Language and Culture

Hi again.. its been a while since i dont blog.. lots of chores, grind and gripe to grip on... and i do not have an exact amount of time to spend for blogging.. it is my time organization really.. can not say that it is bad.. but 'pre-occupied'... (ah.. who cares!)

lotsa things had happen between the moment.... but later to that...

today.. i would like to share an article which is composed by a colleague of mine... a brilliant article really.. it is about how the perception templates which borned together with us... but then again.. I will tell about perception later....

To begin with, frankly speaking, I am not a linguistic. So, dialectology, morphology, syntax, phonology do not really echoed within the context of my mind... A friend of mine (a lingustic 'basically'), informed me that some westerners are putting a lot of efforts to study our language..

According to him they are researching the dialect from the perspective of :

1) speech acts (from the manner of context and social viability)

2) Usage itself (as well as other inflections - prefix, affix and suffix)

3) Idiolect (dialect map) -- ie Pasir Mas dialect (Pasir Mas is one of the district in Kelantan)

4) Nasalization of vowels (from the vowel sound produced at dialects, or phonology)

5) Issues aroused from sociolinguistic -- (social status, demography, gender influence, uniqueness of the dialect in community, linguistic convergence/divergence)

6) reduplication (morphology of language and so on)

7) Language acquisition...

and the list would go on..

(special thanks dedicated to Mohd Husni Ab. Aziz, Putrajaya for explaining this)...

there u go.. gone cross eyed already?... pardon me... let me illustrate that with terms which I would also consider as bearable...

I am a Kelantanese (one of the states, located at the east penisular of Malaysia). a typical orthodoxies to be exact! Meaning. I talk with dialect. A very thick dialect. Sometime the other Kelantanese would need specific thesaurus be installed inside their mind just to avoid misinterprete what I am trying to say... *tsk*

Consider the following elaboration..

'Mujo' or 'mujur'(pronounce as (Moo-jow) in Standard Bahasa Malaysia (Malay Language) means "fortunate" or "lucky". In Terengganu, it means more than that. Mujo is an attitude, a testament to the optimism of the Terengganu* folks.

(Terengganu is another state located at south east side of Kelantan.. the dialect is almost the same... a major difference is that the Terengganunese tends to put a lot of +ng at end of any word that last with the letter n. ie: (fish) Ikan - Ikang (pronounce 'ee-kang')

I believe that Terengganunese are optimistic. I haven't heard of any suicides there yet. No news whatsoever of people jumping down from coconut trees or drinking expired budu (preserved anchovy thick sauce) neat in order to expire themselves. You must remember that Terengganu people once lived with ferries, morning papers that came in the night and other things people in the West Coast take for granted. In spite of doing without 4D shops, discos, malls or Hot Spot-enabled coffee houses, they are surviving well without any mental hospital in sight. All because they have mujo. Like I mentioned previously, mujo encapsulate a philosophy in itself. It means one should thank God that it is not worse. Time for an illustration.

(Cut to a scene of 3 village ladies
in their kemban washing clothes by the village well)

Mok Long
Selamoh: "Guane doh adik mung Mek? (How is your brother Mek?)

Mok Teh Som: Bakpe pulok adik die? (What happened to her brother?)

Mok Long
Selamoh: Laaa! Mung dok tau ke Som? (You don't know Som?)

Mok Teh Som: Dok tau setarang kita.
(I don't know anything)

Mok Long
Selamoh: Adik Mek ni kena langgor lori kemareng. (Mek's brother was knocked down
by a lorry yesterday)

Mek Beso: Bukang
lori Mok Long, beng ikang! (It wasn't a lorry Mok Long, it was a fish
van)

Mok Long
Selamoh: Mujo bukang lori! (Lucky it wasn't a lorry)

Mok Teh Som: Pah tu? Terok ke?
(Then? Was he seriously injured?)

Mek Beso: Kaki
patoh sebeloh...... (One leg was broken)

Mok Teh Som: Mujo dok patoh due due
(Lucky both legs weren't broken)

Mok Long Selamoh: Tu
pong mujo dreba beng dang brek. (It was lucky that the van driver braked in
time)

Mek Beso: Mujo
beng tu dok laju.. (Lucky the van wasn't going fast..)

If both legs were broken, the response would be "Mujo dok pecoh pala". (Lucky the head wasn't broken) If the head WAS broken, the response would be "Mujo dok mati". (Lucky he didn't die) If the worst happened and the brother died, the mujo would still surface. "Mujo lah bukang adik kita". (Lucky it wasn't my brother) You get the drift..... Mujo. A nice word. Adopt it. Embrace it. It will preserve your sanity.

special thanks dedicated to Ahmed Syam Che Kub, Pusat Bandar Damansara, a Kelantan (Totok-java word for "orthodoxies") for sharing the article......

Do you get what I mean???