Animal-referring words in Malay idioms: A lexical function analysis

Malay language has many ways in describing various things and events. Idioms are used as one of the very fine ways to say something in order to save the listeners' face. Every word chosen in idiomatic phrases has its own meaning. Compared to the common words used daily, the words chosen in idiomatic phrases are much related to the way of thinking among the Malay people. They show creativity in that they relate to the surrounding world as a symbolic in telling something. Nowadays, idioms are almost forgotten by the Malay younger generation. They only learn idioms as a compulsory subject to pass their exam in Malay Language classes. Other than that, they would not know exactly what idioms are about. This paper discusses Malay idioms, focusing on the meanings, and the lexical functions of some animal referring words in Malay idiomatic phrases