Page:Malay-English vocabulary.djvu/9

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suggestion of Dr. Luering, and my thanks are due to him for the valuable assistance which he has rendered me by reading and criticising the manuscript previous to publication.

W. G. SHELLABEAR.

Singapore, July, 1902.

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PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

The demand for a new edition of this vocabulary has enabled me to correct a few errors which crept into the first edition, and to add a number of words which, though not in frequent use, are liable to be met with by the student.

An attempt has also been made in this edition to indicate words- which are peculiar to the Malay spoken by the "Babas," or Straits-born Chinese, and some of their differences of pronunciation. The difference between Baba Malay, and the language as it is spoken by the Malays themselves, consists, however, not merely in such variations as can be shown in a vocabulary. There is a radical difference in the structure of the sentences. For the most part the same words are used, but the idiom is different, and would require a more thorough elucidation than could be given in the introduction to a vocabulary. It is hoped, however, that the Baba Malay words here given, marked (B.), will help to explain some of the peculiarities of pronunciation met with in the Settlements, where Chinese influence predominates.

W. G. S.

Singapore, July, 1912.