Malay is an agglutinative language, and new words are formed by three methods.

New words can be created by attaching affixes onto a root word (affixation), formation of a compound word (composition), or repetition of words or portions of words (reduplication). [edit]Affixes Root words are either nouns or verbs, which can be affixed to derive new words, e.g. masak (to cook) yields memasak (cooks), memasakkan (cooks for), dimasak (cooked) as well as pemasak (a cook),masakan (a meal, cookery). Many initial consonants undergo mutation when prefixes are added: e.g. sapu (sweep) becomes penyapu (broom); panggil (to call) becomes memanggil (calls/calling), tapis (to sieve) becomes menapis (sieves). Other examples of the use of affixes to change the meaning of a word can be seen with the word ajar (teach):

ajar = teach ajaran = teachings belajar = to learn mengajar = to teach diajar = being taught (intransitive) diajarkan = being taught (transitive) mempelajari = to study dipelajari = being studied pelajar = student pengajar = teacher pelajaran = subject pengajaran = lesson, moral of story pembelajaran = learning terajar = taught (accidentally) terpelajar = well-educated berpelajaran = is educated

There are four types of affixes, namely prefixes (awalan), suffixes (akhiran), circumfixes (apitan) and infixes (sisipan). These affixes are categorised into noun affixes, verb affixes, and adjective affixes. Noun affixes are affixes that form nouns upon addition to root words. The following are examples of noun affixes: Type of noun affixes Affix Example of root word Example of derived word

Prefix

p(r)- ~ png- duduk (sit)

penduduk (population)

k-

hendak (want)

kehendak (desire)

juru-

wang (money)

juruwang (cashier)

Infix

tunjuk (point)

telunjuk (index finger, command)

kelut (dishevelled)

kemelut (chaos, crisis)

gigi (teeth)

gerigi (toothed blade)

Suffix

-an

bangun (wake up, raise) bangunan (building)

Circumfix

k-...-an

raja (king)

kerajaan (kingdom)

p(r)-...-an png-...-an

kerja (work)

pekerjaan (occupation)

The prefix per- drops its r before r, l and frequently before p, t, k. In some words it is peng-; though formally distinct, these are treated as variants of the same prefix in Malay grammar books. Similarly, verb affixes are attached to root words to form verbs. In Malay, there are: Type of verb affixes Affix Example of root word Example of derived word

Prefix

br-

ajar (teach)

belajar (to study)[1]

mng-

tolong (help)

menolong (to help)

di-

ambil (take)

diambil (be taken)

mmpr-

kemas (tidy up, orderly) memperkemas (to arrange further)

dipr-

dalam (deep)

diperdalam (be deepened)

tr-

makan (eat)

termakan (to have accidentally eaten)

Suffix

-kan

letak (place, keep)

letakkan (keep)

-i

jauh (far)

jauhi (avoid)

Circumfix

br-...-an

pasang (pair)

berpasangan (in pairs)

br-...-kan

dasar (base)

berdasarkan (based on)

mng-...-kan

pasti (sure)

memastikan (to make sure)

mng-...-i

teman (company)

menemani (to accompany)

mmpr-...-kan guna (use)

mempergunakan (to utilise, to exploit)

mmpr-...-i

ajar (teach)

mempelajari (to study)

k-...-an

hilang (disappear)

kehilangan (to lose)

di-...-i

sakit (pain)

disakiti (to be hurt by)

di-...-kan

benar (right)

dibenarkan (is allowed to)

dipr-...-kan

kenal (know, recognise) diperkenalkan (is being introduced)

Adjective affixes are attached to root words to form adjectives: Type of adjective affixes Affix Example of root word Example of derived word

Prefix

tr-

kenal (know)

terkenal (famous)

s-

lari (run)

selari (parallel)

Infix

serak (disperse)

selerak (messy)

cerlang (radiant bright) cemerlang (bright, excellent)

sabut (husk)

serabut (dishevelled)

Circumfix

k-...-an barat (west)

kebaratan (westernized)

In addition to these affixes, Malay also has a lot of borrowed affixes from other languages such as Sanskrit, Arabic and English. For example maha-, pasca-, eka-, bi-, anti-, pro- etc. [edit]Compound word In Malay, new words can be formed by joining two or more root words. Compound words, when they exist freely in a sentence, are often written separately. Compound words are only attached to each other when they are bound by circumfix or when they are already considered as stable words. For example, the word kereta which means car and api which means fire, are compounded to form a new word kereta api (train). Similarly, ambil alih (take over) is formed using the root words ambil (take) andalih (move), but will link together when a circumfix is attached to it, i.e. pengambilalihan (takeover). Certain stable words, such as kakitangan (personnel), and kerjasama (cooperation), are spelled as one word even when they exist freely in sentences. [edit]Reduplication Reduplication (Kata Ganda or Kata Ulang) in the Malay language is a very productive process. It is mainly used for forming plurals, but sometimes it may alter the meaning of the whole word, or change the usage of the word in sentences. [edit]Forms There are four types of words reduplication in Malay, namely

Full reduplication (Kata Ganda Penuh (Malaysian) or Kata Ulang Utuh (Indonesian) or Dwilingga) Partial reduplication (Kata Ganda Separa (Malaysian) or Kata Ulang Sebagian (Indonesian) or Dwipurwa)

Rhythmic reduplication (Kata Ganda Berentak (Malaysian) or Kata Ulang Salin Suara (Indonesian)) Reduplication of meaning[clarification needed]

Full reduplication is the complete duplication of the word, separated by a dash (-). For example, buku (book) when duplicated form buku-buku (books), while the duplicated form of batu (stone) is batu-batu(stones). Partial reduplication repeats only the initial consonant of the word, such as dedaun (leaves) from the word daun (leaf), and tetangga (neighbor) from the word tangga (ladder). The words are usually not separated by spaces or punctuation, and is considered a single word.

Rhythmic reduplication repeats the whole word, but one or more of the its phonemes are altered. For example, the word gerak (motion) can be reduplicated rhythmically to form gerak-gerik (movements) by altering the vowel. The reduplication can also be formed by altering the consonant, e.g. in sayur-mayur (vegetables [bundled for the market]) from the root word sayur (vegetable/vegetables [what is found on plate]). [edit]Functions Reduplication is used for expression of various grammatical functions (such as verbal aspect) and it is part in a number of complex morphological models. Reduplication of nouns and pronouns can express at least three meanings:

Diversity or non-exhaustive plurality :

Burung-burung itu juga diekspor ke luar negeri = "All those birds are also exported out of the country".

Conceptual similarity :

langit-langit = "ceiling; palate; etc." < langit = "sky"; jari-jari = "spoke; bar; radius; etc." < jari = "finger" etc.

Pragmatic accentuation :

Saya bukan anak-anak lagi! "I am not a child anymore!" (anak = "child")

Reduplication of an adjective can express different things:

Adverbialisation :

Jangan bicara keras-keras! = "Don't speak loudly!" (keras = hard)

Plurality of the corresponding noun:

Rumah di sini besar-besar = "The houses here are big" (besar = "big").

Reduplication of a verb can express various things: Simple reduplication:

Pragmatic accentuation:

Kenapa orang tidak datang-datang? = "Why aren't people coming?"

Reduplication with meN- prefixation, depending on the position of the prefix meN-:

Repetition or continuation of the action:

Orang itu memukul-mukul anaknya : "That man continuously beat his child";

Reciprocity:

Kedua orang itu pukul-memukul = "Those two men would beat each other".

Notice that in the first case, the nasalisation of the initial consonant (whereby /p/ becomes /m/) is repeated, while in the second case, it only applies in the repeated word.