English Loanwords in Malay: Identifying Patterns in Academic Magazines

Zuraidah Mohd Don; Gerry Knowles; Nor Shahila Mansor

English Loanwords in Malay: Identifying Patterns in Academic Magazines

Zuraidah Mohd Don, Gerry Knowles, Nor Shahila Mansor

Abstract

English loanwords have become an important feature of contemporary Malay, particularly in domains shaped by global knowledge, technology and academic discourse. However, previous studies have often treated loanwords as descriptive lists or as general evidence of language contact, with less attention to their lexical distribution and structural integration in Malay. This study adopts a corpus-based approach to examine English loanwords in Malay academic magazine texts and to identify patterns that reveal their broader linguistic significance. The data comprise approximately two million words of well-formed Malay academic magazine articles, supported by a digital Malay lexicon containing 12,504 lemmas and 49,933 lexical words. Using corpus linguistic procedures, the study distinguishes between lemmas and individual lexical items, identifies loanwords of English origin, and analyses their grammatical classes, morphological behaviour and frequency patterns through a relational database system. The findings show that English loanwords constitute 3,982 lemmas, or 32% of the lexicon, but only 6,794 lexical words, or 14% of the lexical items, indicating that they are numerous but relatively less morphologically productive. Most borrowings are nouns, while directly borrowed verbs are rare. However, Malay morphology forms verbs from borrowed nouns, especially through a certain circumfix. The study also identifies borrowed complex adjectives as a possible emerging subclass in Malay. Overall, the findings suggest that English loanwords not only expand the Malay lexicon but also contribute to ongoing structural innovation in contemporary Malay.

Keywords: Global English; contemporary Malay; loanwords; corpus linguistics; process innovation

ABSTRAK

Kata pinjaman bahasa Inggeris telah menjadi ciri penting dalam bahasa Melayu kontemporari, khususnya dalam bidang yang dipengaruhi oleh pengetahuan global, teknologi dan wacana akademik. Walau bagaimanapun, kajian terdahulu sering memperlakukan kata pinjaman sebagai senarai deskriptif atau sebagai bukti umum berlakunya kontak bahasa, dengan kurang memberikan perhatian terhadap taburan leksikal dan integrasi strukturnya dalam bahasa Melayu. Kajian ini menggunakan pendekatan berasaskan korpus untuk meneliti kata pinjaman bahasa Inggeris dalam teks majalah akademik berbahasa Melayu serta mengenal pasti pola yang memperlihatkan kepentingan linguistiknya secara lebih luas. Data kajian terdiri daripada kira-kira dua juta patah perkataan daripada artikel majalah akademik berbahasa Melayu yang tersusun dengan baik, disokong oleh leksikon digital bahasa Melayu yang mengandungi 12,504 lema dan 49,933 kata leksikal. Dengan menggunakan kaedah korpus linguistik, kajian ini membezakan antara lema dengan item leksikal individu, mengenal pasti kata pinjaman yang berasal daripada bahasa Inggeris, serta menganalisis kelas tatabahasa, tingkah laku morfologi dan pola kekerapannya melalui sistem pangkalan data hubungan. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahasa kata pinjaman bahasa Inggeris merangkumi 3,982 lema, atau 32% daripada leksikon, tetapi hanya 6,794 kata leksikal, atau 14% daripada item leksikal. Hal ini menunjukkan bahawa kata pinjaman tersebut banyak dari segi bilangan, namun secara relatifnya kurang produktif dari segi morfologi. Sebahagian besar kata pinjaman tersebut terdiri daripada kata nama, manakala kata kerja yang dipinjam secara langsung adalah jarang. Walau bagaimanapun, morfologi bahasa Melayu membentuk kata kerja daripada kata nama pinjaman, khususnya melalui apitan tertentu. Kajian ini turut mengenal pasti kata adjektif kompleks pinjaman sebagai kemungkinan subkelas Baharu yang sedang muncul dalam bahasa Melayu. Secara keseluruhannya, dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahasa kata pinjaman bahasa Inggeris bukan sahaja memperluas leksikon bahasa Melayu, malah turut menyumbang kepada inovasi struktur yang sedang berlaku dalam bahasa Melayu kontemporari.

Kata kunci: Bahasa Inggeris global; bahasa Melayu kontemporari; kata pinjaman; korpus linguistik; proses inovasi

Keywords

Global English; contemporary Malay; loanwords; corpus linguistics; process innovation

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