringkan gol’. The term ‘telah’ from that in Malay. In English, most indicate that the event happened in the singular nouns form the plural by past. According to the website adding ‘–s’ and the examples are boats, grammar.ccc.commnet.edu, the present cats and houses. However, it differs from tense refers to an action is present, now, Malay language as we do not add ‘-s’ to about the speaker or writer. It is used to show that it is plural. We only use term

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‘banyak’ to show the plural meaning of means death in English tends to have the nouns. For instance, phrase ‘seekor different meaning depending on its kucing’ refers to one cat whereas ‘banyak . By adding suffix ‘-kan’ to the kucing’ refers to many cats. On the other word causing it to transform into the hand, there is also a singular noun word ‘matikan’ that means switch off in ending in s, x, z, ch, sh need to be added English. For example, a sentence using ‘-es’ and to make it plural in English such the word ‘matikan’ in Malay might sound as buses, wishes and boxes. like this ‘Aidan, tolong matikan generator Moreover, there is also a singular itu’ that is translated into English and noun ending in a consonant y and then it might sound like this ‘Aidan, could u makes the plural by dropping the ‘y’ and please turn off that generator’. This has adding ‘-ies’ to make it plural. The completely brought different meaning instances penny (pennies), spy (spies) and cannot be used to describe the death and baby (babies). of something but used purposely to Morphology is an area in describe shut down or switch off things linguistics studies that investigates the such as switches or engines. When you structures, forms and categorizations of break a word apart and remove the words of a language. Discussions on and suffixes, you are left with both Malay and English morphology will the root. It's easier to determine the specifically touch on affixes, preposition, meaning of an unknown word if you adverbs and superlatives. However, for know the root. For example, we might today we are going to discuss in-depth come across the word ‘happy' that means more about affixes. feeling or giving pleasure (Hatim, 1997). Like other dominant languages, However, most of us find it easier to Malay has pre-fixes, suffixes and recognize the word ‘happy’ than the while in English, prefixes and suffixes itself which is ‘un-’. By adding the are more prominent. The difference prefixes, the word will be totally between Malay and English affixes is opposite from the root word that is not that English affixes can indicate or feeling pleasure. This shows that produce an element that has been added plays an important role in English either to the beginning or the ending of a language. There are many prefixes in word. English, yet only 20 accounts for 97% of For example, the root word ‘car’ is the words that contain prefixes. Learning considered as the one and only car, we these 20 prefixes and their meanings can can change the meaning of the word by make a big difference in your ability to adding ‘s’ at the back of the word, recognize words and their meanings that becoming ‘cars’ that refers to more than can also help you to write a better essay one car. This is known as suffixation and with excellent grammatical structure. it is quite challenging as compared to the Meanwhile, Bahasa melayu also has others because it can change a word into prefixes but the usage of the prefixed is a different part of tense or speech. different from that in English. For However, unlike English affixes, Malay example, when you look into Malay language tend to have different meaning dictionary especially Kamus Dewan depending on the usage of the affixes Bahasa Dan Pustaka, you might find itself. Both suffix and prefix can change words like ‘memandu’ that refers to the meaning of a root word. For driving and might be thinking that it is a example, for the root word ‘mati’ which root word. The root word is ‘pandu’ that

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ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554 Vol. 4, Issue 2, June 2016 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE means drive and ‘me-’ is the prefix of the Saussure, every linguistic sign consists of word. This shows that the prefix in two elements, which are the signified Malay is not similar as that in English and signifier. Ogden and Richards show because mostly the meanings of the root the relationship between words, word and the word with prefix in concepts, and objects referenced through English are opposite. a semantic triangle. Not only that, prefixes in Malay There are few similarities between can be used on most of the word and are Malay language and English language productive, unlike the prefixes in from the aspect of semantic. The English. For example, the prefix ‘pe-’ in similarities can be seen from the Malay can be put on almost all words as meanings of denotative and connotative it later will ring the same meaning such and also from the lexical relations. as ‘pemakai’ which means a user in Denotation means an or English. Which somehow make it easier concept referred by a term or a set of to be remembered and used compared to objects of which a predicate is true while English affixes that are different. You connotation is the abstract meaning or may use the prefix ‘un-’ for ‘unhappy’ intension of a term, which forms a but not for the word ‘engage’ which will principle determining that objects or use prefix ‘dis-’ making it as ‘disengage’ concepts it applies to such as the word instead. Even though they belong to the heart. The denotation of the word refers same negative prefix, they have different it as the real heart that is triangular in pronunciation, spelling and frequency shape, pumps oxygenated blood to all compared to the Malay affixes that are body parts to help us stay alive while the the same on those three aspects connotation is a symbol of love and depending on the words. affection. The connotation meaning However, do take note that the makes us have a mindset like we always tables above show the most common see the shape of a heart with red in color used affixes in Malay language as the symbol of love. The denotative especially during writing and oral and connotative meaning in Malay communication. There are still tons of language and English are the same other affixes that are used in Malay as it respectively. is updated from time to time by the Lexical relations show how linguistics scholar back in the Dewan meaning of a word relates to each other. Bahasa dan Pustaka. Both of the languages Lexical items contain information about affixes have the same goal that it to category, form and meaning. The complete the sentence by putting semantics relate to these categories then different prefix or suffix for its meaning relate to each lexical item in the lexicon. to suit the sentence itself. However, there Some relations between lexical items is a slightly noticeable difference include synonym, antonym, and between both languages affixes which is hyponym (Butt, 2000). the spelling, pronunciation and Synonym is a word or phrase that frequency. means exactly or nearly the same as Semantic is the field of study that another word or phrase in the same examines the meaning of language. It is language. In Malay language, the word defined as the study of the meaning of ‘bijak’ and ‘cerdik’ have the same words, phrases, and sentences in a meaning. Thus, it is a synonym. In language. According to Ferdinand de English language, the words that share

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the similar meanings are ‘wise’ and According to Marlyna (2005), ‘clever’. The meanings are still the same relational antonyms or converse even in other language. Therefore, the antonyms are pairs of opposite words synonym of Malay language and English where one cannot exist without the language are the same. other. This antonym is recognized as Antonym is a word opposite in ‘antonimi sebalikkan’ in Malay language. meaning to another. A word may have This antonym is a pair of words with the more than one antonym. There are three opposite meanings, where opposite categories of antonyms identified by the makes sense only in the context of nature of the relationship between the relationship between the meanings of the opposed meaning which are gradable two words. There is no lexical opposite antonym, complementary antonym and for teacher, but teacher and pupil are relational antonym. opposite with the context of their Gradable antonyms are typically relationship. Another example is when pairs of adjectives that can be qualified there is a husband, there must be a wife. by adverbs such as very, quite, extremely Therefore, husband and wife are etc. In Malay language, this antonym is relational antonym. Other examples are called ‘antonimi taksiran’. For example, night-day, policeman-criminal and we can say ‘the tickets were expensive’ parent-child. In Malay language, they are or ‘the tickets were cheap’. ‘malam-siang’, ‘polis-penjenayah’ and Since expensive and cheap are ‘ibubapa-anak’ accordingly. Thus, we can gradable antonyms, so we can qualify conclude that the antonym of Malay how expensive or cheap they were. This language and English language are can be proven in a few sentences such as similar and the same. ‘the tickets were more expensive than the Hyponym is a word of more previous one’ and ‘the tickets were very specific meaning than a general or cheap’ in English as well as ‘tiket ini lebih superordinate term applicable to it. For mahal daripada yang dahulu’ and ‘tiket ini example, the word ‘European’, its sangat murah’ in Malay. hyponym is British, Angle, Jutes, etc. Complementary antonyms are In Malay language, the word ‘Asia’ pairs of words that are opposite in has the hyponym of Malaysia, Pakistan, meaning and cannot be graded. They are and others. Hence, we can simplify mutually exclusive, that is, only one of that the hyponym between these two them can exist at one time. This antonym languages is the same (Asmah, 1983). is called ‘antonimi penggenap’ in Malay In conclusion, it is shown that there language. For example, there might be a are similarities and differences between newborn child in a family and the baby Malay and English languages from some will only be either girl or boy. The child aspects. They are history, phonology, cannot be both girl and boy as the influences in vocabulary (loanwords), gender of the child is the complementary grammar, morphology and semantics. antonym. Further examples of Although these two languages come complementary antonyms are dead- from different background, somehow alive, young-old, and empty-full that they share similar characteristics such as same goes for the examples in Malay, the vowels sounds, loanwords and ‘mati-hidup’, ‘muda-tua’ and ‘kosong- semantics. This proves that human has penuh’ respectively. the same mindset that is to use sounds and voices to communicate in the ancient

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