1072 Lionel Wee Reflections from Singapore, 127-151. Singapore Institute of Management’ Oxford University Press: Singapore. Gupta, Anthea F. 1992 The pragmatic particles of Singapore Colloquial English. Journal of Pragmatics 18: 31-57 Gupta, Anthea F. 1994 The Step-tongue: Children’s English in Singapore, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Lim, Lisa 2001 Everything you wanted to know about how stressed Singaporean Englishes are. Paper presented at the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, Mahidol University, Bangkok. Oxford English Dictionary 2000 http://dictionary.oed.com. Platt, John and Heidi Weber 1980 English in Singapore and Malaysia: Status, Features, Functions. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press. Wong, Jock Onn 1994 A Wierzbickan approach to Singlish particles. MA thesis, Department of English Language and Literature, National University of SingaporeMalaysian English: morphology and syntax Loga Baskaran 1. Introduction In describing some of the aspects of syntactic difference b 8 s etween Standard i English (StBrE) and Malaysian English (henceforth MalE) in this es emphasis will be placed on the possibility of influence from the substrate Lan guages. The main language used here is Bahasa Malaysia. This is : eee tysia. This is based on two = The population ratio is in the order: Malays (55%), Chinese (30%), Indians (10%), Others (5%). Based on these figures alone, the influence from Bahasa Malaysia could be substantial, although actual quanti i s itati been done to prove this yet, ahantlative studies have not — Even among the Chinese and Indians (as well asthe ‘others’), Bahasa Malaysia is more in use by these speakers than their own mother-tongue. Thus the subse- quent influence of Bahasa Malaysia on the English spoken by the non-Mala can at times be considered even more substantial than that exerted by Chinese or Tamil. Y “ In this chapter interlingual influence from Bahasa Malaysia and Tamil will be considered. The influence of Chinese on MalE has yet to be researched. Of course some aspects of variation discussed in this chapter could well be from Chinese. ‘The absence of the copula in certain syntactic environments in Chinese, for en. ample, could be additionally contributive (along withthe same situation in Bahase Malaysia and Tamil) to the absence of such a copula in MalE. Then again, as Tay (1977) confirms, it could be postulated that the grammatical particle la in Male has its source from the Hokkien dialect of Chinese, although Bahasa Malaysia al hhas a suffix of equally significant import and function, neseaiso All in all, one can say that the substrate languages have their i it on the syntax of Mal in various permutations and combinetions. te Aen Weber (1980) sugges, it would be wrong to trace all characteristics of Malb/seg to the local background languages as every interlanguage and every emen ee new variety develops its own system, which is to some extent indeperderr sone background languages. pendent of the ‘This study, therefore, describes MalE in terms of strus ; parison with StBrE. The latter is used asa norm ‘ofeomparison Suis hee still the grammar of this standard variety (though not the phonology) that a a1074 Loga Baskaran at on the acrolectal level in Malaysia (namely programmed instruction, official media, locally organised international conferences and the like). The results and findings in this study are culled from various types of sources, of which the primary ones are: — Written and spoken language observations of students who are postgraduate in-service English Language teachers, undergraduate students, or secondary school pupils. — Entry and diagnostic test sheets of in-service (postgraduate) English language teachers. _ Official statements, newspapers, radio and TV. — Formal and informal speech of professionals and lay people. 2. Noun phrase structure Three characteristic elements in the noun phrase of Malaysian English show that there is a specific system underlying the variety, rather than random simplificatory processes. 2.1. Article ellipsis Article ellipsis does not just occur before any nouns as such, but abstract nouns in particular. Furthermore, ellipsis applies, only to those abstract nouns that are modified: (1) Did you get mileage-claim for that trip? (2) Finance companies effected drastic increase in interest rates this year. 3) Main reason for their performance... The only other exception to this rule is the concrete noun when it is used as an institutionalised or generic noun in predicate position, as seen in the following examples: (4) She is © trend-setter of the class. (5) He was © most popular prefect last year. (6) Heis@ drug addict. Such article ellipsis before modified abstract nouns could be a carryover from Malay, where there is no article system. Numeral quantification of concrete nouns is by cardinal determiners with classifiers:a Malaysian English: morphology and syntax 1075 (1) Malay: Apakah Keadaan tentang —_perkara ity? What (INT.) situation regarding topic that? “What is the situation regarding that?” (8) Malay: Penghasilan motokar — sekarang diberi —_keutamaan, Production —motor-cars_ now given priority. ‘The production of motor-cars is now given priority.” 2.2. Pronoun concord ‘As far as pronominal concord is concerned, there is a singular/plural distinction for animate nouns, but no number distinction for inanimate nouns. The following ‘MalE examples are representative: (9) Those books are very informative. It can be obtained at Dillon’. (10) The houses on Travers Road are UDA houses. It caters for the Division ‘B' employees of the Malayan Railways. (11) Rahman bought three ball-pens from the Co-op, but forgot and lef it on the cash desk. The partial influence from Malay can be postulated on the basis of examples like the following. In (12) to (14) ia is used as an invariant pronoun for inanimate as well as animate non-human nouns: (12) Malay:Surat-surat itu baru sampai~mungkin ia dari ayah saya Letters those just arrived~must be it from father my. “Those letters have just arrived — they must be from my father.” (13) Malay:Baju siapa semua itu? Ja sangat cantik Clothes whose all those? Jt very _ pretty. “Whose clothes are those? They are very pretty.” (4) Malay:Ada dua ekor kucing di dalam longkang itu—ia semua Are two (CLAS.) kittens in drain that ~ it all berwarna _ putil coloured ‘There are two kittens in that drain — they are all coloured white’, 2.3. _ Individuation It is noticeable how frequently mass nouns (like staff) are treated as count nouns in MalE. This may be due to bilingual usage, based on familiarity with the Malay system of classifiers. The classifiers are not carried over into MalE, but the noun itself is treated as if it were indeed countable (or governed by a classifier):1076 —Loga Baskaran (18) How many staffs are on medical leave? (16) She bought three lingeries at Mark's today. (17) There are not many stationeries in the room. There is also some random pluralising of such mass nouns: (18) She cleared all her paraphernalias out of the way. (19) There were no suitable accommodations for them. Some element of analogy within English itself can be postulated where such ex- amples like jewellery (jewelleries ~ MalE) and stationery (stationeries ~ MalE) are pluralised in a way similar to grocery/groceries in BrE. Pluralisation also occurs when a noun occurs as a hypernym or composite term. ‘Thus Mal has furnitures - from ‘tables, chairs, beds etc.’; fruits — from ‘apples, pears, bananas etc.”; offiprings — from ‘sons, daughters’. On the other hand chil- dren is not pluralised. 3. Verb phrase structure 3.1. Tense and temporal distance Tense in MalE is determined by temporal distance from the deictic centre. The concepts of anteriority, simultaneity and posteriority are relevant to this concep- tual framework: Past events are considered anterior to the deictic centre, with three degrees of remoteness. These are immediate past (/ ate/was eating rice this morning); re- cent past (/ have eaten/have been eating rice yesterday); remote past (I had eaten/had been eating rice last month). — Present events are considered simultaneous to the deictic centre ~ thus with no degree of remoteness involved, as in ‘I eat (am eating) rice now’. Future events are considered posterior to the deictic centre — with two degrees of remoteness. These are immediate future (J will eat/will be eating rice to- night); remote/distant future (/ would eat/would be eating rice tomorrow). ‘This system seems to be independent of any influence from Malay, where no deic- tic tense marking is involved although there is differentiation of temporal orienta- tion in terms of anteriority, simultaneity and posteriority (in its aspectual verbs). Further, there is no tense marking in its lexical verbs either, as can be seen in the following examples: (20) Malay: Saya makan nasi —_pagi tadi. I ate rice this morning.Malaysian English: morphology and syntax 1077 (21) Malay: Saya sudah = makan nasi semalam, 1 have eaten —_rice yesterday. (22) Malay: Saya sudah = makan nasi bulan alu, I had eaten tice last month, (23) Malay: Sava makan nasi _sekarang. 1 eat Tice now. (24) Malay: Saya akan =~ makan nasi malam ini. I will cat tice tonight. (25) Malay: Saya akan = makan nasi esok, 1 would — eat Tice tomorrow. 3.2. Modals As for the modals in MalE, the simplified system can be summarised as follows: can ~ __ permission, ability would — past tense of the above meanings may - possibility will - immediate futurity (¢ volition) would — distant/remote futurity (& volition) should — obligation, necessity oe obligation, necessity ‘Such a system may be considered similar to the narrow-ranged modal system in Malay: hendak, mahu, ingin — volition enggan — weak/negative volition harus, wajib, mesti. — compulsion perlu = obligation, necessity boleh, dapat ability, permission mungkin ~ possibility, probability It could, however, also be viewed as a simplification of the system, so that there is no ambivalence of meaning. 33, __ Stative verbs in the progressive ‘The third characteristic feature in the verb phrase is the occurrence of some of the stative verbs in the progressive, contrary to (written) StE usage. These are the rela- tion verbs and verbs of inert perception and cognition:1078 Loga Baskaran (26) That bottle is containing sulphuric acid. “contains...” (27) Lam smelling curry in this room. +..smell...” (28) She is owning two luxury apartments, “owns...” Within BrE itself there is a possible source of over-generalisation, e.g. the verbs of bodily sensation that can occur in the progressive (as in ‘My back is aching’ or ‘My foot is hurting’). Furthermore, there might well be reinforcement from Malay relational verbs like contain and own which can occur optionally with the equiva lent V-ing form (although this is not a common phenomenon). 4. Clause structure variation 4.1. Lack of inversion in wh-questions Noticeable in main clause wh-questions in MalE is a lack of auxiliary inversion with the subject NP: (29) What we have here? (30) Where they are going? (1) How they will come home? On the other hand, in indirect wh-questions inversion does occur in MalE, contrary to the rules of StE: (32) I wonder where is she? The wh-element in the MalE interrogative can also occur in sentence-final posi- tion: (33) They are going where? (34) She is doing what? The use of wh- in situ could be transfer from Malay: (35) Malay: Mereka pergi ke mana? They go where “Where are they going?” (36) Malay: Dia menangis_kenapa? She cry why? “Why is she crying?”Malaysian English: morphology and syntax 1079 42. Tagged yes-no interrogatives Another interesting feature of MalE interrogative clauses is the yes or not? and or not? tags used to mark Yes-no interrogatives. Thus the two variant tags are used as seen below: (37) a. Ske can sing or not? “Can she sing” b. She can sing, yes or not? 2 *Can she sing’ (38) a. You are hungry, or not? “Are you hungry?” b. You are hungry, ves or not? “Are you hungry?” A likely source of influence for these tags is the Malay interrogative construction: (39) Malay: Dia makan atau tidak? He = (eat) or not? “Did he eat?” (40) Malay: Dia makan ya ‘ak? He ate yes ornot? “He ate, didn’t he?” 43. _ Invariant interrogative tags Another interrogative tag that is often used in MalE is the phrase can or nof? It has several functions: seeking permission (41), confirming ability (42) or assessing volition (43): (41) Lwant to come, can or not? “Can I come?” (42) They must submit the forms tomorrow, can or not? «Can they submit the forms tomorrow?” (43) You carry this for me, can or not? “Will you carry this for me?* The only interrogative tags used for polarity-based tag interrogatives are is it and isn't if? They serve the function of BrE reversed polarity tags, as well as constant polarity tags: (44) They are coming, isn’t it? “They are coming, aren't they?”1080 Loga Baskaran (45) He can play the piano, is it? “He can play the piano, can he?” 44, — Yes-no questions without inversion These use rising intonation rather than auxiliary inversion: (46) They were fat or thin? “Were they fat or thin?” (47) He likes red or white wine? ‘Does he like red or white wine?” (48) They eat rice or noodles? ‘Did they eat rice or noodles?” As examples (46) to (48) suggest, this rising intonation question form frequently involves alternatives between NPs. 4.5. Lack of verb inversion in adverbial initial sentences In sentences with an initially-negated declarative or adverbially-fronted declara- tive there is no auxiliary inversion: (49) Never he was so delighted. “Never was he so delighted.” (50) Scarcely ever he has come here. “Scarcely ever has he come here.” 5. Other syntactic variational features Other mesolectal features in the syntax of MalE that have still to be researched in greater depth are listed here for the sake of completeness: Pronoun-copying: (51) My brother; he is an engineer. Further research needs to be undertaken to ascertain whether this is ‘normal’ left dislocation, with a contrastive, pragmatic effect, or whether — as reported in some varieties like SABIE — it is becoming grammaticalised in some lects. Pronoun-ellipsis: (52) She wrote the letter but forgot to post @.Malaysian English: morphology and syntax 1081 Adverbial positioning: (53) They must admit immediately to the offence. Ellipsis of expletive it/there + be: (54) No point pursuing the matter further. Whi 4 is part of casual StE, the stylistic restriction does not appear to apply Substitution of there and be with existentiaVlocative got: (55) Got no food in the fridge. «There is...” Grammatical particles: ‘There are typically MalE particles which replace the various functions represented jntonational variation and grammatical structures in BrE, These inch a id (56), man (51), one (58) and lah (59): reel (56) I told, what, the other day. “Don’t you remember/Aren’t you convinced that I told you?” (57) He isnt the Captain, man, he’s just a prefect. “Don’t talk nonsense, he’s not the captain, just a prefect!” (58) She is real lazy, one. ‘She sure is a typical lazy thing!” (59) Please, lah, come home early. “For heaven’s sake, come home early.” Such epithets serve a grammatical and pragmatic function, usually expressing dis- wal. Example (57) with man exists, of course, in BrE and other varieties worldwide, and is listed here for comparative purposes. 6. Lexis ‘Any discussions of Malaysian English would be incomplete without mentionin features of lexical indigenisation. The main focus will be on substrate languay : referents (use of substrate lexicon in MalE) and on StE lexicalisation (En; Tish texemes with MalE usage). _1082 — Loga Baskaran 6.1. Substrate language referents Local terms can be considered from the following vantage points: institutionalised concepts; emotional and cultural loading; semantic restriction; cultura/culinary terms; hyponymous collocations; campus/student coinages. Institutional concepts: Some local words pertaining to particular institutions that have been borrowed into MalE have no equivalent in StE. Some examples are terms like bumiputra ‘son of the soil, patriot’ and khalwat ‘proximity, intimacy’. Emotional and cultural Joading: Some examples of words with local cultural and emotional association are kam- pong ‘village’, dusun ‘orchard’, bomoh ‘medicine-man’, penghulu ‘village-chief” and pantang ‘taboo’. Semantic restriction: These are local words with a possible English translation but used in a semanti- cally restricted field. For example dadah ‘drugs’ does not mean drugs in general but drugs used illicitly. Other lexemes with such a semantic restriction are those like haj (pilgrimage, especially of Muslims to Mecca), foddy (fermented coconut- water — different from fresh coconut water sold as an iced refreshment), and silat (the Malay art of self-defence). Thus we read of silat-groups and toddy-shops. ‘The word padi (paddy in BrE) also has such semantic restriction ~ meaning ‘rice- grown in the fields’ — i.e. ‘unhusked rice’. Hence, there is an overlap but also an opposition between the pairs dadah — drugs; haj — pilgrimage; toddy — coconut water; silat self-defence and padi — rice. In fact the first item of each pair is a sub-type of the second item. Cultural and culinary terms: These are local culinary and domestic referents specifically akin to a characteristic of local origin and ecology. Some such lexemes are durian (a thorny fruit) and sambal ‘condiment’ paste. Such words, similar to the Indian sari and Japanese kimono are now slowly being transported to at least the South East Asian region, e.g, the words durian and sambal in Sri Lanka. Hyponymous collocations: The presence of local words collocated with an English term is yet another type of lexical indigenisation. A hyponymous relationship is exhibited with the Eng- lish equivalent as the superordinate and the local word as the subordinate refer- ent. Some examples are words such as meranti ‘wood’, orang asli ‘people’, batik ‘cloth’, syariah ‘court’, nobat ‘drums’, bersanding ‘ceremony’ and path dab bhog ‘ceremony’.Malaysian English: morphology and syntax 1083 ‘Campus/student coinages: These are a few words that have recently come into c _ from Malay due to the change in medium of insinction in. oe quent strong influence of this language. Thus students in schools and at cam subse tise these local referents. Some examples are lecheh ‘troublesome, inconerene veruk ‘serious, in bad shape’: doongu ‘silly, dumb, stupid, foolish” Whether those code-switched, slangy items will prove durable is hard to say, wether these 6.2. Standard English lexicalisation ‘The speaker of Malaysian English also has a tendency to use some of the StE lexemes in novel ways. The following processes will be briefly exemplified: poly semic variation; semantic restriction: informalisation; formalisation; directional f ; tion; reversal; college colloquialisms. nn Polysemic variation: Some StE lexemes keep their original meaning whilst taking on an extended se- mantic range. Examples are cut and open. In addition to its usual sense, cut has the following meanings in MalE: ‘to overtake’ (60), ‘to beat’ (61) and “to reduce’ (62): (60) I tried to cut him but he was driving too fast. (61) Rahman cut me by only two marks to become the first boy in class. The shopkeeper cut twenty (2) The : leper ent ven cet for that breakage when he gave back the Likewise open has an extended range of meanings taking the following di : . a q objects: blinds, curtains, (StE ‘draw’); light, electrical appliances (StE “witch on’); shoes, socks (SIE ‘remove"): tap (SIE “tum on’); clothes (StE “take off”, “u dress’); zip, buttons, hooks (StE *unfasten’, undo’), ou ‘Semantic restriction: Some of the lexemes in MalE are used in @ narrower sense, confined to speci , ecific ref. erents only. Some noteworthy examples are the lexemes windy, heaty and aie Se applied to foods and drinks. Another example of restricted reference isthe lew aepe fuck shop — referring specifically to the canteen or refectory of schools, Like. oige coffee-shop, fve-foot, one kind ~ meaning ‘weird ot peculiar’ as in (63): (63) She is one kind really — won't even smile at you although she knows yo . Jnformalisation: Many of the lexemes used by the MalE speaker tend to be informal (colloquial) substitutions of StE words. As has been stated earlier, MalE in its most re tive state is of widest currency among the mesolectal speakers. Thus it os ; su-1084 Loga Baskaran prising to find a profusion of lexemes indicating a more informal style and register - words like kids (for ‘children’) or hubby (for ‘husband’) appearing in headlines style in the StE local dailies, as in Eight kids burnt to death as fire guts Kampung Jawa and Amok woman stabs hubby. Other such examples are: flick — - ‘steal? line - ‘profession’ fellow - ‘person’ (male or female) sleep - ‘goto bed’ spoilt - ‘out of order’ follow ~- ‘accompany’ spend - ‘giveatreat’ Formalisation: On the other hand, there are occasions, when the MalE speaker has a tendency to use more formal words in an informal context. Sey (1973: 38) termed this “pre- ciosity’ in connection with Ghanaian English, while Goffin (1934: 14) described this as the “Latinity” of Indian English. It is not rare, therefore, to read letters of a personal nature asking a friend to furnish him with the details regarding a group tour (instead of providing or sending him) Likewise a friend may ask Did you wit- ness the accident last night along Jalan Bangsar? (instead of see). Directional reversal: There are certain lexemes, especially verbs, that MalE speakers tend to use in re- verse direction. This is a frequent phenomenon with converse pairs like go/come, bring/send, fetchltake and borrow/lend. This could be attributed to the absence of two separate lexemes in the local language for such a meaning. In Bahasa Ma- laysia, the concepts of ‘borrow’ and ‘lend’, for example, are subsumed under one lexeme pinjam, although the difference between the meaning of “borrow” and ‘lend’ is shown by the benefactive suffix kan: (61) She borrowed me her camera. “dent...” (62) He always likes to lend my books. *...borrow...” (63) We'll go over to your house to-night. *...come...” (64) Can you send me home first? “take...” (65) I take my daughter here everyday. «...bring...”Malaysian English: morphology and symtax 08S MalE usage seems to indicate the reverse in directional terms, College colloquialism: ‘The student population being a major group of MalE usage, itis inevitable that certain SHE lexemes have been localised for informal use especially among sta- dents in school (secondary). at colleges (tertiary), and universities. Such worde relate to studies, examinations and youth, for example: mugger (or book-worm) - ‘an extremely studious person’ ifrus - “frustrated” “fantab ~ ablend of fantastic and fabulous worst pe - a friendly term for criticising a colleague Selected references Please consult the General references for titles mentioned in the text but not in- cluded in the references below. For a full bibliography see the accompanying CD- ROM. Baskaran, Loga 1987 Aspects of Malaysian English syntax. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of London. 1994 The Malaysian English mosaic. English Today 37: 27-32, Goffin, Robert C. 1934 Some notes on Indian English. Society for Pure English 41: 14-16. Platt, John and Heidi Weber 1980 English in Singapore and Malaysia: Status, Features, Functions. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, Sey, Kofi A. 1973 Ghanaian English — an Exploratory Survey. London: Macmillan. Tay, Mary . 7 1977 The ‘la’ particle in Singapore English. In: William Crewe (ed.), The English Language in Singapore. 141-156. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press,od A Handbook of Varieties of English A Multimedia Reference Tool Two volumes plus CD-ROM Edited by Bernd Kortmann and Edgar W. Schneider together with Kate Burridge, Rajend Mesthrie, and Clive Upton Mouton de Gruyter Berlin - New YorkA Handbook of Varieties of English Volume 2: Morphology and Syntax Edited by Bernd Kortmann Kate Burridge Rajend Mesthrie Edgar W. Schneider Clive Upton Mouton de Gruyter Berlin - New YorkMouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton. The Hague) is a Division of Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG. Berlin. ielines @ Printed on acidefree paper which falls within the g of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publicarton Data A handbook of varieties of English : a multimedia reference tool p.m, Includes bibliographical references and indey. ISBN 3-11-01 (set of two hardeovers plus CD-ROM : alk paper) 1 Ei jage ~ Variation — Handbooks, manuals, etc 2. English language ~ Dialects ~ Handbooks, manuals, ete. 1. Kort- mann, Bernd. 1960— Il. Schneider. ir W nar Werner). 1954— 1.H36 2004 427=de22 2005025131 Bibliographic information published hy Die Deursehe Bihlioshok Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie: detailed bibliographic data is available in the Internet at ISBN 3-11-017532-0 © Copyright 2004 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 10785 Beri All rights reserved. including those of translation into forei ages. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical. including photocopy. recording. or any information storage and retrieval system, without per- mission in writing from the publisher. Cover design: raumfisch.de/sign, Berlin. Typesetting: medionet AG. Berlin. Printing and binding: Késel GmbH & Co. KG. Altusried, Printed in GermarContents of volume 2 Contents of volume | Abbreviations . General introduction : Bernd Kortmann and Edgar W. Schneider General references .. The British Isles Bernd Kortmann and Clive Upton (eds.) Introduction: varieties of English in the British Isles Bernd Kortmann and Clive Upton n spoken in Orkney and Shetland: morphol: nel Melch syntax and lexicon Gu s Scottish English: morphology and syntax. . Jim Miller Irish English: morphology and syntax Markku Filpputa Welsh English: morphology and syntax Robert Penhallurick English dialects in the } Joan Beal th of England: morphology and syntax The dialect of East Anglia: morphology and synt Peter Trudgill dialects in the Southwest: morphology and syntax Susanne Wagner nglish spoken in the Southeast of England: morphology and syn Lieselotte Anderwald British Creole: morphology and syntax Mark Sebba