[53.] In certain foreign words the hard k will be found to be denoted by a dot under the letter, thus, ḳ; and the peculiar vowel sound represented in Arabic by the letter ain is denoted by the Greek rough breathing ‘.
MALAY MANUAL.
[ PART I.]
The object of this work is to facilitate the acquisition of an elementary knowledge of the Malay language. It is believed also that some of the hints and suggestions which it contains will be of use to those who already have a colloquial knowledge of Malay, especially if this has been acquired from Indian or Chinese settlers in the Straits of Malacca, not from Malays themselves.
The Roman character is used throughout, but a knowledge of the native character can hardly be dispensed with by those who aim at a thorough acquaintance with the language. As it abounds in idiomatic expressions, the study of native compositions is most important, and these are generally to be found only in the Malay character. Little attempt is made at scientific arrangement. In dealing with the various parts of speech, technical terms are as far as possible avoided, and reliance is placed rather on illustrations than abstract rules. The student should divest himself of the expectation that sentences may be formed in Malay on principles of construction which govern composition in European languages. An elementary knowledge of Malay is so easily acquired that a learner soon begins to construct sentences, and the tendency, of course, is to reproduce the phrases of his own language with words of the new one. He may thus succeed in making himself intelligible, but it need hardly be said that he does not speak the language of the natives. Correctness of expression cannot be entirely learnt from grammars. In this manual cautions and hints will be given, and, where possible, absolute rules will be laid down, but these must not be regarded as complete. Instruction derived from books must be supplemented by constant practice in speaking with Malays—not with Malay-speaking Asiatics of other nationalities—before idioms can be mastered. Until some facility in framing sentences according to native idioms has been attained, and it has been perceived how shades of meaning may be conveyed by emphasis, or by the position of a word in the sentence, the European will find it difficult to convey his ideas in Malay, even with a considerable vocabulary of words at his disposal. A Dutch author justly remarks:— “Malay is called a poor language, and so it is, but not so much so as is often imagined, certainly not as far as its vocabulary is concerned. That it is often unable to furnish us with words for abstract ideas is a deficiency which it has in common with all languages of the Indian Archipelago, or rather with all races who have not yet risen to the height of our civilisation and development. Its richness or poverty, however, must not be judged by the existing dictionaries, or by the contents of those manuscripts which are known to us. When Malays are seated together talking about various topics of everyday life, they are not in want of words, and such conversations would, if noted down, provide our present dictionaries with a good many supplements, additions, corrections, and appendices.”[1]
I. THE ARTICLE.
There is no article in Malay, that is, there is no word which corresponds exactly with our definite article the, or indefinite article a, an. Kuda, horse, and orang, man, signify equally “the horse” and “the man.” When it is desired to specify particular objects, the pronouns ini, this, itu, that, and yang, this which, or that which, are used. Si sometimes supplies the place of the definite article when a person is spoken of; as si-laki-laki, the man; si-perampuan, the woman; si-mati, the deceased; si-bongkok, the cripple.
The numeral satu, one, is often used as the indefinite article; as ada sa’ orang di negri Kedah, there was a man in the state of Kedah; ini satu kuda chantek, this is a beautiful horse.