HBET1103 Introduction to General Linguistic Reports Reports Oktober 25, 2008 12.30 AM By Shamshurizat bin Hashim OUM BETESL Students 2006-2009 Part 1 1.1 Acknowledgement Shamshurizat bin Hashim born in 25 July 1974 in Utan Aji district in the state of Perlis, Malaysia. He was graduated from Maktab Perguruan Sultan Abdul Halim Sungai Petani Kedah (Diploma in Teaching English as a Second Language and Music) and he is the eldest son in his family. A primary school teacher who is teaching in the rural area of Terengganu (Hulu Terengganu) state of Malaysia is a husband and a father of three sons. The first school he teaches in that area was Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Tadok for three years (2000 – 2003). From 40% school achievement on English Language subject increase to 90% pupils manage to catch up with English Language. Within the years he manages to change the pupils’ perception on studying the language. His Second school is Sekolah Kebangsaan Kuala Ping located in the ame area. The school is situated at the tourism area of Tasik Kenyir the largest manmade lake in South East Asia. He has been teaching for almost 9 educational’s years in English as a second Prepared by; Shamshurizat bin Hashim 740725095259001 [email protected] Page 1 HBET1103 Introduction to General Linguistic Reports language in those two schools. Now he is doing his bachelor in TESL in Open University Malaysia Terengganu. 1.2. Abstract Before the serjeant begins to teach the young soldiers their exercise of the musket, he explains to them the different parts of it; the stock, the barrel, the loops, the swivels, and so on; because, unless they know these by their names, they cannot know how to obey his instruction…This species of preliminary knowledge is absolutely necessary in all…calling of life; but not more necessary than it is you to learn…how to know the sorts of words one from another. William Cobbett, in a letter to his son, 1823 What was true in Cobbett’s day remains true now. Engineering students are expected to know their arithmetic, music students have to practice their scales. No one can write good letters, memorandums or reports or master word processing, let alone literary composition, without having first learned the basic grammar. “Today according to the columnist Simon Jenkins, now editor of The Times, ‘not to understand the structure of a sentence is an overwhelming obstacle in the way of most gainful employment…’ Many people event students in every school find grammar is bore, but understanding grammar will in some ways free you from its grip, making you the master of words rather than keeping you as their slave. English teacher in every school in this country are trademark as ‘A Walking Dictionary’. I am very proud of listening to the phrase but how far am I to be like the trademark. We are going to look at the language competence and performance due to the lack of this problem. “The average Malaysia does not know much about his or her own language or languages” Prepared by; Shamshurizat bin Hashim 740725095259001 [email protected] Page 2 HBET1103 Introduction to General Linguistic Reports 1.3. Introduction Noam Chomsky is the linguistic anthropologist that founded the idea of communicating with the understanding of grammatically correct expressions. Chomsky took more of a text- book approach to analyzing language than a real-world use of the language. According to Damerau (1971), to understand Chomsky approach to linguistic competence, two things must be made clear: (1) the subject matter of linguistics, and (2) the properties that are necessary in a model for it to be regarded as an adequate model for language (p. 22). In other words, Chomsky had an ideal approach to language which consisted of an undiversified speaker-hearer environment. In real-world situations, it is difficult for a speaker-hearer to exercise their linguistic competence. According to Ottenheimer (2006), Chomsky actually thought of real situations as distractions (p. 95). Chomsky feels that people cannot successfully practice being linguistically competent due to “distractions― such as social norms. The interference from social norms in communication forces the speaker to develop communication competence. Although someone who is speaking linguistically competent may use perfect grammar, a communicatively competent speaker would take into consideration the appropriateness of the situation (Paulston, 1992, p. 38). Analyzing how the people in a culture use linguistic competence to communicate can determine the rules of a language. Linguistic competence is defined as a speaker-hearer ability to speak and understand language in a grammatically-correct manner (Ottenheimer, 2006, p. 95). It is one of the two elements in Chomsky's performance/competence distinction. Linguistic competence is an area of study in the field of intercultural communication founded by the linguistic anthropologist Noam Chomsky. Linguistic competence is the use of grammatical rules of a language, whereas communicative competence is the use of social language rules. This broader knowledge to communicate successfully within the norms of a culture language was introduced by the linguist Prepared by; Shamshurizat bin Hashim 740725095259001 [email protected] Page 3 HBET1103 Introduction to General Linguistic Reports Dell Hymes. Dell Hymes expanded on Noam Chomsky view of linguistic competence by considering the social factors of the culture language. Linguistic performance is one of the two elements in Chomsky's performance/competence distinction. It relates to Language production (parole), with an emphasis upon how this is different from Competence, or the mental knowledge of language itself. In linguistics, language production is the production of spoken or written language. It describes all of the stages between having a concept, and translating that concept into linguistic form. 1.4 Malay and their language Malaysia is a country that consists of thirteen states and three federal territories in Southeast Asia with a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,355 sq mi). The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 25 million. The country is separated into two regions—Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo—by the South China Sea. Malaysia borders Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines. The country is located near the equator and experiences a tropical climate. Malaysia's head of state is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (conventionally referred to as 'the King' or 'the Agong') and the government is headed by a Prime Minister. The government is closely modeled after the Westminster parliamentary system. The Malays form the majority of the population. Some Malays are of Arab descent and there are sizable Chinese and Indian communities. Islam is the largest as well as the official religion of the federation. The Malay language is the official language. The Malay language was originally written in Pallava from India, the earliest known inscriptions in Malay were found in southern Sumatra and on the island of Bangka and date from 683–6 AD. They were written in Prepared by; Shamshurizat bin Hashim 740725095259001 [email protected] Page 4 HBET1103 Introduction to General Linguistic Reports an Indian script during the time of the kingdom of Srivijaya, but nowadays, the Roman alphabet (Rumi) is more often used. Malaysia is a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and participates in many international organisations such as the United Nations. As a former British colony, it is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is also a member of the Developing 8 Countries. The term "Malay" can refer to the ethnic group who live in the Malay Peninsula (which include the southernmost part of Thailand called Patani and Satun) and east Sumatra as well as the cultural sphere that encompass a large part of the archipelago. The Encyclopedia of Malaysia, volume: Early History has pointed out a total of 3 theories of the origin of Malay: 1. The Yunnan theory, Mekong river migration (published 1889) 2. The New Guinea theory (published 1965) 3. The Taiwan theory (published 1997) The ancestor of Malays are believed to be seafarers who are well knowledged in Oceanography, they move around from island to island in great distances between New Zealand and Madagascar, and they served as navigation guide, crew and labour to Indian, Persian and Chinese traders for nearly 2000 years, and over the years they settled at various places and adopted various cultures and religions. Notable Malay seafarers of today are Moken and Orang laut. Some historians suggested they were descendants of Austronesian-speakers who migrated from the Philippines and originally from Taiwan. Malay culture reached its golden age during Prepared by; Shamshurizat bin Hashim 740725095259001 [email protected] Page 5 HBET1103 Introduction to General Linguistic Reports Srivijayan times and they practiced Buddhism, Hinduism, and their native Animism before converting to Islam in the 15th century. 1.5 Colonial influences The view of Malays held by Thomas Stamford Raffles had a significant influence on English-speakers, lasting to the present day. He is probably the most important voice who promoted the idea of a ‘Malay’ race or nation, not limited to the Malay ethnic group, but embracing the peoples of a large but unspecified part of the South East Asian archipelago. Raffles formed a vision of Malays as a language-based 'nation', in line with the views of the English Romantic movement at the time, and in 1809 sent a literary essay on the topic to the Asiatic Society. After he mounted an expedition to the former Minangkabau seat of royalty in Pagaruyung, he declared that it was the ‘the source of that power, the origin of that nation, so extensively scattered over the Eastern Archipelago’.