Malay phonology

Malay phonology is based on the pronunciation of the two standard varieties of Malay, Standard Malay and Indonesian. The former is the official language of Brunei and Malaysia, and one of four in Singapore, while the latter is the official language of Indonesia, and a working language in Timor Leste.

There are two main varieties of standard Malay pronunciation, /a/-varieties (kelainan-/a/) where word-final ⟨a⟩ as in the word buka 'to open' is pronounced as /a/ and word-final ⟨r⟩ as in the word sabar 'patient' is not silent, and schwa-varieties (kelainan-pepet; also called 'Johor-Riau pronunciation' owing to its origins) where word-final ⟨a⟩ is pronounced as schwa /ə/ and word-final ⟨r⟩ is silent except when a vowel-initial suffix is attached. This means buka and sabar would be pronounced as /buka/ ^ⓘ and /sabar/ ^ⓘ in /a/-varieties, but as /bukə/ ^ⓘ and /saba(r)/ ^ⓘ in schwa-varieties.

/a/-varieties are spoken in Brunei, East Malaysia, Indonesia and northwestern Peninsular Malaysia (Kedah, Penang, Perlis), while schwa-varieties are spoken in the other parts of Peninsular Malaysia, including the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur and in Singapore. Schwa-varieties predominate in the Malaysian media, while a separate artifical Baku (lit. 'standard' in Malay/Indonesian; also called 'Literary Standard Malay') pronunciation standard which follows a prescriptive 'pronounce as it is spelt' approach to pronunciation is officially used and enforced in Singapore. The Baku pronunciation standard is distinct from /a/-varieties but aligns with them in how word-final ⟨a⟩ and ⟨r⟩ are treated.