Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, and Bahasa Melayu Language: A Comparative Analysis

TAGALOG, BAHASA INDONESIA, AND
BAHASA MELAYU LANGUAGE A

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL

Volume: 14
Pages: 586-605
Document ID: 2023PEMJ1280
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10017512
Manuscript Accepted: 2023-17-10
Psych Educ, 2023, 14: 586-605, Document ID:2023 PEMJ1280, doi:10.5281/zenodo.10017512, ISSN 2822-4353
Research Article
Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, and Bahasa Melayu Language:

A Comparative Analysis
Pedro P. Raymunde Jr.*, Ria Bianca R. Caangay, Mary Rose J. Ponce, Virgion H. Mamonong
For affiliations and correspondence, see the last page.
Abstract
This qualitative study employing comparative analysis method uncovered the similarities and
differences of Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, and Bahasa Melayu languages in terms of orthographic,
phonological and semantic features. The words in Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, and Bahasa Melayu
languages were used in this study. The findings revealed that Tagalog orthography is a bit complex
to understand for it contains more elements than the others. It possesses extra letters that are not
present in the other two languages. Further, in terms of phonological features, the Bahasa Indonesia
and Bahasa Melayu languages have an additional /ə/ sound, one will really notice how Tagalog
pronunciation is different from the other two languages. This is why when they speak, there is a
distinct difference in the stressing of the words because /ə/ are not stressed and are unaspirated. In
addition, in terms of semantic features, affixation and reduplication play important roles. While all
the three languages make use of prefixes, suffixes and circumfixes, they vary in the morphemes that
they use. These morphemes can change the lexical category of the words and are subject to a set of
rules unique to each language.
Keywords: applied linguistics, orthography, phonology, semantics, tagalog, bahasa indonesia, bahasa
melayu, comparative analysis, Philippines
Introduction similarities in related languages in neighboring

countries is duly noted (Reid, 2017).
Languages vary across the nations. In Asia,
particularly, dwells a wide variety of language families Reduplication, a morphological process in which the
used by its communities. One of the languages root, a portion of the root, or even the entire word is
families spoken throughout Asia is the Austronesian repeated with little or no variation is one of the
languages. According to Summer of Institute of linguistic processes that these Austronesian languages
Linguistics (1996) as cited in Blaylock (1999), tend to have (Western University, 2021). In Tagalog,
Austronesian is a language family that stretches from contemplative or future actions involve the repetition
Southeast Asia to the Pacific's westernmost islands. It of the first syllable of the root word, such as tawag
is not only large in terms of area, but it also ‘call’ to tatawagan ‘will call’ (Porciuncula, 2011).
encompasses over 1200 languages of the world. However, in Bahasa Indonesia, full reduplication
Bahasa Indonesia, the national language of Indonesia occurs in order to mark plurality. For example, anak
and Bahasa Malaysia, the national language of ‘child’ becomes anak-anak ‘children’ (Pereltsvaig,
Malaysia and Brunei are the two prominent members 2012 as cited in Arizo et al., 2020). This full
of Austronesian language family. Tagalog, which reduplication is also present in Malay which changes
forms the basis of Filipino, the national language of the word class as found in examples like hati-hati ‘to
the Philippines is also one of the major Austronesian take care’ and ribut-ribut ‘to raise the roof’, which are
languages (Blust, 2021). As these three languages created from the nominal roots hati ‘liver’ and ribut
belong to the same language family, similar features ‘storm’ (Nian et al., 2012).
that show their relationship can be evident but
distinctions in several facets of these languages are This morphological process is just one of the
also prominent. similarities that these three Austronesian languages
share. But even if they are similar in some aspects as
These languages may be different, but simultaneously they belong to the same family, their differences
similar in terms of morphological properties. become more apparent as languages evolve with time.
According to Klamer (2019), their vocabularies are McWhorter (2020) mentioned that the changes become
comparable, implying that they have a common increasingly noticeable in relation to where the
ancestral language. A modern language with languages originated because of the longest passage of
absolutely no lexical similarity to any other time. When studying a language group, it is assumed
Austronesian language would not be classified as that the area with the greatest diversity began to
belonging to the Austronesian language family in the naturally develop a variation of language. Historical
first place. Ergo, in the Philippines, typological linguists suggests a history in which distinct languages
Raymunde et al. 586/605

Research Article
emerge as a result of in-group differentiation wherein terminology from various language, including
a single ancestral group splits in space and/or time, Sanskrit, Arabic, Portuguese, Dutch, and Chinese
resulting in diverse dialects that (given enough space (University of Washington, 2021).
and time) become different languages (Klamer,
2019). Both Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia belong to the
Austronesian language family (Steinhauer, 2013). It is
The Tagalog, the Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa
noted that there are terms that have the same meaning
Melayu are closely related as they belong to the same
in both countries. There are some differences in
family. Some similarities are observed and differences
spelling and sound, but they are close enough to
are undeniable as well. Hence, this study aims to
identify them as belonging to the same language
reveal the extent of sameness and distinction between
family (Lois, 2020). Historically, it began in the 9th
these languages in terms of orthographic, phonological
century, when the Majapahit empire, Indonesia's last
and semantic features. The result of this study will be
Indianized monarchy, reached the Philippine islands.
beneficial to the new learners of these languages as
Many languages impacted the old Tagalog language
they will find learning easier by identifying several
during the time, including Malay, ancient Sanskrit, and
cognates in Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa
Javanese (Mastering Bahasa, 2019). The Philippines'
Melayu. This will also be of aid to linguistic teachers
proximity to Asia in the Pacific Ocean has provided
who can utilize the provided examples in elucidating
them with sev eral ch an ces for trade and
the linguistic processes found in Austronesian
correspondence with other nations and languages.
languages. Furthermore, this will also benefit the
Furthermore, various occupations of the region by
future researchers as they will conduct further
various nations have brought the Filipino languages
researches with the result of this study as basis.
into direct contact with a variety of other languages,
such as Bahasa Indonesia (Stevens, 1999).
Literature Review
As a result, there are certain linguistic similarities
between the two languages. For example, there are
Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia several Indonesian words that Filipinos use as well,
such as mahal. In Bahasa Indonesia, mahal means
Tagalog is a language spoken in the Philippines' "expensive" or "high-priced," whereas mahal can also
central region, which consists of over 7,000 islands. It mean "expensive" or "love" in Tagalog. There are also
is one of the major languages in the Philippines and is terms in both languages that have the same meaning
spoken by over 90 million speakers globally. The but have minor differences, such as vowel and
standardized form of Tagalog is called Filipino, which consonant alterations. For example, the Tagalog word
is the national language of the Philippines. According ako, which means "I" is pronounced and spelled "aku"
to the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, Filipino is in Indonesian (Arizo et al. 2020).
made up of 28 letters, which contains the 26 letters of
the English alphabet, as well as the velar nasal ng Despite the noticeable similarities, they do not
(considered as a separate letter) and the Spanish ñ perfectly aligned. This is because the Philippines was
(Center for Applied Linguistics, 2016). Because a colonized for hundreds of years by Spain and the
considerable portion of its lexicon is derived from United States, explaining the substantial influence of
Spanish, Tagalog is widely regarded as the most English and Spanish in Tagalog. Meanwhile, due to
"Spanish" of all Asian languages. Sanskrit, Chamorro, the Indonesia's past as a Dutch colony, numerous
English, Malay, and Chinese make up the majority of loanwords in Bahasa Indonesia may be traced back to
its lexicon apart from Spanish (Andrikus, 2021). the Dutch language (Conde, 2021).
Meanwhile, Bahasa Indonesia is the official language Tagalog and Bahasa Melayu
of Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,508 islands. Despite
the fact that just 7% of the population speaks Bahasa It is an undeniable fact that Tagalog and Bahasa
Indonesia as their mother tongue, it is the country's Melayu share many linguistic similarities whether that
official language and is spoken as a second language be in their orthographic, phonological or semantic
by 200 million people. Bahasa Indonesia is widely aspect. This comes in no surprise since both languages
used throughout Indonesia for corporate and share Malayo-Polynesian decent, a subgroup of the
administrative purposes, as well as by educational larger Austronesian family of languages. The
institutions and the media to promote communication Austronesian language is largely spoken in the
among Indonesians. It is written with the Latin Indonesian archipelago and is the largest among the
alphabet, and its vocabulary is rich with borrowed

Research Article
languages in terms of the number of its languages and It's also spoken in Indonesia and Brunei, and East
the geographical spread (Blust, 2018). Despite the Timor uses it as a working language. It is spoken by
wideness of its geographical spread, an examination of 10.5 million people in Malaysia (2004 census), with a
such basic subsystems as personal pronouns or total population of 15.8 million Malay speakers as a
numbers may quickly identify the connection of many first language and an extra 3 million second-language
of the languages. This similarity of linguistic root has speakers across all nations. Malay is officially the
transcended throughout time and is still reflected even medium of scientific, administrative, legal and other
today in the linguistic paradigm of the Filipino official matters.
language, especially in Palawan, Sulu Archipelago and
some parts of Mindanao mostly in the form of trade Since the two languages share a similar root, their
and creole languages. structures, grammar and vocabulary share quite a
number of common characteristics. Both languages
One of the prominent descendant of the Malayo- have a clear orthography since their phonemes and
Polynesian subgroup is Tagalog. The name Tagalog is graphemes have a one-on-one correspondence with
derived from the native word taga-ilog, meaning living each other. These two languages both have a small
near the river. There have been about 21.5 million number of vowel sounds with only five in Tagalog and
people who considers this as their first language and six in Bahasa Melayu, having an extra /ə/ for the latter.
majority of the Filipinos study this language as their Moreover, Tagalog has a total of 23 consonant letters
second language. The influence of Tagalog is not including the ñ and ng and a total of 18 consonant
limited in Asia but also across the globe. It is even the phonemes. The structure of Tagalog syllables is quite
fourth most spoken language in the United States. straightforward. The majority of syllables finish with a
About 43% of the people living in California speak the vowel or in /m, n or ŋ/. The consonant / can appear at
language but a higher concentration of its speakers is the start of a word. Only loanwords include the
found in Hawaii and the New York City (Lyons, consonants /f/ and /t/. On the other hand, Bahasa
2020). Melayu also has a straightforward consonant system.
In native words, syllables do not include consonant
Tagalog is one of the most widely spoken languages in clusters and are generally made up of a Consonant +
the Philippines. It serves as the country's lingua franca Vowel or Vowel + Vowel. Consonant clusters are
and de facto national working language. It serves as common in loanwords, on the other hand (Palatino,
the foundation for the formation of Filipino, the 2013).
Philippines' national language. The dialects of this
language include the dialects in Bataan, Batangas, There are five vowel phonemes in the Tagalog
Bulacan, Manila and Tayabas (Britannica, n.d.). It is language: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/. Due to the impact of
spoken in central and southern Luzon, in Manila, the word borrowing, the two front vowels /e/ and /i/, as
capital of the Philippines, and on some of the other well as the two back vowels /o/ and /u/, were formerly
islands. According to the Philippine Census of 2000, regarded allophones. This, however, altered as a result
21.5 million people claim Tagalog as their first of considerable foreign interaction and word
language. borrowing (Schachter & Otanes,1983; Comrie, 1990).
In contrast, in Bahasa Melayu, /i/ and /u/ both have
Another prominent descendant of the Malayo- centralized allophones that may be rendered as [I] and
Polynesian subgroup is Bahasa Melayu. It is spoken by [U] in closed syllables, for example titik [titIk] for the
Malay natives on both sides of the Malacca Straits, word ‘dot' and duduk [dudUk] for the word ‘sit'. This
which separate Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. is why the two languages have different sound
Because the Malacca Straits have long been a major productions and the Tagalog words compete with the
maritime route, passengers were acquainted with the straight pronunciation of the words.
Malay language, which expanded across Indonesia. As
a result, Malay became the lingua franca of the On a further note, both languages have a notable
Indonesian archipelago, and it was the primary basis similarity of the set of rules in terms of prominence.
for the Indonesian Republic's selection of Malay as its The penultimate or last syllable is given special
national language in the twentieth century (Paredes, emphasis in Tagalog and Melayu (Jenkins, 2015;
2013). Clynes & Deterding, 2021). Their phrase-final words
are generally lengthy, while the language's borrowed
Standard Malay or Bahasa Melayu is Malaysia's terms are not. One distinguishing feature of Bahasa
official language and one of Singapore's four official Melayu is that its / is not stressed. Because the
languages (along with English, Mandarin, and Tamil). Tagalog language lacks a phonetic counterpart, the

Research Article
rules for prominence suggest that the emphasis is production, development of spelling and accuracy in
located in either the penultimate or ultimate rules. reading (Lander, 1997, Caravolas, 2004; Caravolas et
However, while they share a significant similarity in al, 2012). Hence, the investigation of the orthography
stress, the use of diacritical marks is deemed an among the three focused Austronesian languages in
apparent difference. It is mentioned in the revised this study will give us a linguistic awareness of the
orthographic guidelines issued by the Komisyon ng nature of its spellings and the underlying principles of
Wikang Filipino (2013) that the usage of diacritical their graphemic processes.
markings to indicate which syllable should be stressed
or unstressed is critical for the Filipino language. In The Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (2013) stated that
Filipino orthography, three diacritical markings are there are 28 letters that compose the Filipino language.
used: pahilis (acute), paiwa (grave), and pakupya This includes the letters and ng. Ñ is considered as
(circumflex). This is especially true when it comes to a separate letter, instead of a letter-diacritical mark
terms that have similar spellings but diverse meanings. combination. Also, it is only used for Spanish-derived
terms that have not been integrated into Filipino words
In contrast, the single exception in Bahasa Melayu written in Spanish spelling.
one-on-one contact is the letter ‘e,' which has two
phonemic forms: /e/ as in ‘emak' (mother) and /e/ as in Meanwhile, the Bahasa Indonesia orthography is
‘ekor' (tail). In the Bahasa Melayu language, however, composed of 26 letters, the same letters in English
the occurrence of /e/ is predictable since it generally alphabet. It does not have the two letters ñ and ng that
occurs in a harmonic connection with /o/ in two Tagalog has. Introduced by the Dutch, their alphabet
contiguous syllables when the vowel of the other pronunciation is highly influenced by them.
syllable is similarly /e/ or /o/. The schwa, on the other
Phonology
hand, forms a connection with /i/ and /u/. The new
method, which is based on the Wilkinson system, has
According to All About Linguistics (2015), phonology
rejected them in favor of using e for both vowels in
is the study of the patterns of sounds in a language and
question (Winskel, 2020).
across languages. Put more formally, phonology is the
study of the categorical organization of speech sounds
Another difference between the two languages' sound
in languages; how speech sounds are organized in the
characteristics is their usage of diphthongs. Tagalog
mind and used to convey meaning.
features six diphthongs, as indicated in the preceding
section: /a, iw, ey, aw, uy/ ( Malab onga & Saidi (2017) stated that correct pronunciation is
MarinovaTodd, 2007). Bahasa Melayu, on the other needed for someone to communicate. The incorrect
hand, contains just three phonemic diphthongs: /ai, au, pronunciation will affect listeners’ understanding to
oi/. The non-syllabic diacritic () is present in the what speaker say. English is needed since English is
diphthongs used in the Bahasa Melayu language, but treated as a foreign language so that the general goal of
not in the Tagalog diphthongs. This diacritical mark in the system of education regarding English teaching is
diphthongs indicates that it is put beneath the less limited to reading and translation of the English
prominent portion of a diphthong to indicate that it is a materials containing scientific information. She
diphthong rather than a distinct syllable vowel continues to say that there is not much emphasis on
(Battisti, 2000). accurate pronunciation for many reasons among which
the students’ low proficiency in English and their little
Orthography knowledge about the importance of pronunciation. On
the other hand, accurate pronunciation is needed in
Orthography is a collection of writing standards that language learning.
includes spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word
breaks, emphasis, and punctuation (Valente, 2015). Kenworthy (1988) stated that the first factor within
This linguistic feature is especially concerned with learners that affect pronunciation is the native
spelling, particularly the correspondence of graphemes language. Native language is the most influential
and phonemes in a language. As a result, orthography factor that affects a learner‘s pronunciation. It is
explains or defines the set of symbols used in writing a important thing because the teachers should know the
language, as well as the rules for using those symbols. sound system of learners’ native language in order to
This study on the interplay of grapheme and its make the teacher identifies the learners’ difficulties
relationship to the sounds of language plays a vital role easily when they are learning pronunciation in the
in language production. Understanding the class. The teachers can treat learners carefully and
orthography of languages allows better word slowly to pronounce English language words in order

Research Article
to avoid mispronunciation in word utterances. If speech that expresses the opposite, opposition, or
learners are trained to carefully listen to English- contrast of one another. An antonym is a semantic link
language sounds, they will be in a much better position between two units of speech that expresses the
to match the sound with a specific letter or symbol in opposite, opposition, or contrast of one another.
learning English pronunciation. According to Palmer (1982), there are three divisions
of a n to n y m s n a m ely g r a d a b le an t o n y m ,
Semantics complementary antonyms, and relational opposites.
Yule (2006) stated that the study of the meaning of Rivera and Bernardo (2018) defined polysemy as a
words, phrases, and sentences is known as semantics. single form (written or spoken) with several meanings
This means that semantics studies how words, phrases, that are all connected via extension. It is a one word /
clauses, and sentences have meanings and may be lexeme that has more than one meaning. It is a term
comprehended by individuals who hear or see them. In that refers to a word that has a number of various
semantics, he mentions two characteristics of learning meanings that are linked by extension and invoked
meaning. Words have conceptual and associative when the senses are deemed to be related.
meanings, as well as semantic features, semantic roles,
and lexical relationships (Yule, 2006). According to Setianto (2018), two or more words
having the same spelling but differing pronunciations
Semantics is made up of several different components and meanings are referred to as heteronyms. The term
(Yule, 2006). Zakiya (2018) stated that lexical heteronym refers to distinct terminology (or
relationship is one of them and the lexical relation is regionalisms) used in different parts of the country for
the meaning relationship between words, such as some more generally used words in the language.
synonymy. In semantics, terms such as huge and large, Usually, words function as a noun or a verb. One can
buy and purchase, freedom and liberty, and so on have identify if it is a noun or verb through its stress. Nouns
a relationship to one another. are stressed in the first syllable while verbs are
stressed in the second syllable.
Yule (2006) stated that the semantic field theory
describes how lexemes are categorized according to Setianto (2018) clearly defined the relationship is
their division and features. Buses, trains, ships, and described as hyponymy when the meaning of one form
airplanes are just a few examples. All of those is encompassed in the meaning of another. Hyponymy
elements denote a mode of transportation, such as a is a word-to-word relationship in which one word's
bus or train on land, a ship on the sea, or an airplane in meaning encompasses the meaning of the other. It's an
the air. The truth is that conditional semantics inclusive relationship. It's a specific subordinate term
compares and predicates the same expression. Acer, whose referent is the same as the referent of the
for example, is a laptop and acer is a computer. Acer is superordinate term.
a type of computer. It's just an illustration of Kreidler's
entailment theory, which states that if the first sentence
is true, the second sentence must be true as well, but if Methodology
the first sentence is false, the second sentence cannot
be stated to be true or false. There is some lexical
connection division in Kreidler's writings. Research Design
Moreover, there are lexical relations in semantics. This study employed a qualitative study using
When the synonymy is one term and there are two contrastive analysis. The qualitative approach was
synonyms, the synonymy is divided into synonyms. chosen over the quantitative approach because, rather
Synonyms are defined as two or more words that have than being concerned with statistics, the researchers
substantially similar meanings, according to Yule were interested in learning more about the similarities
(2006). Synonyms are two or more separate words that and differences between the three Austronesian
have the same meaning. Rafida (2018) believed that languages: Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Melayu, and
synonyms are semantic associations that express the Tagalog, particularly in the areas of orthography,
similarity of meaning between speech units with phonology, and semantics. Qualitative research
different meanings. methods are intended to aid researchers in better
understanding individuals and their social and cultural
Zakiyah (2018) defined antonyms as a single meaning surroundings.
in one form but a different meaning in another. An
antonym is a semantic link between two units of Further, contrastive analysis was used in this study,

Research Article
Result & Discussion

which is based on the idea that the most effective
content for teaching a second language is that which is
based on a scientific description of the first language, Similarities and Differences of Tagalog, Bahasa
carefully compared to a parallel description of the Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu in terms of
language to be learned or the target language (Mair, Orthographical Features
2021). Contrastive analysis is one of the strategies that
may be used to assist people learning another language Orthography is a collection of writing standards that
in identifying discrepancies and similarities between includes spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word
the source and target languages that sometimes lead to breaks, emphasis, and punctuation (Valente, 2015).
difficulties in the learning process. This linguistic feature is especially concerned with
spelling, particularly the correspondence of graphemes
Data Sources and phonemes in a language. As a result, orthography
explains or defines the set of symbols used in writing a
The data of this qualitative research were from the language, as well as the rules for using those symbols.
words of the three Austronesian languages, namely This study on the interplay of grapheme and its
Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Melayu, and Tagalog. relationship to the sounds of language plays a vital role
According to Klamer (2019), the Austronesian in language production. Understanding the
language family was formed using the linguistic orthography of languages allows better word
production, development of spelling and accuracy in
comparative method and cognate sets, which are
reading (Lander, 1997, Caravolas, 2004; Caravolas et
groups of words that are similar in sound and meaning
al, 2012). Hence, the investigation of the orthography
and can be proved to have descended from the same
among the three focused Austronesian languages in
ancestor word in Proto-Austronesian using regular
this study will give us a linguistic awareness of the
principles. Some cognate sets have a high level of
nature of its spellings and the underlying principles of
consistency.
their graphemic processes.
There were 20 words for orthographical analysis, 20
In the discussion of orthography, the alphabet is the
words for phonological analysis, and 230 words for
primary unit that constitutes the so-called grapheme. In
semantic analysis used in the contrastive analysis of the light of this study, it can be observed that the three
the three languages aforementioned above. These languages in focus, namely Tagalog, Bahasa Melayu
words are commonly used terms for the three and Bahasa Indonesian share almost the same
languages in daily conversations. alphabetic system.
Data Collection and Analysis Table 1. The Modern Filipino Alphabet
Upon the conduct of the study, the researchers first

chose the words in Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Melayu,
and Tagalog to be analyzed. The researchers also
translated the words from English to Bahasa Indonesia,
English to Bahasa-Melayu, and English to Tagalog.
Data collection, according to Creswell (2007), consists
of four fundamental processes: observation, audio
m aterials, in ter v iews, and s tu d y - related
documentation. Only related documents will be
collected for this investigation.
After selecting the words in the three languages, The Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (2013) stated that
analysis of the words involving orthographical, there are 28 letters that compose the Filipino language.
phonological and semantic features of the three This includes the letters and ng. Ñ is considered as
languages was done. The analysis was supported with a separate letter, instead of a letter-diacritical mark
different literatures and theories to make the claims combination. Also, It is only used for Spanish-derived
valid and reliable. terms that have not been integrated into Filipino words
written in Spanish spelling.

Research Article
Table 2. The Bahasa Indonesian Alphabet
In the account of the three languages, there are 19

letters that are pronounced differently while 7 letters
are pronounced similarly, which are f, l, m, n, o, s, and
x.
Table 4. Letters with Different Pronunciations
Meanwhile, the Bahasa Indonesia orthography is

composed of 26 letters, the same letters in English
alphabet. It does not have the two letters ñ and ng that
Tagalog has. Introduced by the Dutch, their alphabet
pronunciation is highly influenced by them.
Table 3. The Bahasa Melayu Alphabet
Further, the Bahasa Melayu language consists of a

similar 26 letters in its alphabet system. Similar to
Bahasa Indonesian alphabet, they do not have a
register for ñ and ng. However, in contrast to
Indonesian language which follows the Dutch
pronunciation of the letters, the Bahasa Melayu letters
are pronounced following the English alphabet.
The alphabet system of the three languages have the

same 26 English letters that are written in Roman
script; however, the pronunciation of the Tagalog
letters, which is the same as how it is pronounced in
The table above shows that although Bahasa Indonesia
English is different from Bahasa Indonesia. In Bahasa,
and Bahasa Melayu share a number of common traits
there are no silent letters, and the letters are typically
in their language especially in the semantic aspect,
pronounced as they are spelled; thus, it is claimed that
their alphabet writing system is different in terms of
the language is very consistent. Also, their
pronunciation. Colonized by both the British and the
pronunciation follows the Dutch pronunciation of the
Dutch, Bahasa Melayu adapted more the alphabet
letters rather than English. On the other hand, Bahasa
pronunciation of the British while Bahasa Indonesia is
Melayu with a few exceptions, such as the differences
highly influenced by the Dutch. In this case, both
between / and /e/, which are both transcribed as Ee, the
Tagalog and Bahasa Melayu share an almost similar
Malay alphabet has a phonemic orthography. This
pronunciation of the alphabet.
means that words are spelt the way they are spoken.
The letters Q, V, and X are uncommon, and are mostly
employed to create loanwords.

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Table 5. List of Loaned Words in Tagalog, Bahasa

Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu
form but from the Dutch lexical entry fysica, and
again, similar to Tagalog, they fit the spelling to the
existing graphemes of their languages following the
sound of the inspired word. The same explanation can
be used for the word geography.
The word bansa or bangsa is originally borrowed from

the Sanskrit word bangsa which means ‘nation’. The
reason for the identical spelling of the Indonesian and
Melayu term from the original word is highly
influenced by culture and history. The Hindu
kingdoms have long ruled the countries Indonesia and
Malaysia, and have created a significant influence on
the formation of its culture over time, including its
Table 5 illustrates how each of the languages are
linguistic paradigm (Embassy of the Republic of
influenced by other countries either through
Indonesia, n.d.). This is one of the reasons why there is
colonization, intercultural interactions or simply
no change in the spelling. Further, the word can be
foreign word correspondence. However, it can be
accommodated by the alphabet of the two languages
noted that the borrowed words, except for the word
given that the /ŋ/ of the word bangsa can be
bola, did not retain the spelling of the original words.
represented by the ng digraph.
Each language standardized the loaned words to fit the
characteristics of its orthography that entails direct
Table 6. Lexical Relation among Tagalog, Bahasa
correspondence of the phonemes and the graphemes.
Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu Languages
This is the case for loan words where they are adapted
according to the grammatical processes as well as the
morphological nature of the native language (Hoffer,
2015). In the case of the word bola, it happened that
each of the letters has a corresponding sound to the
alphabet of the three languages, hence, the retaining of
the original spelling.
It is also notable that the three languages share a

common standardized spelling of the loaned word
graphic changing the spelling to grafik. This is because
all of them have the same loaned letters which are f, q,
v, x and z (Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, 2013;
Clynes, 2011). The letter that corresponds to the /f/
sound of the digraph ph is letter f while the letter that
corresponds to the /k/ sound of letter c is k. Hence, the
new spelling of the word.
However, we can notice that their standardized

spelling for the three remaining loaned words vary. In
the case of the word Physics, it is discussed in the
Filipino orthography that they use the 8 additional
letters (C, F, J, Ñ, Q, V, X, Z) in technical and
scientific terms like Physics. This explains why the
Tagalog graphemic representation has exact
phonological characteristics as its English form. The
same analysis can be said about the Bahasa Melayu
spelling only that it went rigidly in following the
original phonemic characteristic of the word which is
/fizik/. On the contrary, the influence of the word
Physics for Bahasa Indonesia is not from its English

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Table 6 represents the lexical mapping among the without a similar spelling.
entries in the three languages. It can be deduced from
the table that they share a significant similarity in
On the other hand, the only exception in the one-on-
terms of structure and meaning. This is why the
one correspondence of Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa
majority of the words are considered cognates. Words
are considered cognate when they share a similar Indonesia are their letter ‘e’ which has two phonemic
origin, thus, share similar meanings or often, similar forms /ə/ as ‘emak’ (mother) and /e/ as in ‘ekor’ (tail).
spelling (Nordquist, 2020). The only words that are not However, the occurrence of /e/ is predictable in the
cognate are the words sayang and sanggol. two languages, as /e/ usually occurs in a harmonious
relationship with itself and /o/ in two contiguous
Despite the difference in the semantic level of the syllables where the vowel of the other syllable is also
word in Bahasa Melayu, often people use the word to /e/ or /o/. On the other hand, the schwa enters such a
express regret. This means that the word can somehow relationship with /i/ and /u/. The new system, guided
be a cognate to the word in Tagalog. Bahasa Melayu by the Wilkinson system, has discarded them and uses
and Bahasa Indonesia, on the other hand, noticeably ◻e◻ for both the vowels concerned (Winskel, 2020).
share the same meaning and almost spelling of the
words more than the Tagalog language. This is This absence of diacritical marks increases the
because they come from the Malay root. Both ambiguity of the meaning of some words especially for
languages are two different standardized Malayan non-speakers of the language. For non-Tagalog
languages (Clark & Pietsch, 2014). Tagalog, on the speakers, it will be difficult to distinguish the semantic
contrary, is highly influenced by the Malayan language qualities of two written homonyms as there are quite a
but also have been exposed to various languages due number of words in the language bearing such
to long years of colonization. This is why many of the similarities particularly among its dialects. This is one
Tagalog words as well as orthography are highly of the reasons why Tagalog is considered as a difficult
influenced by Spanish and English. language to learn. There are many different patterns of
syllable stress in a word. There can even be more than
Moreover, all three languages possess a high degree of one stressed syllable for long words (Sy, 2020). The
orthographic transparency as observed in both same difficulty can also be experienced by non-Bahasa
languages’ ability to have an almost one-to-one Melayu and non-Bahasa Indonesia speakers despite the
correspondence between phonemes and graphemes. intuitive nature of the language.
This is observed in all the words in the table and how
each embodies the Filipino term for such orthographic Further, it is notable in the table above that the two
transparency, “Kung ano ang baybay, siya ring languages share quite a number of words with the
bigkas.” However, it can also be observed in the table same or almost the same spelling. This can be credited
that the two languages have a discrepancy in the use of from the fact that Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia and
diacritical marks. In the words múra, sáyang, sanggól, Bahasa Melayu share almost the same letters in the
matá, ikáw, siyâ and inâ a diacritical mark is put above alphabet. The Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia
the vowel in the first syllable while its Bahasa Melayu language possess 26 of these letters as they exclude the
and Bahasa Indonesia counterpart do not have. ñ and ng. Given such a fact, it can be deduced that the
words sanggol and sanggul as well as the words
In the new orthographic rules published by the sayang (what a pity) and sayang (love) have different
Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (2013), it is stated that it underlying graphemic origins. The nature of the ng in
is critical for the Filipino language to use diacritical the mentioned Tagalog words are elicited from the
marks to tell which syllable should be stressed or alphabet or considered as a single consonant while the
unstressed. There are three diacritical marks used in ng in the two counterpart languages is considered as a
the Filipino orthography, namely: pahilis (acute), digraph or a consonant cluster.
paiwa (grave) and pakupya (circumflex). This is
Furthermore, one of the many similarities in the
especially true for words with similar spellings but
orthographic characteristics of these languages is their
bears different meanings. For instance, the word bása
use of diphthongs. They both use this form of letter
in the table means ‘to read’. Without the diacritical combination to accommodate some of their loan words
mark, it can easily be mistaken with the word basâ that cannot be accommodated by the current single
which means ‘wet’. The same is true with the word alphabet (Ahmad, 2014). Nevertheless, despite the
múra (cheap) that can be mistaken for regional extensive diphthong use of both languages, it is
language murâ (seems like). However, the diacritical notable that they vary in the diphthongs that they use.
marks are not perceived too critical on Tagalog words It is noticeable in the words ikaw and ikau that their

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last letter differs. Most diphthongs in the Tagalog transitive verb derived by adding a prefix to a verb, a
language use y and w as in the case of iw, aw, ay, oy, noun or an adjective. The morpheme mem- is also
uy. On the other hand, Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa added suggesting the phonetic environment for Class
Melayu’s diphthongs are not highly influenced by y II that such morpheme is added when a root word
and w but most of them are characterized by a starts with consonants b, p or f.
monophthong-like structure followed by an
approximant. This includes ai, au and oi for Bahasa On a further note, the use of suffix in a root word also
Melayu and ai, au, oi and ei for Bahasa Indonesia. changes the semantic category of a word. For example,
This better explains the difference of the similar- the addition of the suffix -an to the root word made
sounding words but with different spelling in the table. balik (return) an infinitive aspect. On the contrary, the
affixation rules of the other two languages
Table 7. Affixation Process Among the Verbs of demonstrates the transitive characteristic of the verb
Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, and Bahasa Melayu balikkan having been considered as a Class V verb. In
addition to this, the word nagbalikan means that the
verb is under the reciprocal trigger of the verb. This
refers to the action being done by subjects at the same
time. Since the two Bahasa languages do not use
triggers in the orthographical rules in affixation, the
verb is still classified as a Class V verb which is
considered as a transitive verb.
These differences in the affixation process of each

language as well as the complexity of each implies an
increasing difficulty in understanding another
language. Hence, this shall require non-speaker to
study more the morphological processes of a certain
language. Despite the many morphological similarities
of the two languages, the affixation processes of words
play a significant role in setting the syntactical and
semantic features of a word form. This goes in
Based on the table, all three languages undergo consonance with the study of Hasani, Mousavi and
morphological changes through affixation. The verbs Zarei (2014). Their study revealed that learners tend to
in both languages take prefixes, suffixes and often approach the word building process as a whole unit,
circumfix. However, it can be noted that while and that they find it difficult to apply a word formation
Tagalog makes use of infix, Bahasa Melayu and strategy when they are not familiar with the affixes of
Bahasa Indonesia usually do not. This implies that the language they are studying. The more students
Tagalog affixation is more complicated than that of the learn about affixes, the better they perform on
other two languages. Further, it can also be noted that vocabulary learning.
despite the occurrence of morphological processes in
the three languages, the morphemes they use vary as It is very evident in the table 8 the process of
well as the underlying rules for each affixation of each reduplication among the words. Reduplication is the
language. process whereby a base or some part of the base is
repeated (See, 2012). While the three languages
The use of affixes in Tagalog is subject to its trigger
explicitly show reduplication, the manner of
system called focus (Sundita, 2017) where the rules in
reduplicating the words is different from one language
the affixation depend on the focus of the verb in the
sentence. For instance, the use of the morpheme i- as to another. In Tagalog, future actions involve the
prefix suggests that the verb is used as an object that repetition of the first syllable of the root word of the
undergoes a change of state whereas, in this case, it verb as in the case of bibili which root word is bili. On
will tend to move away from its actor when structured the other hand, the Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa
in a syntactical form. On the other hand, the use of the Indonesia repeat the entire root word. The same with
morpheme mem- in the word membalik suggests that it the word nagbabasa that repeats only the first syllable
is a Class V verb which means that it functions as a of the root word basa while the root word is
completely reduplicated to suggest a repetitive action
resulting to baca-baca.

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Table 8. A Contrastive Analysis of the Reduplication

Process in Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, and Bahasa
Melayu
and /o/ (Schachter & Reid, 2009 as cited in Arizo et
al., 2020). Table 9 below shows the Tagalog vowel
phonemes which include /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/ and /u/.
Table 9. Vowel Phonemes of Tagalog
The vowels /a/ and /ə/ in Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa

Melayu have no allophonic variation, which can be
placed in the beginning, middle, and end position of
the word. On the other hand, the vowels /i/, /u/, /e/, and
/o/ have their corresponding allophones. The vowel /i/
can be realized as /i/ and /I/, the vowel /u/ can be
realized as [u] and [ʊ], the vowel /e/ can be realized as
Further, the Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia’s [e] and [ɛ], and lastly, the vowel /o/ can be realized as
use of reduplication is not only evident among its [o] and [ɔ] (Wijana, 2003). The vowel phonemes of
verbs but also to its words belonging to a different Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu are shown in
lexical category. For instance, to express plurality of Table 10.
the word pintu (door), it applies complete
reduplication of the word in the form of pintu-pintu. Table 10. Vowel Phonemes of Bahasa Indonesia and
Contrary to this, Tagalog makes use of the case form Bahasa Melayu
mga to indicate plurality. A similar morphological
process is observed in the last two words in the table,
namely siyang-siya (So like him/her) and putih-putih
(very white). Its Tagalog counterpart made use of the
morpheme ng to indicate such meaning. The first ng is
not attached to the root word because it ends with the
The system of phonological contrast applied in the
consonant m while the second ng is attached because
three languages is a vital process of understanding the
the root word ends with a vowel. All these are
nature of each language’s linguistic features. In the
enclosed in the orthography rules of the Filipino
study of the sound system of Tagalog, Bahasa
language established by the Komisyon ng Wikang
Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu, it can be deduced that
Pambansa.
despite being part of the same Austronesian root, the
Similarities and Differences of Tagalog, Bahasa three languages have quite a number of differences.
Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu in terms of This distinction shall allow non-Tagalog speakers,
Phonological Features non-Bahasa Indonesia, and non-Bahasa Melayu
speakers to determine the typological characteristics of
The Tagalog phonology is influenced by the Spanish the three as well as their prominent differences,
and American colonization. The phonemic inventory making cognitive language and learning easier.
of Filipino grew as a result of the inclusion of several
English and Spanish loanwords. This can be seen in
the transition from a three-vowel to a five-vowel
system in the language. The vowels /i/ and /e/ were
originally considered as allophones of the same
phoneme, which had a similar case with the vowels /u/

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Table 11. Phonological Comparison syllable, it will derive a different meaning. The
Tagalog word gulóng that has a stress in the ultimate
syllable basically means wheel in English.
Lastly, the word tulak in Tagalog is cognate with the

words tolak in Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu
which means ‘push’ in English. Although tolak in
Bahasa Indonesia is orthographically and semantically
similar with tolak in Bahasa Melayu, it is
phonologically different from the word tulak in
Tagalog. The Tagalog word has the high back rounded
vowel /u/ while the Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa
Melayu has the mid back rounded vowel /o/. The
Table 11 shows how the words are spelled almost the difference occurs in the medial position of the word.
same but are pronounced differently. While it is true
that the orthographic transparency of the three Based on the words analyzed, it can be observed that
languages is observed among the words listed in Table there are number of words in Tagalog, Bahasa
3, it is easily noted through the phonetic transcription Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu that share similar
how sounds are produced differently. For instance, the meanings and appear and sound almost the same. It
Tagalog word bandera, which has a low front can be noted that Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa
unrounded vowel /a/ is in contrast to the Bahasa Melayu share more similarities in terms of spelling
Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu word bendera, which when compared with Tagalog. In terms of phonology,
has a mid central unrounded vowel /ə/. The difference several differences are observed such as the change
appears in initial and medial positions. from low front unrounded vowel of Tagalog to mid
central unrounded vowel and the mid front unrounded
The differences are also observed in the Tagalog word vowel of Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu, from
sandok, the Bahasa Indonesia word séndok and the the mid back vowel of to high back rounded vowel,
Bahasa Melayu word sénduk. Although they are from high back rounded vowel to mid back vowel and
cognates, they do not share the same phonological vice-versa. And these differences usually occur in the
features. The low front unrounded vowel /a/ in the medial position of the words.
Tagalog word sandok is different from the mid front
unrounded /e/ in the Bahasa Indonesia word séndok. Similarities and Differences of Tagalog, Bahasa
The difference occurs in the medial position of the Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu in terms of Semantic
word. On the other hand, in Bahasa Melayu, aside Features
from the low unrounded vowel /a/ to a mid front
unrounded vowel /e/, the mid back vowel /o/ in both Yule (2006) stated that the study of the meaning of
Tagalog and Bahasa Indonesia is changed into high words, phrases, and sentences is known as semantics.
back rounded vowel /u/, hence the word sénduk. In This means that semantics studies how words, phrases,
such word, the difference between Tagalog and Bahasa clauses, and sentences have meanings and may be
comprehended by individuals who hear or see them. In
Melayu occurs in both initial and medial position of
semantics, he mentions two characteristics of learning
the word while the difference between Bahasa
meaning. Words have conceptual and associative
Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu occurs in the medial
meanings, as well as semantic features, semantic roles,
position of the word only.
and lexical relationships (Yule, 2006).
The same case can be observed in the Tagalog words
Semantics is made up of several different components
gúlong and kuto and the Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa
(Yule, 2006). Zakiya (2018) stated that lexical
Melayu words gulung and kutu, which mean ‘roll’ and relationship is one of them and the lexical relation is
‘louse’, respectively. The mid back rounded vowel /o/ the meaning relationship between words, such as
in the Tagalog words gúlong and kuto differ from the synonymy. In semantics, terms such as huge and large,
high back rounded vowel /u/ in the words gulung and buy and purchase, freedom and liberty, and so on have
kutu in Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu. Note a relationship to one another.
that a stress is placed in the initial syllable of gúlong in
Tagalog because if the stress is placed in its ultimate The table below shows the examples of lexical
relationships of the Bahasa-Indonesia, Bahasa-Melayu,

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and Tagalog languages particularly in synonyms,

antonyms, polysemy, heteronyms, and hyponyms.
Table 12. Lexical Relationships
Synonyms
When the synonymy is one term and there are two

synonyms, the synonymy is divided into synonyms.
Synonyms are defined as two or more words that have
substantially similar meanings, according to Yule
(2006). Synonyms are two or more separate words that
have the same meaning. Rafida (2018) believed that
synonyms are semantic associations that express the
similarity of meaning between speech units with
different meanings.
Table 12.1. Synonyms
In the table, it showed how the words in the four

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languages namely English, Tagalog, Bahasa- kesepian (adjective) in the Bahasa-Indonesia language,
Indoensia, and Bahasa-Melayu are synonymous to and sedih – sunyi (adjective) in the Bahasa-Melayu
each other. The words in the English language, proof language. They are synonymous to each other because
and evidence are synonymous to each other because of of the fact that these words have related meaning to
its meaning related to each other. Proof (noun) in the each other and can be used in same conditions. Sad,
English language, patunay (noun) in the Tagalog malungkot, sedih, and sedih means feeling or
language, bukti (noun) in the Bahasa-Indonesian displaying sadness; dissatisfied. Lonely, malungkot,
language, and bukti (noun) in the Bahasa-Melayu kesepian, and sunyi means because there are no friends
language means an argument or piece of evidence that or company, one feels sad.
establishes or aids in the establishment of a fact or the
truth of a proposition. Relatively, evidence (noun) in An additional example of synonymous words in the
the English language, ebidensya (noun) in the Tagalog English, Tagalog, Bahasa-Indonesia, and Bahasa-
language, bukti (noun) in the Bahasa-Indonesia Melayu languages are grateful-thankful (adjective),
language, and bukti (noun) in the Bahasa-Melayu nagpapasalamat – mapagpasalamat (adjective),
language means the body of facts or information that bersyukur – bertirima karih (adjective), and bertirima
can be used to determine if a belief or proposition is karih – bersyukur (adjective), respectively. The
adjective words grateful, nagpapasalamat, bersyukur,
true or legitimate.
and bertirima karih means thankful; feeling or
Another example of the words that are synonymous to expressing gratitude for kindness. Their synonymous
each other because they have related meaning are the adjective words thankful, mapagpasalamat, bertirima
grief (noun) in the English language, kalungkutan karih, and bersyukur means ecstatic and relieved.
(noun) in the Tagalog language, duka (noun) in the
Yule (2006) stated that with these words being
Bahasa-Indonesia language, and kesedihan (noun) in
synonymous to each other, these propositions are
the Bahasa-Melayu language which means intense being expressed in the four languages, to wit: (1) when
grief, especially grief brought on by the death of a synonyms are employed in predications with the same
loved one. Synonymous to these words are the words referring expression, the truth value of the predictions
sorrow (noun) in the English language, kalungkutan is the same; (2) synonyms can be nouns, adjectives,
(noun) in the Tagalog language, duka (noun) in the adverbs, or verbs; (3) synonyms are typically single
Bahasa-Indonesia language, and kesedihan (noun) in lexemes of the same weight; and (4) theory of
the Bahasa-Melayu language which means a severe synonyms, they are, if (a) is true the (b) is also true,
sense of bereavement brought on by a loss, and when (a) is wrong the (b) is wrong too.
disappointment, or other tragedy experienced by
oneself or others. Moreover, Rafida (2018) expressed that the
relationship between the two synonyms is two-way.
The words beautiful (adjective) in the English When a word is synonymous to a word, that word is
language, maganda (adjective) in the Tagalog also synonymous to that word. The semantic properties
language, cantik (adjective) in the Bahasa-Indonesia of synonyms are largely the same in lexical
language, and cantik (adjective) in the Bahasa-Melayu interactions. The distinction between the words is that
language are synonymous to the words pretty these words are more commonly used in sentences.
(adjective) in the English language, maganda
Antonyms
(adjective) in the Tagalog language, cukup (adjective)
in the Bahasa-Indonesia language, and cantik
Zakiyah (2018) defined antonyms as a single meaning
(adjective) in the Bahasa-Melayu language. They are
in one form but a different meaning in another. An
synonymous to each other since they can be used in
antonym is a semantic link between two units of
similar situations because of their related meaning. speech that expresses the opposite, opposition, or
Beautiful, maganda, cantik, and cantik means aesthetic contrast of one another. An antonym is a semantic link
pleasure for the senses or psyche while pretty, between two units of speech that expresses the
maganda, cukup, and cantik means attractive in a opposite, opposition, or contrast of one another.
delicate way. According to Palmer (1982), there are three divisions
of a n to n y m s n am ely g r a d a b le an t o n y m ,
One more example of synonymous words is sad-lonely complementary antonyms, and relational opposites.
(adjective) in the English language, malungkot –
malungkot (adjective) in the Tagalog language, sedih – Rafida (2018) defined complementary antonyms are

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word pairings with opposing meanings that do not fall mutually exclusive. That is, they can exist
on a continuous spectrum (push, pull). On the other independently of each other.
hand, a gradable antonym is one of a pair of words
with polar opposite meanings that are separated by a An additional example of relational opposite antonyms
continuous spectrum. Because temperature is such a are the words short-tall (English), maikli-matangkad
broad spectrum, hot and cold, two extremes of the (Tagalog), pendek-tinggi (Bahasa-Indonesia), and
spectrum, are gradable antonyms. Relatively, relational pendek-tinggi (Bahasa-Melayu). In addition, these
opposite antonyms are word pairs in which opposing words are considered as relational opposite antonyms
only makes sense in the context of the two meanings' since these word pairs where opposite makes sense
relationship (teacher, pupil). only in the context of the relationship between the two
meanings. Short, maikli, pendek, and pendek means
Table 12.2. Antonyms measuring a small distance from end to end. On the
other hand, tall, matangkad, tinggi, and tinggi means
of great or more than average height, especially
relative to width.
An example of gradable antonyms are the words

strong –weak (English), malakas-mahina (Tagalog),
kuat-lemah (Bahasa-Indonesia), and kuat-lemah
(Bahasa-Melayu). These words are considered to be
examples of gradable antonyms since these pair of
words with opposite meanings lie on a continuous
spectrum. This also means that there is contrary
meaning but it is not absolute because of distance or
In the table, it showed how the words in the four space. Strong, malakas, kuat, and kuat means having
languages namely English, Tagalog, Bahasa- the power to move heavy weights or perform other
Indonesia, and Bahasa-Melayu are opposite to each physically demanding tasks while weak, mahina,
other. The verbs accept (English), tanggapin lemah, and lemah means lacking the power to perform
(Tagalog), menerima (Bahasa-Indonesia), and terima physically demanding tasks and lacking the physical
(Bahasa-Melayu) means there is a consent to receive strength and energy.
something. The verbs refuse (English), tumanggi
(Tagalog), menolak (Bahasa-Indonesia), and menolak In addition, the words rich-poor (English), mayaman-
(Bahasa-Melayu) indicates or shows that one is not mahirap (Tagalog), kaya-miskin (Bahasa-Indonesia),
willing to do something or to receive something. and kaya-miskin (Bahasa-Melayu) are considred to be
Based on the explanation above, the words accept – examples of relational opposite antonyms. This is
refuse, tanggapin – tumanggi, menerima – menolak, because these words indicate one term movement in
and terima – menolak are antonym. It can be seen one direction and the other are the same movement in
from how its meaning different from each other. These the opposite direction. Rich, mayaman, kaya, and kaya
words are complementary antonyms since their means having a great deal of money or assets or
meanings are opposite but whose meanings do not lie wealthy. On the other hand, poor, mahirap, miskin,
on a continuous spectrum and miskin means lacking sufficient money to live at a
standard considered comfortable or normal in a
Another example of words showing opposition from society.
each other are the words internal-external (English),
panloob-panlabas (Tagalog), intern-luar (Bahasa- Polysemy
Indonesia), and dalaman-luaran (Bahasa-Melayu).
Internal, panloob, intern, and dalaman means Rivera and Bernardo (2018) defined polysemy as a
something is situated on the inside. External, panlabas, single form (written or spoken) with several meanings
luar, and luaran means belonging to or forming the that are all connected via extension. It is a one word /
outer surface or structure of something. These words lexeme that has more than one meaning. It is a term
are antonyms since their meanings show opposition that refers to a word that has a number of various
meanings that are linked by extension and invoked
from each o ther. They are con sid ered as
when the senses are deemed to be related.
complementary antonyms since these pair of words
that are opposite in meaning, cannot be graded and are

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Table 12.3. Polysemy Indonesia, and notis in Bahasa-Melayu.
In settings when the meaning is different from the

primary meaning of the term, polysemous words might
be difficult to understand. It is crucial to understand
the polysemic nature of much vocabulary, as well as
the difficulties it might cause non-native speakers. It is
advantageous to be able to recognize words that have a
different meaning than the one that was most likely
In the table, the English word arms can mean one of learnt first. These can be terms that they can use in
the parts of the human body which has an equivalent speech or writing, as well as words that they come
term of braso in Tagalog, lengan in Bahasa-Indonesia, across in other resources. Thus, it portrays a realization
and lengan in Bahasa-Melayu. Arms can also mean the of how important the environment is in shaping the
weapons used in the battle or war which has the language and the process of language learning and
equivalent term of sandata in Tagalog, senjata in acquisition. The lexical entries under each language
Bahasa-Indonesia, and senjata in Bahasa-Melayu. are affected by the history, the exposure and the use of
the language overtime. Their environment shapes their
Another example of polysemy is the English word lexical inventories.
head. One meaning of the English word head is that it
is one of the upper part of the human body or front or Heteronymy
upper part of the animal body, which is termed as ulo
in Tagalog, kepala in Bahasa-Indonesia, and ketua in According to Setianto (2018), two or more words
having the same spelling but differing pronunciations
Bahasa-Melayu. Another meaning of the English word
and meanings are referred to as heteronyms. The term
head is the leader of an organization or corporation,
heteronym refers to distinct terminology (or
which is termed as pinuno in Tagalog, pemimpin in
regionalisms) used in different parts of the country for
Bahasa-Indonesia, and ketua in Bahasa-Melayu.
some more generally used words in the language.
Usually, words function as a noun or a verb. One can
The English word light is also an example of
identify if it is a noun or verb through its stress. Nouns
polysemy. The word light can mean the source of
are stressed in the first syllable while verbs are
illumination of a space such as a house, apartment, or
stressed in the second syllable.
building, which has a term of ilaw in Tagalog, lampu
in Bahasa-Indonesia, and cahaya in Bahasa-Melayu. Table 12.4. Heteronymy
On the other hand, the word light can also mean a
lesser weight of an object, which has a term of magaan
in Tagalog, warung in Bahasa-Indonesia, and cahaya
in Bahasa-Melayu.
An additional example of polysemy is the English term

stand. The English term stand, which has an equivalent
term of tumayo in Tagalog, berdiri in Bahasa-
Indonesia, and berdiri in Bahasa-Melayu, refers to
maintaining an upright position with support of one’s
feet. Meanwhile, the term stand in English, tindahan in
Tagalog, berdiri in Bahasa-Indonesia, and berdiri in
Bahasa-Melayu, means a place where something is
being sold by someone. As shown in the table, permit as a heteronym, can
function as a noun or a verb. Permit (noun), which is
A last example of polysemy is the English word note. lisensya in Tagalog, lisensi in Bahasa-Indonesia, and
One meaning of the term note is that it is a brief record lesen in Bahasa-Melayu means an official document
of facts, topics, or thoughts, written down as an aid to giving someone authorization to do something. Permit
(verb), which is pahintulot in Tagalog, izin in Bahasa-
memory. In Tagalog, it is termed as tanda, surat in
Indonesia, and mengizinkan in Bahasa-Melayu means
Bahasa-Indonesia, and tanda in Bahasa-Melayu. to give authorization or consent to (someone) to do
Another meaning of the term note is that to notice or something.
pay particular attention to something. In Tagalog, it is
termed as pansinin, memperhatikan in Bahasa-

Research Article
Another example of a heteronym is the word present.

Present can function as a noun or a verb. Present
(verb), ibigay in Tagalog, memberi in Bahasa- The semantic study of the variations between the three
Indonesia, and memberi in Bahasa-Melayu, means languages reveals the importance of the environment
give or award formally or ceremonially. Present in molding the language and the learning and
(noun), regalo in Tagalog, hadiah in Bahasa acquisition process. The lexical entries for each
Indonesia, and hadiah in Bahasa Melayu means a language are influenced by the language's history,
thing given to someone as a gift. exposure, and use over time. Heteronyms can be
perplexing. These terms are spelt the same but have
Convict as a heteronym serves two functions. Convict different pronunciations. They have diverse meanings
(noun), which is preso in Tagalog, tawanan in Bahasa- depending on how they are pronounced. That is why,
Indonesia, and banduan in Bahasa-Melayu, means a rather of focusing on reading, it is critical to LISTEN
person found guilty of a criminal offense and serving a to the pronunciation.
sentence of imprisonment. Convict (verb), which is
Hyponyms
mahatulan in Tagalog, dihukum in Bahasa-Indonesia,
and disabitkan in Bahasa-Melayu, means to declare Setianto (2018) clearly defined the relationship is
someone to be guilty of a criminal offense by the described as hyponymy when the meaning of one form
verdict of a jury or the decision of a judge in a court of is encompassed in the meaning of another. Hyponymy
law. is a word-to-word relationship in which one word's
meaning encompasses the meaning of the other. It's an
An additional example of heteronyms is the word inclusive relationship. It's a specific subordinate term
object. Object, as a noun, which is bagay in Tagalog, whose referent is the same as the referent of the
hal in Bahasa-Indonesia, and benda in Bahasa-Melayu, superordinate term.
means a material thing that can be seen and touched.
Object, as a verb, which is tumutol in Tagalog, Table 12.5. Hyponyms
keberatan in Bahasa-Indonesia, and membanta in
Bahasa-Melayu, means to oppose something firmly
and usually with words or arguments.
Furthermore, escort is also an example of heteronym.

Escort as a noun, which is konsorte in Tagalog,
pengawala in Bahasa-Indonesia, and pengiring in
Bahasa-Melayu, means a person, vehicle, or group
accompanying another for protection or as a mark of
rank. On the other hand, escort as a verb, which is
samahan in Tagalog, mengantar in Bahasa-Indonesia,
and mengeringi in Bahasa-Melayu, means to
As shown in the table, the specific terms of fork,
accompany someone or something somewhere,
spoon, and knife are the hyponyms of the
especially for protection or security, or as a mark of
superordinate utensils. In the Tagalog language, the
rank.
hyponyms are the tinidor, kutsara, kutsilyo and the
Notably, there are also words in Tagalog that are superordinate is kagamitan. In the Bahasa-Indonesia
heteronyms, which they have the same spelling but language, the hyponyms are the garpu, sendok, pisau
they have different functions and meaning. and the superordinate is perkakas. In the Bahasa-
Melayu language, the hyponyms are the garpu,
sendok, pisau and the superordinate is perkakas.

Research Article
Utensils (kagamitan, perkakas, and perkakas), as the Melayu, merpati, helang, gagak are the hyponyms of
superordinate, mean an implement, container, or other burung. Bird (ibon, burung, and burung) means a
article, especially for household use. Fork (tinidor, warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrate distinguished by
garpu, and garpu) means an implement with two or the possession of feathers, wings, and a beak and
more prongs used for lifting food to the mouth or (typically) by being able to fly. Pigeon (kalapati,
holding it when cutting. Spoon (kutsara, sendok, and merpati, and merpati) means a stout seed- or fruit-
sendok) means an implement consisting of a small, eating bird with a small head, short legs, and a cooing
shallow oval or round bowl on a long handle, used for voice. Eagle (agila, burung rajawali, and helang)
eating, stirring, and serving food. Knife (kutsilyo, means a large bird of prey with a massive hooked bill
pisau, and pisau) means an instrument composed of a and long broad wings. Crow (uwak, burung gagak, and
blade fixed into a handle, used for cutting or as a gagak) means a large bird with mostly glossy black
weapon. plumage, a heavy bill, and a raucous voice.
Another examples of hyponyms are daisy, rose, tulip Moreover, mango, apple, grape are the hyponyms of
which flower is their superordinate. In the Tagalog fruits. In Tagalog, mangga, mansanas, ubas are the
language, daisy, rosas, tulip are the hyponyms and the hyponyms of prutas. In Bahasa-Indonesia, buah
superordinate is bulaklak. In Bahasa-Indonesia, bunga mangga, apel, anggur are the hyponyms of the
aster, mawar, bunga tulp are the hyponyms and the superordinate buah. In Bahasa-Melayu, mangga, epal,
superordinate is bunga. In Bahasa-Melayu, daisy, anggur are the hyponyms of the superordinate buah.
mawar, bunga tulip are the hyponyms and the Fruits (prutas, buah, buah) means the sweet and fleshy
superordinate is bunga. Flower (bulaklak, bunga, and product of a tree or other plant. Mango (mangga, buah
bunga), as the superordinate, mean the seed-bearing manga, and mangga) a fleshy, oval, yellowish-red
part of a plant. Daisy (daisy, bunga aster, and daisy) tropical fruit that is eaten ripe or green. Apple
means a small grassland plant that has flowers with a (mansanas, apel, and epal) means the round fruit of a
yellow disk and white rays. Rose (rosas, mawar, and tree of the rose family, which typically has thin red or
mawar) means a prickly bush or shrub that typically green skin and crisp flesh. Grape (ubas, anggur, and
bears red, pink, yellow, or white fragrant flowers. anggur) means a berry, typically green (classified as
Tulip (tulip, bunga tulp, and bunga tulip) means a white), purple, red, or black, growing in clusters on a
flower that is dormant in the summer once the flowers grapevine.
and leaves die back
The relevance of the environment in shaping the
Green, red, and yellow are the hyponyms of the language and the learning and acquisition process is
revealed by a semantic analysis of the differences
superordinate color. In Tagalog, berde, pula, dilaw are
between the three languages. Each language's lexical
the hyponyms of the superordinate kulay. In Bahasa-
entries are changed by its history, exposure, and usage
Indonesia, hijau, merah, kuning are the hyponyms of
over time, depending on the contexts these words are
the superordinate warna. In Bahasa-Melayu, hijau,
used. Although hyponymy can be found in all
merah, kuning are the hyponyms of the superordinate
languages, the concepts that are represented by words
warna. Color (kulay, warna, and warna), as a in hyponymic connections differ from one language to
superordinate, means the property possessed by an the next.
object of producing different sensations on the eye as a
result of the way the object reflects or emits light.
Green (berde, hijau, and hijau) means the color Conclusion
between blue and yellow in the spectrum. Red (pula,
merah, and merah) means the color at the end of the
Every language is a unique beauty of its own. There is
spectrum next to orange and opposite violet. Yellow always something distinguishable about a language no
(dilaw, kuning, and kuning) means the color between matter how many similarities a group of languages
green and orange in the spectrum. have. This goes to show the importance of contrast
analysis in understanding languages since it shows us
An additional example of hyponyms are pigeon, eagle,
that no matter the countless similarities, there will
crow in which bird is the superordinate. In Tagalog, always be a difference.
kalapati, agila, uwak are the hyponyms of ibon. In
Bahasa-Indonesia, merpati, burung rajawali, burung Tagalog orthography is a bit complex to understand for
gagak are the hyponyms of burung. In Bahasa- it contains more elements than the others. It possesses

Research Article
extra letters that are not present in the other two predictors of early reading ability in Arabic: A longitudinal study
from kindergarten to grade 2. Handbook of Arabic literacy (pp.
languages. Its ng as a single consonant letter is deemed
171-194). Springer.
as a digraph in the other languages. While its words
are applied with diacritical marks, the other languages Andrikus, T. (2021). List of similar words in Indonesian and
do not have them because their languages are so Tagalog. Scribd.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/118439198/List-of-similar-words-in-
intuitive to comprehend. They also vary in their Indonesian-and-Tagalog
diphthongs and this difference is one of the causes of
the difference of their spellings. Also, despite a Arizo, C., Palayon, A., Tornito, A.P., & Sukma, B.P. (2020).
Comparative Analysis of Filipino and Indonesian Monophthongs.
common set of consonant letters for loan words, they Lexeme : Journal of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, 2 (2),
are spelled differently from one another because one is 59-70.
highly influenced by the Spanish language, the other is http://openjournal.unpam.ac.id/index.php/LJLAL/article/view/8103/
Dtuch and the other is the British language. 5198
Battisti, C. (2000). Fonetica generale. Lampi di stampa.

In terms of morphological assimilation, affixation and
reduplication play important roles. While all the three Blaylock, N. (1999). The Austronesian Language Family. Brigham
languages make use of prefixes, suffixes and Young University.
https://linguistics.byu.edu/classes/Ling450ch/reports/austronesian.ht
circumfixes, they vary in the morphemes that they use. ml
These morphemes can change the lexical category of
the words and are subject to a set of rules unique to Blust, R.A. (2021). Austronesian languages. Brittanica.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Austronesian-languages
each language. The same occurrence can be observed
in the reduplication process of the languages. Caravolas, M. (2004). Spelling development in alphabetic writing
However, it is apparent that Tagalog only repeats a systems: A cross-linguistic perspective. European Psychologist,
syllable in the reduplication process, while Bahasa 9(1), 3-14. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040.9.1.3
Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu languages tend to repeat Caravolas, M., Lervåg, A., Mousikou, P., Efrim, C., Litavský, M.,
the whole root word. Onochie- Quintanilla, E., & Hulme, C. (2012). Common patterns of
prediction of literacy development in different alphabetic
There is also a distinction in the phonological aspect of orthographies. Psychological Science, 23(6), 678-686.
the three languages. Since the Bahasa Indonesia and Centre for Applied Linguistics. (2016). Tagalog. Heritage
Bahasa Melayu languages have an additional /ə/ Languages in America. https://www.cal.org/heritage/tagalog.html
sound, one will really notice how Tagalog
Clark, M., & Pietsch, J. (2014). Indonesia-Malaysia relations:
pronunciation is different from the other two Cultural heritage, politics and labour migration. Routledge.
languages. This is why when they speak, there is a
distinct difference in the stressing of the words Clynes, A., & Deterding, D. (2011). Standard Malay (Brunei).
because /ə/ are not stressed and are unaspirated. This Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 41(2), 259-268.
does not only affect the pronunciation but also the Comrie, B., & Matthews, S. (1990). Prolegomena to a typology of
meaning because an error in the pronunciation may tough movement. In Studies in typology and diachrony: Papers
mean an error in the semantic meaning of the words. presented to Joseph H. Greenberg on his 75th birthday (pp. 43-58).
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richness of culture and history reflected in the have similar meanings. Tripzilla.
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words/121912
can say that Austronesian languages are somehow less
complicated to deal with. They share many similarities Endarto, I. (2020). A corpus-based lexical analysis of Indonesian
in terms of their structure and meaning but there will English as a new variety. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics,
always be difference triggers that somehow ripples the 10 (1). https://ejournal.upi.edu/index.php/IJAL/article/view/24993
effect of one difference to another aspect and then to Febriasari, W. (2018). An analysis of lexical relations in amnesia
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contrasting made. It is fascinating to know how a University of Surakarta
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minute difference in the number of alphabet letters can
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syllabication and eventually the meaning of the word. number of affixes on vocabulary learning of Iranian intermediate
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Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, and Bahasa Melayu Language: A Comparative Analysis

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Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, and Bahasa Melayu Language: A Comparative Analysis

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TAGALOG, BAHASA INDONESIA, AND

BAHASA MELAYU LANGUAGE A

PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION: A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL

Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, and Bahasa Melayu Language:

Introduction similarities in related languages in neighboring

Raymunde et al. 586/605

Raymunde et al. 587/605

Raymunde et al. 588/605

Raymunde et al. 589/605

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Result & Discussion

Data Collection and Analysis Table 1. The Modern Filipino Alphabet

Upon the conduct of the study, the researchers first

Raymunde et al. 591/605

Table 2. The Bahasa Indonesian Alphabet

In the account of the three languages, there are 19

Table 4. Letters with Different Pronunciations

Meanwhile, the Bahasa Indonesia orthography is

Table 3. The Bahasa Melayu Alphabet

Further, the Bahasa Melayu language consists of a

The alphabet system of the three languages have the

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Table 5. List of Loaned Words in Tagalog, Bahasa

The word bansa or bangsa is originally borrowed from

It is also notable that the three languages share a

However, we can notice that their standardized

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These differences in the affixation process of each

Raymunde et al. 595/605

Table 8. A Contrastive Analysis of the Reduplication

Table 9. Vowel Phonemes of Tagalog

The vowels /a/ and /ə/ in Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa

Raymunde et al. 596/605

Lastly, the word tulak in Tagalog is cognate with the

Raymunde et al. 597/605

and Tagalog languages particularly in synonyms,

Table 12. Lexical Relationships

When the synonymy is one term and there are two

Table 12.1. Synonyms

In the table, it showed how the words in the four

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An example of gradable antonyms are the words

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Table 12.3. Polysemy Indonesia, and notis in Bahasa-Melayu.

In settings when the meaning is different from the

An additional example of polysemy is the English term

Raymunde et al. 601/605

Another example of a heteronym is the word present.

Furthermore, escort is also an example of heteronym.

Raymunde et al. 602/605

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Battisti, C. (2000). Fonetica generale. Lampi di stampa.

Raymunde et al. 604/605

Reid, L. (2017). Revisiting the position of Philippine languages in

Raymunde et al. 605/605

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