A basic Malay vocabulary / by John Le Prevost

I
/
A BASIC
MALAY
VOCABULARY
by
JOHN LE PREVOST, B.A.
Consisting of the 1.000 most
frequently ,used words in the
written Malay language and
a list of those words which
occur at least once in every
1,000,000
UNIVERSITY
(\F
LONDON
PRESS
LTD.
FOREWORD
I commend .this Word Freq u 11 y Count to all friends of the Malay
and especially to those engaged in studying it or teaching
i t. Mr . Le Prevost and his team of tea hers arc to be congratqlated
on their careful and patient wOlk
The making of a word freq uency ounLis a high ly te hnical matLer
and it would no t be proper [or me to mal e any comment on th e
machinery the team employed for t he purpose; but w can rest
a ured t hat the spread of material wa wide, and Lhat the re ult is
u ~ful and ap propriately accurate.
.
Mr. Le Prcvost \~ isely limit his commen ts on the re ulL to very
broad principles. T hi investigation, as he sugge L" opens up a fi lei
of fa cinating research . T wo of hi sugge tions I regard a~ of gr at
impor tance. Onc o[ the n xt steps hould be the illustration of the
use of the higher frequency words in appropriate contexts. This is
obviou sly a fruitful fi eld of study [or those Malay gentlem n who are
at pre ' ent in teresting themselves in the fate of Malay wriLing. He
also stresses the richnes of t he spoken language as again t thc
apparen t co nservaLism of the written language. A word ount of the
spoken language with the mechanical device now available hould
not be too difficult. It wo uld then be pos ible Lo fi nd ays of enriching the writLen language with the virile material and idioms of Lhe
spoken language.
s Mr. Le P revost say, language i ' a living Lhing. It is onc o[ Lhe
so ial habits of its user. T hose o[ us who are daily concerned with
the Malay language realise how it. charact.cr is changing with Lhc
impacLof other languages and cxLernal ideas upon il. It is ob violls
that anoth er count will be required in th e co urse of tim . A compari on o[ the econe! alld firs t co unts m ight r veal so m startling
changes and indica te th e nature o[ developmenL, and help to diagnose
wherc help was needed in pre 'ervin g some o[ the natural characteri tics of the languagc.
I am proud that thi fir t step has been taken in the Lecl mical study
o[ the Malay lang uage by members of the starr o[ the Depar tment of
EducaLion, Singapore. T hey are blazing a trail parallel to thaL up n
which have journeyed such figur s 'n t.he linguistic world as T horndike, l'aucett, Itsu Maki, Palrner, West, Hornby, Eaton and Bongers.
To me it is signi ficant Lhat the burd en of this work was carried by
twenty-eight teachers in Malay schools. ' 'fhe futurc of Malay sh\>uld
be! safe if ~e can fll1d such paLicnce and detailed accuracy am ong its
teachers.
A. W. F R ISBY
Director of Educ'ation.
Singapore
5
J~'lnguage,
PENDAHULUAN
Saya aku'i kebaikan daftar bilangan perkataau2 Melayu iui
kapada sakalian tua11 2 yang kasebkan bahasa Melayu, terutama
kapada mereka 2 yang mempelajari atau mengajarkan-nya. Tuan
Le Prevost dengan kumpulan guru 2-uya boleh benar di-puji kerana
pekerjaan-nya yang chermat dan sabar itu.
Membuat daftar bilangan perkataan 2 ini ada-lab satu pekerjaan
yang tinggi tecbnique-nya; kerana itu tidak-Iab sayogia-nya saya
mesti memberi apa 2 ulasan berkenaan dengan cbara 2 bekerja yang
telah di-gunakan oleb kumpulan itu; tetapi atu perkara yang boleh '
kita aku'i ia-itu jenis 2 baban yang di-amhil dan di-jadikan kandongan daftar itu ada-Iah luas; yang demikian di-perchaya'i daftar itu
berguna dan betul.
Tuan Le Prevost dengan bijak-nya telah menghadkan ulasan-nya
berkenaan dengan daftar yang di-buat-nya ini di-atas chadangan2
yang sangat luas. Penyiasatan yang di-chadangkan-nya itu ada-Iah
membukakan satu Japangan menyiasat yang sangat menarek hati
dan dua daripada chadangan-nya it n saya rasa sangat mustahak.
Maka satu daripada langkab akan datang yang mesti di-buat itu
ia-Iab menunjokkan pula bagaimana chara 2-nya perkataan yang
terla mpau kerap di-jumpa'i itu, di-pakai orang mengikut ikatan 2
ayat-nya yang betul. Sa-sunggoh-nya ini-Iab satu lapangan
menyiasat perkara bahasa yang sa-benar2 yang memberi faedah
kapada tuan 2 orang Melayu yang sedang mengambil berat di-atas
nasib tlilisan persuratan Melayu. Tuan Le Prevost menegaskan juga
tentang kekayaan bahasa mulut yang berbedza nampak-nya dengan
keadaan bahasa tulisan yang sa-olab 2 tersekat daripada menerima
perubahan dan tidak mahu di-perluaskan lagi cbara 2 menggunaka nnya. Membuat satu daftar, bilangan perkataan2 bahasa mulut,
yang di-suslin mengikut suatu chara yang terator saperti yang
di-buat ini, tidak-Iah sa-patut-nya menjadi satu perkara yang susah.
Hanya apabila telah ada daftar yang saperti itu maka baharu-Iah
dapat di-ikhtiarkan pula jalan 2 hendak mengkayakan bahasa
tulisan itu dengan memasokkan perkataan 2 yang lebeh hidup dan
dengan perkataan2 yan g telab jadi resaman bahasa dalam babasa
mulut itu.
Sa-bagaimana kata Tuan Le Prevost dalam penyata-nya, babasa
itu ada-lab satu perkara yang hid up. Sa-benar-nya, bahasa itu
memang terbitong atu daripada beberapa alat masbrakat bagi
orang 2 yang men ggunakan-nya. Kami sakalian yang berhllbong
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sa-tiap had den gan Bahasa Melayu, terasa akan perubahan bahasa
itu, berubah sadikit demi sadikit di-sebabkan oleh pengaroh
bah a a 2 asing dan fikiran luar yang meugena'i bahasa itu. Yang
demikian nyata-lah bahawa di-kehendaki satu lagi daftar bilangan
perkataan 2 pada suatu masa yang akan datang. Deugan jalan
membandingkan k umpulan perkataan 2 yang pertan1a dan yan g
kedua dalam daftar itu, akan terbokti beberapa perubaha n2 yang
mengherankan; bahkan akan ternyata juga bagaimana chara 2-nya
kerja 2 itu telah di-buat dan daripada-nya juga akan da pat kita
memereksa apa 2 yang kurang yang patut di-baiki supaya terpeliha ra
sa-tengah daripada sa-tengah lenggok bahasa yang asli itu.
Saya berasa bangga babawa langkahan yang perta l11a dalam hal
menyiasat bahasa Mel ayu dengan satu cbara technique yang tertentu ini telah di-buat oleh guru 2 ahli Ja batan P.elajaran-Singapura
Mereka telah merintis jalan a-akan 2 sa l11a den gan yang telah
di-tempoh oleh ahli2 bahasa dan persurata n sa-dunia saperti
Tho rndike, Faucett, Itsu Maki, Palmer, West, Hornby, Eaton dan
Bongers. Bagi diri saya, pencbobaan itu besar erti-nya se ba b
bebanan kerja itu Lelah pun di-pikul oleh dua puloh delapan gur1l 2
Sekolah 2 Melaya. Sa-sunggoh-nya nasib ba hasa Melayu a kan
datang itu akan terselal11at jika kesabara n da n tahan berenya h
mencha ri kebetulan a-s uat n perka laa n 2 itll hidup berkobarz dalam
gUlongan kaum guru-nya.
A. W. FRISBY
Pcnguasa Pelajaral/
Singapura
8
ACKNOWLEDGMEN TS
I wi. h. to record Ihe patience and th e cheerful manner in which Ihe
twenty-eight teachers toiled 1.0 assist me in Ihe preparation of this
report.
I wish to thank Che Mohd. Arif b. Ahmad thro ugh whose generosity we were able to count the necessary words occurring in his
personal correspondence files.
In particular I would like to pay trib ute to the care and interes t
with which my colleague Clle Abdul Karim h. Mob el. Shariff' un dertook the translatio n of Part 1.
Lastly I wish to thank the Hon. Mr. A. W. Frisby, Director of
Education, Singapore, who has encouraged me in t hi" work and ha~
consclli erl to write a Foreword to thi,,; repo rt.
J. Le P.
Singapore
Febrncuy "'9.5.1
9
PENGAKUAN TER[MA KASER
Saya stika merakamkan perasaan saya di-sini terhadap kapada
sabar dan gembira-nya 28 orang guru2 Melayu yang telah bekerja
dengan bersusah payah menolong saya menyediakan penyata ini.
Saya lIchapkan terima kaseh kapada Che' Md. Arif bin Abmad,
kerana dengan kemurahan hati-nya telah menyebabkan kita dapat
membilang perkataan2 mustahak yang di-ambil daripada surat 2
kiriman-nya sendiri.
Khas-nya, saya suka menyatakan pujian saya di-sini kapada rakan
sa-jawat aya Che' Abdul Karim bin Mohd. 311ariff yang telah
mengambil berat dan berhati 2 menterjemahkan Bahagian I itu.
Penghabisan sakali saya sukacbita menguchapkan terima kaseh
kapada Yang Berhormat Tuan A. W. Frisby, Penguasa Pelajaran,
Singapura, yang telah memberangsangkan saya dalam kerja
mengumpulkan perkataan 2 ini dan telah sudi menuliskan pendahuluan penyata ini.
J. Le P.
Singapore
February 1953
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CONTENTS
5
7
Foreword
Pendahu luan
Acknowl dgm ent~
Pengakuan terim a kaseh
9
10
PART I
Report on motives. method and result::;
Penyata tentang sebab 2 , chara 2 dan faedah 2-nya
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22
PAR T II
Words occurring at lea t once per 1,000,000 word
Bila ngan ka li sa-suatu perkataan itu di-j umpa i dalam 1 j uta
perkataan
36
PART III
The 500 words occurring mo t freq uen lly and the 500 words
occurri ng ne t most frequently
500 perkataan yang pertama dan 500 yang kedua
64
APPENDIC ES
A
List of materials u ed
D aftar segala bahan 2 yang di-gunakan
B List of names of teachers who took part
D aftar nama guru 2 yang mengam bil ba hagian
C Report pro forma used during the Count
Penyata berkenaan dengan kemajuan bilangan itu
11
72
77
78
PART [
REPORT ON MOTIVES, METHOD
AND RESULTS
REPORT ON MOTIVES, METHODS AND RESULTS
This is, I believe, the first comprehensive word frequency count
made in the Malay language. It is a frequency count of the written
language a represented broadly over di fferent fo rms of written
material.
T o enable students to asse s t he value of its findings, thi ection
of th report will contain a detailed accoun t of the manner in which
th project was conducted.
The section will also indicate the motives which inspired the count
and a provisional as e ment of its success and u ~efulness .
M OTI ES
Language i a living part of the people who use it. As they themselves change, 0 their language must change. To understand a
people in their fullnes , an outsider must understand their language.
To und erstand each other within a community, each person mu st
ha e a thorough grasp of the common language. The administrator ,
the teacher, the leader, these three who seek to achieve good government, wi dom and unity of purpo e know full well the potency of a .
ri h and adequate language, a language which will satisfy the social·
economic, th political and the cultural needs of th e community,
both in writing and in spe ell .
These problem express them elves in commonplaces such as
"the official lang uage", "the language of citizenship", "a comm on
lan guage", " the materials and techniques of language teaching" .
They are uppermo t in th minds of most responsible people in thi s
coun try when they consider the problems of intercommunication and
administration of a polyglot community, child education, adult
ed ucation, a national language, a lingua franca and other aspects of
the e vital problem within such a community.
It was as an initial step, in the study of the Malay language and in
1he atisfaction of the fo ur immediate needs of our community,
that this ta k of counting more than 22 million Malay word s was
undertaken. The needs as I aw them were :
(a) the ocial and political need to teach Malay quickly and
e~ iently to the other rac s that live and work in Malaya an 1
mgapore.
(b) the need for the production of a large amount of adequate,
locally written and grad d reading material for child and adult
schools.
(c) the need for l' earch into tbe vocab ulary of the Malay language, to d termine and develop its capacity to express the needs
of a nation which is rapidly growing more literate and more co n. ciow;
of the dema nds of mod ern technological developm ent.
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