tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66391643533367495502024-01-19T17:08:53.671+08:00Lingually SpeakingLanguage is perception; and perception is a matter of opinionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-32464893553716951312020-08-23T21:25:00.000+08:002020-08-23T21:25:21.569+08:00"You may call me Marmalade"This is a funny take on the naming of food items. Etymology can be fun and funny, sometimes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYWu7MHSQs-P7LE42p44mB4FSxQw6GEJ1wVu9SppQO34y8HsGnGx0Tl9uAAhImn9HvvCxjrV4bbUJoLzbGk2uC1exsUd7JH9vPHXKVrgXC8p9GuIxP09GFjgBX3LeTfursBeb04roYuR4/s1600/Screenshot_20190605-020451_1.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYWu7MHSQs-P7LE42p44mB4FSxQw6GEJ1wVu9SppQO34y8HsGnGx0Tl9uAAhImn9HvvCxjrV4bbUJoLzbGk2uC1exsUd7JH9vPHXKVrgXC8p9GuIxP09GFjgBX3LeTfursBeb04roYuR4/s1600/Screenshot_20190605-020451_1.jpg" width="520" /></a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-81773312023835798212019-09-22T22:43:00.000+08:002019-10-31T02:19:37.672+08:00"Queue is pronounced "Q" /kju:/I thought this is funny. French spelling does get a lot of bad rap from English speakers, especially native speakers of English for its perceived sound-spelling discrepancy. However, in my experience of learning French, it's actually not as bad as that of English. Sound-spelling discrepancy in English is far worse.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-62842596630987293572019-06-15T18:31:00.000+08:002019-07-10T18:32:28.840+08:00Saving the vowels from an apocalypsePhonetics jokes.<br />
Saving the vowels from an apocalypse by <a href="https://twitter.com/vaginadental?lang=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@vaginadental</a>.<br />
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*Forgive the language.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhds4Vx1vniDoOHSRvfeD9ZKSIar3PasrLV1IFdCo9hm7lwUk6FZuyFJcXujaaxXNpwkvrOmrsTfEud0bUZ_ok_UfnzeLeCJK36mxktHVAC6KVpDQqxje6SPtTuFbrDuUFMcplklXqRqO7h/s1600/Screenshot_20190615-005705_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="666" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhds4Vx1vniDoOHSRvfeD9ZKSIar3PasrLV1IFdCo9hm7lwUk6FZuyFJcXujaaxXNpwkvrOmrsTfEud0bUZ_ok_UfnzeLeCJK36mxktHVAC6KVpDQqxje6SPtTuFbrDuUFMcplklXqRqO7h/s640/Screenshot_20190615-005705_1.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-52012836922834816022018-12-27T22:32:00.000+08:002018-12-27T22:32:33.594+08:00How language shapes the way we think by Lera BoroditskyLera Boroditsky is a cognitive scientist. This is a talk delivered by her at
TEDWomen 2017 (November 2017).<br />
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<i>There are about 7,000 languages spoken around the world -- and they all have different sounds, vocabularies and structures. But do they shape the way we think? Cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsky shares examples of language -- from an Aboriginal community in Australia that uses cardinal directions instead of left and right to the multiple words for blue in Russian -- that suggest the answer is a resounding yes. "The beauty of linguistic diversity is that it reveals to us just how ingenious and how flexible the human mind is," Boroditsky says. "Human minds have invented not one cognitive universe, but 7,000."</i><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-17271912722543665112018-02-24T23:48:00.001+08:002018-02-24T23:49:52.173+08:00The suffix "-ster" in "Get Fuzzy"The follow comic strip displays an excellent use of the suffix "-ster".<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiSN30OT45xim8NVgB51kSMkFeNBkmlUrsyZ2SmxWJqmXOdngd2k6t08xKgivWj64GyXMu-RMC6vpEhNVF5sdLUQpEFNCS02KpJVp7a-ZMcISHXFJeGr4TxNkxsCO1IuSE4Ud6FV0hUOQ/s1600/July+10+2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="439" data-original-width="900" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiSN30OT45xim8NVgB51kSMkFeNBkmlUrsyZ2SmxWJqmXOdngd2k6t08xKgivWj64GyXMu-RMC6vpEhNVF5sdLUQpEFNCS02KpJVp7a-ZMcISHXFJeGr4TxNkxsCO1IuSE4Ud6FV0hUOQ/s640/July+10+2017.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Published 10th July 2017</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Longman Dictionary defines the suffix "-ster" is as:<br />
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1. a person who is.<br />
Eg.: <i>a youngster</i> (a young person),<br />
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2. a person who is connected with, deals with, or uses.<br />
Eg.: <i>a trickster</i> (a person who plays deceiving tricks),<br />
<i>a gangster</i> (a member of a gang),<br />
<i>a pollster</i> (someone who carries out polls).<br />
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Often, the suffix "-ster"is used in a humorous and/or derogatory manner. It is true in the case of this cartoon strip. <br />
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The table below explains the meaning of the root words and the root words + suffix, as used in this comic strip.<br />
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<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: left;" valign="top" width="200"><b>Root word</b></td><td style="text-align: left;" valign="top" width="200"><b>Meaning</b></td><td style="text-align: left;" valign="top" width="200"><b>Root word + Suffix</b><b><br /></b></td><td style="text-align: left;" valign="top" width="200"><b>Meaning</b></td>
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<tr><td valign="top" width="200">Hip</td><td valign="top" width="200"> <i>Aware, informed, up-to-date, trendy. Also: cool, groovy. (<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hip" target="_blank">Source</a>)</i></td><td valign="top" width="200">Hipster</td><td valign="top" width="200"><i>1. A person who is keenly interested in the latest trends or fashions. </i><br />
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<i>2. A member of Bohemian counterculture.</i><br />
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<i>3. An aficionado of jazz who considers himself or herself to be hip. (<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hipster#English" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Source</a>)</i><br />
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="200">Limp</td><td valign="top" width="200"><i>Lacking internal strength, energy or vigour.</i></td><td valign="top" width="200">Limpster</td><td valign="top" width="200"><i>A person who lacks internal strength, energy or vigour. Also: lazy.</i><br />
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="200">Dip</td><td valign="top" width="200"><i>Stupid or foolish.</i></td><td valign="top" width="200">Dipster</td><td valign="top" width="200"><i>A stupid or foolish person.</i><br />
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
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It is good to note that while "limpster" is not yet recognised as an English word, "dipster" is already a widely used slang which means "<i>a person who actually thinks being a hipster is cool. Will never refer to themselves as one, but is obviously trying to be one.</i>" It's a blending of "dipshit" and "hipster"(<a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Dipster" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">source</a>).<br />
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However, in the context of the comic strip, the character Bucky Katt precedes his use of the word "dipster" with his definition: "...he's not smart enough to realize he looks silly," obviously referring to the word "dip", a slang in North America which means stupid or foolish. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-43954433967630279332017-11-06T21:47:00.001+08:002017-11-06T21:48:57.030+08:00The story of colour names around the worldThe naming of things and animals around us is heavily influenced by our environment and culture.<br />
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"In 1969, two Berkeley researchers, Paul Kay and Brent Berlin, published a book on a pretty groundbreaking idea: that every culture in history, when they developed their languages, invented words for colors in the exact same order."<br />
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The video is published by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLXo7UDZvByw2ixzpQCufnA" target="_blank">Vox</a>. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-80345445148923424942017-01-27T03:30:00.000+08:002017-01-27T03:30:22.047+08:00What your speaking style, like, says about youThis is an interesting talk on sociolinguistics and, unfortunately, a brief analysis of the words "like" and "ne" (negation in French) by Dr. Vera Regan at TEDxDublin.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="293" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jAGgKE82034" width="520"></iframe><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-20464520328273965032016-11-09T00:51:00.001+08:002018-07-14T00:20:01.384+08:00Forget the Cracker—Polly Wants a Conversation This is an interesting article on bird calls, which could perhaps answer the question: "Do animals use language like humans do?"<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIIuLwJ6RSqVcRfSRL6veX5WqCwe8sY3H8HLhVYF8Q7y2WpVr8x10fbeLw2VUyv4NjrdsE_kwP44x9qeupBn74eY6RBxTIwXO5Oaw-Ygh6fU6DY6uVnrfYPSYcaeQ3KRAKBhTFeZARsnoL/s1600/parakeets-.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIIuLwJ6RSqVcRfSRL6veX5WqCwe8sY3H8HLhVYF8Q7y2WpVr8x10fbeLw2VUyv4NjrdsE_kwP44x9qeupBn74eY6RBxTIwXO5Oaw-Ygh6fU6DY6uVnrfYPSYcaeQ3KRAKBhTFeZARsnoL/s400/parakeets-.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="right"><td class="tr-caption"><span itemprop="articleBody"><small class="media__caption--credit" itemprop="author">PHOTO: CLAIRE ROSEN</small></span></td></tr>
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<b>In the feathered family that includes parrots and parakeets, birds bond by adapting their calls to mimic each other’s dialects.</b><br />
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<i>By Scott Burkhard<br />March 2016 | <a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/03/explore-animals-parrot-communication/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.nationalgeographic.com</a></i><br />
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Parrot communication goes well beyond “Polly wants a cracker.” The colorful birds—whose family includes parakeets, like those on this page—actually speak in dialects.<br />
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Biologist Timothy Wright and his team at New Mexico State University used sonograms to compare vocalizations of Amazon parrots living in Costa Rica. They discovered that all birds used a specific call to maintain contact with others in their flock, but the acoustic structure of that call varies by region. And when one bird heard the local dialect of another, it modified its own vocalizations to match the new tune. They found comparable patterns with small flocks of parakeets in the lab.<br />
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Humans and parrots learn to vocalize similarly: Both listen and then repeat back what was heard. Relatively few animals develop communication this way. The trait may help explain why parrots are such popular pets. In the wild they form strong pair bonds and social systems; in captivity they may try to re-create that connectedness by mimicking the humans around them.<br />
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“Learning how to sound like others is very important to parrots,” says Wright. “When you sound like another, that means you are a member of their group.”<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-2020729325175735722016-01-28T23:17:00.000+08:002016-01-28T23:17:01.389+08:00Stress and Intonation between Malay and English<strong>Introduction</strong><br />
<br />
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.<br />
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<strong>Stress</strong><br />
<br />
Before going into intonation, it would be useful to look at stress
first. 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.<br />
<br />
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 —–’.”<br />
<br />
<strong>Intonation</strong><br />
<br />
Hawkins (1984) believes that there are three basic properties in intonation. They are:<br />
<br />
1. It is universal, which every language makes use of intonation,
and spoken language is not monotonous. For example, English makes use
of changes in tone as part of the sentence phrase, while the Chinese
uses it as lexical distinction,<br />
<br />
2. Intonation has its own functions and purposes in spoken language, and not for “decorative purposes”,<br />
<br />
3. Intonation is systematic because each speaker has to use the same pattern for the same purpose.<br />
<br />
As we already know, intonation plays a lot of roles in an English
utterance. Many linguists have suggested several functions of
intonation. Roach (1991) stated that there are four functions of
intonation in English which are often proposed. They are:<br />
<br />
1. It enables the speakers to express their emotions or attitudes,
and this function is called attitudinal function of intonation. For
example, a bored person would likely to use a level tone when answering a
question.<br />
<br />
2. Intonation also helps to produce the prominent effect on syllables
that need to be perceived as stressed. This will mark out the word
as the most important in the utterance. For example (as given in
Roach), (a) is non- emphatic and (b) is emphatic:<br />
<br />
(a) It was very BOring.<br />
(b) It was VEry boring.<br />
<br />
This intonation function is called the accentual function.<br />
<br />
3. Intonation plays a role in grammar, which is called the
grammatical function of intonation. The listener is better able to
identify the grammar and syntactic structure of what is being said.
For instance, in differentiating whether an utterance is a question
or a statement.<br />
<br />
4. Finally, intonation also has a discourse function. In a
conversation, for example, it helps the listener to recognise whether
the information is new or already given, and to give the appropriate
and expected response.<br />
<br />
Roach (1991) added that though the functions of intonation is
identified and categorised, these functions can sometimes overlap. For
example, attitudinal function may overlap with the discourse function of
intonation.<br />
<br />
<strong>Intonation in Malay</strong><br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
<br />
<strong>Intonation in English</strong><br />
<br />
Intonation has an equal importance with stress in English. As we
have seen before, intonation in English has several functions. In
addition to that, Roach (1991) stated several typical intonation
occurrences in English:<br />
<br />
1. Falling tone is used to show finality and usually neutral.<br />
<br />
2. Rising tone has many functions, for example, are in listing, yes/no questions, and incomplete statement.<br />
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3. Falling-rising tone is used mainly in limited agreement or having reservations, and excitement.<br />
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4. Rising-falling tone is used in expressing strong feeling of agreement/disagreement or in being sarcastic.<br />
<br />
Though intonation in English is said to have several functions,
Carnie (1998) believes that intonation is actually a “realisation of
semantics, rather than syntax.” He added that this is due to the nature
of intonation itself, and the fact that people draw inferences from
what is said and how it is said.<br />
<br />
<strong>Reference</strong><br />
<br />
Checketts, S. 1993. <em>Thoughts on Pronunciation.</em> New Straits Times, 27 October: 30<br />
<br />
Roach, P. 1991. <em>English Phonetics and Phonology : a practical course (2nd ed.)</em>. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.<br />
<br />
Suhaila Sulong. 1994. <em>A study on the B.Ed. TESL students’ usage of word stress patterns in speech</em>. Academic exercise. University Kebangsaan Malaysia.<br />
<br />
Thomson, D. 1996. <em>Second Language Acquisition</em>. PPP-ITM : Mass Lecture.<br />
<br />
Hawkins, P. 1984. Introducing Phonology. London : Hutchinson<br />
<br />
Juliah Mohamad Beon.1993. <em>Stress and meaning : Malay UKM students’ ability to apply English word stress</em>. Academic exercise. University Kebangsaan Malaysia.<br />
<br />
Fromkin and Rodman. 1993. <em>An Introduction to Language</em>. New York : Holt, Rinehart, and Winston<br />
Carnie, A. 1998. <em>Review : Watt : Phonology and Semiology of Intonation. </em><a href="http://emich.edu/%7Elinguist/issues/9/9.847.html" rel="nofollow">http://emich.edu/~linguist/issues/9/9.847.html</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-71117589292770240262015-12-29T23:16:00.000+08:002018-07-14T00:18:02.041+08:00English in Malaysia: General overview<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>English as an international language</b></div>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
It is undeniable that English is the most
common and the most important language in the world. The speakers can be
found almost anywhere, whether native or non-native. The expansion and
acceptance of English is still growing. According to Zaharuddin (1993),
this widespread use of English is due to two successive periods where
two English speaking countries dominated the world with their wealth,
strength, economic power and advanced technology. During the period of
the 19th century, the English controlled the world trade. After that,
from the 20th century onwards, the United States of America takes over.
Malaysia learns English as a result of the British colonisation, similar
to other countries which have had the same experience, and takes the
language as the second language because of its importance in development
and modernisation.</div>
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Presently, Zaharuddin (1993) stated that
English is used by a number of countries totalling about 600 million
people. Half of the population is native speakers while the other half
is of the non-native speakers. Since English is still expanding, it is
estimated that the number of non-native speakers of English may exceed
the number of native speakers. Strevens (1980) stated that it would be
an area of interest, since “the larger the total number of users, the
larger the number of differentiated versions of the language which will
develop.”</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>The position of English language in Malaysia</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Due to colonisation, English was introduced
to Malaysia, and has become the second language. Presently, it is an
international language and is used as the language in international
relations, and in exchanging knowledge and technology.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
According to Platt (1982), English has had a
comparatively long history in Malaysia. It was only since a few decades
ago that it is taught to almost all school children. Historically, the
Malays were the main ethnic group until the 19th century. They lived
mainly along the coasts and rivers. Though there were a number Indian
and Chinese merchants who settled here during the 15th century, a great
number of them arrived after the establishment of British. Platt (1982)
says that English colonies grew rapidly. When Kuala Lumpur became the
capital of the federation, with the development of the British
administration, the importance and use of English increased. However,
then, Malay or pidginised Malay was used as a tool of communication
between the ethnic groups. A local “English-based pidgin” did not
develop, but the basic Pidgin English was used to communicate with the
Europeans here.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Since the independence in 1957, English has
had changes in its roles and functions. In government’s effort to unify
the multi-racial Malaysia and create a sense of identity, Bahasa Melayu
has been chosen to be the national language. Juliah (1993) stated that
being the national language, it is also the official language and the
medium of instruction. Therefore, every Malaysian citizen has to acquire
it. According to Asmah (1983), as an official language, Malay is used
orally or in written form in official and formal communications in
government administration. As a medium of instruction, Malay is the
medium used in schools and other educational institutions. Juliah (1993)
added that due to its significant status and role in communication and
language teaching, Malay has been made as a compulsory subject in all
schools and institutions run by the government. With this new
educational policy, Malay is gaining more and more prestige and
importance.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
With the upgrading of Malay, English was
phased out from being the official and prestigious language. Its
position has been reduced to the second language, and its usage is very
limited. In the public sector, English is no longer important. In
academic field, English is learned mainly because it offers access to
higher academic pursuits and certain positions in employment. Although
English is a compulsory subject, students do not have to pass it in
public examinations. Juliah (1993) says that this has caused indifferent
attitude and lack of motivation towards studying the language. Besides
that, with Malay being the official language, there is a limited usage
of English outside the classrooms, and even outside the English periods.
These factors could be the reasons why the level of English proficiency
among Malaysian students has declined seriously since the independence.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>English in the Malaysian Education system</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Though Malay is chosen as the national and
official language, the government realises the importance of English as a
tool for international communication and development. Therefore,
English is taken as the second language in this country.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In the education system, English is made a
compulsory subject to all students. The education system has been
designed to produce students who are able to communicate effectively in
English. Asmah (1983) stated that in terms of speaking skills, the goal
of it is to teach students so that they can be understood not only by
other Malaysians, but also by other English speaking communities in the
world. This can be seen in the Upper Secondary School Curriculum
Specification (form four and five) where the aims are:</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The English Language Programme for the upper
secondary school level aims at building and extending upon the
proficiency of the students from the lower secondary school level so as
to equip them with the skills and knowledge of English to communicate in
certain job situations; and also to provide points of take-off for
various post-secondary school needs.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b>References</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Asmah Hj. Omar. 1982. <i>Language and society in Malaysia</i>. Kuala Lumpur : Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Juliah Mohamad Beon.1993. <i>Stress and meaning : Malay UKM students’ ability to apply English word stress</i>. Academic exercise. University Kebangsaan Malaysia</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Platt and Weber. 1980. <i>English in Singapore and Malaysia: status, features, functions</i>. Oxford : Oxford University Press</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Strevens, P. 1980. <i>Teaching English as an International Language</i>. Oxford : Pergamon Press</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Zaharuddin Yaacob. 1993. <i>Intonation Patterns of Malaysian newscasters : a pilot study</i>. Academic exercise. University Kebangsaan Malaysia.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-34839213285101059322015-11-28T23:10:00.000+08:002015-11-28T23:10:00.041+08:00Sound System of Bahasa Malaysia<div style="text-align: left;">
According to Abdullah Hassan and Heah ,
originally there were 19 consonant sounds, six vowel sounds and three
diphthongs, which are /ai/ as in pantai /pantai/, /au/ as in pulau
/pulau/ and /oi/ as in sepoi /səpoi/ in Malay. Presently, although many
linguists believe that in Malay, there is no consonant cluster in
spelling, it does exist in Malay phonology. For example, words such as <i>Kelang</i>, <i>Terengganu</i> and <i>seteru</i>, are pronounced as /klaŋ/, /trəŋganu/ and /sətru/ respectively .</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Malay consonant sounds are basic in the
sense that the pronunciation is mainly in the supraglottal organs (only
two glottal sounds), no pharyngealised sounds (unlike Arabic) and no
clicks (unlike some African dialects). Table 1 below demonstrates
original consonant sounds in Malay (-V refers to voiceless sounds and +V
are voiced sounds).</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzveu9hvG-W3rMxZ20X7fh14FPqvXBRx05QDPRI5wOdrZPxw9RbacwITSnNd6qjRy3lAuFt2EH2z6eaKA-pYCakAuXVGSDc-2uM6rxhlHiOLwZOCSQbrqmRiwgYCyLJB0s7SSCchUHdg9z/s1600/ls-old-bm.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzveu9hvG-W3rMxZ20X7fh14FPqvXBRx05QDPRI5wOdrZPxw9RbacwITSnNd6qjRy3lAuFt2EH2z6eaKA-pYCakAuXVGSDc-2uM6rxhlHiOLwZOCSQbrqmRiwgYCyLJB0s7SSCchUHdg9z/s640/ls-old-bm.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Table 2: Original consonant sounds in Malay (BM)</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><br />
</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Malay vowel sounds are also simple and
basic, in the sense that every vowel sound is distinct and none is
similar to one another in terms of lax or tense vowel sounds (such in
English as in short /i/ and long /i:/). Table 2 demonstrates vowel
sounds (monophthongs) in Malay.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="92">Height of Tongue</td>
<td colspan="6" valign="top" width="229">Degree of Retraction of Tongue</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" valign="top" width="76">Front</td>
<td colspan="2" valign="top" width="76">Central</td>
<td colspan="2" valign="top" width="76">Back</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="92"><br /></td>
<td width="38">i</td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td style="text-align: right;" width="38">u</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="92">High</td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="92"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="92"><br /></td>
<td style="text-align: center;" width="38">e</td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td style="text-align: center;" width="38">ə</td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td style="text-align: center;" width="38">o</td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="92">Middle</td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="92"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="92">Low</td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="92"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td style="text-align: center;" width="38">a</td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
<td width="38"><br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br />
<b>Table 3: Vowel sounds in Malay (BM)<br />
</b><br />
<br />
However, due to language transfer and borrowing from Arabic and
English, the Malay sound system has dramatically changed. We now have 26
consonant sounds and six diphthongs. Table 3 below illustrates the
change which Malay consonant sound system experienced due to language
transfer and borrowing.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWk8b7QWYbKz-w7YNl8RMW_ATWorIUIkbvEM2CtYRu9za-67rfSy6kO_N8qc1nrqbEGUtafvWWmmQ6SG1NqvcHW47lkzjpTz7KAk4Xk_15mHNWa7llccT6PxpO8DgdEysrRYjlA-O_vkYv/s1600/ls-new-bm.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWk8b7QWYbKz-w7YNl8RMW_ATWorIUIkbvEM2CtYRu9za-67rfSy6kO_N8qc1nrqbEGUtafvWWmmQ6SG1NqvcHW47lkzjpTz7KAk4Xk_15mHNWa7llccT6PxpO8DgdEysrRYjlA-O_vkYv/s640/ls-new-bm.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Table 3: New (current) consonant sounds in Malay (BM)</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><br />
</b></div>
While vowel sounds (monophthongs) in Malay basically stayed the same
even after the language transfer, Malay adopted some diphthongs due to
transfer. From Arabic, we now have /ij/ and from English /æ/ and /ei/.
There is no diphthong adopted from Sanskrit, since our diphthongs are
the same.<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-86422894775022868132015-10-29T23:05:00.000+08:002015-10-29T23:05:00.300+08:00Analysis of Derivational Morphemes in Malay<div style="text-align: left;">
Earlier borrowing from the three languages
saw more of whole-word transfer, including the affixes which come with
the lexical items. However, in the course of time, education and
knowledge of these languages had created an awareness of the meanings of
specific morphemes. Therefore, later, morphemes of the languages are
also transferred into Malay and used with other Malay lexical items.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In Malay, there are four types of
derivational affixes: prefixes, suffixes, infixes and confixes. The
following tables demonstrate affixes in Malay and their functions.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Prefixation is when a bound morpheme is
added in front of the lexical item in the pre-positioning. In Malay,
sometimes prefixes alter the word class of the lexical items.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="text-align: left;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38"><strong> </strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="137"><strong>Prefix</strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="224"><strong>Meaning in Malay</strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="148"><strong>Example</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="3" valign="top" width="38">1.</td>
<td rowspan="3" valign="top" width="137">be</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">1. to put on or wear</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">berseluar
<br />
berbaju<br />
bertopi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="224">2. to own or to show something</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">berumah
<br />
berada</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="224">3. to change a word into a verb</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">bercukur
<br />
berjalan<br />
belajar<br />
bekerja</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="3" valign="top" width="38">2.</td>
<td rowspan="3" valign="top" width="137">ke</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">1. to change a word into a noun</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">ketua
<br />
kehendak</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="224">2. to show collectiveness</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">kedua-dua
<br />
kesemua</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="224">3. to show position (numeral)</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">ketiga
<br />
keduapuluh</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="38">3.</td>
<td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="137">se</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">1. to show only one</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">sejenis
<br />
sepadan<br />
sebaya<br />
seribu</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="224">2. to indicate entirety</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">sekampung
<br />
senegara<br />
sedunia<br />
se-Malaysia</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38">4.</td>
<td valign="top" width="137">ter</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">to change a word into an adjective</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">terendam
<br />
tersayang<br />
teroboh<br />
tersenyum</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38">5.</td>
<td valign="top" width="137">me</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">to change a word into a verb</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">meyakin
<br />
melawat<br />
mendarat<br />
mencuba<br />
membawa<br />
membaling<br />
mengasah<br />
mengecap<br />
mengebom<br />
menyurat<br />
menyapu</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38">6.</td>
<td valign="top" width="137">pe</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">to change a word into a noun</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">pewangi
pemakai<br />
pembawa<br />
penjahit<br />
pendengar<br />
pengedar<br />
penulis<br />
pemanis<br />
pertapa<br />
pelajar</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="38">7.</td>
<td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="137">memper</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">1. to indicate extra effort</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">memperdalam
memperkaya<br />
memperluas</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="224">2. to treat as something</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">memperhamba
memperisteri</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38">8.</td>
<td valign="top" width="137">di</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">to change a word into a verb</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">diumum
diumpat<br />
diskru</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38">9.</td>
<td valign="top" width="137">juru</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">to show a person who is an expert in an area/field</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">juruterbang
jurukimia<br />
jururawat<br />
juruoptik<br />
juruprogram<br />
jurutaip<br />
juruwang<br />
juruukur<br />
jurugambar<br />
jurubahasa<br />
juruaudit<br />
jurulatih</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<strong>Table 10</strong>: Prefixes in Malay.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
As the table above demonstrates, there are
nine derivational prefixes in Malay. These prefixes are have several
functions, such as to change a lexeme into a verb (prefix <em>be</em>, <em>me</em> and <em>di</em>), change a lexeme into a noun (<em>ke</em> and <em>pe</em>) and change a lexeme into an adjective (<em>ter</em>). Other functions of prefixes are, prefix <em>be</em> is also used with other lexical items to show action of wearing (such as <em>berseluar</em>) and to own or to show something (such as <em>berumah</em>), prefix <em>ke</em> is also used to show collectiveness (such as <em>kesemua</em>) and numeral position (such as <em>ketiga</em>), prefix <em>se </em>is used to indicate singularity (such as <em>sejenis</em>) and entirety (such as <em>sekampung</em>), prefix <em>memper</em> is used to indicate extra effort (such as <em>memperkaya</em>) and to treat as something (such as <em>memperhamba</em>), and prefix <em>juru </em>is used to show a person who is an expert in a area (such as <em>juruterbang</em>).</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Suffixation is a process where a bound
morpheme is placed at the back of a lexical item, in post-positioning.
In Malay, most of the times suffixes alter the word class of the lexical
items involved.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="text-align: left;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38"><strong> </strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="137"><strong>Suffix</strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="224"><strong>Meaning in Malay</strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="148"><strong>Example</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38">1.</td>
<td valign="top" width="137">an</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">to change a word into a noun</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">masakan
minuman<br />
hinaan<br />
jaminan</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38">2.</td>
<td valign="top" width="137">kan</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">to change a word into a verb</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">tingkatkan
timbunkan<br />
tetapkan</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="38">3.</td>
<td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="137">i</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">1. to show imperative</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">sayangi
takuti<br />
kaburi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="224">2. to change a word into a verb</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">lindungi
naiki</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<strong>Table 11</strong>: Suffixes in Malay.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
There are only three derivational suffixes in Malay, which are <em>an</em>, <em>kan</em> and <em>i</em>. Suffix <em>an</em> is used to change a lexeme into a noun (such as <em>masak </em>becomes <em>masakan</em>), and suffix <em>kan</em> and <em>i</em> are used to change a lexeme into a verb (such as <em>tingkat </em>becomes <em>tingkatkan</em>, and <em>saying </em>becomes <em>sayangi</em>).</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Infixation in Malay occurs when a bound
morpheme is inserted within a lexical item, right after the initial
consonant. Generally, infixes do not change the word-class of the
lexical items.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="text-align: left;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38"><strong> </strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="137"><strong>Infix</strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="224"><strong>Meaning in Malay</strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="148"><strong>Example</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38">1.</td>
<td valign="top" width="137">en</td>
<td rowspan="3" width="224">to form a new lexical item of almost similar characteristics</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">tenusu (from <em>tusu/susu</em>)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38">2.</td>
<td valign="top" width="137">er</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">seruling (from <em>suling</em>)
keruping (from <em>kuping</em>)<br />
rerambut (from <em>rambut</em>)<br />
gerigi (from <em>gigi</em>)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38">3.</td>
<td valign="top" width="137">el</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">kelemumur (from <em>kemumur</em>)
telunjuk (from <em>tunjuk</em>)<br />
jelajah (from <em>jajah</em>)</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<strong>Table 12: </strong>Infixes in Malay.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
According to Heah, infixation is an obsolete
morphological process which was revived recently to create lexical
items. In Malay, there are only three infixes, which are <em>en</em>, <em>er </em>and <em>el</em>.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Confixation is a process where a bound
morpheme occurs in front of and at the back of a lexical item, in
pre-position and post-position. Most of the times, confixes change the
word-class of the lexemes involved.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="text-align: left;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38"><strong> </strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="137"><strong>Confix</strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="224"><strong>Meaning in Malay</strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="148"><strong>Example</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="3" valign="top" width="38">1.</td>
<td rowspan="3" valign="top" width="137">me…i</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">1. having attributes of something</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">meragui
membasahi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="224">2. to indicate repeated action</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">memukuli</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="224">3. to change a word into a verb</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">membanjiri
menasihati<br />
mengotori</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="38">2.</td>
<td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="137">me…kan</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">1. to cause something to happen</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">menaikkan
mengakibatkan<br />
menakutkan</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="224">2. to change a word into a verb</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">membetulkan
mencalonkan<br />
mengambilkan<br />
melarikan</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="38">3.</td>
<td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="137">ke…an</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">1. having attributes ofsomething</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">kejahatan
ketaatan<br />
kehausan<br />
kebiruan</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="224">2. to change a word into a noun</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">kehadiran
kedudukan</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="38">4.</td>
<td rowspan="2" valign="top" width="137">memper…i</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">1. to indicate becomingsomething</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">mempereloki
memperteguhi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="224">2. to change a word into a verb</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">mempersenjatai
mempelajari</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38">5.</td>
<td valign="top" width="137">memper…kan</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">to change a word into a verb</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">mempersuamikan
memperdebatkan<br />
memperlagukan</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="38">6.</td>
<td valign="top" width="137">pe…an</td>
<td valign="top" width="224">to change a word into a noun</td>
<td valign="top" width="148">perbuatan
pengambilan<br />
pembinaan</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<strong>Table 13</strong>: Confixes in Malay.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
As demonstrated in the table above, there are six derivational confixes in Malay, which are <em>me_i</em>, <em>me_kan</em>, <em>ke_an</em>, <em>memper_i</em>, <em>memper_kan </em>and <em>ke_an</em>. One of the main functions of confixes is to change a lexeme into a noun, as in confix <em>ke_an </em>and <em>pe_an</em>.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
In the Tables 10 and 12, we can observe that in morphemes <em>be</em>, <em>me</em> and <em>pe</em>, each has a few allomorphs. The allomorphs for morpheme <em>be </em>are {be} as in <em>bekerja</em>, {ber} as in <em>bermain</em> and {bel} as in <em>belajar</em>. Allomorphs for morpheme <em>me</em> (in both prefix and confix categories) are {me} as in <em>melawat</em>, {men} as in <em>mendarat</em>, {mem} as in <em>membaling</em>, {meng} as in <em>mengasah</em>, {menge} as in <em>mengebom</em> and {meny} as in <em>menyurat</em>. Allomorphs for morpheme <em>pe</em> (in both prefix and confix categories) are {pe} as in <em>pewangi</em>, {pem} as in <em>pemakai</em>, {pen} as in <em>penjahit</em>, {peng} as in <em>pengedar</em>, {penge} as in <em>pengecat</em>, {per} as in <em>pertapa</em> and {pel} as in <em>pelajar</em>.
This is perhaps due to the influence of the sounds after the morphemes
in the lexical items, known as phonological conditioning. Thus, we can
say that, for example, the morpheme <em>pe</em> is phonologically realized as seven different allomorphs based on the place of articulation.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<strong> </strong></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<strong>References</strong></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<em>Tatabahasa Bahasa Melayu </em>(2004). Retrieved on 5<sup>th</sup> Sept. 2004 from http://tatabahasabm.tripod.com/tata/index.htm.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Loga Baskaran (2003). <em>General Linguistics: Phonetics and Phonology (Lecture <span style="font-style: normal;"><em>notes)</em>. Faculty of Languages and Linguistics: University of Malaya.</span></em></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Heah, L.H.C. (1989). <em>The Influence of English on Lexical Expansion of Bahasa <span style="font-style: normal;"><em>Malaysia</em>. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.</span></em></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-31297754480255260692015-09-28T23:05:00.000+08:002018-07-14T00:18:41.621+08:00Discuss Caliban’s character in a comparative framework“As the age progressed, [Caliban] grew more malign, but also less diabolical, more elementally human, at once more richly comic and more deeply tragic”<br />
<br />
Discuss Caliban’s character in a comparative framework, with reference to the statement above.<br />
<br />
The character Caliban has experienced development and changes since it was staged for the first time in the Shakespearean time. In this paper, Caliban will be looked at in the historical, religious and political point of view.<br />
<br />
<b>Historical</b><br />
<br />
According to Hulme (1986), English had already made voyages to America since 1170, and in 1600, England’s footing in America was established. Some researches said that The Tempest is written by Shakespeare with the exploration of the New World in mind. He had read a lot of travel writings done by explorers, and thus, this somehow had influenced him in his play.<br />
<br />
In The Tempest, the character Caliban has experienced several changes and developments since the first time it was staged during the Shakespearean time. The character is interpreted differently in different eras. When the play was staged in early 17th century, Caliban was seen as an opposite of Prospero. Prospero is a perfect and good man, intelligent and self-disciplined. Caliban, on the other hand, is seen as a savage and inhuman, as his name is associated to the word “cannibal”, being savage and evil. This is actually based on the exploration writings then which stated that the natives in America, which looked very different physically from the English, were savages, inhuman, perfidious (Hulme, 1986). His physical features also make him seen as an “earthy monster”, evil and savage. We can see this in Act II, scene 2, lines 23-4 when Trinculo first set eyes on Caliban, “What have we here? A man or a fish?” and in Act I scene 2 line 359, when Prospero was angry with Caliban, “A thing most brutish”. In short, nothing about Caliban is good, and he is all evil, as Dryden (1679) states,<br />
<br />
“he has all the discontent and malice of a witch,<br />
and of a devil, besides a convenient proportion<br />
of the deadly sins; gluttony, sloth, and lust, are manifest; the dejectedness of a slave is likewise given to him, and the ignorance of one bred up in a desert island. His person is monstrous, [as] he is the product of unnatural lust; and his language is as hobgoblin as his person….” (cited in Orgel, 1987)<br />
<br />
In 19th century, that is, during the Victorian era, the play was interpreted from the colonial point of view. Prospero is the coloniser and Caliban as the colonised. Caliban is seen as uncivilised and uneducated, while Prospero is the one who makes the island prosper, the civilised and educated. Caliban’s resistance to Prospero’s moral teachings makes him looks even more uncivilised.<br />
<br />
Later, during the early 20th century, the play was interpreted in terms of class division. Here, Prospero is the seen as the ruling class and Caliban as the worthy class. Caliban is also said to a natural servant because he is the servant of Prospero, and his willingness to be the servant of Stephano.<br />
<br />
However, in the late 20th century, the play is interpreted in the post-colonial point of view. Prospero is the coloniser and Caliban as the colonised. As Orgel (1987) stated, the play is staged with Caliban being more malign, and at the same time more human, comic and tragic. Prospero is seen as the usurper of the island from Caliban, and thus, this makes him somehow evil. According to Ng (1996b), Prospero is not perfect as he was seen before, because he fails to educate Caliban. The island is rightfully his by inheritance from his mother, Sycorax. We can see this when Caliban says, “This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother,/Which thou tak’st from me” (I,ii,333-4). Being the colonised, we can also see Caliban’s plight for freedom. For example, he is willing to be Stephano’s servant just to escape from Prospero, as he says, “Thou shalt be lord of it, and I’ll serve thee” (III,ii,55).<br />
<br />
Caliban is also seen as innocent. He is innocent in away because he does not learn from his mistakes and sufferings, when he welcomes Prospero and treated him kindly, but later, Prospero treated him cruelly after his attempt to rape Miranda. However, according to Orgel (1987), the American natives practiced freelove, even with their own families. Thus, Caliban’s act of attempt to rape Miranda is not seen as being lustful to him. That is why he does not repent his action, and does not see why he should.<br />
<br />
Caliban’s character is also seen as tragic because, not only the island is taken from him, but also he is verbally abused, tortured and punished by Prospero, as he says,<br />
<br />
“… Lie tumbling in my barefoot way, and mount<br />
Their picks at my footfall; sometime am I<br />
All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues<br />
Do his me into madness.” (II,ii,11-14)<br />
<br />
Other than that, he also is also punished by Prospero, by giving him cramps at night, and having little creatures to bite him. The late 20th century Caliban is seen to be more sensitive to music, and is poetic. For instance, we can see this when he said,<br />
<br />
“Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,<br />
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight, and hurt not.<br />
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments<br />
Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,<br />
That, if I then had waked after long sleep,<br />
Will make me sleep again.” (III,ii,128-133)<br />
<br />
<b>Religion</b><br />
<br />
From the religious aspect, the character Caliban is said to be of a sinful lust and unholy union, that is, of a witch (Sycorax) and incubus (the devil). Traditionally, Caliban is viewed as evil and lustful due to his nature. This could be seen in his plot to murder Prospero, attempt to rape Miranda, and refusal to accept Prospero’s code of ethics. As Prospero says, he is of a monstrous nature and will not be able to be good (I,ii,353-61).<br />
<br />
However, in a modern view of Caliban, he is not all evil. According to Ng (1996a), he is “a creature born of passion, the offspring of an unholy pleasure.” Therefore, he is passionate and responds to his pleasure (his senses), unlike Prospero who is ruled by his intellect (his mind). His original love to Prospero and Miranda, which changes to hatred later, is because of their kindness to him, and this appeals to his pleasure, as he says, “Thou strok’st me, and made much of me….” (I,ii,335). His attempt to rape Miranda is another example of how Caliban seeks pleasure. In addition to that, Caliban’s plot to murder Prospero is due to his anger and hatred to Prospero, because he is always tortured punished (displeasure). Moreover, his willingness to take Stephano as his god is due to the liquor that Stephano gave him. In short, Caliban is somehow innocent, and acts largely based on his senses (passion and pleasure).<br />
<br />
<b>Political</b><br />
<br />
In a political point of view, traditionally, Caliban is seen as the colonised, savage, evil, slave, and uncivilised. He is the naturally ruled, while Prospero is the natural ruler. Being the colonised, his character is marginalised, while Prospero’s character is centralised. He is seen as perfect and a good man. Caliban’s act of looking upon Stephano as god and willingness to be his servant (II,ii,135) labels him as a natural servant. He is evil and a savage because of his attempt to rape Miranda and murder Prospero, and his deformed physical makes him inhuman and a monster.<br />
<br />
However, in the modern interpretation of his character, Caliban is put in the centre of the play. Orgel (1987) states that it is Caliban who legitimates Prospero’s authority, as he says, “For I am all the subjects that you have,” (I,ii,343). This is important because a ruler is a ruler because of the ruled, such as a master and a servant. The usurper, in this case Prospero, depends on the usurped, as he says to Miranda, “We cannot miss him” (I,ii,313). Besides that, according to Ng (1996a), Caliban is a product of Prospero’s failure to understand Caliban’s limitations and failure to accept them, and failure to teach what he can learn (appealing to his senses). Prospero teaches Caliban like he does Miranda, and he forgets their differences. Other than that, we can also see other weaknesses of Prospero, such as his verbal abuse, torture and punishment towards Caliban, and threats to imprison Ariel, making Prospero not a perfect man after all.<br />
<br />
Besides that, Caliban’s voice is also given attention. From his use of beautiful language, we can see him as poetic and affectionate towards nature, not all evil and savage. For example,<br />
<br />
“Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments<br />
Will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices,<br />
That, if I then had waked after a long sleep,<br />
Will make me sleep again.<br />
And then, in dreaming,<br />
The clouds methought would open, and show riches<br />
Ready to drop upon me; that, when I waked,<br />
I cried to dream again.” (III,ii,130-6)<br />
<br />
Caliban also defends himself and his rightful island from Prospero, when he says, “This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother,”(I,ii,333). In short, Caliban is put in the centre of the play.<br />
<br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
<br />
To conclude, we can see that the character Caliban has experienced many development and changes (from traditional and modern interpretation) since it was staged for the first time in the Shakespearean time, in terms of historical, religious and political point of view.<br />
<br />
<b>Bibliography</b><br />
<br />
Hulme, P. 1986. Propero and Caliban. In Hulme, P. Colonial Encounters: Europe and the Caribbean, 1492-1797. London: Methuen<br />
<br />
Orgel,S. 1987. The Oxford Shakespeare: The Tempest. Oxford: Oxford University Press.<br />
<br />
Ng, E.C. 1996a. The Tempest – Prospero vs. Caliban.<br />
<br />
Ng, E.C. 1996b. The Tempest – Prospero as a Ruler.<br />
<br />
Shantini Pillai. 1998. Mass lecture: The Tempest. Faculty of Language Studies, UKM<br />
<br />
<br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-78194875841869322022015-08-29T23:57:00.000+08:002015-08-29T23:57:03.980+08:0023 emotions people feel, but can't explain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbk5MN41-5KUNuGqeq71jrkqb2XR8Lxhv23-foqGQxH4fBbbOUjTG7zvgIXMl1ecih83h83EswIiPay1khmXMmAluHFloVrWGwLENrgkvfcOaJRxqgKClVDKhp2kKZW5aPcv8faMuA2ag7/s1600/IMG_2292.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbk5MN41-5KUNuGqeq71jrkqb2XR8Lxhv23-foqGQxH4fBbbOUjTG7zvgIXMl1ecih83h83EswIiPay1khmXMmAluHFloVrWGwLENrgkvfcOaJRxqgKClVDKhp2kKZW5aPcv8faMuA2ag7/s1600/IMG_2292.PNG" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Credit goes to <b><i>tai-korczak</i></b>.<br />
<br />
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.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-64948255133790822322015-05-22T23:35:00.000+08:002015-07-10T09:34:56.931+08:00Critical appreciation of "Clusterf**katopia"<br />
<b>Clusterf***atopia</b><br />
by Anonymous<br />
<br />
Stucco induced haze,<br />
Tracts of endless maze.<br />
Garage sale monotony,<br />
Cul de sac cacophony.<br />
<br />
Lakeside concerts ‘n chairs,<br />
Land of the rightside squares. <br />
Sans culture,<br />
Tastes for the vulture. <br />
<br />
Glucosamine in the air,<br />
Like an AARP fair.<br />
How they roar,<br />
Full of nighttime bores. <br />
<br />
Open community skies,<br />
Look what belies.<br />
Planned master disjointment,<br />
Fly in the ointment.<br />
<br />
SUV parade,<br />
Lifestyle charade.<br />
Manicured lawns,<br />
Society’s pawns. <br />
<br />
Suburban sprawl,<br />
Of a mindset crawl.<br />
Eleven pm last call,<br />
My golly what a ball.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Critical appreciation of Clusterf***atopia</b><br />
<br />
The poem is a six-stanza poem, with rhyming scheme of <i>aabb, ccdd, ccee, ffgg, hhii, jjjj</i>. It is infused with visual imagery normally found in (or almost unique to) the suburban areas, such as <i>Garage sale</i>, <i>Cul de sac</i>, <i>Lakeside concerts ‘n chairs, AARP fair, Manicured lawns, Planned master</i> and <i>Open community skies</i>.<br />
<br />
In each stanza, the first three lines describe almost impartially the persona’s observation and he hits is with the forth line in each stanza with ridicule, mockery and scorn. Obviously, he doesn’t like what he sees and observes in the suburbs. And so, we can say that the tone of the poem is disdain or contempt. The theme: the seemingly ideal lifestyle in the suburban is void of life. <br />
<br />
The title is important. Linguistically, “Clusterf***katopia” possibly is a blend of three words: “cluster”, “fuck” and “utopia”. “Cluster” is referring to the suburban cluster. The word also means that people or things in the suburb are the same or similar in so many ways. “Fuck” is a vulgar slang in this case used to express anger, annoyance and/or contempt. “Utopia” refers to “a community or society possessing highly desirable or near perfect qualities” (from wikipedia.com). However, it could also be a blend of “clusterf**k” and “utopia”. “Clusterf**k” is a vulgar slang which refers to “a chaotic situation where everything seems to go wrong. It is often caused by incompetence, communication failure, or a complex environment” (wordnik.com). In this sense, it is a completely different meaning from the blending of 3 words – that the suburban is actually chaotic beneath all the perfection that our eyes could see. Therefore, we can say that the persona, as much as he admits that the suburban cluster is ideal and near perfect, finds it disdainful and loathsome. <br />
<br />
The structure and pattern are not organized in any specific manner, which indicates that the observation made by the persona is also very random. It’s like he just turns to his left and right and jots down what he sees. He drives around in his car, and notes all the things he sees from his car. There is s sense of frustration in his voice. Nothing is right in his eyes.<br />
<br />
Stucco induced haze,<br />
Tracts of endless maze.<br />
Garage sale monotony,<br />
Cul de sac cacophony.<br />
<br />
The consonance in the words “haze” and “maze” suggests that he head is buzzing, like a headache. “stucco” is causing the haze, in his opinion, and the roads seem endless. The “garage sale” is boring and the community in cul-de-sac is in discord. All these perhaps cause his headache, which could be induced by frustration. <br />
<br />
Lakeside concerts ‘n chairs,<br />
Land of the rightside squares. <br />
Sans culture,<br />
Tastes for the vulture.<br />
<br />
For an American persona to be calling another American’s lifestyle “sans culture” is interesting. The US as a country doesn’t really have any specific traditional culture or custom, unlike, for instance, Asian, African or European countries. The word “vulture” invokes the image of scavengers, rotting-meat eaters which would eat almost anything. The persona equates the people who attend these concerts with vultures – tasteless creatures, who would like consume whatever presented to them. <br />
<br />
Glucosamine in the air,<br />
Like an AARP fair.<br />
How they roar,<br />
Full of nighttime bores. <br />
<br />
“Glucosamine” could refer to the aging group of the population in the suburb, and that they are everywhere. The word “roar” creates auditory imagery; that the presence of the elderly is “loud”, which indicates inescapable and pervasive – again, they are everywhere. And because they are old, the nighttime is boring. The word “full” is used to contrast “bores”, as if making fun of the elderly – full of activities, but boring ones.<br />
<br />
Open community skies,<br />
Look what belies.<br />
Planned master disjointment,<br />
Fly in the ointment.<br />
<br />
The suburbs are carefully planned in the USA. In some places in California, the suburbs are planned so that the houses are on the hills and the roads are in the valleys. One of the results is we have open skies. The persona makes fun of this, and calls it “disjointment”. “Fly” it being filthy and dirty, could symbolize something offensive to the persona. “Ointment” is supposed to help relieve pain, but having a fly in the ointment spoils it. Therefore, we can say that the planned community is offensive to the persona. <br />
<br />
SUV parade,<br />
Lifestyle charade.<br />
Manicured lawns,<br />
Society’s pawns. <br />
<br />
SUV are common in the suburbs. The lawns are well-manicured as well. But to the persona, all these are just fake and pretense. Perhaps shallow. We could imply that the persona accuses the people who drives SUV and have manicured lawns are leading a shallow lifestyle; simply pleasing the society at large, so that they feel they belong there.<br />
<br />
Suburban sprawl,<br />
Of a mindset crawl.<br />
Eleven pm last call,<br />
My golly what a ball.<br />
<br />
When the persona says “mindset crawl”, he scoffs at the mindset of the community. To him, they are stuck in their thinking in every way possible. That also implies that they are not interesting. “Eleven pm last call” could mean that they go to bed at 11 at night. The persona uses sarcasm when he says “My golly what a ball”. The phrase usually refers to something fun and exciting, but here, he uses it to sarcastically say that the people in the suburbs are having a blast going to bed at 11 pm. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-73625539649869236972015-04-12T17:40:00.004+08:002015-04-15T01:36:48.799+08:00Meaning and Idea: "Barter" vs. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”<b>1. "Barter"<br />Sara Teasdale </b><br />
<br />
Life has loveliness to sell, <br />
All beautiful and splendid things, <br />
Blue waves whitened on a cliff, <br />
Soaring fire that sways and sings, <br />
And children's faces looking up <br />
Holding wonder like a cup. <br />
<br />
Life has loveliness to sell, <br />
Music like a curve of gold, <br />
Scent of pine trees in the rain, <br />
Eyes that love you, arms that hold, <br />
And for your spirit's still delight, <br />
Holy thoughts that star the night. <br />
<br />
Spend all you have for loveliness, <br />
Buy it and never count the cost; <br />
For one white singing hour of peace <br />
Count many a year of strife well lost, <br />
And for a breath of ecstasy <br />
Give all you have been, or could be. <br />
<br />
<b>2. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”<br />Robert Frost</b><br />
<br />
Whose woods these are I think I know.<br />
His house is in the village, though;<br />
He will not see me stopping here<br />
To watch his woods fill up with snow.<br />
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My little horse must think it queer <br />
To stop without a farmhouse near<br />
Between the woods and frozen lake<br />
The darkest evening of the year.<br />
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He gives his harness bells a shake<br />
To ask if there is some mistake. <br />
The only other sounds the sweep<br />
Of easy wind and downy flake.<br />
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The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,<br />
But I have promises to keep,<br />
And miles to go before I sleep, <br />
And miles to go before I sleep.<br />
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<b>Meaning and Ideas</b><br />
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Both of these poems present ideas, the first poem (“Barter”)more or less explicitly, the second (“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”) symbolically. Perhaps the best way to get at the idea of the second poem is to ask two questions. First, why does the speaker stop? Second, why does he go on? He stops to watch the woods fill up with snow – to observe a scene of natural beauty. He goes on because he has “promises to keep” – that is, he has obligations to fulfill. He is momentarily torn between his love of beauty and these other various claims that life has upon him. The small conflict in the poem is symbolic of a larger conflict in life. One part of the sensitive, thinking person would like to give up his life to the enjoyment of beauty and art. But another part is aware of larger duties and responsibilities – responsibilities owed, at least in part, to other human beings. The speaker in the poem would like to satisfy both impulses. But when the two conflict, he seems to suggest, the “promises” must take precedence. <br />
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The first poem also presents a philosophy but an opposing one. For this poet, beauty is of such supreme value that any conflicting demand should be sacrificed to it: “Spend all you have for loveliness, / buy it and never count the cost ... And for a breath of ecstasy / Give all you have been, or could be.” Thoughtful readers will have to choose between these two philosophies – to commit themselves to one or the other – but this commitment should not destroy for them enjoyment of either poem. If it does, they are reading for plums and not for pies. <br />
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From (please credit the following when quoting/citing): <br />
Perrine, L. and Arp, T.R. (1993). <i>Literature: Structure, Sound and Sense</i> (6th Edition). Orlando: Harcourt Brace.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-25958180346412073602015-02-16T22:37:00.003+08:002015-02-16T22:42:40.923+08:00"Puteh and Mary" by Chuah Guat Eng vs. "Stranded in Semenyih" by Ethel Hume<b>Introduction</b><br />
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This paper attempts to analyse the ways in which Chuah Guat Eng’s <i>Puteh and Mary</i> are different from Ethel Hume’s <i>Stranded in Semenyih </i>in terms of the perception, cultural stereotypes, position of authority, and gender issues.<br />
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<b>Perception</b><br />
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It is inevitable that both Chuah and Hume have different perceptions, which are evident in their narrations, due to the fact that they have different backgrounds and beliefs, among others. We can see the differences from the titles, in their views of cultures or beliefs of others, and the voices or points of view of the narrations.<br />
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The title can tell quite a lot about a writer’s perception or opinion of the incident that they have written. In the case of <i>Stranded in Semenyih</i>, the title has already given us the idea that the writer has a negative perception of the place (Semenyih) from the word “stranded”. “Stranded” according to the Longman Dictionary means, “in a very unfavourable position or situation, especially alone among dangers and unable to get away,” (p.1044). The word is used, though we know that Hume and her team were not in a great danger or unable to get away from Semenyih. However, in Chuah’s narration, she has chosen <i>Puteh and Mary</i> as the titles, which are the names of the main characters in the narration. The use of the names is very neutral and tells us that the story is about the characters <i>Puteh </i>and <i>Mary</i>. Basically, the titles in Chuah’s narration do not indicate any negative perception.<br />
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Another difference in perception is towards other’s culture or beliefs. In <i>Stranded in Semenyih</i>, the narrator makes fun of the native’s culture and beliefs. This is evident when the narrator sits at a place marked as “kramat” (p.175). This shows that she is not sensitive and does not have any respect to the native’s belief – the place is marked and she is told about it, yet she chooses to sit there. Another incident is when she ridicules the native’s belief that a man could turn into a tiger at will, as she says, “next time I get a fit nerves I shall know it is the tiger-spirit entering me,” (p. 177). Here, we can see that the narrator shows lack of respect and even makes fun of the native’s beliefs. <i>Puteh and Mary</i>, on the contrary, show no sign of teasing or making fun of the native’s beliefs. For example, the writer shows respect to <i>Yusuf</i>’s religion (Islam) and what he believes, as she states what is in his thoughts, “Do you not see it is Allah’s will that shameful deeds should not be hidden?….” (p.200). The writer has shown sensitivity towards Malay’s religion. <i>Yusuf </i>has faith in Allah, and thus, it is his right to practice what he believes. It is evident here that both writers have different perceptions towards the other’s culture or beliefs.<br />
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Besides that, another difference between Hume and Chuah’s is the point of view or voice of narrator. Hume’s has the first person point of view. This makes the perception and narration very subjective and at certain places, quite judgmental. For example, the writer used “tailless cat” to refer to the natives, giving the connotation that they are cowards. Another instance is when she is referring to the Tamils as “Klings” and “coolies”, offensive words to the Indians. No voice is given to the natives to express their opinions, except for the Singh, whose utterances are full of grammatical errors, and to the people on the street at the end of the story when they say “Tabek, tabek!”.<br />
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However, in <i>Puteh and Mary</i>, the third person point of view has been rather fair to all characters. The view is almost objective where the writer does not judge or give opinions, but the characters do, where the voices in their thoughts are stated. Readers are given the sense that they are part of the story, and know what is going on in the characters’ minds. For example, in <i>Mary</i>, <i>Simon </i>thinks that if <i>Ah Foo</i> was a dog, his tail would be wagging (p.142). Similarly, at the beginning of <i>Puteh</i>, we are presented with <i>Yusuf</i>’s thoughts about what the villagers might think of the baby (p.199-200), as in it is <i>Yusuf </i>who makes the judgment based on his situation, not the writer.<br />
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<b>Cultural stereotype</b><br />
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Cultural stereotype is another difference that Chuah’s and Hume’s has. In <i>Stranded in Semenyih</i>, Hume stated many racial stereotypes, where the natives are seen as a group (giving the notion of a race) and generalisation is made upon that race. For example, the Chinese are associated with gambling (p.178), and having yellow faces (p.180). The Malays are criticised for having a theory that the wife is only “the chattel of the man,” which means a wife is an object, rather than the literal meaning of “wife”, that is “the woman to whom a man is married” (Longman Dictionary). The Tamils are called “Klings” and “coolies” (unskilled workers). Finally, the Singhalese are said to enjoy sharing information, especially when they do not have to worry about being correct. The races are generalised that their individual differences and abilities are unseen.<br />
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However, in <i>Puteh and Mary</i>, we are able to see the natives as individuals with their own character and abilities. For example, Mak Cik Zainab who likes to spread stories around the village (not the general Malays), and <i>Ah Foo</i> who are loyal and a good servant, and <i>Ah Soh</i> who is good in doing the laundry. <i>Yusuf</i>, a Malay farmer, is not said to think that <i>Puteh </i>is his “object” or chattel, but more to his wife, a woman he learns to love (p.208). Other than that, we are taken to <i>Simon</i>’s mind to see that there are Chinese who are not yellow, but white, earth-beige and brown (p.143). Here, we can see that the natives are not seen as a race, but individuals with their own characteristics.<br />
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<b>Position of authority/power</b><br />
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Position of authority is another way how the two writers are different. In <i>Stranded in Semenyih</i>, the English are seen as superior, and the natives always inferior. For instance, “Malay houses, English bungalows” (p.175), stating the stereotype that the Malays live in houses only and not in bungalows, the label “coolies” for Tamils (p.178), and the natives’ salute to the English (p.180) as an act of respect. As stated before, the natives are not given plenty of voice, and when they are (the Singh and people in the street) perhaps it is just to show that they are of lower intelligence and inferior than the English. According to Zawiah (1994), the English, particularly the Victorians, believed that it was important to impose the superiority of the English values and institutions to ensure “progress” or civilisation. Because the natives are not seen as civilised, they are looked down upon, such as “a cluster of chicken” (p.179). This happens because, according to Zawiah (1994), the English feels superior and seen as superior by the natives, which causes them to be “marginalised, suppressed and silenced.”<br />
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In <i>Puteh and Mary</i>, on the contrary, the English are not really seen superior. They are still seen as human, such as <i>Simon </i>who is capable of feeling uneasy when <i>Mary </i>is staring at him, and conscious of his own complexion when compared to <i>Mary</i>’s. Here, we can see that other than judging others or the natives, he also judges himself (his physical feature). This also shows an alternative view that it is not only the English who is looking at the natives (as in Hume’s observation towards the natives), but they are also being looked at (here, by Mary). <i>Puteh and Mary</i> also tell us that the natives have their own pride and honour, not as inferior objects. For instance, <i>Yusuf</i>’s decision to move from his village when the baby is born is due to face and honour (p.200), and the Malay Communist guerrillas and the Indian army are fighting and risking their lives to repossess what they have lost, is also for their pride and honour (p.209).<br />
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<b>Gender</b><br />
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Another difference in Hume and Chuah’s narrations is the gender issues. In <i>Stranded in Semenyih</i>, the native women, particularly the Malays, are said to be weak, mere “objects” and chattel of the man (p.176). Here, they are referred to as the property of men, not individuals. However, being a female traveller and independent, Hume thinks that she is more superior to the native women. On the contrary, <i>Puteh and Mary</i> show us that the native women are actually human, not objects or chattel of the men. For example, <i>Yusuf</i>, as we have seen earlier, does not refer or think of <i>Puteh </i>as his “object” or chattel, but more as his wife, the woman he learns to love (p.208). Both <i>Yusuf </i>and <i>Puteh </i>respect one another. In addition to that, when they finally talk to each other, they spare each other’s feelings by not telling things that might cause anger or offence (p.209).<br />
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Moreover, it is not true that according the Malay theory that a woman is the chattel of her husband. Zawiah (1994) states that “the Malay woman is brought up to regard her husband as the head of the family. Her duty is to look after the well-being of her man and children.” Therefore, Hume’s claim that Malay women are “objects” is misleading. <i>Puteh </i>or <i>Mary</i>’s silence is also another question: is it out of weakness or strength? Perhaps, her silence is out of strength because she endures all the pain and hardship in her life alone, not sharing them with anyone. This disagrees to Hume’s view that native women are weak.<br />
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<b>Conclusion</b><br />
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To conclude, there are four ways in which Hume’s <i>Stranded in Semenyih</i> and Chuah’s <i>Puteh and Mary</i> are different; which are, in their perception, cultural stereotypes, position of authority and gender issues.<br />
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<b>Bibliography</b><br />
<br />
Longman Dictionary. 1998. <i>Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English</i>. England : Longman Group<br />
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<i>Mass Lecture: Comparative Literature</i>. 1998. Faculty of Language Studies: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia<br />
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Zawiah Yahya. 1994. <i>Resisting Colonialist Discourse</i>. Bangi: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-50901882637778448292015-01-11T12:48:00.000+08:002015-01-11T12:48:21.100+08:00This Guy Speak 9 Languages Like A Native <i><b>by John-Erik Jordan </b></i><br />
<i><b>From: <a href="http://www.babbel.com/magazine/language-chamaleon-one?slc=engmag-a2-vid-bv1-polyglotvid-ca&utm_source=contentad&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=CD_ENGALL_gEN_cXX_polyglotvid&utm_content=13602">www.babbel.com</a></b></i><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="340" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/z-tTFKra3Ik?feature=player_embedded" width="550"></iframe><br /></div>
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Matthew Youlden speaks nine languages fluently and understands more than a dozen more. He’s what is known as a <b>polyglot</b>, a member of the multilingual elite who speaks six or more languages fluently. He’s also a sociolinguist who studies the revitalization of minority languages. But to see him in action on a daily basis – deftly and comfortably talking to native-speakers in their own languages – suggests that he’s more than a polyglot. Matthew, who is originally from Manchester, England, is a language chameleon: Germans think he’s German, Spaniards think he’s Spanish, Brazilians think he’s Portuguese (he proudly speaks the good-old European variety).<br /><br />By his own account, Matthew has mastered a staggering number of languages by utilizing abilities that we all possess: persistence, enthusiasm and open-mindedness. If your classic polyglot is an über-nerd who studies languages full-time, then Matthew is something different. His version of multilingualism doesn’t isolate him in an ivory tower; it connects him to people all over the world. According to Matthew, <b>the more languages you speak, the more points of view you have</b>:<br /><br />“I think each language has a certain way of seeing the world. If you speak one language then you have a different way of analyzing and interpreting the world than the speaker of another language does. Even if they’re really closely-related languages such as Spanish and Portuguese, which are to a certain extent mutually intelligible, they are at the same time two different worlds – two different mindsets.<br /><br />“Therefore, having learned other languages and been surrounded by other languages, I couldn’t possibly choose only one language because it would mean really renouncing the possibility to be able to see the world in a different way. Not in one way, but in many different ways. So the monolingual lifestyle, for me, is the saddest, the loneliest, the most boring way of seeing the world. There are so many advantages of learning a language; I really can’t think of any reason not to.”<br /><br />Watch the video above to see him flex his skills in Irish, French, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Italian, Hebrew and German.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-47299530950045622592014-12-17T23:08:00.002+08:002015-01-11T12:43:45.688+08:00"Verbing" - changing of Nouns into Verbs<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir7G6oBHjJ8hBZHvAYk6_ovvJvN5qVxT7ePyDS4POVKoOxBPgGwLFeZqf1-RIUFENIpLnbC3jNBO0bCZEM-qWRMI8xk95AEN6CJoqcQPjSH0lxKgApaBqG-U6mNhk4-4fYa5kYxVxxfOlv/s1600/verbing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir7G6oBHjJ8hBZHvAYk6_ovvJvN5qVxT7ePyDS4POVKoOxBPgGwLFeZqf1-RIUFENIpLnbC3jNBO0bCZEM-qWRMI8xk95AEN6CJoqcQPjSH0lxKgApaBqG-U6mNhk4-4fYa5kYxVxxfOlv/s1600/verbing.jpg" height="200" width="570" /></a></div>
"Verbing", as in changing a noun into a verb is not a new phenomenon. However, it recently gained more attention as internet memes become more popular.<br />
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Linguistically, the changing of nouns into verbs without affixes is called <b>Conversion</b>. More on that here: <a href="http://linguallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2013/06/morphological-process-noun-to-verb.html" target="_blank">Morphological process : Noun to Verb</a>.<br />
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Here are some examples of "verbing" in memes:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbPIl59FKOTzNTAse78xJvK7NDFYkkgFzJbBb89v5WGXQ4-ZSc8notxNLgqoC8Ew5AOJgVLyVllsOV-da7k7cdZkZlNEDeQGtDpP7UJG05R_5GmeZSfje9ezua8RyhSsR8eN2mEdSGgEQT/s1600/verbing2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbPIl59FKOTzNTAse78xJvK7NDFYkkgFzJbBb89v5WGXQ4-ZSc8notxNLgqoC8Ew5AOJgVLyVllsOV-da7k7cdZkZlNEDeQGtDpP7UJG05R_5GmeZSfje9ezua8RyhSsR8eN2mEdSGgEQT/s320/verbing2.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuaH8MxDGQ1I0iI0kOs0MDnWXdJJ31Pf0N16i0iiw7k8chwI2f7H-00KBNqBG3tCUtyNfe9cIyQtW00A7OzMlsc15aUd2g5D31xbKiMogoYctFuLlsku8_By4OFgP6MrNj1s1Ica12ZIeE/s1600/verbing3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuaH8MxDGQ1I0iI0kOs0MDnWXdJJ31Pf0N16i0iiw7k8chwI2f7H-00KBNqBG3tCUtyNfe9cIyQtW00A7OzMlsc15aUd2g5D31xbKiMogoYctFuLlsku8_By4OFgP6MrNj1s1Ica12ZIeE/s320/verbing3.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCL_W9BE9QsjAmpcYcsOn7c3s7y0dZkytsJm2vEWay_XbTt-U1B_rW-RtEQ-9RXHJu_N2nNWn0fgQRhr8ZdFaoDd6PPJWT9DG5Ys_7fRUCNZCS2BoE7OnT6ZlZJxgxD39xoqomd8o5I4lF/s1600/e7427ffc3707f154e22ec.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCL_W9BE9QsjAmpcYcsOn7c3s7y0dZkytsJm2vEWay_XbTt-U1B_rW-RtEQ-9RXHJu_N2nNWn0fgQRhr8ZdFaoDd6PPJWT9DG5Ys_7fRUCNZCS2BoE7OnT6ZlZJxgxD39xoqomd8o5I4lF/s1600/e7427ffc3707f154e22ec.jpg" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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An interesting further reading: <a href="http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/ideas/anthony-gardner/youve-been-verbed" target="_blank">moreintelligentlife.com</a>.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-2115461087883010322014-11-16T00:00:00.000+08:002014-11-16T00:18:04.785+08:00New approach to teaching EnglishThis is quite old, but I still find it relevant and helpful.<br />
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<i>By Mohd Fazli Ibrahim<br />08 January 2001</i><br />
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<b>Teaching a second language to children at an early age ensures a greater chance of obtaining proficiency and a high level of comprehension, writes MOHD FAZLI IBRAHIM.</b><br />
MEET Amanda, a six-year-old kindergarten pupil in Gombak. Like other children her age, she passes her time in playschool learning to listen, speak, read and write in good Bahasa Malaysia.<br />
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Meeting her for the first time, I was entertained by her rendition of nasyid tunes from Raihan and was invited to join her in a game of <i>nenek-nenek si bongkok tiga</i>. She also confided in me that her favourite cartoon is <i>Sailor Moon</i>, a Japanese series dubbed in Bahasa.<br />
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Despite her sounding and acting like a Malay child, however, Amanda has wavy blonde hair and her features are clearly Caucasian.<br />
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The truth is, Amanda was born in Albania, and Malay is her second language.<br />
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Her parents are undergraduates at the International Islamic University in Gombak. Like so many other children of different nationalities at the university's playschool, Amanda receives her instruction in Bahasa Malaysia. Enrolled at the age of four, she was able to acquire a firm grasp of the language from that time.<br />
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Amanda still speaks Albanian with her parents. She is living proof that early instruction in a second language is a more effective way of ensuring proficiency and a higher level of comprehension.<br />
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Teach them early and the results would come quickly. In no time, children exposed to a second language are able to understand and communicate effectively with each other, without abandoning the use of the home language.<br />
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The need to acquire a second language has become an issue of survival in today’s world. The debate raging about the effectiveness of English teaching in schools has caused parental worrying to reach an all-time high.<br />
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It seems our youngsters’ standard of English is below par, not enough to help them in a world where English is becoming the main language of technology, commerce, communication and education. It is time to consider new approaches to teach it effectively.<br />
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A recent report in the Chronicle of Higher Education, a tertiary education publication in the US, highlighted the growing importance of English as a second language in universities around the world.<br />
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Such is the demand for the language that many universities have found ways to circumvent policies that imposed the use of national languages in favour of lessons in English. Lessons taught in English have become the norm, not the exception, even in countries where the language was not the main communicative medium until recently.<br />
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Several factors have motivated the growing emergence of English as the language of education. The most obvious, perhaps, is the emergence of the US as the sole superpower after the Cold War.<br />
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Its triumph touched off the integration of smaller national economies into a single globalised economy. Of course, to do business in a global economy, you would need to speak the global language first, which means learning English.<br />
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English is also the language of information technology and the Internet.<br />
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The growing use of the Internet and the important part it plays in driving the new global economy has popularised English beyond the traditional areas of commerce and communication.<br />
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Being the language of chatrooms, e-mail and cool new sites, English is accepted as the universal medium of communication in cyberspace.<br />
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The third contributing factor is the vast amount of knowledge and literature written in English. A large amount of university textbooks are published in English, covering almost all the fields of the arts and sciences.<br />
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The strong foundation laid down for the use of English, especially in education, resulted in the growing number of institutions offering courses in English. In a way, courses taught are popular because students wish to improve their learning skills in a language that is set to grow in tandem with the world economy.<br />
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Universities and colleges are also benefiting financially from the move as they seek to attract foreign students. The introduction of courses in English increases the institutions’ marketability to international students, bringing in much-needed tuition money. This trend can even be seen in Kuala Lumpur, with the growing number of public and private institutions opening their doors to foreign students.<br />
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English is indispensable if we are to develop an information technology-based economy.<br />
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Many people I know feel that 12 years of English instruction imposed by the national curriculum have failed to bring any improvement in the language capabilities of the Malaysian student.<br />
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The students produced by this system not only lack the basics of conversational English, they have also shown deficiency in writing skills.<br />
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Of course, they still use English after their own fashion. <br />
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The Malaysianisation of English has done away with proper semantics of the original language, replacing it with a haphazard system only Malaysians can understand. Perhaps, it is this process of adapting the language to the local idiom that has led to its gradual decline.<br />
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Often, even English teachers are not immune to this process. Many have opted to instruct students in Malaysianised English rather than suffer being misunderstood.<br />
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No, I am not saying that we should go back to the Pukka accents of the English spoken by the orang putih-planter back in pre-independence days. Nor am I suggesting that we all become English literature professors, ever ready to impress the public with a quotation from Shakespeare.<br />
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What we need at this juncture is to find ways to bring English language skills up to the standards acceptable globally. Other alternatives to the present curriculum must be investigated to arrest the decline and improve the quality of the language used in educational institutions.<br />
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One thing is certain. Young minds are easily impressionable when it comes to language learning. Living examples such as Amanda strengthen my conviction that second language teaching should begin with the young.<br />
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An alternative that can be experimented with is the language immersion technique, where young students are placed under the charge of a bilingual teacher.<br />
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Initially, the students would communicate with the teachers in their mother tongue while the teacher replies in the second language. Gradually, these students would develop a firm grasp of the second language, enough to allow them to use it themselves.<br />
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While the lessons would continue in the new language for some time, the mother tongue would be reintroduced later, when the targeted proficiency level has been reached.<br />
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The system has met with reasonable success in Quebec, Canada in the 1960s. English-speaking parents, in order to help their children learn and understand French, the dominant language of the province, initiated the approach. The immersion method has allowed their children to acquire better proficiency in French compared to students taught through conventional methods.<br />
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Their mother tongue abilities also did not seem to suffer due to the experience, and in some cases may even seem to improve.<br />
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In conclusion, educational policy-makers in Malaysia should consider strongly any approach that could improve the teaching of English. Perhaps it is high time we adopted an approach that concentrates on quality in place of one that concentrates solely on the quantity of instruction.<br />
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Maybe our curriculum experts can learn a few things from Amanda.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-87676448817179598852014-09-17T00:45:00.001+08:002014-09-17T00:45:41.655+08:00Provo-Based English Language Learning Center Fires Employee for "Homophone" MisunderstandingThis is an interesting piece. It's a bit old news, but worth posting here. If you're sending your children to study at any language institute, please make sure the head of the language institute knows one of the most basic features of language. Or at least his/her vocabulary is slightly above average. Trust me; it's not too much to ask!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
---------------------------------</div>
<br />
<i><b>By <a class="ember-view byline-author-name" href="http://www.bustle.com/authors/351-savannah-oleary" id="ember770" rel="author" target="_blank">Savannah O'Leary</a>
<span class="byline-date"> </span></b></i><br />
<i><b><span class="byline-date">July 2014 | </span> <a class="ember-view byline-category accent" href="http://www.bustle.com/lifestyle" id="ember773" target="_blank">Lifestyle</a></b></i><br />
<i><b>From: <a href="http://www.bustle.com/articles/34018-provo-based-english-language-learning-center-fires-employee-for-homophone-misunderstanding" target="_blank">www.bustle.com</a></b></i><br />
<br />
<br />
Here is the latest in American horror stories: in an ironic and
totally ludicrous turn of events, <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/58236366-90/says-english-homophones-language.html.csp" target="_blank" title="Link: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/58236366-90/says-english-homophones-language.html.csp">Tim Torkildson, a social-media specialist</a> for a private Provo-based English language learning center, was fired after a misunderstanding when his boss
failed to comprehend the difference between “homophones” and “homosexuality.”<br />
<br />
Torkildson wrote a blog on the school’s website explaining
homophones — words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and
mean
different things (allowed vs. aloud, their vs. there, eight vs. ate.) He
was immediately called into the office of his boss, Clarke Woodger, who
expressed frustration
that the school was now going to be “<a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/58236366-90/says-english-homophones-language.html.csp" target="_blank" title="Link: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/58236366-90/says-english-homophones-language.html.csp">associated with homosexuality</a>.” Sounds
like Woodger is caught up in his own little mess of homo<i>phon</i>ia.<br />
<br />
Aside from the revolting notion that an employee could be fired for
promoting a gay agenda, it is outrageous that Torkildson was not given a
proper chance to explain himself… and that the head of a language
institute doesn’t know what a homophone is. This case is a reminder to
all of us that closed-minded lunatics still plague the educational
institutions in this country.<br />
<br />
Let us all pray for the future of this language learning
center, whose president clearly has a lot of learning to do himself.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-12481684882775904772014-07-16T22:31:00.002+08:002014-07-16T22:31:45.315+08:00“Weird Al” Yankovic: “Word Crimes”This is a fun song by “Weird Al” Yankovic, “Word Crimes.” It pokes fun at the popular trend these days of abbreviating words, misspelling and erroneous grammar in general. I should think English teachers particularly would perhaps find this a useful teaching aid.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="320" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/8Gv0H-vPoDc?feature=player_embedded" width="500"></iframe><br /></div>
<br />
All copyrights by <a class="g-hovercard yt-uix-sessionlink yt-user-name " data-name="watch" data-sessionlink="ei=e4zGU8ulCNPDugTUv4K4DQ&feature=watch" data-ytid="UCshnCkfV7U6DqR4IHbQbI7Q" dir="ltr" href="http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCshnCkfV7U6DqR4IHbQbI7Q" target="_blank">alyankovicVEVO</a>. <br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-50393911923538954512014-06-16T01:28:00.000+08:002014-06-16T01:28:00.030+08:00The complexity of the mother’s emotions in the poem “Mother of The Groom”<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Discuss the complexity of the mother’s emotions in Seamus Heaney’s poem, “Mother of The Groom”.</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
By: Zuraini Mokhtar (1997)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Faculty of Language Studies, UKM</div>
<br />
<br />
The speaker of the poem Mother of The Groom by Seamus Heaney is the Persona while the setting is on the wedding day of a mother’s son. The poem is mainly about the complex feelings or emotions of the mother towards her son’s marriage. It seems like she does not give a warm welcome to the marriage but rather cold and sad, remembering that her son will be apart from her.<br />
<br />
In the first stanza, the Persona describes how the mother flashbacks the moment when her son was still a very little child. She remembers how she bathed her small son and the memory really touches her feelings especially when she recalls it during the wedding day. She was very happy at the past, bathing her son who relied on her and seeing how the son shining in the bath. However, that was just a sweet memory to her. Presently, she is very sad. In contrast to the mother’s feelings, the word ‘glistening’ is used by the Persona in line 2. ‘Glistening’ is usually connected with shine, flash, sparkle and twinkle which resemble beautiful, enjoyable and glorious. For the mother, the beautiful, enjoyable and glorious time is only in the past, not during the wedding day of her son.<br />
<br />
In the second stanza, the Persona describes the mother’s feelings when she realizes that her son has grown up and a daughter-in-law of hers is coming. The first two lines of the second stanza shows that the son has grown up and about to get a daughter. Another interpretation of the first two lines is now the mother has lost her son to another woman called a daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law is welcomed that day. The line “She hears a daughter welcomed” could mean that the mother’s son is about to get a daughter after he got married and the second interpretation is the mother herself is getting a daughter-in-law. The word ‘voided’ in line 5 refers to empty, bare or blank which means that the mother’s feeling is also empty and worthless because she is losing her son. The Persona compares the situation with the last two lines of the second stanza. The mother’s feeling is described as shocked and scared just like whenever one loses hold of her child from her soapy hands. The mother is shocked and scared to get a daughter-in-law because before, her son was always with her and now suddenly, she loses him and a daughter-in-law is coming into her life. For the mother, the arrival of the bride means losing her son.<br />
<br />
The last stanza is the Persona’s description of the mother’s prediction on her son’s marriage in the future. She thinks of the possibility of the couple to get divorce one day because what the Persona means from the lines “Once soap would ease off, The wedding ring” is it is possible that the bride will sooner or later lose the wedding ring as well as her husband. It is described as easy as when a soap can ease off a ring from one’s finger. However, a paradox arises in the stanza because of the word “ease off” which is contrast to the word “forever”. A marriage is always hoped to last forever, to be endless and to be eternal and yet, the soap can ease off the ‘everlasting’ marriage. The last line of the stanza shows that the bride is happy on her wedding day yet the mother is not because she keeps thinking whether the bride could be like the mother who is caring towards the son or not. Somehow she fears that the bride could not treat the son as good as the mother had done throughout her son’s life before. Perhaps, the mother has another thought towards what is happening. Maybe the mother hopes that the marriage would not last that the bride will lose the wedding ring because she somehow disapproves the marriage. Thus, she wishes that what happens to her that is losing her son, will happen to the bride as well. The words ‘forever’ and ‘clapping hand’ which are used by the Persona are contrast to the mother’s feelings. Her feelings are not as ‘bright’ as the words.<br />
<br />
As a conclusion, the mother’s feelings are complex as described in the poem. She is confused, sad, shocked and scared because she cannot accept the fact that her son is now a man and a husband. Although some words used by the Persona resemble happiness, joyous and bright, the mother is actually out of it.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-43386993146921130662014-05-15T03:29:00.000+08:002014-05-27T02:36:29.722+08:00“Biawak” in Malay figurative languageOn 8<sup>th</sup> March 2014, MH370 went missing. In the
subsequent days, suddenly, almost everyone is a theorist, plane expert, SAR
expert and a comedian. The internet has provided an open platform for the general
public, including those without any thinking/rational capacity to express their
thoughts and opinions, uninhibitedly.<br />
<br />
At the height of senseless and irrational speculations about the flight disappearance, this was shared with me:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmh2PzIFwIk_gqxu1o5bjp0pZdKPN4A5L2brn9DDLKTxOo_PC-4toeKB-4V9bCMNAlLW8LZK8dhnFSzhURhqYtzAlOh_-d5Eu4aCQL3qZfdJUwgoV_hwIeR1ZRLGgU6Jeu87sq_SWFoTfr/s1600/biawak+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmh2PzIFwIk_gqxu1o5bjp0pZdKPN4A5L2brn9DDLKTxOo_PC-4toeKB-4V9bCMNAlLW8LZK8dhnFSzhURhqYtzAlOh_-d5Eu4aCQL3qZfdJUwgoV_hwIeR1ZRLGgU6Jeu87sq_SWFoTfr/s1600/biawak+(2).jpg" height="400" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Biawak: the animal</b>
<br />
<br />
In Malay (Malaysia), “biawak” is a type of varanus, living
mostly in the forest. There are many types of its species, but a common one when spoken about in
Malaysia is the monitor lizard.<br />
<br />
The lexeme “biawak” can also be used as a verb, as in
“membiawak”, which means to crawl, slither or slide (like a monitor lizard).<br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Connotation of “biawak”
in Malay</b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<br />
Generally, the noun “biawak” carries negative connotation in
Malay. This is due to the fact that a monitor lizard eats small animals, vermin,
dead animals and decaying flesh (although some species do eat vegetation), and
it scavenges human waste too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
perceived as ugly and highly temperamental. All these characteristics
contribute to an unpleasant reputation.<br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Biawak” in Malay
figurative language</b>
<br />
<br />
Figurative language such as similes, metaphors, idioms,
idiomatic expressions and proverbs is very culturally specific. How it is
structured, rhymed and intended to mean depends very much on real-world
experience and perception of its native speakers. In the case of “biawak”, its
status and how it is perceived are clearly depicted in how it is used in our
figurative language.<br />
<br />
i.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simile and
metaphor<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 160.85pt;" valign="top" width="214"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Simile and metaphor</b>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 138.8pt;" valign="top" width="185"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Literal</b>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 162.5pt;" valign="top" width="217"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Meaning</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 160.85pt;" valign="top" width="214"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Biawak hidup</i>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 138.8pt;" valign="top" width="185">A living monitor lizard
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 162.5pt;" valign="top" width="217">A useless and/or burdensome person
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 160.85pt;" valign="top" width="214"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bagai biawak
mengulangi bangkai</i>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 138.8pt;" valign="top" width="185">Like a monitor lizard frequenting a carcass (to eat)
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 162.5pt;" valign="top" width="217">A man who likes to go to a brothel/immoral place; where
there are immoral women, there are immoral men
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 160.85pt;" valign="top" width="214"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bagai lidah biawak</i>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 138.8pt;" valign="top" width="185">Of a monitor lizard tongue
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 162.5pt;" valign="top" width="217">A liar; an untrustworthy person
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 160.85pt;" valign="top" width="214"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bagai memegang ekor
biawak</i>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 138.8pt;" valign="top" width="185">Like grabbing a monitor lizard’s tail
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 162.5pt;" valign="top" width="217">Doing something dangerous
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
ii.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Idiom and
idiomatic expression<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 159.0pt;" valign="top" width="212"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Idiom and idiomatic
expression</b>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 138.4pt;" valign="top" width="185"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Literal</b>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 164.75pt;" valign="top" width="220"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Meaning</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 159.0pt;" valign="top" width="212"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Biawak kudung masuk
kampung</i>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 138.4pt;" valign="top" width="185">A legless monitor lizard entering the village
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 164.75pt;" valign="top" width="220">A well-known bad/immoral/ corrupt person; a thief
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 159.0pt;" valign="top" width="212"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mendukung biawak
hidup</i>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 138.4pt;" valign="top" width="185">Carrying a living monitor lizard
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 164.75pt;" valign="top" width="220">An unnecessary occupation which is burdensome and/or dangerous; having a
wife or child who is troublesome
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 159.0pt;" valign="top" width="212"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Merendah terbang
biawak</i>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 138.4pt;" valign="top" width="185">A monitor lizard flying low
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 164.75pt;" valign="top" width="220">A woman who shows herself off to men; an arrogant person
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 159.0pt;" valign="top" width="212"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Niat di hati hendak
memeluk gunung, sudah terpeluk biawak celaka/sial</i>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 138.4pt;" valign="top" width="185">One intended to embrace the mountain, but ended up
embracing a wretched monitor lizard
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 164.75pt;" valign="top" width="220">One hoped for something good, but ended up with something
bad
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 5; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 159.0pt;" valign="top" width="212"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Menanti biawak duduk</i>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 138.4pt;" valign="top" width="185">Waiting for a monitor lizard to sit (like a human)
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 164.75pt;" valign="top" width="220">Hoping/waiting for something impossible
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
iii.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Proverb<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0;">
<td style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 158.2pt;" valign="top" width="211"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Proverb</b>
</td>
<td colspan="3" style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 144.05pt;" valign="top" width="192"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Literal</b>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 159.9pt;" valign="top" width="213"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Meaning</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
<td colspan="2" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 159.0pt;" valign="top" width="212"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Seperti biawak,
masakan hilang kesatnya</i>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 138.4pt;" valign="top" width="185">A monitor lizard does not lose its roughness (of skin)
</td>
<td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 164.75pt;" valign="top" width="220">A person of no manners speaks harshly.
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 2; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td colspan="2" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 159.0pt;" valign="top" width="212"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bila pula biawak
duduk?</i>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 138.4pt;" valign="top" width="185">When does a monitor lizard sit?
</td>
<td colspan="2" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 164.75pt;" valign="top" width="220">A question with an impossible answer; asking for the
impossible.
</td>
</tr>
<tr height="0">
<td style="border: none;" width="211"><br /></td>
<td style="border: none;" width="1"><br /></td>
<td style="border: none;" width="185"><br /></td>
<td style="border: none;" width="6"><br /></td>
<td style="border: none;" width="213"><br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
As we can see above, figurative expressions associated with
“biawak” in Malay all carry negative connotation and meaning; even its body parts, such as the tail and tongue. All the negative connotation is mostly due to the bad press these types of lizards is getting - perhaps the killing of livestock and/or destruction of farms. In an agricultural society, that simply means loss of means of income, and any animal which causes harm to livelihood is declared war upon.<br />
<br />
In short, to be called a "biawak" is never a good thing in Malay.While it is an important animal in the eco-system, it is obviously under-appreciated and resented by the society. Reaction is generally hostile towards "biawak" (unless of course, you eat it, but that's a different story altogether).<br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">References</b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>
<br />
Ding Choo Ming. (2009). Beberapa Sifat, Asal Usul dan
Kepengarangan Peribahasa Melayu.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <i> </i></span><i>Sari -
International Journal of the Malay World and Civilisation</i> 27(2) (2009): 3-26<br />
<br />
<a href="http://prpm.dbp.gov.my/Search.aspx?k=biawak&d=11" target="_blank">http://prpm.dbp.gov.my/</a>.
Retrieved on 1<sup>st</sup> April 2014.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.peribahasaindonesia.com/contoh-peribahasa-indonesia-b/arti-peribahasa-indonesia-biawak/" target="_blank">http://www.peribahasaindonesia.com</a>/.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Retrieved on 1<sup>st</sup> April 2014.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.himpunanperibahasa.com/cari?q=awak" target="_blank">http://www.himpunanperibahasa.com/</a>. Retrieved on
1<sup>st</sup> April 2014.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6639164353336749550.post-57784525141336530882014-04-11T00:06:00.000+08:002014-04-11T00:39:47.979+08:00Case of the Cool Conman: Semantic analysis<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">
<b>Identify
the types of meanings present in the article “Case of the Cool
Conman”. List down 6 examples of the types of meanings you found.
Explain their relevance to the overall message of the article.</b></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div data-mce-style="text-align: center;" style="text-align: center;">
by: Mafuzah Aris, Farha Sobry, Zuraini Mokhtar (1997)</div>
<br />
<b>INTRODUCTION</b><br />
<br />
Semantics
is a study of the meaning of words and other parts of language.
Language without meaning is meaningless. Therefore, the seven types of
meaning in Semantics help the language in the article we have chosen to
convey its meaning. The seven types of meaning are conceptual meaning,
connotative meaning, stylistic meaning, affective meaning, reflected
meaning, collocative meaning and thematic meaning. The article we have
chosen is “Case of the Cool Conman” where a murder investigation is
taking place at the scene of a murder. Inspector Carter and Sergeant
Graham are conducting the case and are questioning the only witness,
James Creighton. Towards the end of the article, Carter suspects that
Creighton cooperates with the murderer to kill Montrose. We have
analyzed the article, looking at the seven types of meaning and
enclosing them with six examples each.<br />
<br />
<b> CONCEPTUAL MEANING</b><br />
<br />
Conceptual
meaning means logical, cognitive, or denotative content. It is based
on two structural principles which are contrastiveness and constituent
structures. In this paper, the chosen words and phrases are analyzed in
terms of their contrastiveness conceptual meanings. Six examples of
words or phrases occurred in the article which have been analyzed are
shown in the table below:<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">a) the scene of a murder</td><td valign="top" width="295">+ place where a murder took place</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">b) criminal</td><td valign="top" width="295">+ human<br />
+ illegal<br />
+ does illegal activities or crimes<br />
- has moral</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">c) victim of a theft</td><td valign="top" width="295">+ human<br />
+ a person being robbed<br />
- willingness</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">d) nodded</td><td valign="top" width="295">+ movement<br />
- disagreement</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">e) unawares</td><td valign="top" width="295">+ unexpected<br />
- conscious<br />
- warning</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">f) grudge</td><td valign="top" width="295">+ hatred<br />
+ anger<br />
- kind<br />
- love</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>CONNOTATIVE MEANING</b><br />
<br />
Connotative
meaning refers to what is communicated by virtue of what language
refers to. In other words, it is the meaning above the conceptual
meaning and it may vary according to culture, background or society.
Thus, connotative meaning can be subjective or unstable.<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">a) smooth fellow</td><td valign="top" width="295">slick, cunning, liar</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">b) mystery man</td><td valign="top" width="295">solitude, peculiar, weird</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">c) jail</td><td valign="top" width="295">criminal, law, punishment</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">d) ...eyebrows to lift fractionally</td><td valign="top" width="295">discover something, suspicious</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">e) ...had been shot neatly in the centre of his forehead</td><td valign="top" width="295">done by a professional murderer</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">f) the underworld</td><td valign="top" width="295">gangsterism, illegal, criminals</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The
first example found in the article for the connotative meaning is
‘smooth fellow’ which has the connotative meaning of slick, cunning, and
liar. Creighton is described as a smooth fellow where he pretends to
have nothing to do with the murder and that the murder does not disturb
him at all. The second example is ‘mystery man’ where its connotative
meaning is ‘solitude’, ‘peculiar’ and ‘weird’. Conceptually, ‘mystery
man’ means ‘a stranger’ and ‘not a female’ but connotatively, ‘mystery
man’ is often referred to someone weird and peculiar and always being
solitude. The next example is the word ‘jail’ which has the connotation
of ‘criminal’, ‘law’ and ‘punishment’. It gives the connotation that
Lennie had been punished for a crime he committed. Another example is
the phrase ‘...eyebrows to lift fractionally’ which has the connotative
meaning of ‘discover something’ and ‘suspicious’. It must have been
something that causes Sergeant Graham’s eyebrows to lift fractionally
and obviously, it relates to the discovery of a clue from the body. The
fifth example is the phrase ‘...had been shot neatly in the centre of
his forehead’ which means that the murder must have been done by a
professional murderer or a professional gun user. No ordinary man could
have shot his victim so neatly in the centre of the victim’s forehead.
The last example is ‘the underworld’ which has the connotative meaning
of ‘gangsterism’, ‘illegal’ and ‘criminal’. In the article, Inspector
Carter and Sergeant Graham have got the secret information regarding the
murder of Montrose from the underworld people.<br />
<br />
<b>STYLISTIC MEANING</b><br />
<br />
Stylistic
meaning means “What is communicated of the social circumstances of
language use”. It can help people to recognize the words or
pronunciation as being dialected and also to recognize the social
relationship between the speaker and listener.<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">a) fellow</td><td valign="top" width="295">informal</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">b) adversary</td><td valign="top" width="295">formal</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">c) tip-off</td><td valign="top" width="295">informal</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">d) elegant</td><td valign="top" width="295">formal</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">e) immaculate</td><td valign="top" width="295">formal</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">f) “Really, Inspector...”</td><td valign="top" width="295">disdain, formal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The
word ‘fellow’ has the informal stylistic meaning. In a formal
circumstances, people usually use the word ‘man’ rather than ‘fellow’.
In contrast, a formal word ‘adversary’ is used in the article which
refers to ‘enemy’ or ‘opponent’. ‘Tip-off’ is another informal word
used by the writer which means ‘warning’ or ‘secret information’.
Another example is ‘elegant’ which is a formal word for ‘nice’. The
word ‘immaculate’ is also a formal word for the word ‘pure’, ‘clean’ or
‘without fault’. The last example is “Really, Inspector...” which is
disdain and formal expression. The article is a semi-formal newspaper
article, perhaps to suit the readers’ level of reading proficiency.
Thus, that is why the writer uses formal as well as informal words in
the article.<br />
<br />
<b>AFFECTIVE MEANING</b><br />
<br />
Another type
of meaning in Semantics is Affective meaning. Language use which has
affective meaning reflects the personal feelings and emotions of the
speaker or the attitude to something which is talked about. Some
examples found in the article are :<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">a) “Then you’re a liar,”</td><td valign="top" width="295">accusing</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">b) “...but I can prove that you know who the murderer is.”</td><td valign="top" width="295">confident, certainty</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">c) “Nothing to do with me this time, Inspector.”</td><td valign="top" width="295">denying a statement</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">d) “Really, Inspector...”</td><td valign="top" width="295">showing lack of respect</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">e) Carter eyed him sceptically.</td><td valign="top" width="295">disbelieve</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">f) “But that’s not the point,”</td><td valign="top" width="295">opposing, to change the topic</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The
first example, when Carter says “Then you’re a liar,” shows that he is
rather angry and accuse Creighton for lying about not knowing who the
murderer is. The actual fact is that Carter believes he does. “...but I
can prove that you know who the murderer is,” indicates that Carter (as
the speaker) is confident and certain about what he is saying - that
Creighton knows who the murderer is. The third example, “Nothing to do
with me this time, Inspector,” shows the attitude of denying. Here,
Creighton is denying that the assassination has any relation to him,
though Carter has not said anything or accused him yet. The following
example, “Really, Inspector...” shows that the speaker, Creighton, is
disdainful when Graham says that he is paid to kill Montrose. The next
example given, ‘Carter eyed him sceptically’ indicates disbelieve in
Carter of Creighton’s statement that he had been robbed by the
murderer. Perhaps, Carter suspects that the robbery story is made up
just to cover the truth - Creighton co-operates with the murderer to
kill Montrose. The final example is “...but that’s not the point,”
contains affective meaning which shows Creighton is opposing and wants
to change the subject. Perhaps, he says it because he has something to
hide from Carter and Graham. In short, affective meaning in what is
communicated of the feelings, emotions and attitudes of the speaker.<br />
<br />
<b>REFLECTED MEANING</b><br />
<br />
Reflected
meaning arises in cases of multiple conceptual meanings when one sense
of the word, phrase or sentence form part of a response to another
sense. This means that what is communicated by a speaker may have
another meaning than the one intended.<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">a) “...someone got to Montrose...”</td><td valign="top" width="295">i) someone had killed Montrose<br />
ii) someone had met Montrose</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">b) business</td><td valign="top" width="295">i) the activity of buying and selling goods and services<br />
ii) illegal activity</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">c) unwound</td><td valign="top" width="295">i) change attitude or pose<br />
ii) set oneself free from a posture</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">d) rewarded</td><td valign="top" width="295">i) gave a meaningless expression<br />
ii) gave something as a positive reinforcement</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">e) eyed</td><td valign="top" width="295">i) watched<br />
ii) looked at without believing</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">f) petty</td><td valign="top" width="295">i) little importance<br />
ii) showing that the mind is limited</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The
first example, “...someone got to Montrose...” as said by Lennie,
could mean that someone had killed him, or that someone had met or went
to see him first before he could. Lennie says it in such a way that
this proves that perhaps he did not kill Montrose. ‘Business’ which
carries the meanings of an activity of buying and selling goods and
services, or illegal activities that conmen do. The next example,
‘unwound’ also has reflected meaning. It could mean the change of
attitude of Creighton, or he set himself free from an act or posture
which he has been putting on. Creighton ‘unwound’ himself because he is
accused by Graham of being responsible for the death. The following
example, ‘rewarded (a look)’ by Carter to Graham could mean Carter gives
a meaningless expression to Graham, or he gives him the look as a
positive reinforcement or token of appreciation. Carter ‘rewarded’ the
look because he has already known the information. ‘Eyed’ in the
article also has reflected meaning where it could mean watching
Creighton, or looking at him without believing his words. This shows
that Carter has suspected Creighton is lying to him. The next instance,
‘petty’ as used by Creighton to refer to the murderer, could mean of
little importance, or having / showing that the mind is limited, narrow
and ungenerous. Perhaps Creighton belittles the killer to indicate that
he does not know him and has nothing to do with him. To conclude, the
examples given indicates that words, phrases and sentences can have
reflected meaning and thus, have more than one conceptual meanings.<br />
<br />
<b>COLLOCATIVE MEANING</b><br />
<br />
Collocative
meaning refers to “What is communicated through association with words
which tend to occur in the environment of another word”. Which means
that a word is associated with another based on the environment of the
other word. There are several examples of collocative meaning in the
article.<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">a) inspector</td><td valign="top" width="295">i) police station<br />
ii) badge<br />
iii) guns</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">b) underworld</td><td valign="top" width="295">i) criminal<br />
ii) gun<br />
iii) murder</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">c) dead man</td><td valign="top" width="295">i) coffin<br />
ii) grave</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">d) conman</td><td valign="top" width="295">i) underground<br />
ii) jail</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">e) shot</td><td valign="top" width="295">i) gun<br />
ii) murderer<br />
iii) criminal</td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" width="295">f) jail</td><td valign="top" width="295">i) court<br />
ii) police<br />
iii) prisoner<br />
iv) criminal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The
first example is the word ‘inspector’. The word ‘inspector’ relates to
Inspector Carter who is investigating the murder and has to be present
at the scene of the crime. The environment surrounding the word
‘inspector’ are the ‘police station’, ‘badge’ and ‘gun’. The ‘police
station’ and ‘badge’ are to show authority and the obligation to protect
the society. The ‘gun’ can be linked to the murder weapon of the murder
case. The second example is the word ‘underworld’. The ‘underworld’ is
where the gangsters have a place as a hideout. Collocatively, the word
‘underworld’ is associated with ‘criminal’, ‘guns’ and ‘murder’. The
third example is the word ‘dead man’. The ‘dead man’ is the victim of
the murder. ‘Dead man’ collocates with ‘coffin’ and ‘grave’. The next
example is the word ‘conman’. The ‘conman’ is associated with
‘underground’ which is the place of the gangsters. It is also associated
with ‘jail’ because conman is a person who tricks people to gain money
and deserves to be punished in jail. Another example is the word ‘shot’.
The shot from the gun took the life of Montrose. The ‘shot’ is
collocatively associated with ‘gun’, ‘murderer’ and ‘criminal’. The last
example is the word ‘jail’. ‘Jail’ can be related to the punishment
the murderer deserves for justice. ‘Jail’ is normally associated with
‘court’, ‘police’, ‘prisoner’ and ‘criminal’.<br />
<br />
<b>THEMATIC MEANING</b><br />
<br />
Thematic
meaning means “What is communicated by the way in which the message is
organized in terms of order and emphasis”. It simply means the theme or
message a word, phrase or sentence is trying to emphasis. The theme of
the article is mainly about murder investigation. The words and phrases
‘suspect’, ‘witness to the crime’, ‘detectives’, ‘He came out of jail
yesterday ... with a grudge’, ‘dead man’ and ‘ ... body on the floor
...’ are related to the overall theme. The word ‘suspect’ can be linked
to the theme investigation because Inspector Carter is investigating
the murder case and suspects Lennie as the murderer. But he cannot
prove anything yet. The phrase ‘witness to the crime’ leads to Creighton
who is the witness and does not want to admit that he knows who the
murderer is. The ‘detectives’ can be linked to the theme because they
help to carry out the investigation to find out who the murderer is. In
the sentence ‘He came out of jail yesterday ... with a grudge’ can be
assume that Lennie had something against Montrose and the intention of
harming him. A meeting between Lennie and Montrose is planned to kill
Montrose as can be inferred in ‘ ... an attempt was to be made on
Montrose’s life’. The phrase ‘ ... body on the floor ...’ is related to
the overall theme whereby it refers to the victim of the murder who is
Montrose. Montrose was nicely shot in the middle of the forehead in the
club and the investigation of the murder case starts.<br />
<br />
<b>CONCLUSION</b><br />
<br />
In
conclusion, there are seven types of meaning occurred in the article
chosen. They are conceptual meaning, connotative meaning, stylistic
meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, collocative meaning and
thematic meaning. Language users use these meanings frequently without
even realizing. These meanings occur in words, phrases and sentences.
Meaning in language is very important that language without meaning is
meaningless.<br />
<br />
<b>REFERENCE</b><br />
<br />
Longman Group UK Limited. (1987). <i>Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English</i>. England: Longman Group UK.<br />
<br />
Hafriza. Mass Lecture. <i>Semantics: Words without meaning is meaningless</i>. (11 March 1997).<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0