Editing Malay language (section)

===Vowels===
Malay originally had four vowels, but in many dialects today, including Standard Malay, it has six, with {{IPA|/i/}} split into {{IPA|/i, e/}} and {{IPA|/u/}} split into {{IPA|/u, o/}}.<ref name="Clynes and Deterding 2011" /> Many words are commonly pronounced variably, with either {{IPA|[i, u]}} or {{IPA|[e, o]}}, and relatively few words require a mid vowel {{IPA|[e, o]}}.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Table of vowel phonemes of Standard Malay
|-
! 
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
| {{IPA link|i}}
|
| {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| {{IPA link|e}}
| {{IPA link|ə}}
| {{IPA link|o}}
|-
! [[Open vowel|Open]]
|
| {{IPA link|a}}
| 
|}
'''Orthographic note''': both {{IPA|/e/}} and {{IPA|/ə/}} are written with {{angbr|e}}. Orthographic {{IPA|/e, o/}} are relatively rare, so the letter {{angbr|e}} usually represents {{IPA|/ə/}}. There are some homographs; for example, ''perang'' is used for both {{IPA|/pəraŋ/}} "war" and {{IPA|/peraŋ ~ piraŋ/}} "blond". (In Indonesia, "blond" is written as ''pirang'' instead of ''perang''.)

Some analyses regard {{IPA|/ai, au, oi/}} as diphthongs.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Susur galur bahasa Melayu |last=Asmah Haji |first=Omar |date=1985 |publisher=Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka |location=Kuala Lumpur}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Ahmad|first1=Zaharani|title=Fonologi generatif: teori dan penerapan|date=1993|publisher=Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka|location=Kuala Lumpur}}</ref> However, {{IPA|[ai]}} and {{IPA|[au]}} can only occur in open syllables, such as ''cukai'' ("excise") and ''pulau'' ("island"). Words with a phonetic diphthong in a closed syllable, such as ''baik'' ("good") and ''laut'' ("sea"), are actually two syllables. An alternative analysis therefore treats the phonetic diphthongs {{IPA|[ai]}}, {{IPA|[au]}} and {{IPA|[oi]}} as a sequence of a monophthong plus an approximant: {{IPA|/aj/}}, {{IPA|/aw/}} and {{IPA|/oj/}} respectively.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clynes |first=Adrian |date=1997 |title=On the Proto-Austronesian "Diphthongs" |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=347–361 |doi=10.2307/3622989 |jstor=3622989}}</ref>

There is a rule of [[vowel harmony]]: the non-open vowels {{IPA|/i, e, u, o/}} in bisyllabic words must agree in height, so ''hidung'' ("nose") is allowed but *''hedung'' is not.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://sealang.net/archives/pl/pdf/PL-C119.pdf |title=Proto Malayic: the reconstruction of its phonology and parts of its lexicon and morphology |last=Adelaar |first=K. A. |date=1992 |publisher=Pacific Linguistics |isbn=0858834081 |location=Canberra |doi=10.15144/pl-c119 |oclc=26845189}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" 
|+Comparison of several standard pronunciations of Malay–Indonesian<ref>{{cite journal|last=Abu Bakar |first=Mukhlis |date=2019-12-18 |title=Sebutan Johor-Riau dan Sebutan Baku dalam Konteks Identiti Masyarakat Melayu Singapura |url=http://publisher.unimas.my/ojs/index.php/ILS/article/view/1521 |journal=Issues in Language Studies |volume=8 |issue=2 |doi=10.33736/ils.1521.2019 |s2cid=213343934 |issn=2180-2726|doi-access=free }}</ref>
!rowspan=2|
!rowspan=2 style=text-align:center | Example
!colspan=3 style=text-align:center | Standard Pronunciation
|-
!style=text-align:center | Indonesian–''Baku''
!style=text-align:center | ''Johor–Riau'' (''Piawai'')
!style=text-align:center | Northern Peninsular
|-
|⟨a⟩ in final open syllable 
|style=text-align:center | ⟨keret'''a'''⟩
|style=text-align:center | /a/
|style=text-align:center | /ə/
|style=text-align:center | /a/
|-
|⟨i⟩ in final closed syllable with final ⟨n⟩ and ⟨ng⟩ 
|style=text-align:center | ⟨kamb'''i'''ng⟩
|style=text-align:center | /i/
|style=text-align:center | /e/
|style=text-align:center | /i/
|-
|⟨i⟩ in final closed syllable with other final consonants 
|style=text-align:center | ⟨it'''i'''k⟩
|style=text-align:center | /i/
|style=text-align:center | /e/
|style=text-align:center | /e/
|-
|⟨u⟩ in final closed syllable with final ⟨n⟩ and ⟨ng⟩ 
|style=text-align:center | ⟨tah'''u'''n⟩
|style=text-align:center | /u/
|style=text-align:center | /o/
|style=text-align:center | /u/
|-
|⟨u⟩ in final closed syllable with other final consonants 
|style=text-align:center |  ⟨lump'''u'''r⟩
|style=text-align:center | /u/
|style=text-align:center | /o/
|style=text-align:center | /o/
|-
|final ⟨r⟩
|style=text-align:center | ⟨lumpu'''r'''⟩
|style=text-align:center | /r/
|style=text-align:center | silent
|style=text-align:center | /r/
|}

Study by Uri Tadmor which was published in 2003 shows that mutation of ⟨a⟩ in final open syllable is an areal feature. Specifically, it is an areal feature of Western Austronesia. Uri Tadmor classify those types into four groups as below.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Uri |first=Tadmor |date=2003 |others=CRCL, CRCL, And/Or The Author(S) |title=Final /a/ mutation: a borrowed areal feature in Western Austronesia |url=http://sealang.net/archives/pl/pdf/PL-550.15.pdf |journal=Issues in Austronesian Historical Phonology |language=en |publisher=Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University |issue=PL-550 |pages=15–36 |doi=10.15144/PL-550.15 |access-date=2022-11-05 |via=sealang.net/CRCL}}</ref> 
{| class="wikitable"
|+Final /a/ mutation in Malay-Indonesian dialects and nearby Austronesian languages
!Types
!Phonemes
!"Malay" homeland
!Native languages area
|-
|[a] (origin)
|[a]
|[[Kedah]], [[Brunei]]
|Arekan (eg. [[Tenggerese dialect|Tengger]]), [[Sarawak]], [[Sabah]], [[Kalimantan]] (except Pontianak), [[East Indonesian Malay|East Indonesia]]
|-
|Raised
|[ə], [ɨ]
|[[Johor]], [[Pontianak]], [[Tanah Abang]] ([[Jakarta]])
|[[Bali]]
|-
|Rounded
|[o], [ɔ]
|[[Pattani province|Pattani]], [[Palembang]]
|[[Minangkabau language|Minangkabau]], Mataraman (eg. [[Yogyakarta]])
|-
|Fronted
|[ɛ], [e]
|[[Perak]], [[Jakarta]], [[Sambas Regency|Sambas]]
|
|}