Abstract
It has long been claimed in previous studies that Malay is a disyllabic language, i.e. words in Malay must have at least two syllables. This paper however disputes the claim since there are words in the language that do not meet the minimum size of words requirement. Focusing on the truncation of personal names in Malay, this paper shows that the word minimality of the language is violated by monosyllabic truncation, also one of the patterns, as well by disyllabic truncation. Given the insight of the Morpheme-Based Template (MBT), truncation in Malay should satisfy the constraint called BASE ≠ TRUNC, which requires that truncated forms not be identical with the bases. As this constraint is ranked high, then monosyllabic truncations emerge, particularly when the Bases are disyllabic.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 88-95 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Language and Literature |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |
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Keywords
- Malay
- Optimality theory
- Prosodic morphology
- Truncation
- Word minimality condition
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Language and Linguistics
- Linguistics and Language
- Literature and Literary Theory
Cite this
The violation of word minimality : Evidence from Malay personal names truncation. / Syed Jaafar, Sharifah Raihan.
In: Journal of Language and Literature, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2014, p. 88-95.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The violation of word minimality
T2 - Evidence from Malay personal names truncation
AU - Syed Jaafar, Sharifah Raihan
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - It has long been claimed in previous studies that Malay is a disyllabic language, i.e. words in Malay must have at least two syllables. This paper however disputes the claim since there are words in the language that do not meet the minimum size of words requirement. Focusing on the truncation of personal names in Malay, this paper shows that the word minimality of the language is violated by monosyllabic truncation, also one of the patterns, as well by disyllabic truncation. Given the insight of the Morpheme-Based Template (MBT), truncation in Malay should satisfy the constraint called BASE ≠ TRUNC, which requires that truncated forms not be identical with the bases. As this constraint is ranked high, then monosyllabic truncations emerge, particularly when the Bases are disyllabic.
AB - It has long been claimed in previous studies that Malay is a disyllabic language, i.e. words in Malay must have at least two syllables. This paper however disputes the claim since there are words in the language that do not meet the minimum size of words requirement. Focusing on the truncation of personal names in Malay, this paper shows that the word minimality of the language is violated by monosyllabic truncation, also one of the patterns, as well by disyllabic truncation. Given the insight of the Morpheme-Based Template (MBT), truncation in Malay should satisfy the constraint called BASE ≠ TRUNC, which requires that truncated forms not be identical with the bases. As this constraint is ranked high, then monosyllabic truncations emerge, particularly when the Bases are disyllabic.
KW - Malay
KW - Optimality theory
KW - Prosodic morphology
KW - Truncation
KW - Word minimality condition
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85006323740&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.7813/jll.2014/5-2/13
DO - 10.7813/jll.2014/5-2/13
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85006323740
VL - 5
SP - 88
EP - 95
JO - Journal of Language and Literature
JF - Journal of Language and Literature
SN - 2078-0303
IS - 2
ER -