Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 6 1888.djvu/73

Rh Arabic (which are marked by . placed under the letters not used in ordinary Malay words) are sounded as in English.

Final "k" is only partially sounded, and the same sound is indicated by " ' " succeeding a vowel.

"Ng," which is one letter in the native character, is always sounded as in "singing," and never as in "anger"; the latter sound being indicated by an additional "g," which always in such case follows the "ng" in the native character.

"G" is always hard, as in "go"; never soft, as in "ginger." The vowels are sounded as in Italian, ˆ over them indicating the long sound, but not invariably the syllable on which the chief emphasis rests, which is marked by ´ over it, and if needed in addition to the ˆ, but ordinarily the ˆ, where it occurs, suffices to mark the emphatic syllable.

There is no mark over the ordinary short vowels, but the prosodial mark over "e" (besides the ordinary short "e" which gives the sound of "e" in "pen") is used to mark what may be called the indefinite vowel sound, a sound which closely resembles the "e" in the French "ce" and "le," and in the English "literal."

To enable the reader to more readily appreciate the position of the tribes whose traditions are here given, a rough map of the Malay peninsula is attached showing the states among which they are scattered. [The map is not reproduced.]

The following traditions were communicated to me by Batin Pa' Înah, one of the aboriginal chiefs, residing in the state of Johól.