Che Lah, Salasiah
(2016)
Analysing Language Use In Malay Performances Of Main Puteri And Menora.
In:
4th International Conference on Liberal Arts and Social Sciences 2016 (ICOLASS’16).
Universiti Sains Malaysia, p. 25.
Abstract
Every society is characterised by a particular culture which is distinguished by different rituals.
Language plays an important role in performing traditional rituals. In performance of rituals, language is
the least researched area whereby many theories of rituals did not account for the functions of
language. Language use does matter in a ritual where it is a vehicle of the intangible cultural heritage
that transmits a rich oral traditions and expressions. Language is also a tool that is used by the
performers and practitioners to transfer their knowledge and expertise to the community. This paper will
explore the language use in Malay ritual performances of healing where the poetic interweaving
speech, song and music will be analysed. A linguistic analysis will be carried out in order to understand
the rich semantic and meaningful dimension of the verbal performances and narratives in the Malay
performances. Two performances namely Main Puteri and Menora were chosen as these two
performances place the emphasis on speech and sound. Preliminary findings reveal that the
performances involve a range of poetic devices, operating a linguistic but also a non-linguistic level.
With poetic language, a special vocabulary rarely used in other context is utilised. However, it is not
speech alone but also the poetic of the music that is involved here. In particular, it is the musical
instruments such as rebab that contributes to the performative construction of the sacredness of the
event and leads to the social healing of the afflicted person. It is hoped that the findings have
contributed to a better understanding of the Malay performances and rituals that demonstrate the
creativity of local culture through the preservation of the local language use.
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