bahasa sang pelanduk

a talk about my language: bahasa melaka.

often, bahasa melaka is considered 'kasar' or harsh by some people. it depends on the level of harshness ones may consider. but, as a melakan (eih btol ke?) it's kinda difficult to accept this fact.

in fact, i think the language has shown an example on how distance in a conversation can be minimised..

u know~..

i give u example.. when u are chit-chatting with friends of yours., would u consider using pronouns such as kamu, awak, saudara/i or cik?..

why?...

eventho' formality and aloofness is always accepted, but it creates a distance between u and your friends.. then u would consider using pronouns such as ko, lu, gua, bro, mat, jepp, and etc.,

coincidentally,. it reflects belonging-ness of u in a particular social group, i.e schoolmates, old friends, sorority brothers/sisters.

same goes to budak melaka punya cerita, when we converse in a conventional way, sort of, we still show respect towards the elderly, but when we have a chat with people in the same social group, automatically the pattern changes. if people consider using words like "lahanat, setan, penyapu, si hawaw," as harsh, we (majority of melakan) consider them as friendly.

but i would like to highlight here, the applications of those words are depending on the social group, never ever in our conversations with the elderly such words ever uttered. kalau nak rasa pelempang sila la.. but, i have to admit that, there are situations when talkers tend to ignore the rules, and emit those words accidentally, or maybe purposely because they are used to it. even the non-melaka would say such obscenities (kimak, cibai, pantat, but-o, asshole and etc.)., purposely, or maybe tak sengaja.

and today i would like to highlights few words that even some melakans do not know the origin of these words and how they are applied. hopefully, after this u would get a clear picture on how these words invented and the right way to use it.

-lahabau: ok, often people are misled with a notion that, when u say lahabau, it refers to a bad attitude fella or a swear word. but actually, this word comes from arabic words. what words?... la' khabar...

how?

those days, merchants from the middle east came for trading and performed (boleh ke guna perform?) dakwah to the malay-hindu community. and when they meet old friends regardless of their tribes and ethnic group, they will ask kaifa haaluk?.. (how are you), la' khabar (long time haven't heard from you..) and this habit of saying nice and polite felicitations, in terms of asking how well a person is, has become common among the locals. and, it is common for the locals (melakans) to pronounce words ended with 'r' with '-au' sound.

for example:

ular-ulau, pagar-pagau, pasar-pasau and so on...

thus, the same thing happens when they pronounce la'habar as la'habau..

means..whenever u hear people say,

'weh.. lahabau kau.. mana ko hilang ah?.. lama tak nampak..'

he/she meant,

'tak dengau kabau pun dari kau.. mana la ko pegi?'...

i would like to stress here., lahabau doesn't mean any bad calls to us.

unless u feel so.

-hawaw: this is another famous word associated with melakan, am i not right?.. if you go anywhere around malaysia, when one asks you about your origin, and when the answer is melaka, he/she will simply have this word in mind.

ok, hawaw is not another word stigmatized as swear word, and it is a mere pronoun as you can find in other forms i.e dia, si polan or si anu.

where did this word come from?... it is another word derived from the arabic 'hua' or in malay; dia or he in English. but in malay context, the language itself is less sexist compared to Arabic and English. thus, hawaw is referred to both genders male or female.

the word 'hua' consists of two arabic word characters, "ha'" and "waw".... however, without a specific information and statistical facts, i cannot prove how the word hua has been disintegrated into small grapheme as you can see, famously applied by melakan as hawaw.

so, next time when you hear this word; hawaw, please make sure the utterer applies it properly as a pronoun, and not as a swear word which is typically fancied by DUMBees.. huhuhu...

the correct use:

'sapa yg bawak buku nih?'

'owh,si hawaw tu...'

means, 'si dia itu yg bawak buku..'

but, we have to bear in mind, sometimes the pronoun hawaw is used when a person is mad or angry..

that is why he/she refers the other parties as hawaw as a pronoun instead of using other tactful pronouns such as 'saudara/i itu, si (Name, i.e john, alex, fatimah)'

p/s

korang explain la pasal language in your place.. kan best...

to be continued....