Izah Azahari
The Language and Literature Bureau (DBP) continued the International Malay Language, Literature and Culture Congress Series (KABSBM) held in conjunction with Language Month via Facebook Live and Zoom application yesterday.
The 16th presentation series was a keynote paper by senior lecturer of Faculty of Modern Language and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia Datin Dr Hasnah binti Mohamad, delivered by her representative Muhammad Nasri bin Rifin.
The congress was chaired by DBP Language Officer Raieham bin Mohd Salleh.
The presentation titled ‘Cultural aspects in the common name of birds in Malaysia’, discussed the identification of common names used in referring to or describing an organism based on the common language used in daily life for a group of people.
For example, takur kukup is commonly used to refer to and describe a type of a bird, a species that inhabits the lowlands and produces the sound ‘ku-kup-ku-kup’.
The local community created the name by taking into account the culture and knowledge of the community, which greatly influences the construction and selection of the common name of an organism found in the community environment.
A total of 161 common names of Malay language birds were obtained from the pictorial Guidebook for Birds in the Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve, Selangor.
The formation of the common name of a bird largely utilises Malay as the source language, whether found in the Malay world, dialects, classical or cognate languages. Only a small fraction of the words is absorbed from other languages.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Major General (Rtd) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin attended the congress, joined by DBP Acting Director Suip bin Haji Wahab; local and international presenters, DBP strategic partners, senior government officers, as well as local and international language, literature and culture enthusiasts.
KABSBM is supported by Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Universiti Islam Sultan Sharif Ali, Religious Teachers University College of Seri Begawan, Brunei Youth Council, Asterawani and Putra Seni Group.
The congress will see three keynote and 20 accompanying papers delivered on Mondays and Wednesdays until June 22.
