Descriptive Study of Phonological Differences Between Bahasa Malaysia & Bahasa Indonesia by Farah Eleena Mahdzan

Vowel Reduction of /u/ to /o/ in final close syllable


uuuuu....oooooo

Whenever the vowel /u/ is between two consonants and appears as the final syllable, such as in the case of peluk (hug), it is very natural for a Malay-speaking person from Malaysia such as Noreen to reduce the /u/ to a /o/.

Quite the opposite, Vitria naturally maintained her phonological consistency and pronounced the following words as they are spelled. The next table illustrates both Noreen's and Vitria's pronunciation for the 'vowel reduction of /u/ to /o/ in final close syllable' case.

Table 2
Malay Words with /u/ in final close syllable
Noreen's Pronunciations
(Malaysian)
Vitria's Pronunciations
(Indonesian)
Telur

Gemuk

Batuk

Takut

Hancur

Telor

Gemok

Batok

Takot

Hancor

Telur

Gemuk

Batuk

Takut

Hancur

Note:

  • u: pronounced as 'oo' in good
  • o: pronounced as 'o' in God


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