Malay orthography
The modern Malay or Indonesian alphabet (
.Historically, various scripts such as
The arrival of
In 1972, as part of the effort of harmonizing spelling differences between the two countries, Indonesia and Malaysia each adopted a
Although the representations of speech sounds are now largely identical in Indonesian and other neighbouring Malay varieties, a number of minor spelling differences remain.[3]
Letter names and pronunciations
| Number | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Upper case
|
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Lower case
|
a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z |
The Malay alphabet has a
The letters F, Q, V, X and Z are not used in spelling native Malay/Indonesian words. F and Z occur in loanwords from Arabic (e. g. fatah 'conquest, opening', zaman 'era, period, time') and from European languages (e. g. faktor 'factor', zoologi 'zoology'). V is used in loanwords from European languages (e. g. valuta 'currency', provinsi 'province'). The letter Q is very rare: it is used for Arabic ﻕ in some loanwords, particularly related to religion: Qur'an, Al-Qur'an (spelling these words with the apostrophe is recommended by the Indonesian Ministry of Religion, the variants Quran and Alquran are deprecated; Malaysia uses Quran, Al-Quran), qari/qariah 'male/female Quran reader', qanun 'law established by Muslim sovereigns or by Aceh autonomous provincial government' (also qanun (instrument)). But many loanwords from Arabic words with ﻕ use k instead: makam 'tomb', mutlak 'absolute, complete'. Some words are spelled with q in Malaysia but with k in Indonesia: qasidah/kasidah 'qasida'. European loanwords use the letter k instead of q: kualiti (Malaysian)/kualitas (Indonesian) 'quality', frekuensi 'frequency'. The letter X is also very rare: it is used at the beginning of loanwords, e. g. xilofon 'xylophone', but replaced by ks at the middle and at the end of loanwords: taksi 'taxi', lateks 'latex', teks 'text' (some consonant clusters are regularly simplified at the end of loanwords: -st>-s, -nt>-n, -kt>-k).
| Letter | Name (in IPA) | Sound | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Indonesian | Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore | IPA | English equivalent | ||
| Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore | Standard Indonesian | ||||
| Aa | a (/a/) | e (/e/) | /a/ | a as in father | |
| /ə/ ~ /a/ | - | a as in sofa | |||
| Bb | bé (/be/) | bi (/bi/) | /b/ | b as in bed | |
| Cc | cé (/t͡ʃe/) | si (/si/) | /t͡ʃ/ | ch as in check | |
| Dd | dé (/de/) | di (/di/) | /d/ | d as in day | |
| Ee | é (/e/) | i (/i/) | /ə/ | e as in tolerant | |
| /e/ | e as in hey | ||||
| /ɛ/ | e as in get | ||||
| Ff | éf (/ef/) | /f/ | f as in effort | ||
| Gg | gé (/ge/) | ji (/d͡ʒi/) | /ɡ/ | g as in gain | |
| Hh | ha (/ha/) | héc (/het͡ʃ/, /heʃ/) | /h/ | h as in harm | |
| Ii | i (/i/) | ay (/aj/) | /i/ | i as in machine, but shorter | |
| /e/ | /ɪ/ | i as in igloo | |||
| Jj | jé (/d͡ʒe/) | /d͡ʒ/ | j as in jam | ||
| Kk | ka (/ka/) | ké (/ke/) | /k/ | unaspirated k as in skate | |
| Ll | él (/el/) | /l/ | l as in let | ||
| Mm | ém (/em/) | /m/ | m as in mall | ||
| Nn | én (/en/) | /n/ | n as in net | ||
| Oo | o (/o/) | /o/ | o as in owe | ||
| /ɔ/ | o as in bought, but shorter | ||||
| Pp | pé (/pe/) | pi (/pi/) | /p/ | unaspirated p as in speak | |
| ki (/ki/) | kiu (/kiu/ or /kju/) | /q/ ~ /k/ | /k/ | q as in Qatar | |
| Rr | ér (/er/) | ar (/ar/ or /a:/) | /r/ | Spanish rr as in puerro | |
| Ss | és (/es/) | /s/ | s as in sun | ||
| Tt | té (/te/) | ti (/ti/) | /t/ | unaspirated t as in still | |
| Uu | u (/u/) | yu (/ju/) | /u/ | u as in rule, but shorter | |
| /o/ | /ʊ/ | oo as in foot | |||
| Vv | fé (/fe/) | vi (/vi/) | /v/ ~ /f/ | /f/ | v as in van |
| Ww | wé (/we/) | dabel yu (/dabəlˈju/) | /w/ | w as in wet | |
| Xx | éks (/eks/) | /ks/ | x as in box | ||
| /z/ | /s/ | x as in xenon | |||
| Yy | yé (/je/) | way (/wai̯/) | /j/ | y as in yarn | |
| Zz | zét (/zet/) | zed (/zed/) | /z/ | z as in zebra | |
* Many vowels are pronounced (and were formerly spelt) differently in Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra (where Malay is native): tujuh is pronounced (and was spelt) tujoh, rambut as rambot, kain as kaen, pilih as pileh, etc., [e] and [o] are also allophones of /i/ and /u/ in closed final syllables in peninsular Malaysian and Sumatran. Many vowels were pronounced and formerly spelt differently that way also in East Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia.
In addition, there are digraphs that are not considered separate letters of the alphabet:[4]
| Digraph | Sound | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | Notes | ||
| Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore | Indonesia | ||
| ai | /ai̯/ | uy as in buy (ui) | |
| au | /au̯/ | ou as in ouch (ou) | |
| ei | /ei̯/ | ei as in survey | |
| oi | /oi̯/ | oy as in boy | |
| eu | - | /ə/ | |
| gh | /ɣ/ ~ /x/ | - | similar to Dutch and German ch, but voiced |
| kh | /x/ | ch as in loch | |
| ng | /ŋ/ | ng as in sing | |
| ny | /ɲ/ | Spanish ñ; similar to ny as in canyon with a nasal sound | |
| sy | /ʃ/ | sh as in shoe | |
Previous spelling systems
Pre-1972 British Malaya and Borneo/Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore orthography
Upper case
|
A | Ă | B | C | D | E | Ĕ |
F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lower case
|
a | ă | b | c | d | e | ĕ | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | u | v | w | x | y | z |
Pre-1972 Dutch East Indies/Indonesia orthography
Upper case
|
A | B | C | D | E | Ē (pre-1947) |
F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | Oe (1901)/U (1947) |
V | W | X | Y | Z |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lower case
|
a | b | c | d | e | ē (pre-1947) | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | p | q | r | s | t | oe (1901)/u (1947) | v | w | x | y | z |
Comparison table
| Sound | Letter(s) | Post-1972 replacement | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1927 Za'aba (Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore) |
1901 Soewandi (Indonesia) |
Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore | Indonesia | |
| /t͡ʃ/ | ch[a] | tj | c | |
| /d/ | dh | - | d, z | - |
| /z/ | dz | - | d, z | - |
| /ə/ | ă, ĕ | e, ē (pre-1947) | e | |
| /e/ | e | - | e | |
| /ɛ/ | e | é | e | |
| /i/ (monophthong) |
ï | - | i | - |
| /d͡ʒ/ | - | dj | - | j |
| /x/ | - | ch[b] | - | kh |
| /ɲ/ | - | nj | - | ny |
| /θ/ | th | - | s | - |
| /ʃ/ | sh | sj | sy | |
| /u/ | - | oe | - | u |
| /j/ | - | j | - | y |
See also
- Jawi alphabet
- Congress Spelling System
- Javanese orthography
References
- a spelling reform in 1972, Indonesia would disambiguate /e/ as é and /ə/ as e, and Malaysia /e/ as e and /ə/ as ĕ. The spelling reform removed the diacritics, leaving plain e to represent both /e/ and /ə/.
- ^ Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu (2014), Ejaan Rumi Baharu Bahasa Malaysia, retrieved 2014-10-04
- hdl:10108/81116.
- ^ "Malay (Bahasa Melayu / بهاس ملايو)". www.omniglot.com.