Compound Words of Malay and Chinese Languages in Nyonya Recipes

Abstract

This research reports on the formation of compound words of Malay and Chinese languages, food culture and tradition in Nyonya delicacies found in Malaysian cookbooks. This qualitative case study targets the word formation produced through the acculturation of two distinctive languages and culture. The types of compound words found in cookbooks are identified and analysed using “Feature Percolation Conventions” and “Argument-linking Principle” frameworks. The data are gathered from recipes published in two cookbooks of a local chef and YouTube channel videos of the same chef. The choice of using local texts, articles and YouTube videos is to enable data triangulation to achieve the reliability and validity of the data gathered. Majority of the compound words identified are Malay compound words with borrowed Hokkien words. The compound structure is also an adaptation of both Malay and Chinese linguistic structure.