" Awww, she's cute," a speaker of Malay may say about his pretty girl friend.

Change the subject to a baby orangutan, he may NOT say, " Awww, it is cute."

Why?

He has to say," Awww, the orangutan is cute." Because there is no personal pronouns for non-humans in Malay.

What if the guy has more to say about the orangutan? Does this mean that he have to call it "orangutan" all the time? Doesn't this create redundancy?

I'm afraid the answer is : Yes, officially. He can try to be resourceful with descriptions such as using " that fluffy orange fur ball " as long as he doesn't use " it" as an alternative.

Hmmm...surely there are animal stories in Malay. Doesn't this make things boring for the kids?

Don't worry, animals talk in stories, don't they? Therefore they are granted the personal pronouns "he" and "she". It is perfectly alright to say, " He/she is a cute orangutan" in settings where animals are personified.

Then what about scientists? Do they have to alternate "fluffy orange fur balls" with "orangutans" in their reports? Surely they need the more dignified personal pronoun "it" in such a serious setting!

Don't worry about the scientists. There is also a provision to grant the human status of "he/she" in highly technological context, even to real orangutans.

After all, scientists prefer to refer to orangutans as Pongo pygmaeus, don't they? So it is perfectly alright for scientists to say, " He/she is a cute Pongo pygmaeus" ...in their reports.

But that's still not fair! Surely an ordinary guy deserves the right to at least say, " He/she is a cute orangutan" without telling his girl friend a kiddie story or sounding like a scientific geek, doesn't he?

Well...he has two options.

First, he must know the difference between a subject and an object in a sentence.

As long as he is careful to refer to the orangutan as an object, he is on the safe side. For example, instead of " Awww it is so cuddly", he should say, " Awww, I want to cuddle it".

Second, he can argue on one of the definitions for a word designated as "he/she". ( Unlike English, there are no masculine and feminine personal pronouns in Malay ) The tenth and last definition for that word is " to refer to or to explain what was mentioned before it ". Sounds like a loophole for using "it" doesn't it?

Actually there are reference books that use "he/she" for "it" probably based on this information found in the most authoritative dictionary in Malaysia. However, majority insist that "it" does not exist as a personal pronoun and subject.

So, does an ordinary guy dare to defy the voice of majority to make it easier for him to deal with a monkey in Malay?