Abstract
The pronunciation of Malay vowels are taught according to the International Phonetic Association transcription sound chart. The documentation for pronunciations are conducted by describing and distinguishing the vowel’s sound through impressionistic. In the last five years, several studies were carried out to quantify the standard Malay vowels pronunciation using formant frequencies. However, only one work was identified that measures Malay vowels using formant frequencies for the Kedah district. Nonetheless, there were contradiction in some of the findings as the spoken vowels wereextracted from a read speech, that may not be representative of the natural dialect. Therefore, this paper investigated the Malay vowels variations from three districts (Perlis, Kelantan, and Terengganu) using spontaneous speeches acquired in a natural setting. Eight (8) Malay vowels were collected from local males and females residing in Perlis, Kelantan, and Terengganu. Four formant frequencies (F1-F4) were measured from the vowels extracted from the spontaneous speeches of the locals. Further analysis on the first and second formant suggest that the Malay vowels of Terengganu and Kelantan have a broader range of formants that are located in approximately the same position in the mouth. However, the vowels of the Perlis dialects were closely positioned in a narrower region of the mouth. A Malay vowel diagram was plotted that can be used for future reference in research and as an educational tool for language learning. Furthermore, Kelantan and Terengganu dialects are shown to be similar based on the first and second formants.
Highlights
The Malay language is described in the Encyclopedia Britannica (2018) as a branch of the Austronesian language family that is spoken by more than 33 million people from countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Southern Thailand, Singapore and Brunei, as reported by O’grady and Archibald (2015)
Malay dialects in Malaysia, as stated by Omar (1985) are generally divided into 12 dialect district; nine Malay dialects in Peninsular Malaysia and three in Sabah and Sarawak, indicated by Collins and Bahar (2000)
Asmah (1988) further divided the Malay dialects of Peninsular Malaysia into four main groups, which are: 1) the north-western group that include Kedah, Perlis, and Penang, 2) the northeastern group that comprises of Kelantan Malay, 3) the eastern group of Terengganu Malay, and 4) the southern group that consist of Johor, Melaka, Pahang, Selangor, and Perak
Summary
The Malay language is described in the Encyclopedia Britannica (2018) as a branch of the Austronesian language family that is spoken by more than 33 million people from countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Southern Thailand, Singapore and Brunei, as reported by O’grady and Archibald (2015). This paper examines the vowels pronunciation of spontaneous speeches based on formant frequencies for the dialects of Perlis (north-western), Kelantan (north-eastern) and Terengganu (eastern). These three districts were chosen because the dialects spoken in these districts are more conspicuous than the dialects in the southern districts, which are closer to the standard Malay dialect. The methodology of this paper is carried out as follows: 1) Eight Malay vowels from the spontaneous speeches of Perlis, Kelantan, and Terengganu were collected and documented using technology instrument, 2) The Malay vowel diagram comprising of Kelantan, Perlis, and Terengganu districts was introduced, and 3) Similarity measurement of Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu dialects based on the first and second formants were conducted
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