Grammar 3: Penjodoh bilangan melanau I (Melanau Classifier I) Pt 1-2

One difference is that the melanau classifier can be used for anaphoric reference but in malay it is not possible. Anaphoric reference is simply a word that represent another word.

Photo by: ginnerobot

A classifier ( Penjodoh bilangan) is a measure of word. A measure of word is also called counters, counter words or counting words. In english their use is analogous to words that represents units or portions of mass nouns.
eg:
one drop of milk
two sheets of papers.

The way a classifier used in melanau and malay is almost similar. The standard structure is:

Quantity + Classifier + Noun

Melanau classifers are:

Classifier	Meaning	Usage	example
apah	body Orang/ekor	For people and animal	japah sapék (one cow) telou apah tenawan(3 persons)
lawaih	person orang	for people	jelawaih sakai (one friend) pat lawaih sakai (4 friends)
alak	seed biji/buah	object, fruits, grains, words, sentences	jalak teloh (1 egg) dua alak telabau (2 words/ sentences)
aled	wedge baji	for wedge-shape object	jaled baweng apuk ( one wedge of garlic) pat aled dian (4 wedges of Durian)
usah	shaft batang	for shaft-like object	jusah kayou (one woodstick) pat usah telagai (4 coconut leave sticks)
bék	blade bilah	for blade,flatten objects	jebék ujik (one knife) 4 bék kapék ( 4 axes)
kap	sheets helai	for thin, flat objects,leaves	jekap kertéh (1 sheet paper) 2 kap asok (2 plywoods)
belah	sheets helai	article of clothing like shirts, shorts	jebelah bajou (1 shirt) 2 belah seluah (2 trousers)
patak	cuts potong	for slices	jepatak siau (a slice of chicken) 2 patak jekan( 2 slices of fish)
awak	no eqiuvalent translation	general purpose classifier*	jawak sapou (a (*) of broom) 2 awak sapou( 2 (*) of brooms)

When telling about quantity in melanau, a classifier must be used. One cannot say:
telou mija- three tables

instead one must say:
telou alak mija- three (seed) of table.

For singular noun we use the prefix je- (number one ja). If je+ a vowel the "e" will be droped. For example:

je+ alak = jalak

je+aled= jaled

je+apah= japah

je+usah= jusah

je+awak= jawak

One difference is that the melanau classifier can be used for anaphoric reference but in malay it is not possible. Anaphoric reference is simply a word that represent another word.

Example:
Man can be represented with he
Women can be represented with she
All members can be represented with they

In malay if we use classfier as anaphoric reference, the sentence is incomplete!

Example:
Saya ada tiga helai kertas. Tiga helai milik saya. Here Tiga helai is used to refer tiga helai kertas and it sounds incomplete (Malay: tergantung) because the listener may be intrigued to ask:

"tiga helai apa ?"-three sheets of what?

The correct sentence should be:
Saya ada tiga helai kertas. Tiga helai kertas itu milik saya.

Or even better:
Saya ada tiga helai kertas. Ketiga-tiga helai kertas itu milik saya.

See how we need to add the noun kertas(paper) to complete the sentence. The classifier helai alone just cannot stand on its own in the sentence. It needs a noun to supports it.

In melanau such sentence is possible:
the same sentence in melanau

Akou bei telou kap kertéh. Telou kap yen akou bei*.

here the classfier kap (sheets, helai) can stand alone without the need to repeat the word kertéh (paper, kertas)

* Some melanau use the malay word: Punya or Sarawak dialect empun. The correct term is bei because bei have 2 meanings ie. to have, to posses. (Malay: ada, punya)
This is same for the question: sai bei itou?- ( Milik siapa ini?, Sapa empun tok?, Whose this belongs to?)

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Written by Learn Melanau

Learn Melanau by Nativeglot.com provides insider information about melanau unique cultures and language