Dari Bowrey ke Bowen: Evolusi Legasi Linguistik Antropologi di Kepulauan Melayu (From Bowrey to Bowen: The Legacy Evolution of Linguistic Anthropology in the Malay Archipelago)

Abstract

Abstrak: Keperluan menguasai bahasa Melayu pada abad ke-17 tercetus atas pelbagai dorongan, terutamanya untuk melancarkan urusan perniagaan, perdagangan, pentadbiran dan penyebaran agama. Kepentingan bahasa Melayu pada zaman tersebut mendorong orang Eropah mengambil inisiatif menyusun pelbagai karya seperti daftar kata, buku perbualan, teks-teks agama, dan kamus untuk kegunaan rakan senegara. Thomas Bowrey (TB), seorang pedagang British yang belayar di Kepulauan Melayu pada abad ke-17, menyusun kamus Inggeris-Melayu pertama yang diterbitkan pada tahun 1701. Walau bagaimanapun, karya-karya Bowrey yang lain, yang juga mengandungi maklumat berharga mengenai bahasa dan bangsa Melayu, kurang mendapat perhatian. Justeru, makalah ini membincangkan sumbangan Bowrey terhadap bahasa dan bangsa Melayu pada abad ke-17 berdasarkan karya-karyanya yang kurang dikenali. Data kajian diambil dari sepuluh dialog yang terdapat pada bahagian akhir kamusnya dan dibandingkan dengan maklumat dalam manuskrip Mss Eur D782. Kajian kualitatif ini menggunakan pendekatan analisis kandungan dan berpandukan pendekatan iklim idea (climate of opinion) untuk menganalisis faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi tercetusnya idea penyusunan karya-karya Bowrey. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa usaha Bowrey menyusun pelbagai karya dipengaruhi oleh suasana perdagangan, dorongan dari pemerintah Inggeris, serta keadaan politik di Alam Melayu pada ketika itu. Makalah ini menegaskan kepentingan merujuk pelbagai sumber untuk memahami weltanschauung penyusun, terutamanya bagi karya-karya yang berkaitan dengan bahasa dan bangsa Melayu.

Abstract: The need to master the Malay language in the 17th century arose from various motivations, primarily to facilitate business, trade, administration, and religious propagation. The importance of Malay during this era prompted Europeans to take the initiative in compiling various works such as word lists, conversation books, religious texts, and dictionaries for the use of their countrymen. Thomas Bowrey (TB), a British merchant who sailed in the Malay Archipelago in the 17th century, compiled the first English-Malay dictionary published in 1701. However, Bowrey's other works, which also contain valuable information about the Malay language and people, have received less attention. This paper discusses Bowrey's contributions to the Malay language and people in the 17th century based on his lesser-known works. The research data is drawn from ten dialogues found at the end of his dictionary and compared with information in the manuscript Mss Eur D782. This qualitative study employs a content analysis approach guided by Koerner's climate of opinion framework to analyze the factors influencing the genesis of Bowrey's works. The findings indicate that Bowrey's efforts in compiling various works were influenced by the trading environment, encouragement from the English government, and the political conditions in the Malay world at that time. This paper emphasizes the importance of referring to various sources to understand the weltanschauung of the compiler, especially for works related to the Malay language and people.

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