Za'aba Spelling
The Za'aba Spelling (
From 1930's onward, the Za'aba system gained wide sanction and was used officially in education and civil administration of Malaya, Singapore and Brunei,
Background
The first major orthographic reform of
By 1930s, the Za'aba spelling became the official orthography used in Malaya and even adopted in the education system and civil administration. The Za'aba spelling also gained widespread currency in Brunei and Singapore. Following the adoption of the orthography in schools, it was called the Ejaan Sekolah ('school spelling system'). Despite its official status, the system was continuously challenged throughout the years as other linguists came up with their own suggestions for a reform.[10][11]
During World War II, a system known Ejaan Fajar Asia, after the Fajar Asia ('Dawn of Asia') publishing house,
The system
Za'aba's orthographic system principally dealt with the assignment of vowels in final closed
Final closed syllables
Wilkinson | Za'aba | IPA | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
buruk | burok | /buroʔ/ | ugly |
teguh | tĕgoh | /təgoh/ | firm |
terung | tĕrong | /təroŋ/ | eggplant |
subur | subor | /subor/ | fertile |
bilik | bilek | /bilek/ | room |
jernih | jĕrneh | /jərneh/ | clear |
There were no particular explanations by Za'aba for such amendments, but based on the reformed words, Za'aba seemed to have emphasized on the phonetic realisation in spelling to reflect their original pronunciation in Malay. This was in contrast to the Wilkinson orthography, and even Republican system in Indonesia, that emphasized more on the vowel coherency represented in the orthography.[21][22]
Schwa
Za'aba standardized the marking for the Malay indeterminate vowel or the schwa represented by phonetic sound /ə/, by introducing a new grapheme ⟨ĕ⟩. By having the diacritic mark, the Za'aba system able to differentiate schwa from the half-open vowel /e/, which remains to be represented by letter ⟨e⟩. The objective of this move, was again for the phonetic realisation in spelling to simplify the reading process.[23][24][25]
Wilkinson | Za'aba | IPA | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
berhemat | bĕrhemat | /bərhemat/ | being prudent |
penyelesaian | pĕnyĕlĕsaian | /pəɲələsaian/ | solution |
merdeka | mĕrdeka | /mərdeka/ | independence |
tentera | tĕntĕra | /təntəra/ | soldier |
Hyphens
Za'aba also introduced the use of hyphens to differentiate affixes or post-positional emphases from the infinitives.[26]
Wilkinson | Za'aba | IPA | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|
dijual | di-jual | /didʒual/ | is sold |
keretanya | kĕreta-nya | /kəretaɲa/ | his/her car |
pergilah | pĕrgi-lah | /pərgilah/ | go! |
di taman | di-taman | /ditaman/ | at the park |
ke taman | ke-taman | /kətaman/ | to the park |
References
- ^ Leow 2018, p. 89
- ^ Asmah Omar 1989
- ^ Leow 2018, p. 89
- ^ Leow 2018, p. 208
- ^ Muhammed Salehudin Aman 2019
- ^ Asmah Omar 1989
- ^ Leow 2018, p. 89
- ^ Asmah Omar 1989
- ^ Muhammed Salehudin Aman 2019
- ^ Asmah Omar 1989
- ^ Leow 2018, p. 89
- ISBN 9781543757439.
- ^ Asmah Omar 1989
- ^ Asmah Omar 1989
- ^ Asmah Omar 1989
- ^ Leow 2018, p. 89
- ^ Leow 2018, p. 89
- ^ Asmah Omar 1989
- ^ Leow 2018, p. 89
- ^ Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan & Mikami 2007, p. 139
- ^ Asmah Omar 1989
- ^ Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan & Mikami 2007, p. 139
- ^ Asmah Omar 1989
- ^ Leow 2018, p. 89
- ^ Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan & Mikami 2007, p. 139
- ^ Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan & Mikami 2007, p. 139
Bibliography
- Asmah Omar (1989), "The Malay Spelling Reform", Journal of the Simplified Spelling Society, archived from the original on 2011-08-26
- Muhammed Salehudin Aman (2019), Sinopsis Sistem Ejaan Bahasa Melayu, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka
- Leow, Rachel (2018), Taming Babel: Language in the Making of Malaysia, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1316602607
- Mohd Zaidi Abd Rozan; Mikami, Yoshiki (2007). "Orthographic Reforms of Standard Malay Online: Towards Better Pronunciation and Construction of a Cross-language Environment". Journal of Universal Language. 8 (1): 129–159. .