摘要
This is a synchronic study of Baba Malay (BM) which is a unique language spoken by Baba Chinese in Malacca and Singapore. The major concerns of this study are: (1) the linguistic investigation of four aspects of Baba Malay: phonology, morphology, lexicon and syntactic structures and (2) BM’s underlying links to Hokkien as a substrate effect in pidgin and creole. Our research is based on the fieldwork in Singapore and Malacca and some related literatures, such as plays, dictionaries and the BM Bible. The specialty of BM is that it looks like a mixture of English, Malay and Hokkien. However, it is too simplistic to see it just as a mixture. In fact, through the phonological, morphological and lexical comparison, Baba Malay is not that different from other Malay dialects. However, in BM’s phonological system, the lack of some phonemes, such as fricative and rhotic, and the disyllabic constraint display the phonological properties of Hokkien. Besides, its morphological properties, such as the omission of affixation and the derivational morphological progress, also resemble its Hokkien counterparts. The numerous Hokkien loanwords especially in BM’s addressing system and culture terms, reveals the special relation between Hokkien and Baba Malay, too. As to its syntactic structure, BM’s give verb, kasi, shows the six special usages which parallel its Hookien counterpart, hoo7. These obvious similarities link Baba Malay to Hokkien. Hence, we suppose that Baba Malay should be considered as a creole with Hokkien substrata, not a distinct Malay dialect. Through this study, we can see that the prosperous trading history between China and Malaysia brings not only the unique Baba culture but also the flowery language, Baba Malay.
並列摘要
Baba Malay 是一種通行於星馬地區土生華人間的語言。這些土生華人的祖 先於十五世紀時(約相當於鄭和下西洋1408~1436 期間) ，由閩南一帶出發，隨 季風而下來到麻六甲地區。由於當時朝廷明令婦女不得離開國境，因此當時多半 都是青年男子隻身前往。他們在當地住下來後就和在地的南島語系的馬來人通婚， 其後代子孫男的稱作Baba；女的則稱作nyonya。當時為了溝通的需要，而發展 出這種閩南與馬來的混合語。 Baba Malay 最早起源於麻六甲一帶，其語言在詞彙上雖以馬來語為主，但 在一些文化詞(例如：婚喪習俗用語)、家務處理、房屋設備、親屬關係…等，皆 與閩南文化有著密不可分的關連。在語法上也承襲了閩南語法的特點：不但減省 了馬來語中繁雜的詞綴，在句型上也反映出閩南語的底層效應。正如土生華人的 起源一般，在語言上，Baba Malay 也展現了兩種文化交流下，密不可分的特殊 性。 本次研究主要是以蒐集Baba Malay 基本詞彙與給予動詞kasi相關句型為主。 在詞彙蒐集的部分，將針對文化詞彙、音韻系統進行調查。句型蒐集的部分，將 以針對台灣閩南語給予動詞hoo7 的六種特殊用法進行調查，藉以探討Baba Malay 中是否存有類似的結構。期望藉由音韻、構詞與句法三方面來探討Baba Malay 中所存有的閩南底層效應。