UNDERSTANDING THE USE OF DETERMINERS THROUGH NOUNS: Demonstratives and Quantifiers in English and Bahasa Melayu R A D I K A S U B R A M A N I A M , P h D
UNDERSTANDING THE USE OF DETERMINERS THROUGH NOUNS: Demonstratives and Quantifiers in English and Bahasa Melayu Published by
POLITEKNIK SULTAN IDRIS SHAH DEPARTMENT OF POLYTECHNIC AND COMMUNITY COLLEGE EDUCATION MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION, MALAYSIA Copyright 2023 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of both the Author and the Publisher, Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah. Published by: Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah Sg. Lang, 45100 Sg. Air Tawar Selangor No. Tel: 0332806200 No. Fax: 0332806400 Website: https://psis.mypolycc.edu.my e ISBN 978-967-2860-69-3
Table of Contents Noun Phrase (NP) in English......................3 Pre-modifiers and post-modifiers of a noun phrase ................................................4 Countable and Uncountable Nouns ...................6 Nouns in Bahasa Melayu (BM) and their Types........9 Animate and Inanimate Nouns ...................10 Nouns in English and their Types.........................2 Determiners in English and their Types ...............17 Demonstrative Determiners ..................18 Quantifiers ..........................20 Partitives ........................21 Determiners in BM and their Types ...............22 Demonstrative Determiners ................23 Quantifiers ...................24 Classifiers ................27 English Demonstratives and their BM Equivalents........32 Groups of English Quantifiers and their BM Equivalents..........................................................................33 English Demonstratives and their BM Equivalents: Basic Meaning and Use (singular/plural/non-count and animate/inanimate nouns)........................................37 English Quantifiers and their BM Equivalents: Basic Meaning and Use (singular/plural/non-count and animate/inanimate nouns)........................................41 Introduction...........................1 Preface .........................ii Countability in Bahasa Melayu ....................11 Noun Phrase (NP) in Bahasa Melayu ..............14 Conclusion...................................91
List of Tables Table 10: Groups of English Quantifiers and their BM Equivalents..........................................................................33 Table 1: Categories and Examples of Uncountable Nouns...................................................7 Table 2: The Countable Form of Uncountable Nouns.....8 Table 3: Types of Nouns in Bahasa Melayu ....................10 Table 4: Reduplicated Nouns as Indicators of Plurality....................12 Table 5: Types of Quantifiers in BM and Examples of Use............24 Table 6: Detailed Classifications of BM Quantifiers.......26 Table 7: BM Classifiers...................30 Table 8: Categorisation of BM Classifiers based on Shape and Specific Attributes ...................31 Table 9: English Demonstratives and their BM Equivalents ......................................32
This book serves to assist Malaysian ESL (English as a Second Language) learners to make appropriate use of determiners in their English language writing. The presentation of English determiners in this book is substantiated with their Bahasa Melayu (BM) counterparts to help Malaysian second language writers to further understand the basic meaning of English determiners and their BM equivalents based on the noun properties (countable/ uncountable/ animate/ inanimate) and their examples of use in real context. ii Preface
Interlanguage transfer (from L1-native language to L2- second language) has been highlighted as contributing to inappropriate uses of L2 among ESL learners. In the Malaysian context, learners' L1 influence (in this case, Bahasa Melayu) has been pointed out as one of the reasons resulting in learner errors; and determiners, among others, have become one the most problematic grammatical features (see Khazriyati Salehuddin et al., 2006). In this book, the meaning and use of determiners in English and Bahasa Melayu are contrastively presented based on the author's previous works (see Subramaniam, 2011; Subramaniam & Khan, 2013). The examples of use (i.e., language samples) presented in the book are extracted from two corpora (i.e., the Brown and British National Corpus [BNC] via Lextutor for English language samples and Korpus Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka [DBP] for Bahasa Melayu samples), and newspaper articles (extracted from The Independent, UK and Utusan Malaysia). Learning and understanding of the cross-linguistics features of determiners in L1 and L2 may enlighten the Malaysian ESL learners to make more appropriate use of these function words. Introduction 1
Nouns in English and their Types Nouns are the largest group of eight parts of speech in the English language. Nouns can be identified in singular (one or mass entity) or plural forms (more than one entity). The two main types that determine the singularity or plurality of a noun are countable and uncountable/mass nouns. Apart from that, there are four other main categories of nouns in English that need to be known for a better understanding of their use in context. The noun categories/types include common nouns, proper nouns, concrete nouns and abstract nouns. specific names referring to people, places, things where first letter is capitalised (e.g., Jessica, Manchester, Internet, Mount Titlis) Common nouns general people, places, things (e.g., man, girl, cat, book, canteen, bus, time, day) Proper nouns Concrete nouns Abstract nouns tangible/material objects; can be physically touched, seen, smelled, heard and tasted (e.g, food, building, water, flower, kitten, woman, stars) concepts, ideas, quality, state of intangible elements (e.g., love, anger, humanity, happiness) 2
Noun Phrase (NP) in English The basic structure of a noun phrase in English usually has the following pattern: pre-modifier (s), a noun head and post-modifier (s) While all noun phrases have a noun head as the obligatory item, the occurrence of pre-modifier (s) and post-modifier (s) is not compulsory (as the noun head may stand on its own in a noun phrase) such as in the example illustrated below (see Greenbaum & Quirk, 2006): Noun head: Books Pre-modifier + Head: The books Noun head + Post-modifier: books on the shelf Pre-modifier + Noun head + Post-modifier: The books on the shelf 3
Pre-modifiers which are located before the noun head are determiners, adjectives and nouns. On the other hand, post-modifiers which are positioned after the head are inclusive of prepositional phrases, non-finite clauses and relative clauses such as indicated below (adapted from Greenbaum & Quirk, 2006): This beautiful dress Some very expensive office furniture Determiner Adjective Noun (Head) Pre-modifier Pre-modifiers and post-modifiers of a noun phrase Determiner Intensifier Adjective Noun (Head) Pre-modifier Noun 4
The book on the table All the children playing in the garden The house which he sold recently Determiner Noun (Head) Non-finite clause as postmodifier Determiner Noun (Head) Relative clause as postmodifier Determiner Noun (Head) Prepositional phrase as postmodifier 5
Countable and Uncountable Nouns Countable or count nouns can be counted separately (as individual unit) whereas uncountable or mass nouns cannot be counted by individual unit or separate entities. Countable nouns are subdivided into two categories; singular and plural. Although most of the English nouns are inflected (i.e. ended with an ‘ -s’) to indicate plurality, there are a few instances where these nouns are not inflected but they do indicate plurality for instance ‘phenomena’ , ‘criteria’ , ‘nuclei’ and ‘memoranda’ (Azar, 2002, 2017; Leech et al., 2009; Maurer, 2006, 2016). Another interesting or rather salient point to remember is that all nouns which are inflected by an ' -s' may not necessarily indicate plurality, however, they are uncountable nouns (i.e. ‘mathematics’ , ‘physics’ , ‘news’ and ‘economics’). Uncountable nouns, on the other hand, do not take any plural forms as they are referring to mass referents which are inseparable (see examples in Table 1). Despite this, a few examples as follows highlight the possibilities of making an uncountable noun countable (see Table 2). This means that the countability of a noun is not fixed or pre-determined but it is relatively flexible to be adapted depending on how the nouns (i.e. countable and uncountable nouns) are being referred to (i.e. the intended meaning) in a particular context. 6
Categories Examples of Uncountable Nouns Solids Glass, gold, beef, plastic, steel, wool, yoghurt, etc. Liquids Coffee, shampoo, soda, juice, tea, milk, blood, etc. Powders and Grains Cereal, salt, pepper, sand, sugar, rice, dust, etc. Gases Oxygen, smoke, steam, fog, air, smog, etc. Names of Categories Furniture, clothing, jewellery, money, fruit, etc. School of Subjects and Languages Literature, science, history, biology, Spanish, Chinese, etc. Weather Darkness, light, rain, snow, hail, thunder, etc. Physical Force Electricity, magnetism, speed, gravity, etc. Abstract Nouns Advice, beauty, peace, poverty, wealth, knowledge, etc. Table 1: Categories and Examples of Uncountable Nouns (Adopted from Broukal, 2004, p. 87) 7
Uncountable Noun in Uncountable Use Uncountable Noun in Countable Use I'll have orange juice. I'll have a glass of orange juice. I need advice. I need a piece of advice. Let's play chess. Let's play a game of chess. I am afraid this dish needs more spice. Several different spices would enhance the dish. Food is important for living. A variety of foods is important in our daily diet. Get me some coffee. Get me two coffees. Suzy loves cheese. Mozzarella is a soft cheese. The sun provides light. I see a light in the window. Table 2: The Countable Form of Uncountable Nouns (Adapted from Maurer, 2006, 2016) 8
Nouns in Bahasa Melayu (BM) and their Types Nouns in Bahasa Melayu are classified into three types (Nik Safiah Karim, 1995) as follows: Unlike English nouns which are divided into countable and uncountable nouns, the BM nouns are divided into two main categories which are animate (i.e., human and non-human) and inanimate nouns. Table 3 illustrates the examples of animate and inanimate nouns in BM. Proper nouns specific names referring to people, places, things where first letter is capitalised (e.g., Ali, Mohamad, Kampung Kota, Malaysia) Common nouns Pronouns general people, places, things (e.g., perempuan [woman], meja [table], buku [buku], sekolah [school]) reference to people, places, things (e.g., dia [he/she], saya [I], mereka [they]) 9
Nouns in Bahasa Melayu are classified into three types (Nik Safiah Karim, 1995) (see Table 3): ANIMATE NOUN INANIMATE NOUN HUMAN NON-HUMAN Proper Noun Common Noun Proper Noun Common Noun Proper Noun Common Noun Selvi pelajar (student) Vanda Diana (orchid) gajah (elephant) Bahasa Melayu kerusi (chair) Hasan hakim (judge) Jibrail cacing (worm) Universiti Malaya pendapat (opinion) Tun Tan Cheng Lock guru (teacher) 'Hervea Brasillia' (rubber tree) pokok getah (rubber tree) Proton Iswara keadilan (justice) Animate and Inanimate Nouns (Adapted from Nik Safiah Karim, 1995, p. 89-91) Table 3: Types of Nouns in Bahasa Melayu 10
Although the functions of nouns in BM are derived from the two main categories such as animate and inanimate nouns, the distinction between the count (countable) and mass (uncountable) nouns in BM is an essential element that needs to be identified when describing the semantic features of these nouns. Asmah Hj. Omar (1980), (1993) cited in Sew (2007) explains that the idea of countability in BM nouns is indeed ambiguous as it depends on how the hearer perceives the meaning of the nouns uttered in a sentence. For instance, when a person says ‘Dia ada rumah ([He/She has (a) house(s)]), the word ‘rumah’ which means ‘house’ is possibly interpreted as 'one' or 'more than one' as the indicators of plurality in BM nouns do not exist in terms of inflections as it is seen in the English language. To indicate plurality, the nouns in BM undergo complete reduplication or appear with numerals, classifiers or quantifiers as pre-modifiers. The words in Table 4 are reduplicated nouns which function as indicators of plurality. Countability in Bahasa Melayu 11
Countability in Bahasa Melayu Singular / One Plural / More than one Buku (book) Buku-buku (books) Perkara (matter) Perkara-perkara (matters) Hospital (hospital) Hospital-hospital (hospitals) Note that only the count nouns reduplicate to denote a plural referent which is called simple complete reduplication which does not exist in mass noun (Sew, 2007). In other words, the mass nouns are not reduplicated to indicate plurality, for instance, ‘garam’ (salt) cannot be reduplicated as ‘garam-garam’ (salts) to designate plurality. Another example which is ‘gula’ that means ‘sugar’ is a mass noun which Nik Safiah Karim (1995) identifies as an indicator of similarity when it is reduplicated as ‘gulagula’ which no longer means ‘sugar’ but ‘sweets’. The meaning of this reduplication is recognised as an indicator of similarity as ‘sweets’ connotes the idea of ‘something which is sugary’ (similar meaning). Thus, there is no indication of plurality. Table 4: Reduplicated Nouns as Indicators of Plurality 12
Countability in Bahasa Melayu The reduplications of count nouns in BM designate mass plurals (Sew, 2007). For instance, ‘meja’ (table) which is a count noun when reduplicated (i.e., meja-meja [tables]) to indicate plurality does not disclose the number of tables as it could be interpreted as two, three, ten or even one hundred. In this circumstance, the count noun which is pluralised, functions as a mass referent. The functions served by each noun cannot be described or explained using conservative grammar rules. Hence, there is a need to go beyond the rules of structure and look for the meaning based on the use of these nouns in the real context. 13
The BM Noun Phrase (NP) consists of a word which is a noun as the head (inti) or more than a word. The noun phrases in Malay “have elements occurring preceding the noun head and elements following the noun head” (Rogayah Hj. A. Razak, 2003, p. 38). In plain words, noun phrase in Malay comprises premodifiers and post-modifiers which function to modify (explain) the noun head. For instance, in the example below, ‘banyak buku cerita’ (many story books) is the noun phrase with the noun head ‘buku’ (book). The word ‘banyak’ (many) acts as the premodifier whereas ‘cerita’ (story) post-modifies the noun which indicates the type of book. Saya mempunyai banyak buku cerita (I have many book story) (translation: I have many story books) In another example below, ‘dua kereta sedan’ (two sedan cars) is the noun phrase with the noun head ‘kereta’ (car). The word ‘dua’ (two) acts as the pre-modifier whereas ‘sedan’ (sedan) becomes the post-modifier of the noun, indicating the type of car. Salim mempunyai dua kereta sedan (Salim has two car sedan) (translation: Salim has two sedan cars) Noun Phrase (NP) in Bahasa Melayu 14
The constituents (i.e. elements) of a noun phrase are the modifiers as well as the noun head (Abdullah Hassan, 2003). The modifiers which are called ‘penerang’ in BM are divided into four types that are ‘penentu’ (determiner), ‘kata bilangan’ (quantifier), ‘penjodoh bilangan’ (classifier), ‘gelaran’ (title) and ‘sifat nama’ (adjective). This is shown in the examples below: Dua kuntum bunga cantik itu (two classifier flower beautiful that/the) Kata bilangan (Quantifier) Penjodoh bilangan (Classifier) Kata nama (inti) (Noun head) Kata sifat (Adjective) Kata penentu (Determiner) Penerang hadapan (Pre-modifiers) Penerang belakang (Post-modifiers) 15
Petani Kampung Perkasa (farmer proper noun proper noun) Kata nama (inti) (Noun head) Kata Nama Khas (Proper noun) Penerang belakang (Post-modifiers) (Adapted from Abdullah Hassan, 2003) Tuan Haji Zainal Abidin (title title proper noun proper noun) Penerang hadapan (Pre-modifiers) Gelaran (Title) Gelaran (Title) Kata Nama Khas (inti) (Proper noun head) 16
Determiners in English and their Types Determiners are "a special class of words that limit the nouns and follow them" (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999, p. 19). They are words that determine the nouns that follow them which means, in a noun phrase, determiners always precede the noun head. The choice of determiners depends on the countability of the noun head (singular/plural/mass referent). Determiners serve as function words. They are closedclass items and are sometimes confused with adjectives as both function as pre-modifiers (of a noun). Adjectives, however, provide qualitative information about a noun while determiners reveal quantitative information of a noun (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999). There are four main types of determiners in English; articles, demonstratives, possessives and quantifiers (CelceMurcia & Larsen-Freeman, 2016). Articles limited to a, an and the. depending on noun referent whether definite or indefinite. Possessives indicating possession e.g., his, her, my, your, our, their, its, Ali's Demonstratives consists of deictic information about the referent four words: this/these, that/those expressing the quantity of the noun head e.g., many, less, a few, etc Quantifiers 17
Demonstrative Determiners Demonstrative determiners have pointing (or deictic) reference. Deictic reference refers to proximity of the noun referent. "Proximal referent" refers to a noun which is identified near the speaker whereas "distal referent" points at a noun which is located far from the speaker (Hayashi & Yoon, 2006, p. 490). There are four types of demonstrative determiners identified in English: This proximal singular countable and uncountable nouns That distal singular countable and uncountable nouns These proximal plural countable noun Those distal plural countable noun 18
This book should be returned proximal singular referent Demonstrative Determiners The sentences below demonstrate the use of demonstrative determiners with proximal and distal referents: That chair is broken distal singular referent These books should be returned proximal plural referent Those chairs are broken distal plural referent 19
many Quantifiers Quantifiers are a fixed category of words which are used to express the indefinite quantity of a noun. Quantifiers can be used as determiners for both countable and uncountable nouns, depending on the countability of the noun head. Some quantifiers are only used to quantify countable nouns as in the examples below: a few several a couple of a large number of a number of Some quantifiers are only applied to pre-modify mass/uncountable nouns as in the following instances: much less a little a great deal of There are also quantifiers which can be used to quantify both countable and uncountable nouns: plenty of a lot of more enough any 20
Quantifiers As informed in the earlier section, quantifiers express the indefinite quantity of a noun. Numerals, (i.e., cardinal numbers such as one, two, three, etc) however, can also be perceived as quantifiers although they pre-modify (by indicating definite quantity) of a noun head, as cardinal numbers do express the quantity (the number/definite amount) of the noun head unlike ordinals like first, second, third, fourth and last which indicate the sequence or rank. Partitives Partitives function to quantify mass nouns in English. They are called partitives as they indicate part of a whole feature of mass nouns (Greenbaum & Quirk, 2006). There are two types of partitives; mensural classifiers or unitisers (Sew, 2007). Mensural classifier Unitiser provides units of measurement to the mass nouns which signifies mass nouns as count referents (e.g., a gallon of water, a litre of oil, a kilogram of sugar) expressions to quantify mass nouns as count referents (this depends on how one sees the nouns in real context) (e.g., a drop of water, a bottle of vinegar, a cup of coffee, a piece of cake). 21
Determiners in BM and their Types Determiners or kata penentu in Bahasa Melayu means closed class words which determine the words either preceding or following the noun head. There are two types of determiners in BM; kata penentu hadapan (predeterminers) and kata penentu belakang (postdeterminers) (Nik Safiah Karim, et al., 2008). Kata penentu hadapan appears before a noun and functions to modify it whereas kata penentu belakang post-modifies a noun (as follows). Kata penentu hadapan Kata bilangan (quantifiers) Penjodoh bilangan (classifiers) Kata penentu belakang Itu (that/those/the) Ini (this/these/the) semua (all) banyak (many) setiap (each) ekor (which literally means tail and used only for animals) orang (person, specifically used for human beings). 22
Demonstrative Determiners Itu and ini are the two demonstrative determiners in BM. They are used to show the proximity of the noun referent whether it is near the speaker or afar. Itu (that/those/the) functions to indicate or point to a noun which is located far from the speaker, that is, distal referent whereas ini (this/these/the) shows proximal referent by referring to a noun which is situated near the speaker. The use of these demonstratives in real-life situations depends on how the speaker and hearer perceive them. Some uses refer to their deictic functions (i.e., distal and proximal referents), whereas others are markers of definiteness (used as definite articles, like the article the in English) (Nik Safiah Karim, 1995). Itu and ini can be used both as deictic and definiteness markers (Nik Safiah Karim, 1995) as in the following example: Pelukis itu rakyat Australia (Artist the/that citizen Australia) The/that artist is an Australian citizen 23
Quantifiers Quantifiers are termed as kata bilangan in BM. They are determiners (i.e., kata penentu hadapan) that pre-modify nouns (they appear in front of the noun head). There are five types of quantifiers in BM (Nik Safiah Karim, 1995; Nik Safiah Karim et al., 2008) (see Table 5). Types Quantifiers Examples of Use Cardinal numbers (numerals) to denote definite characteristics Dua (two), tiga ratus (three hundred), sepuluh ribu (ten thousand) Dua hari lagi saya akan berada di London. (In two days time, I will be in London). Harga barang itu dua puluh ringgit. (The price of the item is twenty ringgits). Indicating uncountable numbers (indefinite characteristics) Segala (all), semua (all), para (many), beberapa (some), sekalian (all), seluruh (entire), banyak (many), sedikit (a few/ a little) Segala langkah telah diambil. (All steps have been taken). Semua penonton memuji filem itu. (All the audience praised the film). Indicating collective numbers Beratus-ratus (hundreds of), ketiga-tiga (all three), beribu-ribu (thousands of), berguni-guni (by the sackfuls) Beratus-ratus orang telah kehilangan rumah akibat kebakaran itu. (Hundreds of people have lost their houses due to the fire). Ketiga-tiga orang pelajar itu akan dihukum. (All the three students will be punished). Table 5: Types of Quantifiers in BM and Examples of Use 24
Quantifiers Types Quantifiers Examples of Use Indicating separate entities Masing-masing (individual / respective), setiap/tiap-tiap (each) Pelajar harus membawa makanan masing-masing. (An individual student must bring his/her own food). Setiap calon dikehendaki mengisi borang itu. (Each student is needed to fill in the form). Indicating fractions Setengah (half), sepertiga (one third), separuh (half), seperempat (one fourth), dua pertiga (two thirds) Setiap penduduk kampung itu telah mendapat setengah ekar tanah daripada kerajaan. (Each resident of the village received half an acre of the land from the government). Setiap seorang daripada mereka akan diberi sepertiga bahagian harta. (Each one of them will be given one third of the property). Quantifiers in BM are not used to pre-modify reduplicated nouns (although count nouns) as they are "unbounded mass referents" (Sew, 2007, p. 24). Sew (2007, p. 47) provides a list of BM quantifiers which has been reclassified (by adding another criterion which is countability to see the link between quantification and countability in BM) based on Asmah’s (1980, p. 88-89) detailed classification of BM quantifiers as in Table 6. Table 5, continued: Types of Quantifiers in BM and Examples of Use 25
Quantity Quantifiers Countability One unit proper Tiap-tiap (each/every), masing-masing (individual/respective) Count Nouns More than one (Numerous) Banyak (many), sedikit (a few / a little), sejumlah (an amount of). Ramai (many) and sekalian (all) (only for human beings) Count and Mass Nouns More than one (Few) Beberapa (some) Count Nouns Less than one (0.0-1.0) Separuh (half) Count Nouns Whole Seluruh (Entire) Count Nouns Whole Semua (All) Count and Mass Nouns Quantifiers Table 6:Detailed Classifications of BM Quantifiers 26
Classifiers Classifiers or penjodoh bilangan function to indicate the category of objects in the surroundings. According to Craig (1999) cited in Sew (2007), classifiers do not occur independently without the presence of numerals and quantifiers. The sentences below show the examples of use of a classifier with numeral (see [1]) and quantifier (see [2]): [1] Tiga orang pelajar telah diselamatkan (Three person-cl student already rescued) Three students were rescued. [2] Beberapa orang pelajar telah diselamatkan (Some person-cl student already rescued) Some students were rescued. Nik Safiah et al. (2008) identify a number of quantifiers which cannot be paired with classifiers when they are in use. These quantifiers demonstrate indefinite characteristics like semua (all), segala (all), sedikit (a few / a little), sekalian (all), para (many), seluruh (entire) and banyak (many). The followings are examples of ungrammatical combinations (see [3] and [4]): [3] *Semua orang pelajar (All person-cl student) All students [4] *Sedikit cubit garam (A little pinch salt) A pinch of salt The noun head needs to appear in its singular form when it co-occurs with numeral classifiers (Khazriyati Sallehuddin & Winskel, 2009). 27
Classifiers There are two types of classifiers in BM; sortal classifiers and mensural classifiers: It is essential to highlight that se in BM also means satu (i.e., a or one). Classifiers in BM may occur with both count (see [5] and [6]) and mass nouns but only "the count nouns are preceded immediately by a basic numeral without classifier" (Sew, 2007, p. 28). This means that classifiers are used with mass nouns to demonstrate count referent - in other words, classifiers make the mass nouns countable. [5] Dua buah buku (Two fruit-cl book) Two books [6] Lapan orang pelajar (Eight person-cl student) Eight students Sortal classifiers enable the noun referent to be counted in units (e.g., sekuntum bunga [a flower], seekor burung [a bird] ) Mensural classifiers enable the noun referents to be quantified in a measuring term (e.g., seliter air [a litre of water] and sekilogram ikan [a kilogram of fish]) 28
Classifiers The count noun head in [5] and [6] (see previous page) which are buku (book) and pelajar (student) can be preceded by a numeral without any classifier too but this is not applicable for a mass noun as it is obligatory for the classifier to occur before the mass noun head which is preceded by a numeral. For instance, sentences [7] and [8] below are grammatical although there is no presence of classifiers. Sentence [9(a)] is ungrammatical due to the use of a mass noun, hence sentence [9(b)] can be used instead: [7] Dua buku (Two book) Two books [8] Lapan pelajar (Eight student) Eight students [9(a)] *Tiga minyak (Three oil) [9(b)] *Tiga sudu minyak (Three spoon-cl oil) Three spoons of oil 29
Classifiers Classifiers and Meaning Function Examples Orang (literally means human) Used for counting human beings. Dua orang guru. (Two teachers). Empat orang pelajar. (Four students). Ekor (literally means tail) Used for counting animals, birds, fish, etc. Sepuluh ekor lembu. (Ten cows). Lima ekor monyet. (Five monkeys). Batang (literally means stem) Used for counting rodlike objects such as poles, cigarettes, pens, pencils, etc. Dua batang pensil. (Two pencils). Sebatang jalan. (A road). Buah (literally means fruit) Used for counting many types of objects which are large or cubical in appearance such as countries, buildings, rivers, etc. Sebuah pulau. (An island). Dua buah rumah. (Two houses). Biji (literally means seed) Used for counting spherical objects such as cups, fruits, eggs, etc. Lima biji kelapa. (Five coconuts). Tiga biji cawan. (Three cups). Helai (literally means sheet) Used for counting flat and thin objects such as papers, mats, etc. Dua helai tikar. (Two mats). Lima helai kemeja. (Five shirts). Keping (literally means piece) Used for counting human beings. Dua keping papan. (Two planks). Empat keping biskut. (Four biscuits). Kuntum (literally means bud) Used for individual flowers. Enam kuntum bunga. (Six flowers). A list of classifiers in BM with its meaning, function and examples of use is provided in Table 7 (adapted from: Othman Sulaiman, 1975, p. 154-155): Table 7: BM Classifiers 30
Khazriyati Salehuddin & Winskel (2009) reveal that the categorisation of BM classifiers depends on the shape (i.e., rigidity, dimensionality and size) or specific attributes of the objects (i.e., inanimate count nouns) (see Table 8). Classifiers Classifiers Rigidity Dimensionality Size Specific Attribute Batang Rigid 1D - - Utas Non-rigid 1D - - Keping Rigid 2D - - Helai Non-rigid 2D - - Butir - 3D Fine - Biji - 3D Small - Ketul - 3D Medium - Buah - 3D Big Abstract Kuntum - - - Flower Laras - - - Firearm Bilah - - - Knife Classifiers such as cubit (pinch), titik (drop), guni (sacks) and baldi (pail) are sorted out as the indicators of count referents for the mass nouns. Classifiers are not fixed categories of words as they may be changed or altered to suit the context depending on the nouns which are being referred to by the speakers. Table 8: Categorisation of BM Classifiers based on Shape and Specific Attributes 31
English Demonstratives and their BM Equivalents Table 9: English Demonstratives and their BM Equivalents Table 9 illustrates English demonstratives and their Bahasa Melayu equivalents: 32 No. English Demonstratives BM Demonstratives 1 This Ini 2 These 3 That Itu 4 Those
Groups of English Quantifiers and their BM Equivalents No. English Quantifiers BM Quantifiers PARTITIVES/CLASSIFIERS 1 A piece of Sekeping 2 Sehelai 3 A slice of 4 An item of 5 - Sebiji 6 - Seorang 7 - Seseorang 8 - Sebuah 9 - Sebatang 10 - Seekor Table 10: Groups of English Quantifiers and their BM Equivalents Table 10 illustrates groups of English quantifiers and their Bahasa Melayu equivalents: 33
No. English Quantifiers BM Quantifiers INDICATORS OF LARGE ENTITY 11 Hundreds of Ratusan 12 Beratus-ratus 13 Thousands of Ribuan 14 Beribu-ribu 15 Millions of Jutaan 16 Sackfuls of Berguni-guni 17 Many Banyak 18 Para 19 Ramai 20 A large number of 21 A large amount of 22 A great number of 23 A great deal of 24 The majority of 25 An abundance of 26 Plenty of 27 A lot of 28 Lots of 29 Much 30 More 31 Most 32 Numerous 33 Various Pelbagai Groups of English Quantifiers and their BM Equivalents Table 10, continued: Groups of English Quantifiers and their BM Equivalents 34
No. English Quantifiers BM Quantifiers INDICATORS OF SMALL ENTITY 34 A little Sedikit 35 A bit of 36 Less 37 Least 38 Some Sesetengah 39 Several Beberapa 40 A few 41 Fewer 42 Fewest 43 A couple of 44 A number of CARDINAL NUMBERS 45 One Satu 46 Two Dua 47 Twenty Dua puluh 48 Three hundred Tiga ratus 49 Ten thousand Sepuluh ribu 50 One million Sejuta INDICATORS OF FRACTIONS 51 Two-thirds Dua pertiga 52 Half Setengah 53 Separuh Groups of English Quantifiers and their BM Equivalents Table 10, continued: Groups of English Quantifiers and their BM Equivalents 35
No. English Quantifiers BM Quantifiers INDICATORS OF INDIVIDUAL ENTITY 54 Each Tiap-tiap 55 Every Setiap 56 Masing-masing INDICATORS OF THE WHOLE ENTITY 57 All Semua 58 Segala 59 Sekalian 60 Seluruh 61 Both Kedua-dua INDICATORS OF RANDOM ENTITY 62 Some Sesetengah 63 Any - INDICATORS OF OPTIONAL ENTITY 64 Either - INDICATORS OF ZERO ENTITY 65 Any - 66 Neither - 67 No - 68 Another - 69 Enough - 70 Twice - Groups of English Quantifiers and their BM Equivalents Table 10, continued: Groups of English Quantifiers and their BM Equivalents 36
English Demonstratives and their BM Equivalents:and animate and inanimate nouns English A Demonstrative and its Basic Meaning Count Non-count Singular Plural 1 This (indicating proximal singular/noncount referent) √ (e.g., This device has four gadroons and short tendrils dropping from its small handles). --- √ (e.g., There are so many products on the market at this time of year...). 2 These (indicating proximal plural referent) --- √ (e.g., Most are sent to young offenders’ institutions which are modelled more closely on adult prisons.... These institutions are set up to work specifically with young people who have holistic needs not just offending ones). ---
Basic Meaning and Use (singular/plural/non-count Bahasa Melayu (BM) Demonstrative and its Basic Meaning Animate Inanimate Human Non-Human Ini (indicating proximal singular/plural animate/inanimate noun) √ (e.g., Anak-anak tentunya ketagihan gajet. Daripada komputer, laptop, Play Station, ipod dan i-phone, jendela mereka kepada dunia jauh lebih luas...Anak-anak ini juga tidak cukup memiliki kesabaran untuk duduk dan menulis). (Children are addicted to gadgets. From the computer, laptop, Play Station, i-pod and i-phone, their window to the world is much wider...These children do not even have the patience to sit and write). √ (e.g., T. crocea dan H. hippopus berkongsi taburan populasi yang hampir sama, iaitu tertumpu di kawasan Asia Tenggara dan sekali lagi kawasan perairan Malaysia menjadi tumpuan habitat bagi kedua-dua spesies kerang gergasi ini). (T. crocea and H. hippopus share almost the same population distribution, which is concentrated in Southeast Asia and once again the Malaysian waters are the focus of habitat for these two species of giant clams). √ (e.g., Terserahlah kepada manusia yang menjadi watak utama di pentas dunia ini untuk melakonkannya). (It is up to humans who are the main characters on this world to play it). 38
English Demonstratives and their BM Equivalents:and animate and inanimate nouns English A Demonstrative and its Basic Meaning Count Non-count Singular Plural 3 That (indicating distal singular/noncount referent) √ (e.g., It therefore makes sense to review the options by which the planet secures its food supplies. Genetically-modified crops... are one of the major options. Many in the environmental movement respond to that idea with outright opposition...). --- √ (e.g., Any debate about increased production will touch on genetic modification. That debate must distinguish between the different uses...). 4 Those (indicating distal plural referent) --- √ (e.g., Our health authorities have learned a great deal since those days). ---
Basic Meaning and Use (singular/plural/non-count Bahasa Melayu (BM) Demonstrative and its Basic Meaning Animate Inanimate Human Non-Human Itu (indicating distal singular/plural animate/inanimate noun) √ (e.g., Modal insan yang cemerlang bermakna individu itu turut mahir dalam membuat keputusan, berakhlak dan bermoral tinggi, berani...). (An excellent human capital means an individual is skillful in decision making, possesses good behaviour, brave...). √ (e.g., Mohd Rizal dipercayai menghulurkan tangannya untuk berjabat tangan dengan monyet itu dalam kejadian kira-kira jam 3 petang apabila haiwan berkenaan menarik tangannya dan mengigit bahagian antara jari telunjuk dan jari ibu). (Mohd Rizal is believed to have extended his hand to shake hands with the monkey in the incident at about 3pm when the animal pulled his hand and bit the part between the index finger and thumb). √ (e.g., Sumber-sumber itu berkata, Botswana amat berminat untuk mendapatkan nasihat dan garis panduan yang lebih terperinci dari Malaysia). (The sources said, Botswana is very interested in obtaining more detailed guidance from Malaysia). 40
English Quantifiers and their BM Equivalents: and animate and inanimate nouns English A Quantifier and its Basic Meaning Count Non-count Singular Plural PARTITIVES/CLASSIFIERS 1 A piece of (A single item of uncountable noun) --- --- √ (e.g., As a piece of poetry, it seems a fairly conventional summoning of royal emblems). 2 3 A slice of (A small portion of uncountable noun) --- --- √ (e.g., You will need a slice of brown or white bread butter or cheese). 4 An item of (A type of uncountable noun) --- --- √ (e.g., The argument runs as follows – when you enjoy an item of food you search for another one like it, only accepting an alternative if you are unsuccessful).
Basic Meaning and Use (singular/plural/non-count Bahasa Melayu (BM) Quantifier and its Basic Meaning Animate Inanimate Human Non-Human PARTITIVES/CLASSIFIERS Sekeping (Classifier; singular flat 2D dimension inanimate noun) --- --- √ (e.g., Pada 1991 saya terpilih sebagai Juara Perkhidmatan Cemerlang bagi Kontinjen Pulapol dan menerima sijil serta sekeping cek bernilai RM150 daripada Ketua Polis Negara). (In 1991, I was chosen as the Champion for my excellent service for Contingent of Pulapol and I received a certificate and a piece of cheque worth RM150 from The Inspector General of Police). Sehelai (Classifier; singular thin 2D dimension inanimate noun) --- --- √ (e.g., Hanya sehelai kain rentang di depan pintu Dewan Auditorium P.Ramlee menjadi sandaran seolah-olah mahu orang di situ sahaja yang menonton). (Only a piece of banner in front of the door of the Auditorium Hall of P. Ramlee served as a sign to indicate that only the people there were allowed to watch the show). --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 42
English Quantifiers and their BM Equivalents: and animate and inanimate nouns English A Quantifier and its Basic Meaning Count Non-count Singular Plural PARTITIVES/CLASSIFIERS 5 --- --- --- --- 6 --- --- --- --- 7 --- --- --- ---