Malay phonology

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This article explains the phonology of Malay and Indonesian based on the pronunciation of Standard Malay, which is the official language of Brunei and Singapore, "Malaysian" of Malaysia, and Indonesian the official language of Indonesia and a working language in Timor Leste. There are two varieties of standard Malay pronunciation, the /a/ variety (kelainan /a/) where word-final /a/ is pronounced as [a] and word-final /r/ is never silent and the schwa-variety (kelainan pepet; also called "Johor-Riau pronunciation", owing to its origins) where word-final /a/ is pronounced as schwa [ə] and word-final /r/ is typically silent. ^[1] The /a/ variety is used in Brunei, East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), Indonesia and northwestern Peninsular Malaysia (Kedah, Penang, Perlis) while the schwa-variety is used in the other parts of Peninsular Malaysia including the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur and is also used by the Malaysian media and is partly used in Singapore. Alongside the schwa variety, there is a separate artificial Baku (lit. 'standard' in Malay/Indonesian) variety that is used in Singapore which follows a "pronounce as spelt" approach to pronunciation which is different from the /a/ variety but nonetheless aligns with it in how word-final /a/ and /r/ are treated. ^[2]

Consonants

The consonants of standard Bruneian Malay, ^[3] Malaysian Malay, ^[4] and also Indonesian ^[5] are shown below. Non-native consonants that only occur in borrowed words, principally from Arabic, Dutch, English and Sanskrit, 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]. ^{[6] [7]}

Consonant phonemes of Standard Malay and Indonesian

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

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

• /ɲ/ is written as ⟨ny⟩ before a vowel and as ⟨n⟩ before ⟨c⟩ and ⟨j⟩.
• /ŋ/ is written as ⟨ng⟩.
• /ʔ/ is written as syllable-final ⟨k⟩ or an apostrophe ⟨'⟩.
• /tʃ/ is written as ⟨c⟩. Before 1972, this sound was written as ⟨ch⟩ in Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore and as ⟨tj⟩ in Indonesia.
• /dʒ/ is written as ⟨j⟩. Before 1972, this sound was written as ⟨dj⟩ in Indonesia.
• /j/ is written as ⟨y⟩. Before 1972, this sound was written as ⟨j⟩ in Indonesia.
• /ʃ/ is written as ⟨sy⟩. Before 1972, this sound was written as ⟨sh⟩ in Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore and as ⟨sj⟩ in Indonesia.
• /x/ is written as ⟨kh⟩. Before 1972, this sound was written as ⟨ch⟩ in Indonesia.
• /ɣ/ is written as ⟨gh⟩. Written as ⟨g⟩ in Indonesia.
• /q/ is written as ⟨k⟩ or ⟨q⟩.
• /ð/ is written as ⟨z⟩. Before 1972, this sound was written as ⟨dh⟩ or ⟨dz⟩ in Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore.
• /θ/ is written ⟨s⟩. Before 1972, this sound was written as ⟨th⟩ in Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Notes

• /p/, /t/, /k/ are unaspirated, as in the Romance languages, or as in English spy, sty, sky. In syllable codas, they are usually unreleased, with final /k/ generally being realised as a glottal stop in native words. There is generally no liaison, that is, no audible release even when followed by a vowel in another word, as in kulit ubi (tapioca skins) [ˈkulit̚ˈʔubi], though they are pronounced as a normal medial consonant when followed by a suffix.
• Word-final /k/ is realized as a glottal stop [ʔ] in Malaysian Malay but as velar or uvular stops [k̚~q̚] in Bruneian Malay so peluk (hug) is pronounced as [pəloʔ] in Malaysian Malay but as [pəlʊk̚~pəlʊq̚] in Bruneian Malay. The Malaysian pattern can sometimes be found in Bruneian Malay too though due to Malaysian influence. ^[3]
• /t/ is dental or supradental [t̪] in most varieties of Malay and in Indonesian, but not in Brunei Malay where it is alveolar. ^{[3] [5] [8]}
• At prefix-stem boundaries, when the prefix ends in a vowel (e.g. ke- and di-) and the stem word starts with a vowel, a glottal stop [ʔ] is epenthesized as a way of avoiding vowel hiatus, so a word like diangkat (to be lifted) which is formed by combining the di- prefix with the stem angkat (to lift) would be pronounced as [di.ʔaŋ.kat]. ^[9]
• Epenthesizing a glottal stop as a way of avoiding vowel hiatus is found at stem-suffix boundaries too but only when the final vowel of the stem is not /u/ or /i/ such as in the word cubaan (attempt) which is formed by combining the stem cuba (to try) with the suffix -an and is pronounced as [t͡ʃu.ba.ʔan]. In the case that the final vowel of the stem is /u/ or /i/, a homorganic glide (respectively [w] and [j] for /u/ and /i/) is inserted so a word like rayuan (complaint) which is formed by combining the stem rayu (to send a complaint) with the suffix -an would be pronounced as [ra.ju.wan], not *[ra.ju.ʔan]. ^[9]
• The glottal stop /ʔ/ may be represented by an apostrophe in Arabic-derived words such as Al Qur'an. In some words like diangkat (to be lifted) [di.ʔaŋ.kat] that are derived from vowel-initial words with a vowel-ending prefix, the glottal stop is not reflected in writing.
• /h/ is pronounced clearly between like vowels, as in dahan (tree branch). Elsewhere it is a very light sound, and is frequently silent, as in hutan ~ utan (forest), sahut ~ saut (answer), indah ~ inda (beautiful). 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], flap [ɾ] and, in some instances, postalveolar approximant [ɹ̠]. In the syllable coda, /r/ is silent in schwa variety or Johor-Riau (Piawai) pronunciations, but audible in /a/ variety and Baku pronunciations. ^{[10] [11]}
• Voiced stops do not occur in final position in native words. In loanwords, /b/ and /d/ are generally devoiced in final position (sebab (cause) [səˈbap̚], masjid (mosque) [ˈmasdʒit̚]) to conform with the native phonological structure. Some pronunciation guides consider this devoicing nonstandard and prescribe to pronounce final b and d as written, i.e. voiced. ^[12]
• /f/, /v/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ð/, /θ/ and /q/ 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, although this is rare. Since /ð/ and /z/ are written identically in Malay, as with /θ/ and /s/ and /q/ and /k/, /ð/, /θ/ and /q/ tend to only occur in speakers who speak the source languages the words are loaned from (e.g. Arabic and English) and are aware of the original pronunciations of the words.
• The affricates are variously described as [ tʃ ]/[ dʒ ], [ c͡ç ]/[ ɟ͡ʝ ], ^[13] or [ c ]/[ ɟ ] ^[14] in the literature.
• Hoogervorst (2017) argues that initial /j/ and /w/ did not exist in Old Malay and were respectively substituted with /dʒ/ and /b/ until the instilling of learning Arabic through eventual spread Islamic education amongst local populations. ^[15]

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/	khabarخَبَرْ[ˈhabar], kabar[ˈkabar] ('news')
/ð/	/d/, /l/	reda, rela ('good will')
/ðˤ/	/l/, /z/	lohor, zohor ('noon prayer')
/θ/	/s/	Selasa ('Tuesday')
/ɣ/	/ɡ/	ghaib ('hidden')
/q/	/k/	makam ('grave')

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 (nasals /m,n,ɲ,ŋ/, liquids /l,r/, and 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/, velar /ŋ/ before other sounds (velar /k,ɡ/, glottal /h/, all vowels). ^[16]

In addition, following voiceless obstruents, apart from /tʃ/ (that is /p,t,s,k/), are dropped, except when before causative prefix per- where the first consonant is kept. This phoneme loss rule was mnemonically named kaidah KPST "KPST rule" in Indonesian. ^[17]

root meaning meng- derivation meaning peng- derivation meaning masak cook memasak cooking pemasak cook (n) nanti late menanti waiting layang kite melayang hovering, drifting rampas confiscated merampas snatch perampas confiscator beli buy membeli buying pembeli buyer dukung support mendukung supporting pendukung supporter jawab answer menjawab replying penjawab answerer gulung roll menggulung rolling penggulung roller hantar send menghantar sending penghantar sender ajar teach mengajar teaching pengajar teacher isi volume mengisi filling pengisi filler pilih choose memilih choosing pemilih chooser tulis write menulis writing penulis writer cabut pull out mencabut pulling out pencabut puller kenal notable mengenal knowing (a person) pengenal identifier surat letter menyurat correspond penyurat correspondent

Vowels

It is usually said that there are six vowels in Standard Malay (Malaysian and Brunei) ^{[3] [18] [4]} and Indonesian. ^[5] 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/. ^[19]

Vowel phonemes in Standard Malay and Indonesian

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

Notes

• One main source of variation in standard Malay pronunciation is in whether final /a/ in open final syllables of root morphemes (for example buka 'to open') is pronounced as [a] or as schwa [ə]. As mentioned at the top of the page, the former quality is employed by those of the '/a/ variety', such as Indonesian and those of Brunei, Sabah, Sarawak and northwestern Peninsular Malaysia (Kedah, Penang, Perlis) and the latter by those of the 'schwa variety' which is found in all the other parts of Peninsular Malaysia including the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur and partly in Singapore. ^{[3] [20]} In the schwa variety, /a/ of the penultimate syllable is also modified if it is followed by /h/, as in usaha[usəhə]. This final /a/ difference is neutralized to [a] when a suffix that starts with a vowel is added on, so the word keadaan (state) which is formed by affixing ada (to exist) with the circumfix ke- -an is pronounced as [kə.ʔa.da.ʔan] in both /a/ and schwa varieties even though the word ada by itself would be pronounced as [adə] in the schwa variety. ^[21]
• The /a/ and schwa varieties also differ in the qualities of the /e/ and /o/ and /i/ and /u/ phonemes. In the /a/ variety, /e/ and /o/ are opener, approaching the qualities of [ɛ] and [ɔ] so that words like elak (avoid) and orang (person) would be pronounced as [ɛlaʔ] and [ɔraŋ], instead of as [elaʔ] and [oraŋ] as in the schwa variety. In the other way around, /i/ and /u/ are opener in the schwa variety than in the /a/ variety, especially in closed syllables. ^{[10] [11]}

• In poem declamations and in singing, speakers of schwa varieties often switch to an /a/ variety-type accent. ^[10]
• [ɑ] is an occasional allophone of /a/ after emphatic consonants, and including /r/, /ɣ/, and /q/ from Arabic words. Example: qari[qɑri].
• In Bruneian Standard Malay, in closed final syllables of root morphemes, the front vowel /i/ and back vowel /u/ can have mid or even open realisations so giling and burung can be pronounced [gilɪŋ~gileŋ~gilɛŋ] and [burʊŋ~buroŋ~burɒŋ], respectively. /e/ and /o/ on the other hand never have close realisations so geleng 'shake' can be pronounced as [geleŋ~gelɛŋ] but never *[gelɪŋ] and similarly, borong 'buy in bulk' is never *[borʊŋ]. ^[3] In Indonesian, closed final syllable /i/ and /u/ often only get realised as [ɪ] and [ʊ]. ^[5]
• When /i,e/ or /u,o/ appear next to a vowel of a different colouring, an approximant [j] or [w] can be epenthesized in between those two vowels, so that words like cium (kiss), duit (money) and bau (odour) would be pronounced as [t͡ʃijʊm], [duwɪt] and [bawu]. This epenthesization is sometimes represented in writing too with an inserted ⟨y⟩ or ⟨w⟩ so that the three aforementioned words would be spelt as ciyum, duwit and bawu instead. ^[8]
• The vowels of [ e ], [ ɛ ], and [ ə ] are commonly written without diacritics as ⟨e⟩. The vowel [ ɛ ] is allophone of [ e ], while [ ə ] is not. The diacritics are only used to indicate the correct pronunciation, for example, in dictionaries. In Indonesian, the vowels are marked with diacritics as [ e ] ⟨é⟩, [ ɛ ] ⟨è⟩ and [ ə ] ⟨ê⟩ from 2015 to 2022 and as [ e ], [ ɛ ] ⟨e⟩ and [ ə ] ⟨ê⟩ since 2022. ^{[22] [23]} A different system represents [ e ], [ ɛ ], and [ ə ] as ⟨e⟩, ⟨é⟩, and ⟨ě⟩ respectively. In Malay, [ e ] and [ ə ] are represented by ⟨é⟩ and ⟨e⟩, otherwise respectively known as e taling and e pepet. ^[4] Indonesian also uses the vowel [ ɘ ] (spelled eu) in some loanwords from Sundanese and Acehnese, e. g. eurih, seudati, sadeu. ^[23]
• 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.
• Word-final [e] and [o] are rare in Malay, except for loanwords, like teko (teapot, from Hokkien 茶鈷tê-kó͘), toko (small shop, from Hokkien 土庫thó͘-khò͘), semberono/sembrono (careless, from Javanese sembrana), gede (Javanese of big), konde (from Javanese kondhe, bulbous hairdo or hair extension on the back of the head), kare (Indonesian term for curry, variation of kari, from Tamil kaṟi), mestizo (from Spanish), kredo (creed, from Latin credo), risiko (risk, from Dutch risico), and non-Malay Indonesian names, like Manado and Suharto.
• Some words borrowed from European languages have several note:
  • Some words borrowed from European languages 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]. Some systems represent [ɔ] as ⟨ó⟩.
  • Some words borrowed from European languages reflect the language origin, generally Dutch (for Indonesian) and English (for Standard Malay), specifically as vowels of [ e ], [ ɛ ], and [ ə ] are commonly written without diacritics as ⟨e⟩. For example, the word presiden (president) is pronounced as /prɛˈsidɛn/ in Indonesian and /prɛˈsidən/ in Standard Malay which reflect on /prezi'dɛnt/ in Dutch and /ˈpɹɛzɪdənt/ in English.

Comparison of several pronunciation standards of Malay ^[10]

	Example	Johor-Riau (Piawai) Pronunciation	Northern Peninsular Pronunciation	Baku & Indonesian Pronunciation
⟨a⟩ in final open syllable	⟨kereta⟩	/ə/	/a/	/a/
⟨i⟩ in final closed syllable with final ⟨n⟩ and ⟨ng⟩	⟨salin⟩	/e/	/i/	/i/
⟨i⟩ in final closed syllable with other final consonants	⟨itik⟩	/e/	/e/	/i/
⟨u⟩ in final closed syllable with final ⟨n⟩ and ⟨ng⟩	⟨agung⟩	/o/	/u/	/u/
⟨u⟩ in final closed syllable with other final consonants	⟨lumpur⟩	/o/	/o/	/u/

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/: 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. ^{[24] [25] [8]}

Words borrowed from Dutch or English with /eɪ/, such as Mei ('May') from Dutch and survei ('survey') from English, are pronounced with /e/ as this feature also happens to English /oʊ/ which becomes /o/. However, Indonesian introduced forth diphthong of /ei̯/ since 2015, such as in ⟨Méi⟩ ('May') /mei̯/.

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

• /a.i/: e.g. rai ('celebrate') [ra.i], air ('water') [a.er] ~ [a.ɪr]
• /a.u/: bau ('smell') [ba.u], laut ('sea') [la.ot] ~ [la.ʊt]

Two vowels that could form a diphthong are actually pronounced separately:

• when the two vowels belong to a closed syllable, i.e. a syllable that ends with a consonant. E.g. a + i in air (water) are pronounced separately [a.ɪr], because the syllable ends with an "r" consonant — and thus is a closed syllable.
• when the word would be only one-syllable long if pronounced with a diphthong. E.g. a + u in mau (to want) are pronounced separately [ma.u], because a diphthong would result into a single-syllable word.
• when the two syllables belong to two different morphemes. E.g. a + i in gulai (to sweeten) are pronounced separately as [gu.la.ʔi], because the word is made out of two morphemes: gula (sugar) + -i (transitive/causative verb-forming suffix), distinct from gulai (kind of curry) [ɡu.lai̯].

Even if it is not differentiated in modern Latin spelling, diphthongs and two vowels are differentiated in the spelling in Jawi, where a vowel hiatus is indicated by the symbol hamzah ⟨ء⟩, for example: لاءوتlaut ('sea').

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 words 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. ^{[3] [26] [27]}

Rhythm

The classification of languages based on rhythm can be problematic. ^[28] Nevertheless, acoustic measurements suggest that Malay has more syllable-based rhythm than British English, ^[29] even though doubts remain about whether the syllable is the appropriate unit for the study of Malay prosody. ^[26]

Syllable structure

Most of the native lexicon is based on disyllabic root morphemes, with a small percentage of monosyllabic and trisyllabic roots. ^[8] However, with the widespread occurrence of prefixes and suffixes, many words of five or more syllables are found. ^[3]

Syllables are basically consonant–vowel–consonant (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.)

Baku pronunciation in Malaysia and Singapore

In an effort to further standardize Malay across political boundaries after having done so in other fields such as in spelling with the 1972 spelling reform, the artificial Baku standard of pronunciation which follows a "pronounce as spelt" guide to pronunciation was introduced and started being implemented in Malaysia in the year 1988. This effort ceased in 2000 after which the Malaysian Minister of Education was quoted saying that it "is different from the pronunciation commonly used by the people of this country". Singapore started using the Baku standard for official purposes in 1993. Ever since then, there have been various protests from Malay Singaporeans, calling for the return of the Johor-Riau standard as the official standard for Malay pronunciation. One prominent critic of the use of the Baku standard is Berita Harian editor, Guntor Sadali, who noted that "members of the Malay community generally find that Sebutan Baku (Baku Pronunciation) is very awkward". ^[2]

Studies analysing the standard Malay speech of Singaporean students, teachers and political leaders found that speakers generally speak with a "hybrid accent" when speaking standard Malay, mixing Johor-Riau and Baku pronunciation features. This pronunciation-mixing is particularly common in spontaneous speech where speakers are unable to monitor their speech as compared to when they are reading off a text. ^[2]

References

1. Asmah Haji Omar 2015, pp. 163–164.
2. Mukhlis Abu Bakar; Wee, Lionel (2021). "Pronouncing the Malay identity: Sebutan Johor-Riau and Sebutan Baku" (PDF). In Jain, Ritu (ed.). Multilingual Singapore: Language Policies and Linguistic Realities (1st ed.). Routledge (published 26 May 2021). ISBN   9781032000435.
3. Clynes, Adrian; Deterding, David (August 2011). "Standard Malay (Brunei)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 41 (2): 259–268. doi: 10.1017/S002510031100017X . Archived from the original on 16 August 2021.
4. Karim, Nik Safiah; M. Onn, Farid; Haji Musa, Hashim; Mahmood, Abdul Hamid (2008). Tatabahasa Dewan (in Malay) (3 ed.). Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. pp. 297–303. ISBN   978-983-62-9484-5.
5. Soderberg, Craig D.; Olson, Kenneth S. (2008). "Indonesian". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 38 (2): 209–213. doi: 10.1017/S0025100308003320 .
6. Asmah Haji Omar (2008). Ensiklopedia Bahasa Melayu. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. p. 108.
7. Yunus Maris, M. (1980). The Malay Sound System. Kuala Lumpur: Penerbit Fajar Bakti Sdn. Bhd. p. 52.
8. Adelaar, K.A. (1992). Proto-Malayic: The reconstruction of its phonology and parts of its lexicon and morphology (PDF). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University. doi:10.15144/pl-c119.
9. Sun, Pei-Ran; Chung, Chin-Wan (14 February 2023). "An Aspect of Vowel Hiatus Resolution in Malay" (PDF). The Journal of Studies in Language. 38 (4): 434–436. doi:10.18627/jslg.38.4.202302.431. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 July 2025. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
10. Abu Bakar, Mukhlis (18 December 2019). "Sebutan Johor-Riau dan Sebutan Baku dalam Konteks Identiti Masyarakat Melayu Singapura". Issues in Language Studies. 8 (2). doi: 10.33736/ils.1521.2019 . ISSN   2180-2726.
11. Omar, A. H. (1971). Standard Language and the Standardization of Malay. Anthropological Linguistics, 13(2), 87. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30029277
12. S., Effendi (2012). Panduan Berbahasa Indonesia dengan Baik dan Benar (Guidebook for Speaking Indonesian Well and Correct). Dunia Pustaka Jaya. p. 228. ISBN   978-6232212350.
13. Jiang Wu (2023). Malayic varieties of Kelantan and Terengganu. Amsterdam: LOT Publications. p. 42. ISBN   978-94-6093-436-0.
14. Hardjono, Florence L. (2022). To Tap or Not To Tap: A Preliminary Acoustic Description of American English Alveolar Tap Productions by Indonesian Bilingual Adults (PhD thesis). Ohio State University. p. 18. Archived from the original on 9 March 2023.
15. Hoogervorst, Tom (2017). "Lexical Influence From North India To Maritime Southeast Asia: Some New Directions". Man in India. 95 (4): 295.
16. This is the argument for the nasal being underlyingly /ŋ/: when there is no place for it to assimilate to, it surfaces as /ŋ/. Some treatments write it /N/ to indicate that it has no place of articulation of its own, but this fails to explain its pronunciation before vowels.
17. "KPST dan Kaidah Peluluhan Fonem (KPST and Phoneme Loss Rule)". Kompas.id. 28 December 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
18. Asmah Haji Omar (2008). Ensiklopedia Bahasa Melayu. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, page 97.
19. Yunus Maris, M. (1980). The Malay Sound System. Kuala Lumpur: Penerbit Fajar Bakti Sdn. Bhd, page 2.
20. Asmah Haji Omar. (1977). The phonological diversity of the Malay dialects. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
21. Asmah Haji Omar 2015, p. 424.
22. Pedoman Umum Ejaan Bahasa Indonesia (PDF). Jakarta: Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia. 2015.
23. "EYD V". ejaan.kemdikbud.go.id. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
24. Asmah Haji Omar 2015, p. 172.
25. Clynes, Adrian (1997). "On the Proto-Austronesian "Diphthongs"". Oceanic Linguistics. 36 (2): 347–362. doi:10.2307/3622989. JSTOR   3622989.
26. Zuraidah Mohd Don, Knowles, G., & Yong, J. (2008). How words can be misleading: A study of syllable timing and "stress" in Malay. The Linguistics Journal 3(2). See here Archived 16 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine
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28. Roach, P. (1982). On the distinction between 'stress-timed' and 'syllable-timed' languages. In D. Crystal (Ed.), Linguistic Controversies (pp.73–79). London: Edward Arnold.
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