Malay phonology

This article explains the phonology of the Malay language based on the pronunciation of Standard Malay, which is the official language in Brunei, Indonesia (as Indonesian), Malaysia (as Malaysian), and Singapore.

Consonants

The consonants of Standard Malay and also Indonesian are shown below. Non-native consonants that only occur in borrowed words, principally from Arabic and English, are shown in parentheses. Some analyses list 19 "primary consonants" for Malay as the 18 symbols that are not in parentheses in the table as well as the glottal stop [ʔ].

Consonant phonemes of Standard Malay

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m		n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p		t	t͡ʃ	k	(ʔ)
	voiced	b		d	d͡ʒ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	(f)	(θ)	s	(ʃ)	(x)	h
	voiced	(v)	(ð)	(z)
Approximant		w		l	j
Trill				r

Orthographic note: The sounds are represented orthographically by their symbols as above, except:

• /ð/ is represented as ⟨z⟩, the same as the /z/ sound (only occurs in Arabic loanwords originally containing the /ð/ sound, but the writing is not distinguished from Arabic loanwords with [z] sound, and this sound must be learned separately by the speakers.)
• /ɲ/ is written ⟨ny⟩ before a vowel, ⟨n⟩ before ⟨c⟩ and ⟨j⟩
• /ŋ/ is written ⟨ng⟩
• /θ/ is represented as ⟨s⟩, the same as the /s/ sound (only occurs in Arabic loanwords originally containing the /θ/ sound, but the writing is not distinguished from Arabic loanwords with [s] sound, and this sound must be learned separately by the speakers. Previously (before 1972), this sound was written ⟨th⟩ in Standard Malay (not Indonesian))
• the glottal stop [ʔ] is written as a final ⟨k⟩ or an apostrophe ⟨'⟩
• /tʃ/ is written ⟨c⟩
• /dʒ/ is written ⟨j⟩
• /ʃ/ is written ⟨sy⟩
• /x/ is written ⟨kh⟩
• /j/ is written ⟨y⟩

Notes

• /p/, /t/, /k/ are unaspirated, as in the Romance languages, or as in English spy, sty, sky. In word-final position, they are often unreleased, with final /k/ generally being realised as a glottal stop in native words. There is no liaison, that is, no audible release even when followed by a vowel in another word, as in kulit ubi ('tapioca skins'), though they are pronounced as a normal medial consonant when followed by a suffix.
• The glottal stop [ʔ] may be represented by an apostrophe in Arabic derived words such as Al Qur'an.
• /h/ is pronounced clearly between like vowels, as in Pahang. Elsewhere it is a very light sound, and is frequently silent, as in hutan ~ utan ('forest'), sahut ~ saut ('answer'). The exception to this tendency is initial /h/ from Arabic loans such as hakim ('judge').
• /r/ varies significantly across dialects. In addition, its position relative to schwa is ambiguous: kertas ('paper') may be pronounced [krəˈtas] or [kərəˈtas]. The trill /r/ is sometimes reduced to a single vibration when single, making it phonetically a flap [ɾ], so that the pronunciation of a single /r/ varies between trill [r] and flap [ɾ].
• /f/, /ʃ/, /v/, and /z/ only appear in loanwords. Some speakers pronounce /v/ in loanwords as [v], otherwise it is [f]. [z] can also be an allophone of /s/ before voiced consonants.

Apart from the above, there are a few consonants from Arabic that are used by a small number of speakers.

(IPA Consonant)	Arabic alphabet	Example of borrowed word
Voiceless dental fricative [θ]	ث	salji
Voiceless pharyngeal fricative [ħ]	ﺡ	halal
Pharyngealized voiceless alveolar fricative [sˁ]	ﺹ	salat
Pharyngealized voiced alveolar stop [dˁ]	ﺽ	darurat
Pharyngealized voiceless alveolar stop [tˁ]	ط	tayyiba
Pharyngealized voiced dental fricative [ðˁ]	ﻅ	zohor
Pharyngealized glottal stop [ʔˤ]	ﻉ	alam, ilmu

Loans from Arabic:

• Phonemes which occur only in Arabic loans may be pronounced distinctly by speakers who know Arabic. Otherwise they tend to be substituted with native sounds.

Table of borrowed Arabic consonants

Distinct	Assimilated	Example
/x/	/k/, /h/	khabar [ˈhabar], kabar [ˈkabar] ('news')
/ð/	/d/, /l/	redha, rela ('good will')
/ðˁ/	/l/, /z/	lohor, zohor ('noon prayer')
/ɣ/	/ɡ/, /r/	ghaib, raib ('hidden')
/ʕ/	/ʔ/	saat, sa'at ('time')

Nasal assimilation

Important in the derivation of Malay verbs and nouns is the assimilation of the nasal consonant at the end of the derivational prefixes meng- /məŋ/, a verbal prefix, and peng- /pəŋ/, a nominal prefix. The nasal segment is dropped before sonorant consonants, the nasals /m, n, ɲ, ŋ/, the liquids /l, r/ and the approximants /w, j/. It is retained before and assimilates to obstruent consonants: labial /m/ before labial /p, b/, alveolar /n/ before alveolar /t, d/, post-alveolar /ɲ/ before /tʃ, dʒ/ and /s/, and velar /ŋ/ before other sounds, velar /k, ɡ/ as well as /h/ and all vowels.

In addition, following voiceless obstruents, apart from /tʃ/ (that is /p, t, s, k/), are dropped.

That is, meng- produces the following derivations:

Table of nasal assimilation

root meng- derivation masak memasak nanti menanti layang melayang rampas merampas beli membeli dukung mendukung jawab menjawab (/məɲ/-) gulung menggulung hantar menghantar

root meng- derivation ajar mengajar isi mengisi pilih memilih tulis menulis cabut mencabut (/məɲ/-) kenal mengenal surat menyurat

Vowels

It is usually said that there are six vowels in Standard Malay and Indonesian. These six vowels are shown in the table below. However, other analyses set up a system with other vowels, particularly the open-mid vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/.

Table of vowel phonemes of Standard Malay

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open		a

Table of vowel phonemes of Indonesian

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-Mid	e	ə	o
Open-Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Phonological notes:

1. One source of variation in Malay is whether final /a/ in open final syllables of root morphemes (for example saya 'I') is pronounced as [a] or as [ə]. So called 'a varieties', such as Indonesian or the varieties of Sarawak, Sabah or Brunei, pronounce it as [a], while 'schwa varieties' such as peninsular Malaysian and the varieties of Singapore and Sumatra pronounce it as [ə]. In schwa varieties, /a/ of the penultimate syllable is also modified if it is followed by /h/, as in usaha [usəhə]. /a/ does not change to [ə] in singing.
2. In closed final syllables of root morphemes, the front vowel /i/ and back vowel /u/ are usually pronounced as [e] and [o], respectively, in Malaysian (except East Malaysia) and Malay of Singapore and Sumatra (where the language is native), and [ɪ] and [ʊ] in Indonesian.
3. The above allophony notwithstanding, the vowels [e] and [o] must be accorded phonemic status, as they occur in native words in all Malay dialects and in Arabic, Persian, Portuguese, English, Dutch, and Javanese loan words, and in foreign names. /e/ and /o/ may vary between different speakers as they are popularly pronounced as mid in Malaysian and close-mid in Indonesian. /i/ and /u/ are pronounced the same in Brunei and East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak).
4. Some words borrowed from English have the vowels [ɛ] and [ɔ], such as pek [pɛk] ('pack') and kos [kɔs] ('cost'). Words borrowed earlier have a more nativized pronunciation, such as pesta ('fest'), which is pronounced [pestə]. In Indonesian, [ɛ] and [ɔ] are allophones of /e/ and /o/ in closed final syllables.
5. Some district dialects differentiate close-mid and open-mid (front and back) vowels. Examples are in the Kedahan dialect:
   1. [modɛ] (modal) ('modal')
   2. [bɔrak] (bohong) ('lie')
6. [ɑ] is an occasional allophone of /a/ after or before more carefully pronounced consonant from Arabic words. Example: qari [qɑri].
7. Some district dialects differentiate open front and back vowels. Example: [ɡulaː] (gulai, the Perak River dialect).

Diphthongs

Some analyses claim that Malay has three native diphthong phonemes only in open syllables, they are:

• /ai̯/: kedai ('shop'), pandai ('clever')
• /au̯/: kerbau ('buffalo')
• /oi̯/ (or /ʊi̯/ in Indonesian): dodoi, amboi

Others assume that these "diphthongs" are actually a monophthong followed by an approximant, so ⟨ai⟩ represents /aj/, ⟨au⟩ represents /aw/, and ⟨oi⟩ represents /oj/. On this basis, there are no phonological diphthongs in Malay.

Words borrowed from English with /eɪ/, such as Mei ('May') and esei ('essay') are pronounced with /e/. This feature also happens to English /oʊ/ which becomes /o/.

Diphthongs are differentiated from two vowels in two syllables, such as:

• /a.ʔi/: e.g. rai ('celebrate') [ra.ʔi], air ('water') [a.ʔer] (or [a.ʔɪr] in Indonesia and [a.ʔir] elsewhere)
• /a.ʔu/: bau ('smell') [ba.ʔu], laut ('sea') [la.ʔot] (or [la.ʔʊt] in Indonesia and [la.ʔut] elsewhere)

Even if it is not differentiated in modern Rumi spelling, diphthongs and two vowels are differentiated in the spelling in Jawi, where a vowel hiatus is indicated by the symbol hamzah ⟨ء⟩; example: لا^ءوت laut ('sea').

The vowel hiatuses below are two different vowels but pronounced as diphthongs.

• /ia/: meriah ('lively')
• /iu/: liur ('saliva')
• /ua/: luar ('outside')
• /ui/: kelui ('paging')

Stress

Malay has light stress that falls on either the final or penultimate syllable, depending on regional variations as well as the presence of the schwa (/ə/) in a word. It is generally the penultimate syllable that is stressed, unless its vowel is a schwa /ə/. If the penult has a schwa, then stress moves to the ante-penultimate syllable if there is one, even if that syllable has a schwa as well; if the word is disyllabic, the stress is final. In disyllabic stress with a closed penultimate syllable, such as tinggal ('stay') and rantai ('chain'), stress falls on the penult.

However, there is some disagreement among linguists over whether stress is phonemic (unpredictable), with some analyses suggesting that there is no underlying stress in Malay.

Rhythm

The classification of languages based on rhythm can be problematic. Nevertheless, acoustic measurements suggest that Malay has more syllable-based rhythm than British English, even though doubts remain about whether the syllable is the appropriate unit for the study of Malay prosody.

Syllable structure

Most of the native lexicon is based on disyllabic root morphemes, with a small percentage of monosyllabic and trisyllabic roots. However, with the widespread occurrence of prefixes and suffixes, many words of five or more syllables are found.

Syllables are basically CVC, where the V is a monophthong and the final C may be an approximant, either /w/ or /j/. (See the discussion of diphthongs above.)