MALAY AND ENGLISH 



SPELLING. 



[A recent Circular Despatch of L^rd Carnarvon directed at- 

 tention to the want of uniformity in the spelling of Native 

 names. A Committee was appointed to consider the subject, 

 and the report they presented discussed very fully the difficulties 

 surrounding" the question, and proposed a complete system of 

 spelling Malay words in English. It is most desirable that in 

 all information contributed to our Society, the names should be 

 spelt on some uniform system, and as that recommended by the 

 Committee is now adopted by the Government in the Gazette, 

 the Council Papers, the Government Maps fyc, it is reprinted in 

 the first number of our Journal for easy reference. 



Hitherto the practise in the Straits has resembled that des- 

 cribed by the famous traveller Dampier 200 years ago, who ex- 

 plained in his Preface " I have not been curious as to the 

 " spelling of the names of Places, Plants, Fruits, Animals &c. 

 " which in any of these remoter parts are given at the pleasure 

 " of Travellers, and vary according to their different Humours/''] 



EEPORT OF THE "SPELLING" COMMITTEE. 



1. The Committee appointed to consider the subject of the 

 correct spelling of Native Proper Names are of opinion that they 

 cannot deal with the subject completely or satisfactorily, unless 

 they take into consideration the whole question of writing the 

 languages spoken in these Settlements in the Roman characters. 

 These languages are practically two, viz., Chinese and Malay. 

 Of these, Malay is the most important ; first, because it is the 

 common medium of communication between all the different 

 races ; secondly, because the names of places throughout the 

 Settlements are Malay; and thirdly, because in the course of 

 political events, Malay names of persons are likely to occur in 

 public documents in far larger numbers than Chinese names. 



2. The task of correctly rendering Chinese names, and other 

 words, in the Roman character is an impossible one. Chinese, 

 as it is well known, is not an alphabetical language, and conse- 

 quently there is no question of rinding equivalents in the Roman 

 alphabet for Chinese letters. All that can be done, therefore, is 



