Editing Malaysian English (section)

==Features==
Since Malaysian English originates from [[British English]] when the [[British Empire]] ruled what is now Malaysia, it shares many of the features of British English. However, it also has components of [[American English]], [[Malay language|Malay]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Languages of India|Indian languages]], and other languages in its vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar.

Malaysian English shows a tendency towards simplification in its pronunciation and grammar, a feature also found in other new Englishes. For example, in pronunciation, [[diphthong]]s tend to become [[monophthong]]s in Malaysian English, stops may be used instead of [[dental fricative]]s and the final [[consonant cluster]]s often become simplified.<ref name="yamaguchi">{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=juAzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 |title=English in Malaysia: Current Use and Status |editor=Toshiko Yamaguchi |editor2=David Deterding |pages=12–13 |isbn=9789004314306 |publisher=Brill |date=7 April 2016 }}</ref> There are 6 short monophthongs in Malaysian English, compared to 7 in British English, and the [[vowel length]] tend to be the same for long and short vowels. There are, however, slight differences in pronunciation in the states in the central and southern parts of the Malay Peninsula from those in the north and the east of Malaysia.{{sfnp|Azirah Hashim|Tan|2012|pp=57–59}} There are also some variations in its vocabulary.

===Pronunciation===
*Malaysian English is generally [[rhotic and non-rhotic accents|non-rhotic]].
*Malaysian English has a broad [[Voiceless alveolar fricative|''s'']]{{Explain|date=April 2019}}, and words like "cab" and "tab" have {{IPA|/ɛ/}}, rather than {{IPA|/æ/}}.
*The {{IPA|/t/}} in words like "butter" is usually not [[intervocalic alveolar flapping|flapped]] (unlike in American English) or realised as a [[glottal stop]] (unlike in many forms of British English, including Cockney).
*There is no [[phonological history of English fricatives#''H''-dropping|''h''-dropping]] in words like ''head''.
*Malaysian English does not have [[phonological history of English consonant clusters|English consonant-cluster reductions]] after {{IPA|/n/}}, {{IPA|/t/}}, and {{IPA|/d/}}. For example, "new", "tune" and "dune" are pronounced {{IPA|/ˈnjuː/}}, {{IPA|/ˈtjuːn/}}, and {{IPA|/ˈdjuːn/}}. That contrasts with many varieties from [[East Anglia]] and the [[East Midlands]] of British English and with most forms of American English.
*The 'th' fricatives (θ and ð) are pronounced as stops: [t] for [θ] and [d] for [ð].
*The 'l' is generally clear.
*The diphthongs are monophthongised: 'ow' ([əʊ] or [oʊ]) becomes [o] and 'ay' ([eɪ]) becomes [e].
*The 'd' at the end of the word is usually dropped. For example, "cold", "hold" and "world" are pronounced as {{IPA|/kəʊl/}} ({{IPA|/koʊl/}}), {{IPA|/həʊl/}} ({{IPA|/hoʊl/}}) and {{IPA|/wəːl/}}.
*The [[vowel length|long and short vowels]] tend to have the same length (for example, "beat" and "bit" are homophones in Malaysian English).{{sfnp|Azirah Hashim|Tan|2012|pp=57–59}}

===Grammar===
The grammar in Malaysian English may become simplified in the mesolectal and basilectal varieties. For example, [[article (grammar)|articles]] and past-tense markers may sometimes be omitted, question structures may be simplified, and the distinction between [[count noun|countable]] and [[mass noun]]s may be blurred.{{sfnp|Sung|Spolsky|2015|pp=208–209}}<ref name="yamaguchi"/> In the basilectal variety, omission of the [[object pronoun]] or the [[subject pronoun]] is common. The [[modal auxiliary]] system is also often reduced, and sometimes, a verb may be absent.{{sfnp|Azirah Hashim|Tan|2012|pp=62–65}} The colloquial form often has Malay or Chinese grammatical structure.

[[Grammatical particle|Particles]] are commonly used in colloquial Malaysian English, a notable one being an [[enclitic]] "lah" used at the end of a sentence.{{sfnp|Azirah Hashim|Tan|2012|pp=62–65}}

===Vocabulary===
In the acrolect, which uses standard English vocabulary and is internationally comprehensible, non-English terms are still used. Typically these are words for which there is no direct equivalence in English or those that express local reality; for example, ''[[bumiputera (Malaysia)|bumiputera]]'', ''[[kampong (village)|kampong]]'', as well as titles such as [[Yang di-Pertuan Agong]] and [[Tunku]]. Words from the Chinese or Indian languages may also be used, such as ''[[ang pow]]'' or ''[[dhoti]]''.<ref name="ISRN"/>

In the mesolect, local words and phrases for which there are English equivalents may also used, for example, ''tidak apa'' ("never mind", "it does not matter") or ''ulu'' (or ''hulu'', meaning "head", "upper reaches of a river", "interior of a country").<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/malayenglishvoca00sheliala/page/134/mode/2up |title=Malay English Vocabulary |date=1912 |pages=46, 135 }}</ref> In the basilect, the use of local terms may be extensive even if most words used are English, and local expressions or exclamations such as ''alamak'' (Oh my god) often form part of the speech.<ref name="ISRN"/>