Friday September 8, 2006
Baba Malay dictionary launched
By KRISTINA TOM
WITH the increasing use of English as the lingua franca in the Peranakan community, many of the younger folk are losing touch with their roots.
A new 222-page dictionary was launched in Singapore recently in the hopes of countering this trend. A Baba Malay Dictionary is written by Peranakan writer William Gwee Thian Hock and published by Periplus, in conjunction with the Peranakan Association of Singapore.
The book explains common Baba Malay terms and their origins. Baba Malay is a mixture of Malay and Hokkien and its origins can be traced to the arrival of Chinese male immigrants to Malacca around the early 17th century.
Their inter-marriages with Malay women led not only to a new language, but also the Peranakan culture. Baba Malay, however, is a spoken language of its own, distinct from Malay.
Benua for example, is Malay for large country or continent. The same word in Baba Malay, however, means 'awed by everything'.
As Gwee explains in a pantun or Baba Malay poem, which he had written specially for the launch of the book:
Bahasa iau kin kepada bangsa
Bahasa jugak nyawa budaya.
(Vital is a language to a culture
Indeed, 'tis the culture's very soul.) – The Straits Times Singapore/ANN
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