PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

This study examines the acoustic features of the monophthongs of Penang Malay (PM) based on the frequencies of the first (F1) and second (F2) formants as produced by five selected female speakers who are of the Jawi Peranakan (JP) community in Penang, Malaysia. This study is significant as it describes the monophthongs of PM because previous studies have focused on the acoustic analysis of Standard Malay (SM) and analyzed PM from impressionistic and phonological aspects. The target vowels are [a], [i], [u], [ɛ], [ɔ], [ə], [e], and [o]. A series of words were used to elicit data from the speakers. The tokens produced by the speakers were recorded and analyzed using Praat version 6.0.50. The two formants were analyzed using the Formant Frequency Model, and independent samples t-tests were conducted. The findings reveal that the PM participants mostly produced vowels following impressionistic studies of past researchers. However, PM speakers did not distinguish between [ɛ] and [e] as the sounds were conflated as one vowel. These results challenge past claims of homogeneity between PM and Kedah Malay (KM). This study expands knowledge on PM’s phonetics and highlights avenues for future research.

• Adank, P., Smiths, R., & Hout, R. V. (2004). A comparison of vowel normalization procedures for language variation research. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 116(5), 3099-3107. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1795335

• Ahmad, I. (1969). Fonologi bahasa Kedah [Phonology of Kedah Malay]. Jurnal Dewan Bahasa, 13(12), 531-537.

• Azli, A. J. (2017). An acoustics study of the monophthongs of Kedah Malay [Master’s dissertation, Universiti Malaya]. UM Students’ Repository. http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/7735/

• Bates, S. A. R. (1995). Towards a definition of Schwa: An acoustic investigation of vowel reduction in English [Doctoral dissertation, University of Edinburgh]. ERA. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/15810

• Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2019). Praat: Doing phonetics by computer [Computer program] (Version 6.0.50). http://www.praat.org/

• Bowdre, P. H. (1964). A study of eye dialect [Doctoral dissertation, University of Florida]. University of Florida Digital Collections. https://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00097922/00001

• Bradley, E. D. (2018). A comparison of the acoustic vowel spaces of speech and song. Linguistic Research, 35(2), 381-394. https://doi.org/10.17250/khisli.35.2.201806.006

• Collins, J. T. (1986). Antologi kajian dialek Melayu [Anthology of Malay dialect studies]. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

• Crawfurd, J. (1820). History of the Indian Archipelago: Containing an account of the manners, art, languages, religions, institution and commerce of its inhabitants. Archibald Constable and Company.

• Crystal, D. (2003). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English language (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

• Dain, R. M. R. M. (1985). Ilmu fonetik dengan latihan [Phonetics with practice]. Agensi Penerbitan Nusantara.

• Department of Statistics Malaysia. (2020). Demographic Statistics Third Quarter 2020, Malaysia. https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/index.php?r=column/cthemeByCat&cat=430&bul_id=YUttRnlGZ2VXSkg0M0F2ZHZFTE9IUT09&menu_id=L0pheU43NWJwRWVSZklWdzQ4TlhUUT09

• Deterding, D. (1997). The formants of monophthong vowels in Standard Southern British English pronunciation. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 27(1-2), 47-55. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100300005417

• Eusoff, R. (1997). The Merican clan: A story of courage and destiny. Times Books International.

• Flynn, N. (2011). Comparing vowel formant normalisation procedures. York Paper in Linguistics, 2(11), 1-28.

• Hamid, S. A., & Aman, R. (2010). Pengaruh dialek dalam pertuturan bahasa Melayu standard: Pencerakinan bunyi berasaskan spektrogram [The influence of dialects in standard Malay speech: A spectrogram-based sound analysis]. Jurnal Bahasa, 10(2), 287-297.

• Hamid, S. A., Aman, R., & Hamid, Z. (2012). Kajian akustik realisasi kontras penyuaraan bunyi plosif Bahasa Melayu [Acoustic study of the realisation of the plosives voicing contrast in Malay]. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies, 12(2), 745-760.

• Hawkins, S., & Midgley, J. (2005). Formant frequencies of RP monophtongs in four age groups of speakers. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 35(2), 183-199. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100305002124

• Hussein, I. (1973). Malay dialects in the Malay peninsula. Nusantara 3, 69-79.

• Ismail, S. (1971). Dialek Kedah Persisiran [Kedah Persisiran Dialect] (Unpublished master’s dissertation). University of Malaya.

• Jacobi, I. (2009). On variation and change in diphthongs and long vowels of spoken Dutch. [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Amsterdam. https://hdl.handle.net/11245/1.316951

• Jamil, N., Ramli, I., & Ardi, N. (2019). Formant characteristics of Malay vowels of Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu. Journal of Information and Communication Technology, 18(4), 529-544. https://doi.org/10.32890/jict2019.18.4.6

• Karim, N. S. (1989). Tatabahasa Dewan [Malay Grammar] (Vol. 2). Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

• Kob, A. C. (1985). Dialek geografi Pasir Mas [Geographic dialect of Pasir Mas]. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

• Krapp, G. P. (1926). The psychology of dialect writing. The Bookman, 63, 522-527.

• Ladefoged, P. (2003). Phonetic data analysis: An introduction to fieldwork and instrumental techniques. Wiley-Blackwell.

• Leung, Y., Oates, J., Papp, V., & Chan, S.-P. (2020). Formant frequencies of adult speakers of Australian English and effects of sex, age, geographical location, and vowel quality. Journal of Voice, 36(6), 875.e1-875.e13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvoice.2020.09.026

• Lewis, P. M., Simons, G. F., & Fennig, C. D. (Eds.). (2016). Ethnologue: Languages of Asia, Nineteenth Edition (19th ed.). SIL International.

• Mahmud, Z. (1972). The population of Kedah in the nineteenth century. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 3(2), 193-209. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022463400019287

• Maragakis, M. (2008). Region-based vocal tract length normalization for automatic speech recognition [Unpublished master’s thesis, Technical University of Crete]. Institutional Repository. https://doi.org/10.26233/heallink.tuc.13390

• Maris, Y. (1980). The Malay sound system. Fajar Bakti.

• Maurer, D., & Suter, H. (2015). Gender and age differences in vowel-related formant patterns: What happens if men, women, and children produce vowels on different and on similar F0? The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 137, Article 2416. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4920812

• Merican, A. M. (2018, April 25). Tanjong identity: Who are we? New Straits Times. https://www.nst.com.my/education/2018/04/361447/tanjong-identity-who-are-we

• Merican, Y. A. (n.d.). Kaum ‘Jawi Peranakan’ di Pulau Pinang [The Jawi Peranakan community in Penang]. Retrieved June 5, 2021, from http://www.penangstory.net.my/bm-content-paperomar.html

• Nasution, K. S. (2002). The rich legacy of the Jawi Pekan. Star Publications.

• Omar, A. (1979). Language planning for unity and efficiency: A study of the language status and corpus planning of Malaysia. University of Malaya Press.

• Omar, A. (1985). Susur galur Bahasa Melayu [Historical linguistics of the Malay language]. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

• Omar, A. (1993). Essays on Malaysian linguistics. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

• Omar, A. (2005). Alam dan penyebaran Bahasa Melayu [Geographical conditions and diffusion of Malay language]. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

• Omar, A. (2015). Susur galur Bahasa Melayu [Historical linguistics of the Malay Language] (2nd ed.). Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

• Ong, S. T., Suri, N. S. A., & Aman, R. (2016). Fonologi subdialek Pulau Pinang: Satu kajian di Balik Pulau [The phonology of the Penang subdialect: A study in Balik Pulau]. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 11(1), 186-201.

• Onn, F. M. (1980). Aspects of Malay phonology and morphology: A generative approach. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

• Pillai, S., & Yusuf, Y. Q. (2012). An instrumental analysis of Acehnese oral vowels. Language and Linguistics, 13(6), 1029-1050.

• Pillai, S., Muthiah A., & Looi, S.-T. (2012). The production of back vowels in Malaysian English. In S. A. Manan & H. A. Rahim (Eds.), Linguistics, literature and culture: Millennium realities and innovative practices in Asia (pp. 49-67). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

• Radzi, H., Sultan, F. M. M., Jalaluddin, N. H., & Kasdan, J. (2018). Menyingkap penyebaran dialek di Pulau Pinang menerusi kajian multidisiplin [Exploring the spread of dialects in Penang through a multidisciplinary study]. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Linguistics (pp. 257-268). Linguistics Programme UKM.

• Rahim, H. A. (2015). Bahasa Tanjong: The heritage language of the Jawi Peranakans of Penang. Kajian Malaysia, 33(Supp. 2), 91-111.

• Ramli, I., Jamil, N., & Ardi, N. (2020). Formant characteristics of Malay vowels. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 9(1), 144-152. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v9i1.20421

• Simpson, A. P. (2009). Phonetic differences between male and female speech. Language and Linguistics Compass, 3(2), 621-640. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2009.00125.x

• Teoh, B. S. (1994). The sound system of Malay revisited. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

• Vaughan, J. D. (1857). Notes on the Malay at Penang and Province Wellesley. Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, 2(8), 115-175.

• Wang, H., & van Heuven, V. J. (2006). Acoustical analysis of English vowels produced by Chinese, Dutch and American speakers. Linguistics in the Netherlands, 23(1), 237-248. https://doi.org/10.1075/avt.23.23wan

• Watt, D., & Tillotson, J. (2001). A spectrographic analysis of vowel fronting in Bradford English. English World-Wide, 22(2), 269-302. https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.22.2.05wat

• Weirich, M., & Simpson, A. P. (2014). Differences in acoustic vowel space and the perception of speech tempo. Journal of Phonetics, 43, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2014.01.001

• Winstedt, R. O. (1935). History of Malaya. Singapore Printers.

• Yusoff, O., & Mohamed, N. (2010). Daripada Jawi Peranakan kepada Melayu: Tinjauan terhadap komuniti Jawi Peranakan di Pulau Pinang pada abad ke-21 [Jawi Peranakan to Malay: An observation on the Jawi Peranakan community in Penang in the 21st century]. International Journal of the Malay World and Civilisation, 28(2), 63-82.

• Yusuf, Y. Q. (2013). A comparative study of vowels in the Acehnese language spoken in Kedah, Malaysia and Aceh, Indonesia. [Doctoral dissertation, Universiti Malaya]. UM Students’ Repository. http://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/4459/

• Zahid, I., & Omar, M. S. (2012). Fonetik dan fonologi [Phonetics and phonology] (2nd ed.). PTS Akademia.

• Zwicker, E., & Terhardt, E. (1980). Analytical expressions for critical‐band rate and critical bandwidth as a function of frequency. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 68(5), 1523-1525. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.385079