Читать книгу Baba Malay Dictionary - William Gwee Thian Hock - Страница 8

points to note

I. FORMAT

The entries have been arranged in the following formats:

(i)1(2) 3

(ii)1[2a] 3

(iii)1(2) 3 4 5

(iv)1[2a] 3 4 5

(v)1/1a/1b (2) 3 4 5

(vi) 1a/1b/1c SEE 1

KEY
1	A Baba word
1a/1b/etc	The same Baba word but pronounced differently by some Babas and Nyonyas
2	The Malay origin of the word wherever possible [but it may not necessarily carry the same meaning as the Baba word]
2a	The Hokkien-Chinese origin of the word wherever possible. (For a better understanding the Mandarin version is occasionally added wherever possible)
3	Meaning(s) of the Baba word. (Where a word is not followed by its meaning, it denotes the word is not used by itself and is there as an indication that it is a root word)
4	Phrase, saying or idiomatic expression associated with the word (beginning with the word itself)
5	Meaning(s) of the phrase, saying or idiomatic expression

II. SPELLING

Baba word:	the Baba words have all been spelt in accordance with Baba (and especially that of the Nyonya) pronunciation in the up-to-date spelling.
Malay word:	under section 2 of the Format wherever possible, Malay-origin equivalent words have been spelt in the new method spelling which Malay readers are familiar with.
Chinese word:	as Chinese loan words in the Baba language are of Hokkien-Chinese origin, wherever possible Chinese characters conforming to Hokkien usage are provided in section 2 of the Format. However, Hokkien is a different language from Mandarin, the standard Chinese language. Some Hokkien words cannot be meaningfully written in Chinese characters and in such instances, section 2 of the Format is left blank.
	Combination of Malay and Chinese words: in cases where a Baba word is a combination of a Malay and Chinese word, only the Chinese characters are written in section 2 of the Format because Baba usage of the Malay word does not differ in meaning or spelling from the original, e.g. anak suak boey, balek Tong San. chakap ong kut, tengok ngo heng, terchuan chuan (the underlined words being of Malay origin).

III. PRONUNCIATION

Words of Hokkien-Chinese origin are not pronounced by the Babas in their correct tones. When such words were first incorporated into their dialogue, the Malay wives of the Chinese migrant settlers failed to pronounce these words in their correct tones. They passed on these imperfections to their progenies. Words of Malay origin are pronounced by the Babas (especially by the Nyonyas in some instances) in several ways.

i) Words that end in 'a' (lupa, kena, rasa) which are pronounced by the Malays at one time with an ‘er' sound (luper, kener, raser) are pronounced by the Babas with an ‘ah' sound with emphasis on the ‘h' sound (lupah, kenah, rasah).

ii) Words that end in ‘al', ‘ar', ‘as' (tampal, lebar, kapas) are pronounced by the Babas with an ‘air' sound (tampair, lebair, kapair). The Malay word nenas is pronounced nanair by the Babas.

In general the Nyonyas are more prone to this habit than the Babas, the majority of whom tend to pronounce such words as the Malays do. It is to record the existence of this quaint pronunciation, which has rendered the Babas' spoken language unique that the examples in the dictionary have been spelt with an ‘air' ending. They also occupy the first position where there is more than one way of pronouncing a particular word. This is a tribute to the Nyonyas.

iii) Words that end in 'ai' (rambai, teratai, tapai) are pronounced by the Babas with an 'ay' sound (rambay, teratay, tapay).

iv) Words that end with 'au' (kerbau, pisau, silau) are pronounced by the Babas with an 'o' sound (kerbo, piso, silo). Other differences in Baba pronunciation include harimau, which is pronounced as arimo (without the 'h' sound) or at times harimo (with the 'h' sound), hijau which is pronounced as ijo, and limau which is pronounced as lemo (the 'i' sound is pronounced with an 'ay' sound).

v) Many words which begin with 'h' are usually pronounced by the Babas without the 'h' sound:

MALAY	BABA
hati	ati
hantu	antu
hidung	idong
hitam	itam
hutan	utan

vi) Some words that end in 'i' (biji, nasi, tahi) are pronounced by the Babas with a 'k' sound at the end. For tahi, the 'h' sound is silent. Kecil, which does not end in 'i', is also pronounced with a 'k' sound at the end, viz kechik.

vii) Some Malay words which are pronounced differently by the Babas are:

MALAY	BABA
ambil	amek
cari	charek
muda	munda
muka	mungka
pijak	pinjak
sedawa	sendawa
taruh	tarok
rezeki	jereki

IV. ABBREVIATIONS

Some Malay words are abbreviated and pronounced differently by the Babas when conversing, e.g.

MALAY	BABA
apa macam	amcham or apacham
apa pasal	apasair or apasal
bawa datang	buattang
bawa pergi	buat pi
buat apa	buat pa
beritahu	bertau
itu	tu
punya	mia
sudah	sua
tidak boleh	takleh
tak usah	toksa

V. DOUBLE PRONUNCIATION

Some Malay words are pronounced in two ways by the Babas under different circumstances, e.g.

MALAY	BABA
ajar	ajair and hajair
hari	ari and hari
satu	sau and satu

VI. UKNOWN ORIGIN

There are words in the Baba language that are of unknown origin and are most probably purely of Baba origin. In such cases, section 2 of the Format is left blank. Examples include alagoju, bedenting, boto pau, dasat, krokodol and others.

VII. DIFFERENT MEANINGS

There are Malay words that carry different meanings in the Baba language, e.g.

WORD	MALAY MEANING	BABA MEANING
benua	large country, continent	awed by everything
sekarang	now, immediately, presently	later
banding	compare	ponder
bujang	bachelor	widowed

VIII. BABA PHRASES BEGINNING WITH TAK

In searching for the meaning of a Baba phrase beginning with the word tak, look under the next word, i.e. the second word. Thus, for the phrases tak abis-abis and tak manyak sikit look under the words abis and manyak respectively and so on.