Influx of Foreign words into Malay vocabulary

Of late, many are lamenting on the influx of foreign words into Malay vocabulary. As a Malay linguist, allow me to explain this linguistic phenomenon so that readers can understand the development occurring in the Malay Language.

First, we need to accept the fact that influx of foreign words into a language is a natural phenomenon. All languages, including English Language has borrowed voluminously from other languages. About 80% of the words found in the English Language are foreign words.

Words like antenna, bangle, cassette, guerrilla, nirvana, pizza, and schizophrenia are words from Latin, Hindi, French, Spanish, Sanskrit, Italian and Greek respectively. Languages need to accept foreign words or borrow words to survive. Likewise, the Malay Language has borrowed hundreds of words from foreign languages, like Sanskrit, Persian, Arab, Tamil, Chinese, and lately English words.

We have borrowed words like asrama, dewan, solat, katil and tongkang comfortably in the past and these words have assimilated into Malay vocabulary. Many users probably do not know that they are actually Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Tamil and Chinese words respectively.

In the process of modernization of Bahasa Malaysia, our national languages, new words have been coined or borrowed words to enable the language to become a modern and compatible language like any other languages of the world. Many new fields have developed in the Malay Language and we need words to describe the concept and new ideas in Malay. As we do not have the appropriate words, we either coin or borrow words from other language to enable to express the new ideas and concepts in Malay.

As Malaysians, we should learn to accept the influx of foreign words, especially English words. This is a healthy trend in the Malay Language, like what is happening in any other modern languages of the words. Accepting foreign words in not done in a haphazard or according to the whims and fancies of a Malay user. It is actually according to stipulated rules and regulations specified by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, the guardian of the Malay Language.

Borrowed words need to adjusted to the Malay sound system and spelling of the Language. So, words like account, discussion, and productivity when borrowed in Malay need to be changed into akaun, diskusi, and produktiviti in line with rules of the phonological rules of the Malay Language.

On the question why we need akaun when we have already words in the language like kira-kira. In vocabulary, there are two types of words, common words and specific words or terms. The word kira-kira is a common word, but we use akaun as a term in a specific usage in the economic and accounting domain.  

Besides, in languages alternative words or synonymic words are always created or coined to enable the languages to express ideas and thoughts using different words, like aktiviti and kegiatan, kereta api and tren, and program and atur cara.

The influx of foreign words into Malay Language, do not mean we making it a rojak language. As explained earlier, foreign words are carefully assimilated into Malay according to language rules and regulations.  Let us see these trend a healthy linguistic phenomena, not an alarming one.