This headline, from the Media Permata of 19 February, 2016, p.1, caught me out:
'Child dies in Fire'
When I read it, I assumed that kanak-kanak referred to the plural, as is usual in Malay reduplications: rumah-rumah 'houses'; orang-orang 'people'; barang-barang 'things'. But the article seems to indicate that there was only one child involved.
In fact, apparently, the singular kanak does not exist, so kanak-kanak can refer to a singular 'child'.
While reduplication in Malay does not always indicate the plural (e.g. membeli-belah 'go shopping'), in general there is some change with either the consonant or the vowel in the second word; kanak-kanak is the only non-plural reduplication of a noun with no such change that I have come across.
