A Malay-English dictionary,

* -~ i~~~ _ -.~__~ ^_a~..~~r-i-;~- ~ I~ i S_ --- _ -- _ ii — i - ~ ~~r ~ i~ ~r - -.r~. -- ~ ~ - I

known as the baris di-hadapan, and is pronounced as a
short o or u, or (when followed by a wan) as a long
o or iu.
These vowel points are very rarely met with in
modern Malay writing. Their disuse and the occasional
substitution for them of the hzuiif saksi are more properly
discussed when dealing with the question of Malay
orthography [Appendix IV].
The Jazmn.-The mark (_ -) which in Arabic is called
jazm (amputation) indicates that the consonant over
which it is written is the final consonant of a closed
syllable. Thus in writing the diacritical marks over a
word like takhta, a jazm would be written over the khi to
show that it is the final consonants of a yllable, takh, and
not the initial consonant of a new syllable. In more
popular language it means that the klh is not followed by
a vowel.
The 'ashdid.-The mark ( w.) which in Arabic is
called tashdid (strengthening) indicates that the consonant
over which it is placed is doubled. Thus in writing the

707 ]
diacritical marks on a word like takabbur [ A ], a
tashdid would be written over the letter bd.
The Ham-zalh.-The word rhamznah signifies (in Arabic)
" compression," i.e., of the larynx. It is written by Arabs
over the initial or "hamzated" alif to indicate its being
the spiritus lenis in contradistinction to the alif of prolongation; v. Appendix II. In Malay, this initial hanizah is
not used. In the middle of a word the occurrence of
hatmlzah (both in Arabic and Malay) signifies that the
syllable commences with the spivitlus lenis. Thus dI)
would be ra-twat, ra-wit, rat-wut, but obt )> would be ra-'.it.
The Malays also use hamzah at tile end of a word instead
of a final I, c.g., t; for T. This last is a special
use of hamlzah coifined to the Malay language.
The Arabic signs mnaddlah and zwaslah, and the marks
of nunation (taunw1n) need not trouble the student of
Malay.

APPENDIX II.
PRONUNCIATION.

The correct pronunciation of the letters occurring in
Malay words ought to present no difficulties to the
English student. The purely Arabic letters are harder
to pronounce, and present distinctions which, to be
properly appreciated, must be studied practically, by
listening to well-educated Arabs only,-as the modern
dialects of Egypt and of Hadramaut (frorn which
countries the Arabs of the Straits are mainly drawn)
differ very materially from the classical language. Fortunately, however, for the student, these peculiarly Arabic
letters are as difficult of pronunciation to Malays as they
are to Europeans, and their mastery serves no practical
purpose.
Consolnants.-All the letters of the Malayo-Arabic
alphabet are, theoretically, consonants, but three of them
[\,, o] when used in "prolongation" help to form the
long vowels and therefore correspond to English letters
like w and y, which are classed as semi-vowels. The
letter talso, from its unpronounceable character, is often
treated by Malays as if it were identical with the letter \
The letter \, when used at the beginning of a word
or syllable, is the spiritus lenis which is not symbolized in
English, but which is, in its essential character, consonantal. In Arabic, this initial alif is written \ and is
called hamzah or the " hamzated alif" to distinguish it
from the \ of prolongation which converts a into a and
of which the use is exemplified in '. In this way the

mark hamzah (;) and the combination Idmn-alif (J )
instead of being treated as illustrations of the dual nature
of alif, are assumed by Malays to be regular letters
unconnected with alif, and are added as such to the
alphabet.
The letter bdt corresponds exactly in sound to our
letter b.
The letter ti in Arabic, Persian and Hindustani is
somewhat softer than our t, so that in transliterating
European names the Arabs used I rather than, as an
equivalent for t. In Malay the distinction between t and
~ is imperceptible.
The letter thi is pronounced in Arabic as our th in
"thin." Educated Malays attempt, with more or less
success, to so pronounce it; but, in popular use, the letter
is pronounced as an s; e.g., hari selasa for hari thaldtha.
The letters jit and chd approximate in sound to our
j (in "June" ) and ch ( in "church ") respectively.
The letter ha is an emphasized h. The h in " huge"
has been suggested as an approximate equivalent. iHa is,
however, a purely Arabic letter and is not generally
distinguishable, in the mouth of Malays, from the
unemphasized hd ( )
The letter khd is a harsh guttural sound like the ch

in loch.

-- - I --