More facts of Bahasa Malaysia basics - Neglected Consonants
I must say NY and NG are the neglected phonetic facts of Bahasa Malaysia basics because most of the time they are brushed aside but they are the essential facts of Bahasa Malaysia that form majority of words distinctively Malay.
Let me relate some problems that I encounter with children ( and even adults ) who are not familiar with NY and NG.
They can read "Nya" because it is a word that occurs frequently, but they cannot read nyonya,nyedar,nyiru,nyunyut. What, you want to say never mind, you don't often come across these words? Then how about words with imbuhan such as: menyorok, menyeru,menyifatkan, menyusahkan?
Often they read men-yo-rok, men-ye-ru, men-yi-fat-kan, men-yu-sah-kan when it should be me-nyo-rok,me-nye-ru,me-nyi-fat-kan, me-nyu-sah-kan. Without the proper understanding of NY, they read me-nya-pu as men-ya-pu. Can you imagine reading men-yan-yi? ( Sigh ) Slight difference it seems, but it contributes to better pronunciation and fluency.
The Acid Test, Consonant NG
I often hear words such as men-gan-ga, men-go-yak, men-ge-mas, men-gi-pas, men-gu-cap when they should be read me-nga-nga, me-ngo-yak, me-nge-mas, me-ngi-pas, me-ngu-cap.
Be rest assured the spelling skill of such readers are bad. They spell pengguna as penguna. If they have known that pengguna is peng-gu-na and even if penguna exists, it should be read pe-ngu-na, they will spell BOTH correctly. I love to make a comparison between pengguna and penguna by reading them in an exaggerated way for my little nephew. Yes, him laughs and after that, he rarely makes this kind of spelling mistake.
Then there is the connection with imbuhan. A LOT of words when combined with imbuhan, form suku kata related to NG. Examples: pe-nga-rang, me-ngor-ban-kan,me-nge-san, pe-ngim-bas,me-ngu-bah.
Without knowing NG, do you think it is possible read words such as: ngajat,ngeliur,ngiak,ngok,nguak? As for me, I choose to...
Face the vital Facts of Bahasa Malaysia
Native speakers who are Malays have little problem with NY and NG because they know NGA and NYA as the 33rd and 36th alphabet of Jawi. Some non-native speakers have to make conscentious effort to learn them.
I am still not done yet with the consonants, so far I have only placed them in the order of Consonant + Vowel. I shall discuss them in the reverse order, Vowel + Consonant. More on facts of Bahasa Malaysia basics.
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