Orthographic Reforms of Standard Malay Online: Towards Better Pronunciation and Construction of a Cross-language Environment
The widespread use of communication tools on the Internet has provided greater possibilities as well as increased flexibility for orthographic reforms. As a result, spellings have been established that are closely matched to ‘written speech’, which emulate verbal expression plus the elegant...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2007
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://eprints.utm.my/3447/ http://eprints.utm.my/3447/1/No%5B1%5D.12-March2007.pdf |
| Summary: | The widespread use of communication tools on the Internet has
provided greater possibilities as well as increased flexibility for
orthographic reforms. As a result, spellings have been established
that are closely matched to ‘written speech’, which emulate verbal
expression plus the elegant addition of letters from foreign
languages. This study will look in particular at Evolutionized Malay
(EM), which is cultivated on the Internet. Our analysis of EM
reveals two principal functions: 1) EM words performed better in displaying pronunciation properties and 2) EM words are able to
form an environment we termed as Cross Language Environment
(CLE). It may be that these roles hold a greater degree of attraction
and motivates toward higher interaction within a cyberspace
community. Surveys on the frequency of the occurrence of EM in
the cyberspace of Malaysia are shown based on web forums and
blogs pages. It is fascinating to see that EM has quite a substantial
number of users throughout Malaysian cyberspace. |
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