PHONETICS.
Pronunciation must be learnt by talking with Malays. And dialect so bolds the field, that the so-called standard Malay of Riau-Johore is hardly more than a phrase. Every State has a slightly different dialect: and up the rivers of any one State (like Perak) there are often as many dialects as there are villages.
The following are general rules.
Vowels.
A long as in path; short as in French patte, nearly like u in punt.
E as in fete, i.e. as ay in may, short as in pen.
I long as ee in week; short as i in hit, fling, fin, thin.
O long as in bone; short it is close as in pillow, not the low open o of not, what or even the o of trop.
U long as in truth; short as in pull, put.
Ē an indeterminate sound like E that would result from trying to differentiate knot and not, knave and nave, practically our a in along, abide, attend as ordinarily pronounced in sentences; an almost imperceptible sound near to an open lax i: between an explosive and an l or an r it is reduced in standard Malay practically to nothing—Kěling, kěring The symbol is therefore sometimes omitted in romanized Malay, e.g. běrapa or brapa.
Diphthongs.
AI as in Kaiser and sometimes as in maid.
AU as in cow and sometimes as in know.
In unaccented syllables, the vowels are less clearly defined than in accented. Hence tbe interchange in dialects of A and Ē, I and E, 0 and U, AI and AY, AU and OW, e.g. angkau, ěngkau; penget, pengit; ekor, ekur; tělok, tělok; těrlampau, těrlampow; sungai, sungay.
In Peninsular Malay final -ut' and -os is pretty constant: angkut, herut, pěrut, barut, bagus, utus, putus but in the same dialect where one gets tidor, tutór, tangkup, there are
