I have previously mentioned the pairing of Malay and English words (see here). Not surprisingly, this particularly occurs in semi-technical writing, where it may be important to match a local word with its English equivalent. For example, in an article on mosquito-born diseases in the Media Permata of 8 April 2014, we find:
penghapusan filaria atau untut
eliminate filaria or untut
where untut is (presumably) the Malay equivalent of 'filaria'. In the same article, we find:
siasatan entomologi atau kaji serangga
investigation entomology or study insects
where the technical term 'entomology' is provided a Malay gloss kaji serangga.
A bit more surprising is when the same kind of pairing occurs with adjectives. So we also find:
tatacara yang paling berkesan dan efektif
method which most effective and effective
where the Malay word berkesan is paired with its English equivalent 'effective'. This seems rather more redundant. But perhaps adding an English term adds gravitas to the writing.
One more example from the same article might be added:
kerjasama orang ramai dan penglibatan semua stakeholders
cooperation people public and involvement all stakeholders
In this case, penglibatan semua stakeholders seems pretty much the same as kerjasama orang ramai. Maybe this just reflects a Malay tendency for lexical doubling, perhaps to emphasise a point.
