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 Frequ 11 y Count to all friends of the Malay J~'lnguage, 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 ounL is a high ly te hnical matLer and it would no t be proper [or me to mal e any comment on the machinery the team employed for the purpose; but w can rest a ured that the spread of material wa wide, and Lhat the re ult is u ~ful and appropriately accurate. .

Mr. Le Prcvost \~ isely limit his comments on the re ulL to very broad principles. Thi investigation, as he sugge L " opens up a fi lei of fa cinating research . Two 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 obviously 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 conservaLism 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 Prevost say, language i ' a living Lhing. It is onc o[ Lhe so ial habits of its user. Those o[ us who are daily concerned with the Malay language realise how i t. charac t.cr is changing with Lhc impacL of other languages and cxLernal ideas upon il. It is obviolls that another count will be required in th e course of tim . A com­pari on o[ the econe! alld firs t co unts might r veal som startling changes and indica te the nature o[ developmenL, and help to diagnose wherc help was needed in pre 'erving 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 language 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 Thorn­dike, l'aucett, Itsu Maki, Palrner, West, Hornby, Eaton and Bongers. To me it is signi ficant Lhat the burden 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 among its teachers.

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A. W. F R ISBY Director of Educ'ation.

Singapore

PENDAHULUAN

Saya aku'i kebaikan daftar bilangan perkataau2 Melayu iui kapada sakalian tua112 yang kasebkan bahasa Melayu, terutama kapada mereka2 yang mempelajari atau mengajarkan-nya. Tuan Le Prevost dengan kumpulan guru2-uya boleh benar di-puji kerana pekerjaan-nya yang chermat dan sabar itu.

Membuat daftar bilangan perkataan2 ini ada-lab satu pekerjaan yang tinggi tecbnique-nya; kerana itu tidak-Iab sayogia-nya saya mesti memberi apa2 ulasan berkenaan dengan cbara2 bekerja yang telah di-gunakan oleb kumpulan itu; tetapi atu perkara yang boleh ' kita aku'i ia-itu jenis2 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 itn saya rasa sangat mustahak. Maka satu daripada langkab akan datang yang mesti di-buat itu ia-Iab menunjokkan pula bagaimana chara2-nya perkataan yang terlampau kerap di-jumpa'i itu, di-pakai orang mengikut ikatan2 ayat-nya yang betul. Sa-sunggoh-nya ini-Iab satu lapangan menyiasat perkara bahasa yang sa-benar2 yang memberi faedah kapada tuan2 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-olab2 tersekat daripada menerima perubahan dan tidak mahu di-perluaskan lagi cbara2 menggunakan­nya. 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 jalan2 hendak mengkayakan bahasa tulisan itu dengan memasokkan perkataan2 yang lebeh hidup dan dengan perkataan2 yang 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 orang2 yang menggunakan-nya. Kami sakalian yang berhllbong

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sa-tiap had dengan Bahasa Melayu, terasa akan perubahan bahasa itu , berubah sadikit demi sadikit di-sebabkan oleh pengaroh bah a a2 asing dan fikiran luar yang meugena'i bahasa itu. Yang demikian nyata-lah bahawa di-kehendaki satu lagi daftar bilangan perkataan2 pada suatu masa yang akan datang. Deugan jalan membandingkan kumpulan perkataan2 yang pertan1a dan yang kedua dalam daftar itu, akan terbokti beberapa perubahan2 yang mengherankan; bahkan akan ternyata juga bagaimana chara2-nya kerja2 itu telah di-buat dan daripada-nya juga akan dapat kita memereksa apa2 yang kurang yang patut di-baiki supaya terpelihara sa-tengah daripada sa-tengah lenggok bahasa yang asli itu.

Saya berasa bangga babawa langkahan yang perta l11a dalam hal menyiasat bahasa Melayu dengan satu cbara technique yang ter­tentu ini telah di-buat oleh guru2 ahli Jabatan P.elajaran-Singapura Mereka telah merintis jalan a-akan2 sa l11a dengan yang telah di-tempoh oleh ahli2 bahasa dan persurata n sa-dunia saperti Thorndike, Faucett, Itsu Maki, Palmer, West, Hornby, Eaton dan Bongers. Bagi diri saya, pencbobaan itu besar erti-nya sebab bebanan kerja itu Lelah pun di-pikul oleh dua puloh delapan gur1l2

Sekolah2 Melaya. Sa-sunggoh-nya nasib bahasa Melayu a kan datang itu akan terselal11at jika kesabaran dan tahan berenya h menchari kebetulan a-suat n perkalaan2 itll hidup berkobarz dalam gUlongan kaum guru-nya.

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A. W. FRISBY Pcnguasa Pelajaral/

Singapura

ACKNOWLEDGMEN TS

I wi. h. to record Ihe patience and the 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 through whose gener­osity we were able to count the necessary words occurring in his personal correspondence files.

In particular I would like to pay tribute to the care and interes t with which my colleague Clle Abdul Karim h. Mobel. Shariff' un der­took the translation of Part 1.

Lastly I wish to thank the Hon. Mr. A. W. Frisby, Director of Education, Singapore, who has encouraged me in thi" work and ha~ consclli erl to write a Foreword to thi,,; report.

Singapore Febrncuy "'9.5.1

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J. Le P.

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 surat2

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 berhati2 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.

Singapore February 1953

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J. Le P.

Foreword Pendahuluan

Acknowl dgment~ Pengakuan terima kaseh

CONTENTS

PART I

Report on motives. method and result::; Penyata tentang sebab2, chara2 dan faedah 2-nya

PAR T II

Words occurring at lea t once per 1,000,000 word Bilangan ka li sa-suatu perkataan itu di-j umpai dalam 1 j uta

5

7

9 10

14 22

perkataan 36

PART III

The 500 words occurring mo t freq uenlly and the 500 words occurring ne t most frequently

500 perkataan yang pertama dan 500 yang kedua 64

APPENDIC ES

A List of materials u ed Daftar segala bahan 2 yang di-gunakan

B List of names of teachers who took part Daftar nama guru2 yang mengambil bahagian

C Report pro forma used during the Count Penyata berkenaan dengan kemajuan bilangan itu

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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. I t is a frequency count of the written language a represented broadly over di fferent forms of written material.

To 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 understand each other within a community, each person must 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 the community, both in writing and in spe ell .

These problem express them elves in commonplaces such as "the official language", "the language of citizenship", "a common lan guage", " the materials and techniques of language teaching" . They are uppermo t in th minds of most responsible people in this coun try when they consider the problems of intercommunication and administration of a polyglot community, child education, adult education, 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 1 he atisfaction of the four immediate needs of our community, that this ta k of counting more than 22 million Malay words 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 con. ciow; of the demands of modern technological development.

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