Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstrait121878roya).pdf/75



5. The five vowels when used in writing Malay and Chinese words have the Continental, or, more strictly, the Italian, sound.

They sometimes have a long sound, and are then written with a circumflex accent over them, thus â, ê &c.; and sometimes they have a short sound, when they are written a, e &c., without any accent. This is more fully explained in the subjoined table. The Committee consider that the labour of writing the accent over the long vowels will be far more than compensated for by the accuracy in pronunciation that will be secured, as the accent will point out the accentuated syllables. If "Sarâwak" and "Sembîlan" had always been so written, Englishmen would have been saved the absurd mistake of pronouncing them Sarahwhack and Sambilan, as if the accent were on the first syllable in each case instead of the second.

6. But in addition to those vowel sounds which may be fairly represented by the five vowels marked as long and short, there is another of exceedingly frequent occurrence in Malay which is so vague and indefinite that no natural representative at once suggests itself, and Malay scholars have given different renderings of it. After long and careful deliberation the Committee have come to the conclusion that there will be the least danger of misunderstanding if this sound be uniformly expressed by the letter e so written. The mark of shortness (ĕ) is very important to distinguish it from the common short e as sounded in the English words "pen," met," to which it bears little resemblance. The sound which we wish to express by this character (ĕ) is that of e in such words as "lateral" "considerable."

The Arabic letter ع (ain), which is found in a few Malay words, takes the sound of all the vowels, long and short, in turn. And its presence will be indicated by a dot written underneath thus ậ ệ &c., or ạ ẹ &c.

8. There are two dipthongal sounds which will be written au and ei, pronounced as in the table below.