The effects of this phenomena

It is a common thing for a language to borrow words from other languages. This behavior is called ‘lexical borrowing’. Lexical borrowing happens when a language borrows the words from other languages and blended in all the vocabulary that have been borrowed with the words from that particular language. In order to explain more on the topic, we will use the example of Malay language borrowing the words from English language. Nowadays, we can see that the Malay people are using too many lexical borrowing words or loan words both in writing or speaking. As a result from lexical borrowing, we have the words like ‘kolaborasi’, ‘diskusi’, and ‘informasi’ in Malay which were taken from the English words; ‘collaboration’, ‘discussion’, and ‘information’.

It may not be the concern for the Malaysian people when it comes to the issue of Malay language borrowing the vocabulary from English because they can understand and converse well in both languages. For them, as long as they can express their opinions and convey their messages and people can understand them, it is good enough for them. However, we need to see this situation from a bigger picture. Although it is not the people that will be affected, the problem will be faced by the Malay language itself. The language will eventually be polluted with too many lexical borrowing words thus will lose it’s cultural and value as this issue has become the topic of discussion on National TV in July 1998.

(1)Loss of A Language’s Authenticity

Firstly, lexical borrowing should be stopped because a language will lose its authenticity. How can a language lost its authenticity caused by lexical borrowing? Rationally, when we are taking in too many words from other languages, our language will lose its authenticity because we are making those words that we borrowed from other language as if they are the words from our language. Furthermore, we tend to use the lexical borrowing words more than the words that have already existed in the language that has borrowed the words. For instance, in the case of Malay language borrowing the words from the English language, we substitute the word ‘belanjawan’ which is the Malay word for ‘budget’, an English word.

Secondly, when other non-Malay speakers hear that Malay language is adopting the word and using it frequently, they will not acknowledge the word such as ‘budget’ as a word from Malay language. This is because they know that the word ‘budget’ is actually an English word. At this point, the non-Malay speakers will not know that ‘belanjawan’, the word in Malay which has the same meaning as ‘budget’ in English has existed in the Malay language. This situation will affect and weaken the authenticity of the language because people will not know the original words or the exact words in Malay language. People will no longer recognize Malay language’s vocabulary as they only heard the Malay speakers using the lexical borrowing words.

Furthermore, people will think that Malay language is a language that is poor with vocabulary and that is the answer for the attitude of lexical borrowing. People will look at the Malay language as a weak language and only borrowing the words from other languages in order to survive. However, this is not true because most of words that have been substituted for the lexical borrowing words have already existed in the Malay language as been mentioned before.

On the whole, adopting the attitude of lexical borrowing will slowly deteriorate the authenticity of the Malay language. In the end, there will be no more attention given in preserving the authenticity of Malay language and thus will result the language to lose its quality. Thus, we must use the words originated from the Malay language based on its true form and meaning in order to maintain the authenticity of the language.

(2) Loss of A Language’s Dignity

The second reason why lexical borrowing should be put to a stop is because it will contribute to the lost of a language’s dignity. A language’s dignity lies on how people use and treat the language. This includes on how the words in the language are being used by the people. It is also implying how the people respect the language. If people are no longer using the language in a way that represents the language authenticity, personality and dignity, the language will be void without any distinction on its originality.

Moreover, lexical borrowing will slowly lead the speaker of the language not to give any attention or being productive and protective towards the language. People will no longer acknowledge and appreciate the language. The more words that being loan into a particular language, it will subtly deteriorate the dignity of the language. This is because the original words of the language are no longer being used. Moreover, if this happen for a long time, people will forget the aesthetic aspects of the language which is the beauty of the language. For example, people will forget the proverbs, which actually represents the identity of the language.

Furthermore, there will be no attempt in enhancing the language. This is because people will think that there is no need to enhance the language as they will think that lexical borrowing is actually a way in enhancing the language which is not true because lexical borrowing means we are only borrowing the words from other languages and using it is our language. Technically, we are not enhancing or improving our language.
In addition, lexical borrowing will deteriorate a language’s dignity in a sense that it will put the culture and dignity of a language at stick. People will no longer be capable to preserve the language’s uniqueness. For example, all the people around the world know that ‘baju kebaya’ is unique cultural attire for the Malay women. The ‘baju kebaya’ is to be worn with sarong. But try to imagine, if we wear the top of ‘baju kebaya’ with a pair of jeans? Do you think that the attire will still be called ‘baju kebaya’? Do you think that the combination of the two attires will still represent the pride of Malay attire that is called ‘baju kebaya’? Rationally, of course the answer will be no. By wearing the ‘baju kebaya’ with jeans, it has polluted the identity of the attire. It will no longer represent the Malays traditional attire and people will pay more attention to create the new fashion with the combination of the two attires. Moreover, this fashion fusion will be given a new name by the people and people will forget about the original “baju kebaya” that has been worn by the Malay ancestors for hundred years.

Same goes with the language fusion caused by lexical borrowing. When people are getting comfortable with lexical borrowing, people will forget about the aesthetical aspect of the language thus putting the language’s dignity into a dangerous state. People will ignore and forget on what ground the language has been invented, that is to represent the people’s identity and dignity. The native speaker and the language are strongly bond and entwine together and cannot be separated. Therefore, it is the native speaker of the language’s responsibility to preserve the dignity of the language as no one else can.

Positive effects of lexical borrowing.

There are some notions saying that lexical borrowing is necessary in order to make the words from two languages to have the same degree of meaning so that people will understand the meaning precisely when used in both languages. In addition, lexical borrowing will expand the vocabulary of the speaker of Malay language. By having the freedom to use both words, it shows that the speakers have the variety of vocabulary in the language. However, certain words that have been borrowed from English is not appropriate to be applied in Malay language. A conversation with our Communication lecturer lately enlightened us that English word that end with “–ion”, for example, “information” should not be transferred to “informasi” and “collection” should not be as “koleksi” as the ending of the word is not the same. In contrast, words that end with “–cy” logically can be used in Malay such as in the word “democracy” in “demokrasi”.
Lexical borrowing can also be used in certain cases where specific and exact meanings are required. For example, the word “tawakal” was taken from Arabic language, in Malay, we usually use the word “berserah” in substituting the word “tawakal”. This is because the degree of meaning for both words in achieving the precise concept or meaning of the sentence is different. The word “tawakal” is stronger and more precise in achieving the meaning of the sentence compared to the word “berserah”. Therefore, this type of word borrowing is acceptable because it contributes to the exact context and situation.