The Association between “pembayang” and “pemaksud” of Malay Pantun

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The pantun as a form of traditional Malay poetry was very popular in the world. It plays an important role in Malay literature because of its preeminence and poetry. In term of style, pantun is manifested as a prosody abab. In term of content, each line of poetry is divided into two parts: pembayang and pemaksud. This is a correlation between the image and the realization of that image, which, even when there exist independent images, symbolize one meaning that is not directly expressed in both the pembayang and pemaksud. We realized that the clues and the meaning have a close connection with each other, based on the philosophy of Oriental people in general and the Malay in particular. From the perception of the Oriental people, they consider “human as a small universe; human and the earth are united”. Malay Pantun has some similarity with Vietnamese folk songs (ca dao Vi͏t Nam) in which the nature is expressed clearly in both the two genres. The Vietnamese folk songs are the crystallization of Vietnamese people and are a genuine beauty of Vietnamese traditional culture. In terms of the perceptions, Vietnamese folk songs and Malay pantun are the reflection of objectivity and reality of the two peoples’ behaviours, customs and traditions through the images of the nature, lifestyle, national traditions and the community relations. In both folk songs and pantun, the nature is significantly expressed, which can be explained by the special behaviours of Vietnamese and Malaysian people to the nature. The nature had become an indispensable factor in their spiritual life and the behavioural culture of Vietnamese people.

Key words: traditional Malay poetry, Malay literature, Malay pantun, Vietnamese folk songs

ABSTRAK: Pantun sebagai satu bentuk puisi Melayu tradisional sangat popular di dunia pada satu ketika dahulu. Ia memainkan peranan penting dalam kesusasteraan Melayu kerana keunggulan dan puisinya. Dari segi gaya, pantun dimanifestasikan sebagai abab melalui ilmu persajakan. Dari segi kandungan, setiap suatu pantun dibahagikan kepada dua bahagian: pembayang dan pemaksud. Korelasi antara imej dan merealisasikan imej yang, walaupun apabila wujud imej bebas di setiap bahagian, imej itu melambangkan satu makna yang tidak langsung dinyatakan dalam kedua-dua pembayang dan pemaksud. Kami menyedari bahawa petunjuk dan makna mempunyai hubungan rapat dengan satu sama lain, berdasarkan falsafah orang Timur secara umum dan Melayu khususnya. Dari persepsi orang Timur, “manusia sebagai alam semesta yang kecil; manusia dan bumi bersatu”. Pantun Melayu mempunyai beberapa persamaan dengan lagu-lagu rakyat Vietnam (ca dao Vi͏t Nam) di mana sifatnya dinyatakan dengan jelas dalam kedua-dua genre. Lagu-lagu rakyat Vietnam adalah kristalisasi orang Vietnam dan keindahan asli buat budaya tradisional Vietnam. Dari segi persepsi, lagu-lagu rakyat Vietnam dan pantun Melayu adalah mencerminkan objektif dan realiti tingkah laku, adat dua rakyat dan tradisi melalui imej, gaya hidup, tradisi kebangsaan dan hubungan komuniti. Dalam kedua lagu rakyat dan pantun, alam secara signifikan diungkapkan, yang dapat dijelaskan oleh perilaku khusus orang Vietnam dan Malaysia terhadap alam. Alam semula jadi telah menjadi satu faktor penting dalam kehidupan rohani mereka dan budaya tingkah laku orang Vietnam.

Kata kunci: puisi Melayu tradisional, kesusasteraan Melayu, pantun Melayu, lagu-lagu rakyat Vietnam