2 Oktober 2011
Posted by jocelyn on Monday, October 3, 2011
Berapa orang adik-beradik?
Malaysians are very interested in families and family relationships. One of the first questions they usually ask is "How many of you siblings are there." Berapa orang adik-beradik? 'How many brothers and sisters do you have (including yourself))?' For example, if you have a sister and two brothers, the answer is Empat orang. 'There are four of us (siblings).'
When Malaysians continue to ask, it will be about the family (keluarga). They will want to know something about the order of births of you and your siblings. If they ask Berapa orang adik?, they are asking about the number of siblings younger than you. The word adik is not specified for gender, but just means 'younger brother or sister'. There is no word in Malay that means brother or sister; adik means younger brother or sister (unspecified), while abang means 'older brother' and kakak means 'older sister'. The critical point of interest is who was born first--who is younger, who is older. In fact, the Malay language has elaborate naming systems that encode the order of birth up to seven or eight siblings. We aren't studying that now, but it's worth knowing that this is a critical part of the Malay idea of family and identity.
So we have three kinship (family) terms: adik, kakak and abang.
We have also studied emak 'mother' bapa 'father' and anak 'child'. Again there is no gender specific word that means daughter or son (except in some recent loanwords not frequently used). Malays are interested in family and descent lines, not gender. So, parenthood and offspring, descent lines are of critical importance, not gender. In English it is gender that is specified, in Malay this is secondary. If you want to be explicit, you must add the words that mean 'male' (lelaki) or 'female' (perempuan). In English it is the opposite. If you want to be explicit about the order of birth, you have to specify older sister, older brother, younger sister, younger brother. The Malay language and the English language deal with similar social worlds but priorities are different.
At a higher level of relationship, the same principle is followed. We have studied nenek 'grandmother', datuk 'grandfather' and cucu 'grandchild. Again there is no marking for gender, no word grandson or granddaughter, only grandchild.
Marriage is a different kind of social relationship, not by blood descent but by social contract. We have used words like isteri 'wife', suami 'husband' and tunang fiance/fiancee. Just as in the US, there are other more colloquial words for husband and wife. And like in contemporary America, divorce in Malaysia is not uncommon, so there are many more words that are connected to divorce, former spouses and half-siblings and step-siblings. But right now let's focus on a simpler 1960's world of a nuclear family, with grandparents. We have time to learn more family (kinship) terms; uncles, aunts, cousins, second cousins, nephews, nieces, great-grandchildren, in-laws of various kinds. Later. Not all at once.
Malaysians are very interested in families and family relationships. One of the first questions they usually ask is "How many of you siblings are there." Berapa orang adik-beradik? 'How many brothers and sisters do you have (including yourself))?' For example, if you have a sister and two brothers, the answer is Empat orang. 'There are four of us (siblings).'
When Malaysians continue to ask, it will be about the family (keluarga). They will want to know something about the order of births of you and your siblings. If they ask Berapa orang adik?, they are asking about the number of siblings younger than you. The word adik is not specified for gender, but just means 'younger brother or sister'. There is no word in Malay that means brother or sister; adik means younger brother or sister (unspecified), while abang means 'older brother' and kakak means 'older sister'. The critical point of interest is who was born first--who is younger, who is older. In fact, the Malay language has elaborate naming systems that encode the order of birth up to seven or eight siblings. We aren't studying that now, but it's worth knowing that this is a critical part of the Malay idea of family and identity.
So we have three kinship (family) terms: adik, kakak and abang.
We have also studied emak 'mother' bapa 'father' and anak 'child'. Again there is no gender specific word that means daughter or son (except in some recent loanwords not frequently used). Malays are interested in family and descent lines, not gender. So, parenthood and offspring, descent lines are of critical importance, not gender. In English it is gender that is specified, in Malay this is secondary. If you want to be explicit, you must add the words that mean 'male' (lelaki) or 'female' (perempuan). In English it is the opposite. If you want to be explicit about the order of birth, you have to specify older sister, older brother, younger sister, younger brother. The Malay language and the English language deal with similar social worlds but priorities are different.
At a higher level of relationship, the same principle is followed. We have studied nenek 'grandmother', datuk 'grandfather' and cucu 'grandchild. Again there is no marking for gender, no word grandson or granddaughter, only grandchild.
Marriage is a different kind of social relationship, not by blood descent but by social contract. We have used words like isteri 'wife', suami 'husband' and tunang fiance/fiancee. Just as in the US, there are other more colloquial words for husband and wife. And like in contemporary America, divorce in Malaysia is not uncommon, so there are many more words that are connected to divorce, former spouses and half-siblings and step-siblings. But right now let's focus on a simpler 1960's world of a nuclear family, with grandparents. We have time to learn more family (kinship) terms; uncles, aunts, cousins, second cousins, nephews, nieces, great-grandchildren, in-laws of various kinds. Later. Not all at once.