"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.

Language Shift of Banjarese in Sungai Manik, Perak

1.0 INTRODUCTION

There are many causes of language shift in a community. According to Ignace (1998), some of the causes are the shrinking of a minority group (perhaps due to migration and intermarriage), education and social mobility, and lack of planning of the particular language.

In Malaysia, under Malay ethnic group, one of the sub-ethnic groups is Banjar. There are approximately 221,000 of Banjar population in Malaysia (Joshua Project, 2000). They are a minority group in Malaysia and they scatter all over the peninsula from Penang to Tawau, Sabah (Mohd Salleh, 2003).

The Banjar is an interesting group to study because they belong to two different communities. First, they belong to the minority Banjar community, by their common Banjarese and land of origin. Second, they belong to the Malay community, under the umbrella of Malay ethnic group, the native of South-east Asia. In Malaysia, because the Banjar are scattered and living within the majority groups (mainly the Malays), they have assimilated into the mainstream community. In come cases, it is total assimilation where they do not speak Banjarese anymore and lead their life as the Malay (Muhammad Salleh, 1998).

2.0 AIM OF THE RESEARCH

The aim of the research is to observe and analyse if the language shift or language maintenance phenomenon takes place in the bilingual Banjar community in Sungai Manik, Perak Darul Ridzuan. If such is taking place, the research will also try to find reasons to explain the phenomenon.

3.0 METHODOLOGY

Being a small scale research, this study focuses only on a bilingual Banjar family in Sungai Manik. The exact time of the migration of first generation of the family to Malaya cannot be verified. However, the oldest member of the family (68 years old; will be referred to as OG1 henceforth) is the forth generation of their descendants. OG1 is the only person in the generation who is still staying in Sungai Manik. Her husband has passed away in 1986. They had five children together; three of their children are working and residing in other parts of Malaysia, one (the oldest child; will be referred to as SG1 henceforth) who is married to a Javanese is residing not far from the house, and another (the third child; will be referred to as SG3 henceforth) is living in the family house with OG1.

SG1 and her husband have three children; the oldest (17 years old; will be referred to as TG1 henceforth) and the third (five years old; will be referred to as TG3 henceforth) are living with them, and the second (14 years old) are studying at a religious school in Chemor, Perak Darul Ridzuan. SG1 and her two children frequent OG1’s residence almost every day, especially during the day for a chat with OG1 and SG3. TG3 is particularly fond of OG1 and SG3 and sometimes visits the residence on his own and stays over night.

According to Denzin (1978, cited in Patton, 1990), in collecting data in a research, no single method is adequate to any problem “because each method reveals different aspects of empirical reality, multiple methods of observations must be employed.” Thus, the researcher decided to use two methods to gather data. The methods are observations and interviews. In order to collect data for the research, the researcher went to the respondents’ residence (OG1 and SG3) to observe and interview all the respondents. It was possible to observe all the respondents in one setting because they life very with near one another. However, the respondents did not allow their conversations or the interviews to be recorded because they were not comfortable with it. Therefore, the researcher stayed at OG1’s residence for three days to observe and take down notes of their conversations. The researcher had made it clear beforehand the purpose of the study and the reasons why observation and interview were carried out.

4.0 FINDINGS OF RESEARCH

Sungai Manik, Perak Darul Ridzuan covers quite a large area, with population estimated to be about 3500 people (SMKSA School Data, 2003). The entire population is mainly made up of Malays, with very few Chinese in the area who are shop owners and run their business there. Sub-ethnic groups of Malay in the area include the Banjar, Javanese, Mendailing and Siamese. The population is mainly farmers, working in paddy plantation and palm oil estate.

From the interviews with the respondents, the researcher found that only OG1, SG1 and SG3 understand Banjarese and Malay completely. TG1 and TG3 have very limited command of the language and do not use it when conversing with other respondents.

OG1 is a Banjar who was married to another Banjar from the community. OG1 uses Banjarese with all her children, but being in a Malay community, she and her children also learned Malay. She has had a limited education, and has not stayed anywhere outside Sungai Manik. However, she occasionally visits her sister who is in Alor Star and her children who are in other parts of Malaysia. OG1 does mix around in the neighbourhood and goes to Quranic and religious classes held for the veterans by the religious teachers in the community. These classes are held in Malay, because it is a shared language amongst the different sub-ethnic groups.

In the duration of the observation, it was observed that OG1 used Banjarese to speak with her children, SG1 and SG3, and they responded in Banjarese. SG1 and SG3 were also observed to have used Banjarese and Malay when they communicate with each other. However, OG1, SG1 and SG3 used Malay when they were speaking to TG1 and TG3, and they responded in Malay. Sometimes OG1 would mix her sentences with Banjarese words (but SG1 and SG3 do not at all) and the children understood her nonetheless. However, OG1 did not use a full Banjarese sentence or that many Banjarese words with the children because she is aware that they do not know much Banjarese. Here, we can see that OG1 was using a communicative strategy called codeswitching.

The term codeswitching in this research is to mean the use of two languages, in this case, Malay and Banjarese. According to David (2003), codeswitching can be viewed as a communicative strategy use in the process of language shift. It is an achievement strategy to get meaning across to the listener, perhaps due to differences in proficiency between members of the same community. This is perhaps true in the case of OG1 and her grandchildren. However, in the case of the sisters (SG1 and SG3), they said they codeswitch because they are “too lazy” to think for words when they talk. When they talk, they think of what they want to say and then say it with whatever words that come to their minds, whether they are in Malay or Banjarese.

The following are some examples of codeswitches in the data. Malay is in italics and Banjarese are underlined. In Example A, in the conversation between the sisters, SG3 asked her sister (SG1) to clean up the dining table. After a while, she (SG3) asked her again if she had cleaned it.

Example A:

SG3	Along, dah pulit meja tu? Kadak bida pun, aku tengok. (Along, have you cleaned the table? It doesn’t look any different to me.)
SG1	Sudah la.

OG1 uses the codeswitching strategy is when talking to her grandchildren because they are not proficient in Banjarese. In Example B, all the respondents were having lunch at OG1’s residence. Being very young, TG3’s table manners still need guidance. He took some food in the dish plate with his hands and OG1 scolded him for that.

Example B:

TG3	Tok, Muiz nak ni. (Tok, I want some of this.)
OG1	Eh! Jangan jumput dengan tangan! Guna sudu ni. Tangan kamu tu rigat. (Do not pick it with your hand. Use the spoon. Your hand is dirty.

5.0 REASONS FOR LANGUAGE SHIFT

5.1 Intermarriage 

There are several possible reasons for language shift in the family and also in the community. One of the most important reasons is intermarriage. According to David and Nambiar (2003), intermarriage can be a negative influence in the retention of the mother tongue of the parents. In the family, the children, TG1 and TG3, use only Malay to communicate with OG1, SG1 and SG3. Although sometimes OG1 would use several Banjarese words when she talks to them, they always respond in full Malay sentences. This could be because Malay is their mother tongue, the language being spoken at home by their parents. Here, Malay is used in SG2’s family because it is a shared language with the father who is a Javanese. He does not speak Banjarese, and nor does she speak Javanese. Thus, Malay is chosen for communication.

5.2 Malay as Language of Opportunity

Another possible cause for language shift is opportunities which come with Malay. Malay is seen as a language of opportunity in Malaysia because it is the national language, while Banjarese, according to the respondents, is a “dead-end” language. Ridler and Pons-Ridler (1984) suggested that the choice of language reflects the working of the market. People choose a language that will benefit them in a long run. In addition to that, Schiffman (1998) stated that language shift in the minority group is inevitable when the language of the minority is seen as a language which does not help the speakers to improve their socio-economy and social mobility. Thus, the minority group will shift to the dominant language.

5.3 Migration

Other than that, migration is also another reason why language shift is taking place in the community. Grimes (2001) noted that sociolinguists agree that migration, either voluntary or forced, is a cause of language shift. When the members of a community migrate, the remaining community shrinks in size and thus, they are less likely to be able to maintain their language. As we can see in the family, three of OG1’s children are working and residing outside Sungai Manik. The same is happening to other families as well. This could be due to more employment opportunities with better salary in urban areas than in Sungai Manik. With education and wanting to improve their standard of living, some of the Banjar here (as well as other sub-ethnic groups) have migrated mainly to Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur and as far as Johor Bahru to look for employment.

5.4 Little Difference between Lifestyle, Custom and Culture

Another possible cause of language shift in the family and community is because there is very little difference in terms of lifestyle, custom and culture between the Banjar and Malay. The Banjar feel that they belong in their community and they feel almost as comfortable as in a Malay community. The respondents informed the researcher that they do not feel and have not been treated like an outsider when they are in a Malay group of friends. Although Banjarese is still their “intimate language”, the use of Malay does not make them feel “less” Banjar. Therefore, we can see that because the respondents are comfortable using Malay, do not see the need to maintain and use Banjarese, and do not feel their culture and custom are threatened by using Malay. As a result they tend to use more Malay in their family and community.

5.5 The National Education policy

The National Education policy could also be a reason for language shift in the Banjar community. According to Grimes (2001), the desire to build a nation by a people has contributed to language shift in several countries, although it does not cause universal shift of the language. This is because the minor sub-ethnic languages are not given attention at all in education policies drawn up by the government. In the case of the Banjar, they are educated in government schools with Malay being the medium of instruction. Thus, they are more familiar with Malay because it is the language they use outside their home. Banjarese is used only at home with their parent and siblings.

5.6 Modernization

In the area of Sungai Manik, modernization could also be a reason for language shift. Grimes (2001) noted that modernization, among other things, is a factor which accompanies language shift. In Sungai Manik, paddy plantation is being modernized and systematized by the state government to improve the production and quality of rice in the area. Therefore, some officers are posted there to train the locals on how to manage their rice plots, how to use the machines, the management of irrigation and so on. As modernization takes place, the people in the area also work together to ensure everyone benefits from the modernization and changes. Thus, they communicate using Malay as the lingua franca in the area. The frequent use of the language makes it more dominant than other sub-ethnic languages.

6.0 CONCLUSION

From the small family being studied, we can see that the third generation especially, has shifted from Banjarese to Malay. Although the second generation is fluent in the language and uses it at home with the first generation and their siblings, the third generation seems to have very limited command in the language.

REFERENCES

Alfani Daud. (2000). Islam dalam Masyarakat Banjar. Fakultas Ushuluddin IAIN Antasari.

Banjar Association of Malaysia (1998). Sejarah Orang Banjar di Malaysia. <http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Palace/5830/Pbanjar.htm >

David, M.K. (2003). Communicative Strategies in Sindhi Homes in Malaysia. In Watt, R.J. (Ed.). Multilingua: Journal of Cross-cultural And Interlanguage Communication: 22. pp.65-78

David, M.K. and Nambiar, M. (2003). Exogamous Marriages and out-migration: Language shift of Catholic Malayalees in Malaysia. In Watt, R.J. (Ed.). Multilingua: Journal of Cross-cultural And Interlanguage Communication: 22. pp. 141-150.

Grimes, B.F. (2001). Global language viability. In Osamu Sakiyama (ed.), Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim: Lectures on endangered languages 2. From Kyoto conference 2000, 45-68. ELPR Publication Series C002. ELPR.: Osaka, Japan < http://www.sil.org/sociolx/ndg-lg-grimes_topics.html&gt;

Ignace, M.B. (1998). A Handbook for Aboriginal Language Program Planning in British Columbia. First Nations Education Steering Committee: British Columbia <http://www.schoolnet.ca/aboriginal/fnesc/inex-e.html&gt;

Khairul Azmi. (1998). Imigrasi Orang Banjar. <http://utamadotmy.com/kb/imigrasi/imig1.html&gt;

Mohd Salleh Sohot. (2003). Fakta Sejarah Orang Banjar. <http://members.tripod.com/~SMLH/Banjar/fakta.html&gt;

Muhammad Salleh. (1998). Orang Banjar di Malaysia. <http://utamadotmy.com/kb/imigrasi/imig2.html&gt;

Patton, M.Q. (1990). Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods (2^nd. Ed.).London: SAGE Publications

Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sultan Abdullah (2003). Data Latarbelakang Masyarakat Setempat. Chenderong Balai.

Schiffman, H. (1998). Language Shift. <http://ccats.sas.upenn.edu/~harolds/messeas/maltamil/node2.html&gt;

Schutt, R.K. (1996). Investigating the Social World: The process and practice of research. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press

Ridler, N.B. and Pons-Ridler, S. (1984) .Language Economics: A Case Study of French. In Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 5,1 (1984): 57-63.

Extension/shift of meaning of Sanskrit loanwords in Bahasa Malaysia

INTRODUCTION

When a language comes into contact with another language, usually through trades, colonisation and migration, language transfer bounds to happen. Nonetheless, intensity of language contact is not the same in every geographical area and political situation. In some areas, the intensity is low and only involves formal usage of the language, and in some other places it is high and involves both formal and informal contexts. For example, in Malaysia, the intensity of contact between English and Bahasa Malaysia (BM) is so high that transfer from English into BM happens both in formal and informal contexts.

Historically, Sanskrit arrived to Peninsular Malaya through Hinduism as early as the 7th century. Indian merchants drew converts from the ruling and trading class with whom they did business. Hinduism also spread through marriage because small rulers of the Malay trading centres were glad to marry off their sons or daughters to wealthy Indian merchants or their children.

With such cultural convergence, language contact is said to be highly intense. Lexical transfer and borrowing occurred in both formal and informal contexts.

THE STUDY

The study looks at Sanskrit loanwords in contemporary BM and compares their current meaning with the original meaning. Currently, there are approximately 1100 words in BM of Sanskrit origin. Due to length of contact and the passing of time, most of these loanwords have gone through the processes of lexical change – extension, narrowing, shift, amelioration and degradation of meaning.

The study focuses on extension and shift of meaning of Sanskrit loanwords in BM. These loanwords originally have religious denotations/connotations. However, now, they are more secular in nature.

Sanskrit Loanwords: From Religious to Secular Denotation/Connotation

CURRENT		ORIGINAL
BM	Meaning	Sanskrit	Meaning
acara	event, incident, order or conduct	acara	rule of conduct, religious obligation, regulated manners
cakerawala	the horizon and stars in the sky	cakravala	mythical mountain bordering the earth (Puranas)
candi	ancient Hindu or Buddhist monument or temple	candi	name of Durga
cengkerama	chit-chat/romance/sight-seeing	cangkrama	gallery around temple
ceria	pure/clean/merry	carya	due observance
gandewa	bow	gandiva	Arjuna’s bow
lingga	monument	lingga	symbol of Siva
semadi	abode after death/resting place	samadi	meditation
serikandi	ideal wife/female warrior	shrikhandin	epic heroine
sida / sida-sida	castrate/eunuch	siddha	perfect/semi-divine person/an honorific
suami	husband	svami	lord

TOTAL: 11 lexical items

* Note: Because Sanskrit writing system is different from BM and is not available, Sanskrit words listed here are simplified.

ANALYSIS

Original		Analysis
Sanskrit	Meaning
acara	rule of conduct, religious obligation, regulated manners	Lexical process: extension of meaning. I believe acara originally used to refer to religious rule of conduct and obligation. Now, it simply refers to event or agenda. From this word, I believe cara (way/manner/method) is a backformation of this word.
cakravala	mythical mountain bordering the earth (Puranas)	Lexical process: extension of meaning. Perhaps because cakravala has a Hindu referent, when Islam arrived and embraced by the Malays, the meaning shifted to refer to the horizon (where the mountain was believed to be situated) and the stars.
candi	name of Durga	Lexical process: extension of meaning. Perhaps a name of a certain temple, built in honour of Durga. Because earlier ruins found in Malaysia were of that type, later discoveries were also referred to as candi.
cangkrama	gallery around temple	Lexical process: extension of meaning. Perhaps other than for meditation, the gallery around temples was also used to relax, chat and rest. The meaning now has shifted to refer to just that.
carya	due observance	Lexical process: shift of meaning. Early meaning of ceria was pure/clean. Only recently, it is used to also mean “merry”. I believe the word originally refers to due observance of Hindu teachings, which includes keeping oneself pure and clean. I think the recent meaning of “merry” happened because the word ceria has a happy tone to it. Or perhaps, originally anything clean and organised is pleasant-looking. You decorate it some more, you still get ceria.
gandiva	Arjuna’s bow	Lexical process: extension of meaning. Perhaps after the coming of Islam, the story of Arjuna and his bow was rapidly replaced by Islamic stories. And thus, gandewa experienced extension of meaning to refer to all types of bows.
lingga	symbol of Siva	Lexical process: extension of meaning. Just like candi, I believe lingga has experienced extension of meaning; now to also refer to monument, not specific to Siva.
samadi	meditation	Lexical process: shift of meaning. Perhaps the meaning of semadi in the sense of “meditation” or “resting” was adopted first into BM. After that, the meaning shifted to mean “final abode” or “final resting place”.
shrikhandin	epic heroine	Lexical process: extension of meaning. To me, anything “epic” is usually part of a Hindu legend or the sacred text. So, because she’s like a heroine (and thus good, loyal and heroic), a woman referred to as a srikandi also is presumed to have these characteristics.
siddha	perfect, semi-divine person	Lexical process: extension of meaning. Sida is an honorific, allegedly from Sanskrit siddha, which means “perfect”. Beside “perfect”, the corresponding Sanskrit term also meant “semi-divine person” (compare Old Javanese siddha). In my opinion, a castrate/eunuch’s position in the court entitles him to such honour, though not to the degree of referring him as a “semi-divine person”. There are many arguments on this, but this is my conclusion.
svami	lord	Lexical process: extension of meaning. Svami refers to “lord” or “master”. Traditionally, a husband’s status is so revered that he is said to be the “master”, most probably connoting “master of household” and “master of the family/wife”. Now, suami refers to “husband” (still “master of the household”?).

CONCLUSION

Sanskrit loanwords in BM go through extension of meaning (acara, candi, cakerawala, cengkerama, gandewa, lingga, suami, serikandi), and shift of meaning (ceria, semadi). I strongly believe that the coming of Islam has a great influence on the use of these formerly religious words. Because Islam is very strict when it comes to “aqidah” (matters of faith), anything that can deviate your faith/“iman”, even by use of words, should be avoided. Like many Sanskrit words (still in use, obsolete or considered classical words and only used in classic literature texts), most Malay users do not and cannot tell that most of these words are of Sanskrit origin.

REFERENCES

1.   Most words in the list are derived, revised and modified from Casparis, J.G. de, 1997, Sanskrit loan-words in Indonesian and Malaysian, http://crcl.th.net/indic/inbyskt.htm, with additions and comments from Mahdi, Waruno, 2000, Review of J.G. de Casparis, cross-referened with Zainal Abidin Safarwan (2002) Kamus Besar Bahasa Melayu Utusan, Hawkins (2000) Kamus Dwibahasa Oxford Fajar and Wignesan (1994) The Extent of Influence of Tamil on the Malay Language: a comparative study.

2. Asha Doshi (2003). Kajian Pemindahan Leksis Antara Bahasa (Lecture notes). Fakulti Bahasa dan Linguistik: University of Malaya.

3. Casparis, J.G. de. (1997). Sanskrit Loanwords in Indonesia: An annotated check-list of words from Sanskrit in Indonesian and Traditional Malay. Maintained by Cooper, D. (2004). Sanskrit Loan Words in Indonesian/Malaysian. Retrieved on 15th June 2004 from http://crcl.th.net/indic/sktbyin.htm

Why does Synonymy happen? A look at Bahasa Melayu/Malaysia

Bahasa Melayu/Malaysia is rich in synonyms. The main reason for that is the history of the language and the country. Contact with other cultures and societies, and colonization play important roles in shaping the language.

Why does synonymy happen in BM?

1.  Borrowing/transfer

Borrowing/transfer is the biggest contributing factor to synonymy in any language. Because of our unique location and history, BM has been in contact with many other languages since the beginning of our civilization. These languages brought with them new concepts, ideas, ideologies, culture and merchandise to the region. Foreign items quickly made their way into the language, while existing ones are replaced by the “new words”.

Unfortunately, because the old language writing system and orthography (possibly Rencong) was written on leaves and barks, it did not survive. As a result, we have no record of what things were before the massive change in the language and its writing system before the adoption of Palava via Sanskrit/Hinduism.
However, because BM is very dynamic and ever-adaptable, lexical items from other languages still come in and out of use till today. For example,

sekejap – sebentar (BM-Sanskrit)
sedih – nestapa (BM-Sanskrit)
kakitangan – anggota (BM-Sanskrit)
umum – am (BM-Arabic)
tuduh – dakwa (BM-Arabic)
kesan – akibat (BM-Arabic)
maklumat – informasi (Arabic-English)
lucah – erotika (BM-English)
gerek – basikal (BM-English)
biara – konven (Sanskrit-English)
sembahyang – solat (Sanskrit – Arabic)

2. Different dialects of regions

Like many languages in the world, varieties of BM are spoken in different regions of the country. As a result, the use of synonyms is based on the dialect or variety of BM. For example,

Standard BM	Dialect
balik	kelik (Kelantan)
senget	joreng (Perak)
almari	gerobok (Johor)
payau	hayai (Perak)
tidak	sik (Sarawak)
pasir	semba (Perak)
tukul	mertun (Perak)

3. Formality of the context

Formality of contexts also contributes to synonyms. One word is used in a more formal context than the other, or one word is used in the standard variety, while the other is more common in the spoken variety (colloquial). For example,

Formal	Informal
filateli	pengumpul stem
titah (royalty)	cakap
bersiram (royalty)	mandi
teman wanita	makwe
meninggal dunia	mati
suami	laki
isteri	bini
jelita	jambu
buang angin	kentut
kurus	cekeding
tinggi	lonjong

4. Different connotations of lexical items

Many words in BM may be synonymous, but unless they are strict synonyms, each word carries a different level of meaning (connotation). For example,

kasih – cinta

o       kasih – love, between child and parent, sense of appreciation, unconditional
o       cinta – love, between lovers

dunia – alam fana

o       dunia­ – the world
o       alam fana – the mortal world (poetic)

bersinar – bergemerlapan

o       bersinar­ ­– shines, bright
o       bergemerlapan – shines, glitters, bright, festive, colourful

terang – bermandi cahaya

o       terang - bright
o       bermandi cahaya - bathe in light (poetic)

jernih – bersih

o       jernih – clear, transparent, limpid, pellucid (also spiritual, of a person’s face)
o       bersih – clean

makan – mengisi perut

o       makan – eating
o       mengisi perut – eating to fill the stomach, just enough (poetic)

mati – korban

o       mati­ – died, killed
o       korban ­ - died, killed unnecessarily and/or senselessly, sacrificed

menderita – sakit

o       menderita – prolonged suffering (emphasis on the suffering), in pain, unable to function at all
o       sakit ­– ill, not well

5. Euphemisms

Euphemism is common in many languages. Language speakers create euphemisms where there are subjects that they do not want to talk about directly. BM is well-known for its figurative speech (ungkapan, simpulan bahasa, peribahasa, kiasan, pantun) for the purpose of poetry, politeness and not loosing face. Euphemisms in BM, like many other languages, are related to death, sex, body parts and honour (although as a speaker, we know they are used in almost anything). For example,

Lexical item	Standard	Euphemism
sex	seks	bersetubuh
virginity	dara	mahkota gadis
penis	kemaluan (genitals)	keris
useless	sia-sia	gajah putih
death	meninggal dunia	menghembus nafas terakhir
propose (marriage)	meminang	memetik bunga di taman
murder	bunuh	tamatkan riwayat
enemy	musuh	gunting dalam lipatan

6. Technicality of the context

Synonymy also exists due to registers and technical jargons. They enrich the lexicon of a language, where the lexemes are used based on specialisation, profession, business, sports and social activities (such as hobbies); different from everyday language. These registers are necessary to describe something accurately (within that field), and they are a symbol of membership of the user in that particular field. For example,

Lexical item	Standard	Jargon
lungs	paru-paru	pulmonari
fabric	kain	fabrik
impotent	mati pucuk	impoten
dose	sukatan	dos
philately	mengumpul stem	filateli

References

Asha Doshi. (2005). Lexicology (Lecture notes). Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya

Jackson, H. and Ze Amvela, E. (2000). Words, Meaning and Vocabulary: an introduction to Modern English Lexicology. New York: Cassell.

 Yule, G. (1985). The Study of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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The Influence of Second Language on the First Language

INTRODUCTION

The study of language contact has focused mostly on language transfer. Most of the works pay attention to how the first language or mother tongue affects the second language either in positive ways (transfer) or negative ways (interference). Linguists have been studying language transfer as early as in the 1950’s. Pioneered by Haugen in 1950 with his work The Analysis of Linguistic Borrowing and Problems of Bilingualism, the study of language transfer from the first language to the second language has been extensive. According to Serrano and Howard (2003), transfer, and interference, has been studied in relation to the different language domains, which includes phonology, morphology, syntax and discourse both in reception and production.

However, reverse transfer, (as noted by Cenoz et al., 2001) cited in Serrano and Howard (2003) that is language transfer from the second language to the first language has been given very little attention. Until recently, several linguists begin to study this field and its significance and impact on society, culture and education system.

In the United States of America, educationists are aware of the second language influence on the first language. In a progress report made by the San Juan School District, California (2003), it stated that 59% of the students have a second language influence (the first language being English). This is seen as a hindrance for the students to be fully English proficient, and they are categorized as having English language issues.

The question is, is there really a second language influence on the first language? If so, how does the second language influence the first language? Is there any second language influence on the first language in Malaysia?

STUDIES ON THE SECOND LANGUAGE INFLUENCE ON THE FIRST LANGUAGE

In a study conducted by Masden (2002) in Japan, where groups of students, monolingual and bilingual Japanese and English were asked to interpret the intensity of certain modifiers, such as “a little”, “very” and “extremely”. He discovered that Japanese students who are competent in English (the bilingual group) interpreted the phrase “a little” the same as monolingual and bilingual native speakers of English. Masden concluded that,

“…there may be a connection between the influence on an individual level of knowledge of another language and analogous influence on an entire language.  The notion of the influence of a “superstrate” language is interesting to me because of the power relations implied by the terminology.  In fact, while Japanese subjects in our experiment seemed to be very influenced by English, the English speakers seemed to be less influenced by their knowledge of Japanese.  Perhaps perceptions of international power and prestige associated with English have contributed to the result we observed.”

To certain degree, I agree with Masden that the fact that English is seen as a “superstrate” language in Japan could be a reason why students who are fluent in English tend to have English language influences in their Japanese. This could also be the same case in Malaysia, whereby now we have so many borrowed and adopted words and terms from English into Malay. These words are adopted from English mostly to suit Standard Malay phonetics and phonology system which is different from English in some ways, such as the sound-spelling discrepancy of English words, which is almost non-existent in Malay. For example, “inovasi” (from innovation), “objektif” (from objective) and “dekad” (from decade).

Other than that, we also have the young and urban professionals (also known as “yuppies”) who prefer to speak English perhaps because English is also associated with power and prestige in Malaysia, and people who speak English is most of the time considered “of having higher status” or being “better educated”.

Serrano and Howard (2003) conducted a study in the United States of America on The Influence of English on the Spanish Writing of Native Spanish Speakers in Two-Way Immersion Programs. They discovered some influences of the second language (English) on the students’ first language (Spanish). Based on previous coding schemes by Mendieta (1999) and Weinreich (1956), Serrano and Howard decided on the categories of the language transfer: mechanic transfer, lexical transfer, and beyond the word level transfer.

1.         Mechanical transfer

This type of transfer refers to the cases where the students followed the English rules of spelling, capitalization, punctuation, etc. This category is divided into three subcategories: spelling transfer, mechanic transfer and other mechanic transfer.

i.          Spelling transfer is the instances where the student used English rules of spelling/sound matching when s/he was writing in Spanish. Among other examples given by Serrano and Howard are:

ejemplo (example) was spelt as exemplo

ingles (English) was spelt as engles

ii. Mechanic transfer is capitalization transfer, which refers to the cases where the student followed English rules of capitalization and capitalized words in Spanish that are not supposed to be  written in capital letters in this language. For example, Mayo (instead of mayo, “May”), or Viernes (instead of viernes “Friday”).

iii. Other mechanic transfer is referring to punctuation and abbreviation, such as “E.E. es la mejor escuela del mundo. Por qué? (“E.E. is the best school in the world. Why?”). The correct Spanish punctuation would be ¿Por qué?.

2.         Lexical transfer

This type of transfer occurred when the student transferred words from English into Spanish. Lexical transfer are divided into three different subcategories: English words incorporated directly into Spanish texts (such as, high school, middle school, bus and student store), English words adopted into Spanish morphology and phonology (such as, lonche, from lunch, meaning “almuerzo/comida”, rentar, from rent, meaning “alquilar”, and troca, from truck, meaning “camión”), and semantic transfer to already existing words (such as, letra, from letter, intended to mean “carta”, bloque, from block, intended to mean “manzana/cuadra”).

3.         Beyond the word level transfer

This is where the cases of English influencing Spanish at the sentence level. For example, instances of idioms or collocations in English that are translated directly into Spanish, such as somos mejores amigas (“we’re best friends”), instead of the more common Spanish somos muy buenas amigas and es mi major amiga; adivina qué! (“guess what!”), instead of ¿sabes qué?

Word-order transfer is another type of transfer beyond the word level. According to Serrano and Howard, Spanish is very flexible in relation to word-order. However, they found that students wrote sentences like mi favorito tipo de manejar es freestyle (“my favorite type of riding is freestyle”, or al siguiente día fuimos a Las Vegas (“on the next day we went to Las Vegas”), in very rigid English word-order, but not ungrammatical in Spanish. They concluded that the students produced them because of the influence of English.

There are also cases of English syntactic constructions incorporated into the Spanish grammar by the students. For example, yo era nacido (“I was born”) (cf. Spanish “yo nací”), or conocí a dos muchachos que me enamoré de (“I met two boys that I fell in love with”) (cf. Spanish “conocí a dos muchachos de los que me enamoré”). Most of these constructions are ungrammatical in Spanish.

Another study on the influence of the second language on the first language is a study conducted by Darwish (1999) in Australia on Arab migrants which showed that, negative transfer from English into Arabic seems to produce a new variety of Arabic that diverges from the norms of Arabic spoken in the Arab world. This variety of Arabic is an interim stage within the process of language shift from Arabic to English. However, the presence of a pseudo-language is alien to both the culture and the language.

The notion of “a pseudo-language” is interesting because the variety of Arabic is a result of the blending of Arabic and Australian English, and thus, making it unique. Because it is neither recognizable as Arabic nor Australian English, it has established itself as a culture and variety of English on its own.

Observation of TESL – 6^th Batch (1993-1998, UiTM/UKM)

Students of TESL – 6^th Batch (1993-1998, UiTM/UKM) are bilinguals (mainly Malay as the first language and English as the second language). A small number of them acquired Malay and English at home, while the majority of them were introduced to English when they started school at the age of six or seven years old (instructed).

From my observation, most of the times, in casual conversation, TESL students’ pronunciation and accent was very much like a normal Malay, that is, it did not deviate so much from the consonants and vowels sounds in Standard Malay language system, including the dialects. This means, no aspiration of /t/ and /p/, and no consonant clusters. In fact, most of them preferred to speak in their own regional dialects. This is perhaps because they were proud of it. In addition to that, this could also due to the fact that they were aware that a normal Malay does not talk with an evident English accent. People usually see this way of talking as snobbish, arrogant and showing off.

However, in the course of my observation, there were several occasions in their casual conversation which showed to certain degree some influence of the second language.

I.          Phonology

The most noticeable influence of English on the student’s casual Malay conversation is the tendency to drop the /ә/ sound to form consonant clusters. However, in doing so, they maintained the Malay sound system pronunciation, which means, in “terima kasih”, “terima” does not sound like the English version of /trimә/, but rather sounds like /trimә/ (unaspirated /t/ and trill /r/). The systematic dropping of the /ә/ sound only occurs when one consonant sound and the /ә/ sound come together in initial position and middle position of a word, followed by /r/, /k/ or /l/ sound. For example, in words such as “beri”, “sekolah” and “kelapa”. It was observed that the dropping of the /ә/ sound forms consonant clustered allowed in English, such as “broken”, “school” and “clean”.

II.        Syntax/Word order

There were also instances of syntactic construction transfer from English. Such construction is ungrammatical in Malay. For example, it was observed that few students would say something like, “Aku tak tahu macam mana nak guna benda ni dengan,” and then she looked as if she wanted to finish the sentence but did not know how. Another example is, “Engkau ada ke cukup bahan nak buat assignment ni dengan,” and the same expression followed.

The ending of the sentence with the preposition only occurred with “dengan”, and not other prepositions, which is a direct translation of English, as in, “Aku tak tahu macam mana nak guna benda ni dengan…” is a direct translation of “I don’t know what to use it with.” and “Engkau ada ke cukup bahan nak buat assignment ni dengan…” could be translated as, “Do you have enough materials to work with?”

It should be noted that these skipping of /ә/ sound and “slips of tongue” only occurs in casual conversation, outside classroom setting, and where code-switching is allowed and accuracy is not important. It should also be noted that the students were not aware of the fact that they were observed. This is so that they did not have their guard up and thus monitored their way of speaking, that is, they were not conscious of their way of speaking.

Other than those, it was observed that some TESL students did not use the borrowed and adopted English words in Malay, such as “informasi” from “information”, “visi” from “vision”, and “misi” from “mission”, even in a formal setting where they were required to speak Malay (during Kemahiran Bahasa Melayu class, Semester I 1998/1999). When asked why they preferred the English words to the adopted version, some of them said that they did not like how the English words have been “abused” and the same time, the Malay language “polluted”.

I also noticed that with Malay words which are borrowed and adopted from English which pronunciation is not very different from the original word, most of the students pronounced them in English. Examples for these words are “kreatif” (creative), “inovatif” (innovative) and “ideologi” (ideology).

This is perhaps due to the fact that the TESL students come from a monolingual family and only learned English when they went to school at seven years of age. Linguists agree that by the age of five, children already master the grammar of their mother tongue. Thus, in the case of these students, they have a solid foundation in their mother tongue already by the time they went to primary school. In addition to that, Malay language is the official language of Malaysia and is also the medium of instruction in national schools. 

Therefore, unlike the Spanish children who grow up at home acquiring Spanish but using American English as the medium of instruction in schools and outside home environment, the TESL students use English perhaps most of the time only at school and with English speaking friends or teachers. As a result, their English does not have a strong influence on their Malay, except in several instances.

CONCLUSION

 

To conclude, we can say that reverse transfer, or the influence or second language on the first language is evident in a society where the individual’s second language is used widely, as the case of the Spanish living in the USA.

In Malaysia, because Bahasa Melayu is the medium of instruction in the government schools and is the national language, the influence of English on the Malays is very little. Except for the influence at word level, the influence of English in Malaysia is not noticeable.

Perhaps the TESL 6th Batch students in UiTM/UKM experienced some type of second language influence because they used English widely in the course of their study there. In addition to that, the medium of instruction is English. Most of the time, they are aware of their way of talking and try to keep the influence of English to the minimum. It is somewhat a conscious choice. This is perhaps due to the fact that their command in their mother tongue is very good, it being the national language and used widely in their environment and in the country.

REFERENCE

Baskaran, L. (2003). Description of Sounds. In General Linguistics: Phonetics and Phonology. University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur

Darwish, A. (1999). Influence of Second Language Acquisition on the First Language of Migrants: Australian Arabs Case Study. In JAIMES, Vol 2, No 2, 1995, pp 101- 121. Deakin University, Australia. http://www.surt.net.au/writescope/translation/firstling.htm (viewed: 10th July 2003)

Masden, K. (2002). Influence of L2 on L1. In Milligan, K. (Ed.), LINGUIST List 13.665, Tuesday March 12, 2002. http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/13/13-665.html (viewed: 9th July 2003)

Massad, J. (2002). Solano’s First Test for English Learners. In TheRepoter.com. http://www.thereporter.com/current/News/Inside/02/05/dailyinside.050702.html (viewed: 09th July 2003)

Serrano, R. and Howard E.R. (2003). Maintaining Spanish Proficiency in the United States: The Influence of English on the Spanish Writing of Native Spanish Speakers in Two-Way Immersion Programs. In Lotfi Sayahi (ed.), Selected Proceedings of the First Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics (pp. 77-88). 

Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project. http://www.lingref.com/cpp/wss/1/paper1010.pdf (viewed: 09th July 2003)

– (2003). PHLOTE Report. A paperwork presented in 9th Annual Utah Heritage Language Conference (11th April 2003), Montezuma Creek. http://www.sanjuan.k12.ut.us/ProgressReport/page5.htm (viewed: 09th July 2003)

– (2003). Page-Lake Powell Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau. Education Information, Page. http://www.pagelakepowellchamber.org/Chamber_Info/Page_AZ_Info/Education/ education.html

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