the first consonant must be considered as having the short or inherent vowel sound, and is therefore sounded separately, as, l-kas, t-pi, b-bal, etc. The double consonants ch, kh, sh, ng, and ny are of course exceptions to this rule, as they stand for single sounds. Where the single consonants k and h, or s and h would come together, the vowel a is inserted to avoid confusion with the double consonants kh, sh, as in kahandak, sahaja, etc.; in the word negri, however, it has been thought best to retain the conventional method of spelling with an e. When three consonants come together, the first two usually form a closed syllable, and the third commences the second syllable, as in the words mm-baiki, rn-dah, pn-ja-ra, in a few cases, however, each consonant must be given its inherent vowel sound, as, m-l-top, p-n-bus, s-d-kah, but such words are so few in number that they present very little difficulty.
In regard to the vowels a, e, i, o, u, it may be remarked that in open syllables the vowel sound has always a greater degree of intensity than in closed syllables. For instance, in the word padang the a in the first syllable, pa, is pronounced much broader than in the second syllable. In the word gigit, the i in gi has a stronger sound than in the second syllable git, where it has more the sound of i in “bit.” Similarly in the words bodoh and turut there is more stress on the open syllables bo and tu than on the closed syllables doh and rut; whereas in such words as pada, gigi, jodo and susu there is an equal heavy stress on both syllables; and so also in such words as panjang, chinchin, pondok, bungkus, where both syllables are closed, the stress is equal in the two syllables, but is much lihgter than in open syllables, and the vowel therefore appears to have a shorter sound.
It should perhaps he remarked here that English-speaking persons have a strong tendency to mispronounce the Malay vowel a, by giving it the short English sound; for instance, one often hears the word api pronounced something like the English word “happy,” only without the h, and the first syllable of panjang is often pronounced like the English word “pan,” and the second syllable is pronounced so that it would rhyme with “bang.” Such short a sounds do not exist at all in the Malay language, and should be very carefully avoided. The first syllable of panjang should be pronounced more like the English word “pun,” and the second syllable should be made to rhyme with the English word “young.”
The sound o or u in the last syllable of many words is not quite the same as either the o or the u sound given above.
