Malay words used in Lanka
GLEANINGS
by K. S. Sivakumaran
Although Sri Lanka's majority population happens to be Sinhala
Buddhists, there are significant numbers of people in the country that
speak different languages and follow different religions and embrace
different cultures.
This fact is conveniently forgotten by extremists who want to make
this beautiful country a mono-racial and mono-linguistic state and drive
away the minorities from the island. Although this may be their ideal
and ulterior motive that proposition is not going to materialise because
there will be incessant resistance.
The country will sink and sink and ultimately wither away. To
preserve the nation as an intact one, multi-racial, multi cultural,
multi-religious and multi-lingual acceptance and adherence is absolutely
necessary. Sharing of power at the centre is a pre-requisite.
The Malays in Lanka, though a minority have contributed in many ways
for building the nation for centuries long just as the other minorities.
This is history. History cannot be distorted for narrow political
purposes.
A Malay in Lanka has painstakingly written many books to enlighten
the ignorant amongst us. One such book is the latest Kamus - Ringkas
Bhasha Melayu Sri Lanka (A Concise Sri Lankan Malay Dictionary). His
name is B. D. K. Saldin.
This dictionary gives meanings in standard Malay and English. He has
compiled this concise work with assistance from Lisa Lim.
We must know something about the compilers: An Economics Honours
Graduate, Saldin is a Fellow of chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.
"He has been keenly interested in the Sri Lankan Malay language as a
vehicle for reserving the identity of his community in Sri Lanka. He has
successfully conducted a series of projects in teaching adults to read
and write Malay... he has been the examiner in Malay for the GCE
Ordinary Level and Advanced level Examinations for several years."
Please read more about him from the back cover of the book.
What about his collaborator?
She is Dr. Lisa Lim who teaches at the Department of English Language
and Culture at the University of Amsterdam. More about her importance
can be gleaned from the blurb of the book.
A majority of Lankans in the different communities are of a mixed
heritage.
If you look at some Sinhala people you can easily decipher their
Malay features.
The book under review has been printed in Lanka and is available in
bookstalls. The book has an imposing cover picture: Sampans in
Hambantota bay.
The caption reads: It has been suggested that the southern cast town
of Hambantota owes its name to the early visits of Malay sailors, from
Sampan (Malay boat) and tota (Sinhala port).
This testifies to the long and intimate contact between
Malay/Indonesian people and the island of Sri Lanka.
Dr. Umberto Ansaldo from Amsterdam in his foreword to this book says
that "(In Sri Lanka), Malay language combines aspects of Sinhala and
Thamil grammar together with vocabulary largely of Malay and Javanese
origin... In this respect, it is a unique variety Malay that shows both
the level of integration achieved by the descendants of Malays in Sri
Lanka at the same time preserving a unique character that clearly
reveals the distant origin of speakers."
Gleanings from the Preface:
"The Malay language belongs to the Austronesian family of
languages... As often happens in multilingual environments where no
particular language is institutionally supported, language contact
between the Malay lingua franca and the local languages of Sri Lanka led
to new linguistic features being acquired for everyday communication...
Two hundred million people speak Malay.'
The book has explanatory notes on the format, spelling, pronunciation
and representation of pronunciation. At the end of the book references
and material consulted are listed.
Here are some Malay words:
alua (halwa) - a kind of sweet meat
almari (almirah)
bahasa (language)
bapa (father)
The list goes on and on.
This dictionary is very useful to people interested in languages and
linguistics.
Karthigesu Sivathamby's latest book
Professor Emeritus Karthigesu Sivathamby's latest book in English is
Sri
Lankan Thamil Society and Politics.
The titles of the chapters in the book speak of what its contents
are:
01. Thamils of Sri Lanka: An ethnographic Introduction
02. Divine Presence And/Or Social Prominence: An Inquiry into the
social role of the paces of worship in Jaffna Thamil Society
03. The Ideology of Saiva-Thamil Integrality
04. The Religious And the Cultural Rights of the Thamils of Sri Lanka
05. Hinduism in Sri Lanka within the context of the ethnic conflict
06. Cultural Heterogeneity and Political Homogeneity
07. The dilemma of the Sri Lankan Minorities
08. The Sri Lankan Thamil Question -1977-1993
09. The Human Rights Factor in the Sri Lankan Conflict-A review of
the developments 1983-1986
10. The Sri Lankan Ethnic Crisis And Muslim-Thamil Relationships- A
Socio-Political Review
11. The Sri Lankan Ethnic Crisis - As the Thamils see it -
Since the book would be useful in understanding the mind of
Thamilians in the context of the understandable Sinhala Nationalism and
Thamil Nationalism. I recommend that all politicians, nationalists,
academics and concerned citizens of this country critically read this
book and form their opinion.
To those who have not heard of scholar and an intellectual, K.
Sivathamby, here is a footnote on him:
"Karthigesu Sivathamby is Emeritus Professor of Jaffna (Yaalpaanam)
University. He has taught or researched at many institutions, in Sri
Lanka and overseas, among them Cambridge University, Madras (Chennai)
University, Uppasala University and California University at Berkley.
His research interests include social and literary history of Tamils,
culture and communication among Tamils, and the national Question in Sri
Lanka. He has authored many books in English, a very large number of
books and other publications in Thamil, and continues to be a prolific
writer in both languages."
On November 11, he was felicitated on his 75th birthday on May 10 by
Gnanam, a literary magazine edited by Dr.T.Gnanasekeran, at the Kolumbu
Thamil Sangam, Wellawatta.
A slim volume in his honour was also launched on that day chaired by
Emeritus Professor S.Thillainathan. The book is available in local
bookstalls.
[email protected]
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