''Malajoe Batawi: Kitab deri hal Perkataan-Perkataan Malajoe, Hal Memetjah Oedjar-Oedjar Malajoe dan Hal Pernahkan Tanda-Tanda Batja dan Hoeroef-Hoeroef Besar'' (better known by the short title ''Malajoe Batawi'';
Perfected Spelling: ''Melayu Betawi''; literally ''
Betawi Malay'') is a grammar of the
Malay language
Malay (; ms, Bahasa Melayu, links=no, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Rejang script, Rencong: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language that is an official language of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and that is also spo ...
as spoken in Batavia (now
Jakarta) written by
Lie Kim Hok
Lie Kim Hok (; 1 November 1853 – 6 May 1912) was a ''peranakan'' Chinese teacher, writer, and social worker active in the Dutch East Indies and styled the "father of Chinese Malay literature". Born in Buitenzorg (now Bogor), West Jav ...
. The 116-page book, first published in 1884, saw two printings and has been described as the "most remarkable achievement of Chinese Malay writing".
Background and writing
During the late 1800s numerous books and newspapers had been published in Batavia (now
Jakarta) using a
creole form of
Malay. These books, including translations of
Chinese works, did not use a standardised language. Some were written entirely in one sentence, with a single
capital letter at the beginning and a single
full stop at the end.
Lie Kim Hok
Lie Kim Hok (; 1 November 1853 – 6 May 1912) was a ''peranakan'' Chinese teacher, writer, and social worker active in the Dutch East Indies and styled the "father of Chinese Malay literature". Born in Buitenzorg (now Bogor), West Jav ...
(1853–1912) was a journalist and teacher who wrote extensively in the creole. He considered the lack of standardisation appalling, and began to write a grammar of the language to ensure a degree of regularity in its use. The same year he published ''Malajoe Batawi'', he released ''Kitab Edja'' (''Spelling Book''), a book to teach spelling to schoolchildren.
Contents
''Malajoe Batawi'' 116 pages consist of 23 pages discussing the use of capital letters and
punctuation
Punctuation (or sometimes interpunction) is the use of spacing, conventional signs (called punctuation marks), and certain typographical devices as aids to the understanding and correct reading of written text, whether read silently or aloud. An ...
, 23 pages discussing
word classes, and the remainder regarding
sentence structure and writing. Lie discusses various
morpheme
A morpheme is the smallest meaningful constituent of a linguistic expression. The field of linguistic study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology.
In English, morphemes are often but not necessarily words. Morphemes that stand alone are ...
s, including the active-transitive morpheme
e(N)-and the active-intransitive
er-
Lie identifies ten word classes in ''Malajoe Batawi'', as follows:
#"Nama paäda" (
noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, ...
s)
#"Pengganti nama" (
pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase.
Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not c ...
s)
#"Penerang" (
adjective
In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun.
Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...
s)
#"Pemoela" (
articles)
#"Nama bilangan" (
cardinals
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
)
#"Nama kerdja" (
verb
A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...
s)
#"Penerangan" (
adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...
s)
#"Pengoendjok" (
prepositions
Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in traditional grammar, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'') or mark various ...
)
#"Pengoeboeng" (
conjunction
Conjunction may refer to:
* Conjunction (grammar), a part of speech
* Logical conjunction, a mathematical operator
** Conjunction introduction, a rule of inference of propositional logic
* Conjunction (astronomy), in which two astronomical bodies ...
)
#"Oetjap seroe" (
interjection
An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling or reaction. It is a diverse category, encompassing many different parts of speech, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curse ...
s)
Release and reception
''Malajoe Batawi'' was published in 1884 by W. Bruining & Co. in Batavia.
Tio Ie Soei, in his biography of Lie, describes it as first grammar of Batavian Malay, while linguist Waruno Mahdi calls it the first "elaborate grammar of a Malay dialect along modern lines". The book saw an initial print run of 500 copies. According to Tio, it came under consideration for use as teaching material in local schools. However, the publisher requested changes with which Lie disagreed, and ultimately the deal fell through. A second edition was published by Albrecht & Rusche in 1891, and towards his death in 1912 Lie began writing a new edition of ''Malajoe Batawi''. However, he died before it could be completed.
In 1979, C.D. Grijns opined that, based on the primarily oral nature of Betawi, Lie did not base his ''Malajoe Batawi'' on spoken language, but the written language used by ethnic Chinese merchants. Malaysian press historian Ahmat B. Adam describes Lie as leaving "an indelible mark on the development of modern Indonesian language", while Mahdi writes that the grammar was the "most remarkable achievement of Chinese Malay writing" from a
linguist's point of view.
Notes
Footnotes
References
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{{refend
1884 non-fiction books
Malay dictionaries
Indonesian dictionaries