Page:Baba Malay. An Introduction to the Language of the Straits-born Chinese.pdf/9

BABA MALAY. 57 to sweep and if one use the form mnyapu they would probably not know what was meant. In some cases they use only the derived form, and do not know the root at all: mnargis, to weep, and mnari to dance, are of course in common use, but the root words targis and tari are utterly unknown. On the other hand if a Baba knows the root word it does not at all follow that he will understand the derivative, he knows suroh, but knows nothing about pryuroh; turggu he uses, but pnurggu is practically un- known. All the prefixes and suffixes are used by the Babas in connection with certain words, but not with others, in fact they use them without knowing why or how they should be used. The suffix i, however, which forms transitive verbs, is practically never used, and in the one word mula'i in which they do use it, they have no idea that they have a derivative from the well-known word mula, for they pronounce it simply mulai, and then go so far as to make it a transitive verb over again by adding the other similar suffix -kan, making the extraordinary combination mulaikan. In the same way the Babas make other derivatives of their own manu- facture which are never used by the Malays, and sound to them exceedingly barbarous; for instance I have actually seen in print such forms as kbersehan, bharukan for bharui, mmbikinkan, etc. Even some of the simple prepositions are never used by the Babas: instead of k-, to a place, they always use di, which properly means "at;" bagi, for, is almost unknown, and dryan, with, is very little used, sama being made to do duty where the Malays use drgan, pada and even akan. Such words as are used in the polite phraseology of the Malays are never used by the Babas, and few of them would even know the meaning of such words if they were to hear them; I refer particularly to such words as bonda, adinda, kakanda, which the Malays of all classes use in their private cor- respondence, and also to forms of address to persons of superior rank, and pronouns used by inferiors to superiors, the various words for speaking, such as, firman of God, titah of a king, sabda of a prophet or person of high rank, kata of equals, smbah of in- feriors addressing a royal person. This whole system of phrase- ology is practically unknown to the Babas, and so is also the great bulk of the religious phraseology of the Malays. It is however unnecessary to go further in these matters, for enough has been said to show very plainly how much of the Malay language is a sealed book to the Babas.

3. Malay words mispronounced by the Babas.

The Babas have no difficulty in pronouncing every letter in the Malay language. In this respect they are entirely different from the immigrant Chinese, who find it utterly impossible to sound the letter r or d, and who always change final s into t, and make sundry other changes to suit their own peculiarities of speech, The Babas mispronounce Malay words either because they find R. A. Soc., No. 65, 1913.