Prefixation and Reduplication in Malay: An Optimality-Theoretical Account.

This thesis investigates the morphology-phonology interface in Malay. The work is largely a corpus-based reanalysis of prefixation and reduplication. Based on two large different written corpora of Standard Malay (henceforth SM), the analysis permits us to make reliable and robust generalizations about how the language actually works. The data reveal that the language has a distinct co-existing phonological system. I will show that these co-existent grammars can be handled with Optimality Theory (henceforth OT), specifically in co-phonologies. The reanalysis of prefixation places Malay in a wider context and examines, cross-linguistically, issues related to voicing and nasality. It is shown that nasal substitution, which is regularly used to eliminate nasal and voiceless obstruent clusters, fails to occur in some prefixed words. In the analysis, I propose that nonnative words are not subject to the same phonological requirements as those imposed on native words. The constraint rankings must therefore be different from those found in native words which result in the blocking of nasal substitution at prefix-root junctures. The application of nasal substitution at prefix-prefix junctures is mainly determined by morphological factors rather than phonetic factors, due to a morphology-phonology interface constraint, i. e. EDGE-INTEGRITY. The investigation of reduplication deals with total, partial and affixal reduplication. A recent theory of prosodic morphology - namely the Morpheme-Based Template or MBT (Downing 2006), motivated within OT (Prince & Smolensky 1993) - is applied to organize the morphological and prosodic factors that condition the size of prosodic morphemes (ibid. : 1). In the analysis, I propose that total and affixal reduplication are best treated as compounding, rather than affixation, due to the disyllabic minimality condition. Considering the Perak dialect, light and heavy reduplication have been captured by associating each morphological construction with a different co-phonology. This study also examines dialectal variation, comparing SM with three nonstandard dialects with respect to prefixation. The analysis discovers some significant facts about the language. Since both voiceless/voiced obstruents undergo nasal substitution, the *NC constraint has been replaced by a CRISP-EDGE[sigma] constraint. Nasal deletion and nasalisation are also the strategies used to eliminate nasal and voiceless obstruent clusters. The different strategies applied can be satisfactorily explained in OT with its variable constraint rankings

Ternate Malay : grammar and texts

This book is the first grammar on Ternate Malay, a local variety of Malay spoken on the island of Ternate, North-Moluccas, Indonesia. It is a language with words flexible in function and meaning, which do not bear overtly expressed features to indicate grammatical functions. Linguistic tools traditionally used to distinguish between word classes do not work satisfactorily for this language. Certain lexical items and their position in a string of words serve as indicators of relationships between the words and determine the meaning they express. The preference for particular types of constructions and other combinatory abilities serve to limit the number of plausible interpretations and facilitate the determining of meaningful word constructions. The linguistic context and the non-linguistic situation determine the most appropriate interpretation of structures and the meaning they express. Various kinds of constructions are analyzed, described, and illustrated with examples from stories, told by a young Ternate Malay speaker. The word order, different types of possessive constructions, spatial orientation, and other linguistic topics of interest are described and discussed. The grammar aims to complement linguistic descriptions of Malay varieties in general, and particularly those in eastern Indonesia. The Ternate Malay texts and examples display spontaneous and naturally spoken Malay used as the daily language of communication in Ternate. The accompanying CD-rom contains texts with sound files and a Ternate Malay-English wordlist.LEI Universiteit LeidenDescriptive and Comparative Linguistic

Sinophone Southeast Asia

This volume explores the diverse linguistic landscape of Southeast Asia’s Chinese communities. Based on archival research and previously unpublished linguistic fieldwork, it unearths a wide variety of language histories, linguistic practices, and trajectories of words. The localized and often marginalized voices we bring to the spotlight are quickly disappearing in the wake of standardization and homogenization, yet they tell a story that is uniquely Southeast Asian in its rich hybridity. Our comparative scope and focus on language, analysed in tandem with history and culture, adds a refreshing dimension to the broader field of Sino-Southeast Asian Studies. . Readership: Students, scholars, (academic) libraries, community organizations, heritage organizations; linguistics, Southeast Asia Studies, East Asia Studies, Overseas Chines

Seeing Academically Marginalized Students’ Multimodal Designs from a Position of Strength

This article examines multimodal texts created by a cohort of academically marginalized secondary school students in Singapore as part of a language arts unit on persuasive composition. Using an interpretivist qualitative approach, we examine students’ multimodal designs to highlight opportunities presented for expanding literacy practices traditionally not often available to lower-tracked students. Findings highlight the authorial stances and rhetorical force that this cohort of students employed in their multimodal designs, despite lack of regular opportunities to author texts and a schooling history of low expectations. We echo arguments for the importance of providing all students with opportunities to take positions as designers and creators while acknowledging systematic barriers to such opportunities for academically marginalized students. This study thus aims to counter deficit views of academically marginalized students’ in-school literacy practices and to examine openings for equity through authoritative stance-taking, multivoicedness, and multiple paths to authoring that multimodal composition affords

The preparation of English language teachers in Malaysia : a video-based approach.

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D178020 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

PROCEEDING THE 2nd INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON LINGUISTICS (ISOL-2): Language and Civilization

ISOL is a biennial international seminar held by the Linguistics Graduate Program of Faculty of Humanity, Andalas University in collaboration with the Linguistic Society of Indonesia (MLI), Unand Chapter. ISOL aims to provide a discussion platform for linguists and language observers across Indonesia. Its main objective is to enhance the exchange of research and new approaches in language studies. The seminar is open to interested people from outside of Indonesia. The theme of the 2nd ISOL is Language and Civilization. Civilization is the process by which a society or place reaches an advanced stage of social development and organization. It is also defined as the society, culture, and way of life of a particular area. Over time, the word civilization has come to imply something beyond the organization. It refers to a particular shared way of thinking about the world as well as a reflection on that world in art, literature, drama and a host of other cultural happenings. Language is itself a social construct – a component of social reality. Thus, like all social constructs and conventions, it can be changed. A civilization is any complex state society which is characterized by urban development, social stratification, symbolic communication forms and a perceived separation from and domination over the natural environment. To advance civilization is to construct a new social reality which emerges through language. In other words, social reality is the operational expression of words and the meanings of them that society has agreed upon. Language is itself a social construct – a component of social reality. Thus, like all social constructs and conventions, it can be changed