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Alor Malay

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alor Malay
Melayu Alor
Native toIndonesia
RegionAlor Archipelago
Malay Creole
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottologalor1252

Alor Malay is a Malay-based creole language spoken in the Alor archipelago of Indonesia. Speakers perceive Alor Malay to be a different register of standard Indonesian, but both of these are prestige varieties of the archipelago. Many people are able to understand standard Indonesian, but cannot speak it fluently and choose to use Alor Malay on a daily basis.[1]

Alor Malay is based on Kupang Malay; however, Alor Malay differs significantly from Kupang Malay, especially in its pronouns.[2] Before Alor Malay became lingua franca, Alorese language served as a lingua franca in the Alor-Pantar archipelago before Malay began to be widely used.[3]

Morphology

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Alor Malay is an isolating language. Verbs are not morphologically marked for tense or aspect. The only productive nominal morphology is full reduplication. Nominal reduplication indicates plurality, collectivity, and diversity. Full reduplication of the verb can express intensity, iterativity, and casualness, among other concepts.[4]

Nominal Reduplication

ana~ana

child~child

dong[5]

PL

ana~ana dong[5]

child~child PL

'children'

daun~daun[5]

leaf~leaf

daun~daun[5]

leaf~leaf

'all sorts of leaves'

Verbal Reduplication

Wa

EXCL

ada

PROG

bergerak~bergerak

move~move

la![6]

EMPH

Wa ada bergerak~bergerak la![6]

EXCL PROG move~move EMPH

'Wa...he keeps on moving!'

Dia

3SG

ada

PROG

sengaja

deliberately

foto~foto

take.photo~take.photo

orang

person

tu.[6]

DEM

Dia ada sengaja foto~foto orang tu.[6]

3SG PROG deliberately take.photo~take.photo person DEM

'He is deliberately taking many photos of them over and over again.'

Syntax

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The typical word order in Alor Malay is Agent Verb Patient. Alor Malay uses serial verb constructions such as bawa datang ‘bring (lit. bring come)’ and kasi jatu ‘drop (lit. give fall)’. There are also temporal and aspectual adverbs. The verbal negation marker precedes the verb, as in dia tida omong ‘he does not speak’. Possessed items are preceded by their possessors. Demonstratives typically precede their nouns.[4]

Possession

George

George

pung

POSS

bahu[5]

shoulder

George pung bahu[5]

George POSS shoulder

'George's shoulder'

dia

3.AGT

pung

POSS

tangan[5]

hand

dia pung tangan[5]

3.AGT POSS hand

'her hands'

Negation

Saya

1SG

tida

NEG

punya

have

apa~apa

what~what

untuk

for

kamu.[7]

2PL

Saya tida punya apa~apa untuk kamu.[7]

1SG NEG have what~what for 2PL

'I don’t have anything for you (pl.).'

Laki-laki

man

satu

one

jalan

walk

datang

come

ni-yang

DEM-REL

dia

3SG

tidak

NEG

lihat

visually.perceive

pisang.[8]

banana

Laki-laki satu jalan datang ni-yang dia tidak lihat pisang.[8]

man one walk come DEM-REL 3SG NEG visually.perceive banana

'As a man passes along, he does not see the banana.'

Serial Verb Construction

Simon

Simon

kasi

give

bangun

get.up

Ata

Ata

ko

LK

duduk.[9]

sit

Simon kasi bangun Ata ko duduk.[9]

Simon give get.up Ata LK sit

'Simon lifts Ata up and then sits.'

References

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  1. ^ Baird, Louise (2008). A grammar of Klon: a non-Austronesian language of Alor, Indonesia. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
  2. ^ Klamer, Marion (2014). "The Alor-Pantar languages: Linguistic context, history and typology.". In Klamer, Marian (ed.). Alor Pantar languages: History and Typology. Berlin: Language Sciences Press. pp. 5–53. doi:10.17169/FUDOCS_document_000000020993. ISBN 9783944675602.
  3. ^ Sulistyono, Yunus (2019). "Kajian Fonologi Historis Bahasa Alor (Alorese)" [Study of Historical Phonology of the Alor Language (Alorese)] (PDF). Prosiding seminar internasional kebahasaan: memajukan peran bahasa dalam kancah kontemporer bahasa Indonesia: penguatan strategi dan diplomasi kebahasaan di berbagai bidang. Seminar Internasional Kebahasaan (in Indonesian). Cikini, Indonesdia: Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. pp. 923–932.
  4. ^ a b Saad, George Michel (2020). Variation and change in Abui: The impact of Alor Malay on an indigenous language of Indonesia. Utrecht: LOT. hdl:1887/136911. ISBN 9789460933455.
  5. ^ a b c d Saad 2020:334
  6. ^ a b Saad 2020:335
  7. ^ Saad 2020:337
  8. ^ Saad 2020:278
  9. ^ Saad 2020:288