3.1.4 Basic inventory: vowels
When viewed as a whole, the Semai language can be said to have thirty vowels. Semai has both short and long vowels. The long vowels are not dramatically elongated. Indeed, it may be more accurate to
portray the long vowels as the more “normal” and the short vowels as extra short. Overall, there are roughly twice as many words with long vowels as opposed to short in the major syllable.
Table 3. Oral vowels
Oral, long Front
Central Back
Close ii
ɨɨ uu
Close-mid ee
oo
Open-mid ɛɛ
ɔɔ
Open ɑɑ
Oral, short Front
Central Back
Close i
ɨ u
Close-mid e
o
Open-mid ɛ
ə ɔ
Open ɑ
Table 4. Nasal vowels
Nasal, long Front
Central Back
Close ĩĩ
ɨ̃ɨ̃ ũũ
Mid ɛ̃ɛ̃
ɔ̃ɔ̃
Open ɑ̃ɑ̃
Nasal, short Front
Central Back
Close ĩ
ɨ̃ ũ
Mid ɛ̃
ə̃ ɔ̃
Open ɑ̃
3.1.5 Deviations from basic inventory: the preploded nasals
The southeastern dialects of Semai
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generally have the full set of consonants. That is to say, they retain the preploded nasals. These dialects include Betau, Cherong, Pos Buntu, and Bertang. In one dialect,
Kuala Kenip, the plosive is voiceless, but still has a voiced nasal release. For the rest of the dialects,
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all of the preploded nasals have become simple voiceless plosives. Hence, for these dialects there are only
nineteen consonants. The following examples show the form of these endings in three representative dialects.
13
This region is the Raub district and the southeastern half of the Lipis district in Pahang.
14
That is, the Cameron Highlands district of Pahang, the northwest part of the Lipis district in Pahang, and all dialects in Perak.
English Malay
Voiced preploded nasals e.g. Betau
Voiceless preploded nasals Kuala Kenip
Voiceless plosive e.g. Simoi
‘blood’ ‘darah’
[bə.hii
b
m] [bə.hii
p
m] [bə.hiip]
‘to die’ ‘mati’
[dɑ
d
n] [dɑ
t
n] [dɑt]
‘termite’ ‘anai-anai’
[ɡə.rɨɨ
ɟ
ɲ] [ɡə.rɨɨ
c
ɲ] [ɡə.rɨɨc]
‘to fly’ ‘terbang’
[hɛɛ
ɡ
ŋ] [hɛɛ
k
ŋ] [hɛɛk]
Note that the reduction of the preploded nasal to a voiceless plosive has produced a number of homonyms in these dialects, in those cases where there already existed a phonologically similar word
with a simple voiceless plosive. The following examples are given.
English Malay
Dialects with preploded nasals e.g. Betau
Dialects where nasal is now a voiceless plosive e.g. Simoi
‘foot’ ‘kaki’
[ɟu
ɡ
ŋ] [ɟuk]
‘to return’ ‘pulang’ [ɟuk]
[ɟuk] ‘skinny’
‘kurus’ [soo
ɡ
ŋ] [sook]
‘navel’ ‘pusat’
[sook] [sook]
3.1.6 Deviations from basic inventory: shifted vowels
Two dialects surveyed have developed shifted vowels. What most dialects pronounce as a long, open central vowel [ɑɑ] is now pronounced in Gopeng and Kampar dialects as a long, open back vowel [ɒɒ].
The entry of this vowel into the back region has caused the open-mid ɔɔ to be phonetically raised to [o̞o̞], and the close-mid oo to be phonetically raised to [o̝o̝]. The following examples demonstrate this
phenomenon.
English Malay
Most dialects Gopeng, Kampar
‘shoulders’ ‘bahu’ ɡəl.pɑɑl
ɡəl.pɒɒl ‘bone’
‘tulang’ ɟə.ʔɑɑk
ɟə.ʔɒɒk ‘fire’
‘api’ ʔɔɔs
[ʔo̞o̞s] ʔɔɔs
‘shadow’ ‘bayang’
wɔɔk [wo̞o̞k]
wɔɔk ‘woman’
‘perempuan’ kər.door [kər.do̝o̝r]
kər.door ‘roof’
‘atap’ pə.look
[pə.lo̝o̝k] pə.look
3.1.7 Deviations from basic inventory: possible merged vowel