Typical of Malay grammar is the use of affixes (particles attached to the beginning or end of a word or inserted within the word) and doubling, to mark changes in meaning or grammatical processes.
Affixes are demonstrated in constructions such as di-beli "be bought" and mem-beli "buy" from the root form beli "buy!" and kemahuan "desire" from mahu "want."
Doubling may be used to mark the plural--for example, rumah "house" and rumah-rumah "houses"--or to form derivative meanings, as in kekuning-kuningan "tinted yellow" from kuning "yellow" and berlari-lari "run around, keep running" from berlari "run."
Modern Malay is written in two slightly differing forms of the Latin alphabet. One is being used in Indonesia and the other in Malaysia, as well as in a form of the Arabic alphabet called Jawi, which is used in Malaya and in parts of Sumatra. The earliest written records in Malay are Sumatran inscriptions dating from the late 7th century and written in a Pallava (southern Indian) alphabet.
The standard Malay language follows the standard form of spelling and also pronunciation. The vowels used in the correct spelling of the language are a (say 'ah'), e pepet (say 'uh'), e taling (say 'ay'), i (say 'ee'), o (say 'oh') and u (say 'oo').
Why there are 2 different types of "e"s are clearly shown in the Malay words cemas using e pepet and leceh which uses e taling. The words although using the same letter "e" have different pronunciations thus causing the distinguishment between the 2 'e's
Some of the standard Malay vocabulary are derived from the English words such as:
|
English Words |
Malay Words |
|---|---|
|
Protein |
Protein |
|
Brochure |
Brosur |
|
Procedure |
Prosedur |
|
Hysteria |
Histeria |
|
Enactment |
Enakmen |