Classical Malay

The paper reports on a basic classification based on formal and morphological similarities of large vernacular buildings across the Malay region, based on their frontages; with the aim of developing a universal regional language and set of rules of local architecture for urban and multi-storeys typologies. Generally, seen as idiosyncratic and individualistic, Malay regional palaces and mansions across different states and regions under former Sultanates, exhibit different vocabularies, yet have underlying similarities. While form and architecture may arise from the local technology and construction methods of the era, aesthetic expressions of these palaces recall formal archetypes which can be described, and characterised, regardless of location. Focusing on palaces in Malaysia and East Sumatran region from the late 1800s onwards, recurring forms of a Malay-Classical language are observed and classified into generic morphologies of frontages. The aim is towards formal taxonomy that ...

The paper reports on a basic classification based on formal and morphological similarities of large vernacular buildings across the Malay region, based on their frontages; with the aim of developing a universal regional language and set of rules of local architecture for urban and multi-storeys typologies. Generally, seen as idiosyncratic and individualistic, Malay regional palaces and mansions across different states and regions under former Sultanates, exhibit different vocabularies, yet have underlying similarities. While form and architecture may arise from the local technology and construction methods of the era, aesthetic expressions of these palaces recall formal archetypes which can be described, and characterised, regardless of location. Focusing on palaces in Malaysia and East Sumatran region from the late 1800s onwards, recurring forms of a Malay-Classical language are observed and classified into generic morphologies of frontages. The aim is towards formal taxonomy that ...

The paper reports on a basic classification based on formal and morphological similarities of large vernacular buildings across the Malay region, based on their frontages; with the aim of developing a universal regional language and set of rules of local architecture for urban and multi-storeys typologies. Generally, seen as idiosyncratic and individualistic, Malay regional palaces and mansions across different states and regions under former Sultanates, exhibit different vocabularies, yet have underlying similarities. While form and architecture may arise from the local technology and construction methods of the era, aesthetic expressions of these palaces recall formal archetypes which can be described, and characterised, regardless of location. Focusing on palaces in Malaysia and East Sumatran region from the late 1800s onwards, recurring forms of a Malay-Classical language are observed and classified into generic morphologies of frontages. The aim is towards formal taxonomy that ...

South East Asian architecture identity in urban centres has been generally focused on either timber vernacular identity or large masonry building. The local agenda is increasingly crucial amidst the importance of tourism and city-branding which necessitate the enculturation of urbanism within an overall resistance to extensive globalisation. Traditional public typologies such as palaces and mosques in Asia hold the promise of resources that can add place-branding and identity to towns and cities, while at the same time a high resource for new forms and patterns. Through an extensive morphological and evolutionary mapping of such typologies, the aim is to develop a classification that can define stylistic categories and aesthetic predispositions, such that these classifications can be used to manage, market and enhance such historical narrative of towns and contribute to identity-making in the urban-scape. Throughout the Asian region, particularly in nations previously under Colonisa...

This thesis examines the copulas ialah and adalah in Malay on different levels of linguistic analysis, in different periods in time, and against different genetically related languages. Addressing the scarcity of research on copular clauses in Malay in all three areas, namely synchrony, diachrony, and typology, this thesis aims to serve as a point of reference for future study on nonverbal predication in Malay and beyond. The synchronic portion of the thesis begins with a demonstration of the monomorphemic nature of the two copulas, which no longer exhibit the morphosyntax, semantics, and information structure of the morphemes that they appear to comprise, viz. 3rd person ia, existential verb ada, and focus marker lah. Following that, several syntactic and semantic phenomena, including extraction from copular clauses, copular inversion, and overt vs. zero encoding of the copula, are investigated. Lastly, the derivation of clefts in Malay is examined, which I reveal to be a type of copular construction despite the absence of an overt copula. I then show that the derivation of a cleft feeds the further derivation of a pseudocleft via remnant movement. In the history of Malay, ialah and adalah are shown to have emerged relatively recently, that is towards the end of the Classical Malay era, circa the 18th to 19th century. Ialah grammaticalised from the combination of 3rd person pronoun ia and comment marker lah in a topical construction that involved left dislocation. Specifically, the topic was reanalysed as the canonical subject, which subsequently forced the resumptive pronoun to undergo Spec-to-Head reanalysis, resulting in ialah grammaticalising into a copula heading TP. Meanwhile, adalah grammaticalised from semantically vacuous support auxiliary ada, also in combination with comment marker lah. Both copulas originally developed from the need to provide a host for the comment marker as a way of avoiding a violation of the stray affix filter.   The typological survey of copular clauses in Austronesian reveals that syntactic alignment and word order play a central role in the emergence of copulas in a language. Of the 40 languages examined, all the 19 languages that have overt copulas are accusatively aligned, except the ergatively aligned Formosan language Puyuma, which entails that ergative-absolutive and split ergative languages within Austronesian are statistically very unlikely to have overt copulas. In addition to that, 20 of the 25 accusatively aligned languages have SVO word order, whilst all of the 9 ergatively aligned languages have VSO word order. The word order of the language is relevant as all but two of the 19 languages with overt copulas have SVO word order. In consideration of these findings, I argue that the correlation among the three factors is such that change from ergative to accusative alignment triggers change in word order from verb-initial order to verb-medial order, and that this is conducive to the emergence of overt copulas. Furthermore, word order plays a crucial role in the emergence of overt copulas as they may develop in topical constructions following reanalysis of the left-dislocated topic as the canonical subject, as argued in the diachronic portion of the thesis. Given this path of development, I argue that pronominal copulas have not been able to develop in the ergatively aligned Philippine-type languages due to the lack of the notion of subject and the absence of the canonical subject position, which prevents reanalysis of left-dislocated topics as canonical subjects and subsequently resumptive pronouns as copulas, as undergone by the Malay copula ialah. In addition to that, verbal copulas cannot develop from posture verbs in the Philippine-type languages because of the clash between the unergative nature of posture verbs and the unaccusative nature of the copula, which presents a problem in the Philippine-type languages due to the encoding of the agent argument on the verb in the actor voice. Besides, the strict intransitive nature of the copular clause is incompatible with other voice alternations such as the benefactive and the locative, as the trigger in these voice alternations is encoded as an applied argument, making the clause transitive. Verbs of becoming also cannot copularise in the Philippine-type languages via semantic bleaching of the inchoative aspect, due to the robust morphological marking of aspect on the verb.

This paper seeks to present the furniture usage in Malay traditional house spatial organization. Data analysis is focused on Anjung/Rumah Tangga, Serambi, and Rumah Ibu area. Qualitative research is analyzed from the literature review and case study at Maliah Idin's Melaka traditional house at Jasin, Melaka. The study found that the structure of the Melaka house played a significant role in creating built-in and loose type furniture. A built-in furniture is a form and space that has a combination of furniture function and space structure. The furniture presents a manifestation of the Malay culture and the way of life.

The term “classical” in past South East Asian and Malay writings, architectural discourse, cultural studies and urbanism has earlier related to a notion of ‘purity’ of form related to and the traditional vocabulary and forms arising mainly from timber constructions and, compositions. This article challenges these current definition by linking the definition to an Aristocratic Realm, and argues that selected palaces and mansions of the Malay world embody these universally understood principles, rules and themes. Such rules of classicality, include a keen sense of symmetry, proportionality in form, controlled decorative character and clean lines. This paper explores the frontages and elevational character of these palaces and highlights the underlying themes as reflections of ‘the assertive character of aristocratic classicality’ which heightened in the context of evolvement of malay socio-polities which reflected in certain palatial buildings and aristocratic houses of the late 1800s...

The paper attempts to re-enact the framework of the ' vernacular ' of Malay architecture while extending the classifications of its vernacular to include a Classical style; defined as monumental vernacular expressions representing gradual stylistic changes and ' hybrid ' constructions throughout the early modernisation period of Malay history which coincides with its evolvement during the Colonial era. During this era, both structural, constructional and ornamental skills absorbed external influences without compromising its vernacular principles. Based on a group of case studies of palatial forms-i.e. palaces and aristocratic houses-from the late 19th and early 20th century, outfired Semper's anthropological definitions of the essence of the vernacular is used to categorise combinations of masonry and timber in the cases, seen as a manifestation of its heightened aesthetic style. Primarily, the different extents of the 'base' or 'mound' suggest four basic classifications arising from its Kassim, S.J.

The paper discusses and describes a range of templates, models and variations of  tropicalised modulation of facades and recesses from in the local vernacular which convey an aesthetic sense of the region, to counter the homogeneity of modern facades. These range of identified Malay-Nusantara are abstracted from elevations of mansions and palaces which convey a sense of the Classical and which were identified as a new identified substyle of the vernacular. Operationally categorised as a form of Classical vernacular, they represent a rich range of models and templates arising from the region’s past ingenuities that can also transcend the present approach of merely adorining modern structures with Nusantara roofs into a more critical approach. The paper argues that these variations can constitue an untapped resources for creating the modulations of facades in any  Nusantara-themes city of the future; without reverting to cosmetic application of motifs and cut-and -paste from the verna...

South East Asian architecture identity in urban centres has been generally focused on either timber vernacular identity or large masonry building. The local agenda is increasingly crucial amidst the importance of tourism and city-branding which necessitate the enculturation of urbanism within an overall resistance to extensive globalisation. Traditional public typologies such as palaces and mosques in Asia hold the promise of resources that can add place-branding and identity to towns and cities, while at the same time a high resource for new forms and patterns. Through an extensive morphological and evolutionary mapping of such typologies, the aim is to develop a classification that can define stylistic categories and aesthetic predispositions, such that these classifications can be used to manage, market and enhance such historical narrative of towns and contribute to identity-making in the urban-scape. Throughout the Asian region, particularly in nations previously under Colonisa...

The earlier masjid architectural styles were similar to Malay vernacular houses and evolved with the introduction of the modernist style. This resulted in increased energy consumption. Hence, a proper set of thermal comfort is important to provide a suitable environment for the masjid’s occupants. The vernacular characteristics in the passive designs have caused designers to find solutions towards sustainable designs. Therefore, designing a good thermal performance building can be done by readapting the Malay vernacular architecture and passive design strategies for modern masjids. This paper is aimed to document the literature and potential case studies in identifying the relationship between the design of Malay vernacular and thermal comfort elements in a hot and humid climate. The outcome is to formularize requirements of thermal comfort in Malay vernacular masjids based on four major factors namely i) architectural qualities, ii) construction systems, iii) structural components ...

Patterns from studies in past urban morphologies have come under scrutiny recently due to the rise of authenticity in urban regeneration fields and the resurgences in the search for culturally-rooted, and sustainable, principles of urban design. Towards an improved place-making potential while complying with rising sustainable standards, the tropical region have a rich heritage of the Malay Nusantara pre-colonial 'original' urban patterns-which are essentially South East Asian riverine or maritime cities of the 15th to the 18th centuries straddling the Malay Peninsular and Borneo. This paper highlights the morphology studies of such centers, but focuses primarily on urban core patterns of cities such as Alor Setar (a city on the north of the Malay Peninsula), Kuala Kangsar (to the northeast , more towards inland), Melaka (a maritime city towards the south) and Pontianak, Kalimantan (west of Borneo) which layers of past patterns can be studied. It attempts to recreate an era which is known as 'precolonial' in the Malay world, whose urban grain and form still embraces ecological and 'local' principles and whose dense and compact forms are linked closely with rivers and seas. An attempt is then made to build a conceptual framework of urban design characteristics based on the findings; including features and strategies towards enhancing typical bioclimatic principles to encompass a range of visual and aesthetic concepts which embraces the notion of familiarity and cultural continuity arising from lessons learnt from vernacular forms and past settlements. As many of these sites have undergone sedimentation and development, the paper reconstructs the past based on historical data, maps and documents and then compares these reconstructed forms with those of colonial and post-colonial patterns. It is forwarded that the Malay urban core in pre-colonial times is distinctive for its natural growth and its ecological and climatic credentials, such as orientation and compactness, while the post-colonial patterns are more spread out and gridded configurations losing the original permeability.

'Serendipitious' has been defined as occurring or discovered by chance in a happy or beneficial way. "A serendipitous encounter" thus generally means one or a series of unexpected but pleasant encounters. A city, which is serendipitious, is a physical form, which has configuration and features which allows such encounters to happen. This paper highlights vernacular-based principles which are needed to counter the modernisation and urbanisation trends in South East Asia, throughout studying the typological and morphological character of 'littoral maritime' cities which grew in the 15th century onwards across littoral or coastal straits of maritime Asia represent pre-modern vernacular-rooted forms from which contain patterns that are urban, yet naturally-balanced with the environment. As these grew as a result of maritime trade, it is highly densed yet still reflect ecological features and conditions are still intact. The paper reconstructs some of these patterns and identify four central character as a result of their urban which resonate with 'ecological themes': 1) accretion qualities; 2) river-gravitation; 3) fractality and 4) centricity. The paper argues that although these patterns emerge from medieval times, these maritime cities constitute a 'gentle' and ecologically-sound approach to development which can unite the coexistence of urbanisation and nature. In such conditions, the tropical jungle exists side by side with densed urbanisation. The paper uses the reconstruction of the former (pre-colonial) morphologies in South East Asia to demonstrate the character of these centers, which are organic and informal evolvements having certain morphologies, configurations, architectural structures and their similarities and common principles in terms of urban patterns and principles are discussed. The pursuit of the optimal balance between 'man' and 'nature' must reflect in a city which consider living beings as both animal, vegetation and man, and which are, at present, in danger of critical depletion, and eventually extinction. Cases of built language, topography, ecology, landscape forms and urban configuration patterns and parameters across the region are presented and the paper argues that the rise of sustainability in city planning favors the compact and densed formal patterns which are reflective of these centers across the coastline of the straits historically and these constitutes principles that can sustain ecology, climatic balance yet an active cultural conduit of the place.

The paper reports on a basic classification based on formal and morphological similarities of large vernacular buildings across the Malay region, based on their frontages; with the aim of developing a universal regional language and set of rules of local architecture for urban and multi-storeys typologies. Generally, seen as idiosyncratic and individualistic, Malay regional palaces and mansions across different states and regions under former Sultanates, exhibit different vocabularies, yet have underlying similarities. While form and architecture may arise from the local technology and construction methods of the era, aesthetic expressions of these palaces recall formal archetypes which can be described, and characterised, regardless of location. Focusing on palaces in Malaysia and East Sumatran region from the late 1800s onwards, recurring forms of a Malay-Classical language are observed and classified into generic morphologies of frontages. The aim is towards formal taxonomy that ...

The paper highlights the significance and position of the Baitul Rahmah, an early 20th-century mansion in Kuala Kangsar, Perak, Malaysia, as a key milestone of stylistic  evolvement of local vernacular architecture. Its form embodies, a typological variation  at a time of growing Colonial imperialism, while its grammar and language refers to early modern  stylistic expression reflecting the fundamental principles of indigenous architecture. The Baitul Rahmah brings to light how a final evolution and epitome of  the vernacular projects an identity as a cosmopolitan manifestation.  Its internal ornamentation recalls the stylized forms of local motifs and reflect a form of control and minimalism; i.e. an ‘ornamental decorum’. Its wood-carved expressions seem stylised into increasing ‘modernised’ simplication and  modularity, while  its masonry- timber structure reflect the identity of hybridity  in architecture which symbolise the tensions of local communities as they step into the 190...

Apart from shelter, traditional houses were built to accommodate the spiritual factors such as religious, cultural values and way of life. Thus, it tends to evolve over time to reflect the environmental, cultural, technological and historical context in which it exists. This paper discusses the development of architectural style on the Malay traditional houses in Perak. It is based on data collectively gathered from KUTAI researchers conducted since 1997. More than 400 houses were observed. Architectural transformation found in the roof design, spatial organization, architectural elements and decorative elements within the period of 150 years. Findings of this study strengthening and establish the Perak Malay architectural style. © 2021MySE, FSPU, UiTM Perak, All rights reserved

Preservation and conservation of heritage sites is an essential effort to achieve sustainable development in Malaysia. However, due to rapid development, many heritage sites and buildings are at risk around the world including Malaysia where many developments encroach into heritage sites and diminish the traces of our culture and history that are embedded in these sites. Eventually, these traces that are important for the identity and sense of place of a particular area and crucial in the educational and cultural development of a nation may be lost. The aim of this research is therefore to explore and examine the methodology to evaluate Kuala Kangsar as a Heritage District from the selected architectural attributes. Kuala Kangsar is chosen as a case study to test the methodology. Employing qualitative method, this research documented and examined the palaces, religious buildings and mausoleums in Kuala Kangsar district on its heritage values through field observation, contents analy...

The paper discusses and describes a range of templates, models and variations of tropicalised modulation of facades and recesses from in the local vernacular which convey an aesthetic sense of the region, to counter the homogeneity of modern facades. These range of identified Malay-Nusantara are abstracted from elevations of mansions and palaces which convey a sense of the Classical and which were identified as a new identified substyle of the vernacular. Operationally categorised as a form of Classical vernacular, they represent a rich range of models and templates arising from the region's past ingenuities that can also transcend the present approach of merely adorining modern structures with Nusantara roofs into a more critical approach. The paper argues that these variations can constitue an untapped resources for creating the modulations of facades in any Nusantara-themes city of the future; without reverting to cosmetic application of motifs and cut-and-paste from the vern...

Malay buildings are synonym with the unique design of full decorative on motive, unique façade design, and roof structured. Most of heritage buildings had been demolished and left out without proper documentation and preserving the building database. Latest mapping systems provide an efficient technique for acquiring dense point clouds in analysing the building structure. This paper aim to explore on the technique acquiring the data for distribution and the façade of building with the Malay architecture design using the laser scanning. Data acquisition was taken for two sites which are Kota Bharu, Kelantan and Alor Setar, Kedah with two different techniques were applied for data collection which are TLS and MLS method. Both methods had succeed in capturing the detail of the features and building in the study area in point cloud form and the analysis of the data was able to analysed on the classification and identification of the Malay building elements and features which still prese...

The paper discusses and describes a range of templates, models and variations of  tropicalised modulation of facades and recesses from in the local vernacular which convey an aesthetic sense of the region, to counter the homogeneity of modern facades. These range of identified Malay-Nusantara are abstracted from elevations of mansions and palaces which convey a sense of the Classical and which were identified as a new identified substyle of the vernacular. Operationally categorised as a form of Classical vernacular, they represent a rich range of models and templates arising from the region’s past ingenuities that can also transcend the present approach of merely adorining modern structures with Nusantara roofs into a more critical approach. The paper argues that these variations can constitue an untapped resources for creating the modulations of facades in any  Nusantara-themes city of the future; without reverting to cosmetic application of motifs and cut-and -paste from the verna...

Patterns from studies in past urban morphologies have come under scrutiny recently due to the rise of authenticity in urban regeneration fields and the resurgences in the search for culturally-rooted, and sustainable, principles of urban design. Towards an improved place-making potential while complying with rising sustainable standards, the tropical region have a rich heritage of the Malay Nusantara pre-colonial 'original' urban patterns-which are essentially South East Asian riverine or maritime cities of the 15th to the 18th centuries straddling the Malay Peninsular and Borneo. This paper highlights the morphology studies of such centers, but focuses primarily on urban core patterns of cities such as Alor Setar (a city on the north of the Malay Peninsula), Kuala Kangsar (to the northeast , more towards inland), Melaka (a maritime city towards the south) and Pontianak, Kalimantan (west of Borneo) which layers of past patterns can be studied. It attempts to recreate an era which is known as 'precolonial' in the Malay world, whose urban grain and form still embraces ecological and 'local' principles and whose dense and compact forms are linked closely with rivers and seas. An attempt is then made to build a conceptual framework of urban design characteristics based on the findings; including features and strategies towards enhancing typical bioclimatic principles to encompass a range of visual and aesthetic concepts which embraces the notion of familiarity and cultural continuity arising from lessons learnt from vernacular forms and past settlements. As many of these sites have undergone sedimentation and development, the paper reconstructs the past based on historical data, maps and documents and then compares these reconstructed forms with those of colonial and post-colonial patterns. It is forwarded that the Malay urban core in pre-colonial times is distinctive for its natural growth and its ecological and climatic credentials, such as orientation and compactness, while the post-colonial patterns are more spread out and gridded configurations losing the original permeability.

The migration of people between Acheh and Malaysia can be seen in sporadic settlements in the northern regions. Both communities share Islam as a religion and might have similarities in culture, ethics and the environment. Due to the Islamic influences in both Malay and Aceh community, it is predicted that the traditional houses in both locations are manifestations of the sustainable concept of hablumminallah, hablumminannas and hablumminal'alam. This concept can be analysed in terms of the Islamic implementations of hablumminallah, social beliefs, and activities in the relationship between man and man (hablumminannas) and climatic influences in the relationship between man and environment (hablumminal'alam). Hence, this paper intends to investigate the implementation of the three concepts in the Malay and Aceh houses. The research methodologies employed are observation (through site visits), pictorial analysis and detail evaluations on the components of the houses. Analysis...

As modernization and urbanization grow, there has been a rising interest in townships with historical elements in their urban landscape. The identification and classification of Malay architectural language are crucial to architects seeking to instill history and culture into the new design. The paper traced the characterizations of classicality in Malay architecture through a thorough study of palaces and aristocrat buildings in Malaysia. Morphological analysis of 50 case studies was mapped but only six palaces from different sites and eras were marked as samples in this paper. The focus of the study not only on their origins, typology, history, and stylistic characters but also on the proportions and elemental attributes of the frontal façade. These case studies were selected as sentinels or samples of successive evolutionary phases in classical Malay architecture which had a huge gap and carried different historical evolutions. It was argued that while the earlier palaces reflect...

The paper reports on a basic classification based on formal and morphological similarities of large vernacular buildings across the Malay region, based on their frontages; with the aim of developing a universal regional language and set of rules of local architecture for urban and multi-storeys typologies. Generally, seen as idiosyncratic and individualistic, Malay regional palaces and mansions across different states and regions under former Sultanates, exhibit different vocabularies, yet have underlying similarities. While form and architecture may arise from the local technology and construction methods of the era, aesthetic expressions of these palaces recall formal archetypes which can be described, and characterised, regardless of location. Focusing on palaces in Malaysia and East Sumatran region from the late 1800s onwards, recurring forms of a Malay-Classical language are observed and classified into generic morphologies of frontages. The aim is towards formal taxonomy that can represent a more inclusive architectural identity of the region, rather than identities based on nations. By defining the 'generic' and the 'variant', significant palaces across the Malay region are discussed and positioned within a classification based on a range of generic archetypes. Variants include cases which have absorbed external influences yet retain the essences of local form, while some examples, refer to elements that have modernised been yet represent the last offshoot or branch of the same region. To identify generic rules and frameworks of design, the regional roots of form, including frontages, for public buildings is crucial for urbanscape and the urgency of developing guidelines and a set of compositional rules and language of urban architecture derived from the essences of tradition and past forms.

As modernization and urbanization grow, there has been a rising interest in townships with historical elements in their urban landscape. The identification and classification of Malay architectural language are crucial to architects seeking to instill history and culture into the new design. The paper traced the characterizations of classicality in Malay architecture through a thorough study of palaces and aristocrat buildings in Malaysia. Morphological analysis of 50 case studies was mapped but only six palaces from different sites and eras were marked as samples in this paper. The focus of the study not only on their origins, typology, history, and stylistic characters but also on the proportions and elemental attributes of the frontal façade. These case studies were selected as sentinels or samples of successive evolutionary phases in classical Malay architecture which had a huge gap and carried different historical evolutions. It was argued that while the earlier palaces reflected all Malay style attributes, the later expression reflected the cultural pressure of globalization via colonialism diffused from colonial institutions. The study extracted the five parameters of the Malay classical architecture, whereby it was found that even under such pressure, certain features were still maintained to root the identity of the Malays and later developed as new city urbanscape.

This paper studies exaptation from the perspective of language contact and structural borrowing. Drawing on data from different language-contact settings, I show that exaptation differs from grammaticalization, secondary grammaticalization, and degrammaticalization. I argue that exaptation is, also from the perspective of language contact, a suitable descriptive term and provides useful insights into the investigation of diachronic change, as it shows the functions targeted and the structural properties of the linguistic elements selected for exaptation.