Malay Concordance Project

The Malay Concordance Project (MCP) utilizes computer technology to create a rich concordance of classical Malay literature, with the aim of helping scholars share resources for the study of this literature. The centrepiece of this project is a growing corpus of classical Malay texts, comprising (as of the year 2012) 165 texts and 5.8 million words, including 140,000 verses. These texts can be searched on-line to provide useful information about: *contexts in which words are used. *where particular terms or names occur in texts. *patterns of morphology and syntax. In the space of a single year the MCP collection was consulted by scholars from more than 30 countries world-wide, who made over 20,000 searches. The MCP allows users to search material from classical and pre-modern Malay to vernacular newspaper texts. Until the early twentieth century, a scholarly edition of a classical Malay text might use the Jawi script, which was adapted from Arabic. But during the twentieth century, in Indonesia and Malaysia, Arabic script has been largely displaced by Roman spelling. Modern editions of classical Malay texts are now published in Roman script, both to make the text accessible to modern readers, and because the Roman spellings are complete phonemically. The MCP therefore includes texts based on Roman transcriptions of manuscript material. The texts are listed both alphabetically and chronologically. Researchers may search individual texts, categories of texts or the entire collection for words and phrases. The MCP website also includes a range of essays and links relevant to the study of classical Malay. The project may be useful to those interested in Malay studies (including literature, history and culture) and linguisitics.
Type
Activity
Activity Type
Project
Access Privileges
The Australian National University Library
Title
Malay Concordance Project
Abbreviated Title
MCP
Funding Body
The Australian National University
Brief Description
The project aims to help scholars share resources for the study of classical Malay literature. In the space of a single year it was consulted by scholars from more than 30 countries world-wide, who made over 20,000 searches.
Full Description
The Malay Concordance Project (MCP) utilizes computer technology to create a rich concordance of classical Malay literature, with the aim of helping scholars share resources for the study of this literature. The centrepiece of this project is a growing corpus of classical Malay texts, comprising (as of the year 2012) 165 texts and 5.8 million words, including 140,000 verses. These texts can be searched on-line to provide useful information about: *contexts in which words are used. *where particular terms or names occur in texts. *patterns of morphology and syntax. In the space of a single year the MCP collection was consulted by scholars from more than 30 countries world-wide, who made over 20,000 searches. The MCP allows users to search material from classical and pre-modern Malay to vernacular newspaper texts. Until the early twentieth century, a scholarly edition of a classical Malay text might use the Jawi script, which was adapted from Arabic. But during the twentieth century, in Indonesia and Malaysia, Arabic script has been largely displaced by Roman spelling. Modern editions of classical Malay texts are now published in Roman script, both to make the text accessible to modern readers, and because the Roman spellings are complete phonemically. The MCP therefore includes texts based on Roman transcriptions of manuscript material. The texts are listed both alphabetically and chronologically. Researchers may search individual texts, categories of texts or the entire collection for words and phrases. The MCP website also includes a range of essays and links relevant to the study of classical Malay. The project may be useful to those interested in Malay studies (including literature, history and culture) and linguisitics.
Contact Email
ea.chl@anu.edu.au
Contact Address
School of Culture, History & Language ANU College of Asia & the Pacific
Contact Phone Number
+61 2 6125 6364
Website Address
http://mcp.anu.edu.au
Fields of Research
200313 - Indonesian Languages; 200314 - South-East Asian Languages (excl. Indonesian)
Socio-Economic Objective
970120 - Expanding Knowledge in Language, Communication and Culture
Keywords
Asian literature; Asian studies; Classical Malay; concordance; hikayat; language studies; Malay; Malay history; Malay language; Malay literature; Malay morphology; Malay syntax; Malay text; syair
Type of Research Activity
Pure basic research
Publications
http://mcp.anu.edu.au/papers/CCM.html#Introduction
Ian Proudfoot, 1991. 'Concordances and Classical Malay.' Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde vol. 147, pp.74-95.
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Related Websites
ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au
Contributers to the collection
http://mcp.anu.edu.au/Q/contribs.html
Article on Dr Ian Proudfoot and the MCP
http://www.ukm.edu.my/news/index.php/en/component/content/article/66-current-research-news/1205-researchers-of-old-malay-manuscripts-helped-by-the-work-of-an-aussie-academic-.html
Status: Published
Published to:
  • Australian National Data Service
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