Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstrai9101882roya).pdf/174

 لام lāma length of time.

و Wau, ō, ū, as the o in nose and the u in truth. تولق tōlak, to push; ݢون gūna, quality, use.

ي Ya, ē, ī, as the ê in fête and the double e in thee. بيد bēda, difference; بيني bini, wife.

ع Ain, ’a, ’e, ’i, ’u. This vowel conveys a deep and somewhat nasal sound which must be heard to be understood; examples: عمر ’umur, life, age; عقل ’akal, mind, intelligence; علم ’ilmu, science.

These are always long. A short vowel is not written. In Arabic indeed it may bo denoted by what are called vowel-points placed above and below the consonants, but vowel-points have been generally adopted in Malay, and the short vowels are left to be supplied by the reader like vowels in our ordinary short-hand.

To show how completely the use and the accentuation of the vowels in Arabic differ from Malay, to which language nevertheless the Arabic alphabet (with some additions) has been applied, it is only necessary to examine a passage of Arabic transliterated in the Roman character, e.g., an extract from the Kur'an or from any other book, or to hear it correctly read.

The majority of the words, it will be found, end in open vowels, and in pronunciation the long vowels are strongly accentuated. A short e is of rare occurrence.

Take a sentence of equal length in Malay; it will be remarked that most of the words end in consonants, the exceptions being generally words of Sanskrit or other foreign origin, in many words the nominally short vowels, namely those not written, will have equal value in pronunciation with those which are written, and a sound which corresponds closely with the short e in the English words belong, bereft is abundant.

In writing Malay, therefore, the Arabic alphabet has to express sounds very different from those of the language to which it belongs.

The short e in Malay is often "a distinct and peculiar sound, which has a separate character to represent it in the Javanese alphabet," but for which there is no particular sign in the Perso-