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hello

I have few questions on Indonesian pronunciation:

1. is there some way to guess how an 'e' is pronounced?

2. when a word ending in -k is suffixed, how is this 'k' realised? For instance when adding the -nya to a word ending in -k, will it change its realisation from glottal stop to [k]?

3. I noticed that people in East Kalimantan realise the 'r' as a very strong and long trrrrrrill. Is this merely Kalimantan accent, or is it the standard pronunciation? In some songs I noticed that the 'r' word-initially is more of a tap than a trill. Please enlighten me

4. Is Kalimantan accent very different from standard?

Terima kasih banyak!

Hi Ego
I am trying my best to answer your questions

1. There's no special way to differentiate how to pronounce 'E' in Bahasa Indonesia. You have to remember each word and the meaning to pronounce 'e' correctly. As you know, we also have homograph

3. I am from East Kalimantan, but since it has so many tribes (like in Samarinda, we have Kutai, Dayak, Banjar, also Jawa and Bugis) so it depends from where you are from. Some people pronounce 'r' very strong. In my opinion, the standard pronunciation depends on where the 'r' is placed. For example :
Ram-but (hair) : the pronunciation of 'r' is more like a tap. The same with Ra-mai (crowded)
Ger-tak (bluffing) : 'r' is pronounced strong
La-mar (apply, propose): 'r' is also pronounced strong

4. I think it is not accent, but dialect. There are so many tribes in Indonesia and they speak completely different languages in each island, but we have Bahasa Indonesia. So, without they realize, they use dialect when they speak

I hope this helps you

nad5726 wrote:Hi Ego
I am trying my best to answer your questions

1. There's no special way to differentiate how to pronounce 'E' in Bahasa Indonesia. You have to remember each word and the meaning to pronounce 'e' correctly. As you know, we also have homograph

3. I am from East Kalimantan, but since it has so many tribes (like in Samarinda, we have Kutai, Dayak, Banjar, also Jawa and Bugis) so it depends from where you are from. Some people pronounce 'r' very strong. In my opinion, the standard pronunciation depends on where the 'r' is placed. For example :
Ram-but (hair) : the pronunciation of 'r' is more like a tap. The same with Ra-mai (crowded)
Ger-tak (bluffing) : 'r' is pronounced strong
La-mar (apply, propose): 'r' is also pronounced strong

4. I think it is not accent, but dialect. There are so many tribes in Indonesia and they speak completely different languages in each island, but we have Bahasa Indonesia. So, without they realize, they use dialect when they speak

I hope this helps you

Terima kasih temanku. Saya pernah ke Kalimantan Timur pada musim panas yang lalu. Saya suka tempat itu banyak dan saya akan coba pergi ke sana lagi.

Since you are from Kaltim maybe you can answer some more questions I have. How different is Kutai from Bahasa? The only words I know in Kutai is "ndi ngerti" (not sure about the spelling) and it looks very similar to "tidak mengerti" so I suppose the two languages are not that different? Are they mutually intelligible?

Hi, Ego.
Terima kasih kembali 

Well, actually I am not really familiar with Kutai because I live in Balikpapan, where most of the people are descendats from another tribes, so am I. But, I think Kutai is closer to Bahasa than other language they use in Kalimantan Timur.

Or maybe I will give you a song in Kutai, so you could estimate the similarity between Bahasa and Kutai.

Title: Buah Bolok

Buah bolok kuranji papan
Dimakan mabok dibuang sayang
Busu embok etam kumpulkan
Rumah-rumah jabo etam lestarikan

Buah salak muda diperam
Dimakan kelat dibuang sayang
Spupu deng sanak etam kumpulkan
Untuk menyambut wisatawan

Reff:
Buah terong digangan nyaman
Jukut blanak tulung panggangkan
Museum tenggarong Mulawarman
Yo deng sanak etam kerangahkan

Buah bolok kuranji papan
Dimakan mabok dibuang sayang
Kroan kanak sekampongan
Etam begantar bejepenan

*could you find any Bahasa words in the song?
Buah, papan, (di)makan, dibuang, sayang, kumpulkan, rumah, lestarikan.
Muda, S(e)pupu, sanak, untuk, menyambut, wisatawan
Terong, nyaman, panggang, museum.
Dialect: mabok (mabuk), tulung (tolong), kampong (kampung)

But "nyaman" in Kutai has different meaning from Bahasa. Nyaman in Kutai means "delicious".

Hope this help you

p.s: lebih tepat "Saya sangat suka tempat itu" daripada "Saya suka tempat itu banyak". (it is from "I like that place so much", isn't it? Bahasa Indonesia-mu sangat bagus, kawan!

Terima kasih atas bantuannya Neng. Thanks for your corrections, I appreciate it.

This is an interesting song. I have been to Museum Tenggarong Indeed I can recognise many words in there and actually to me it seems like Kutai and Bahasa are quite similar to each other. Perhaps something like Spanish and Portuguese. I asked from my uni library to find me an academic article about the languages of Kalimantan, and I am looking forward to reading it. There is a Facebook group called Bahasa Kutai by the way

I have noticed that where bahasa has [u], Kutai has [o] and vice versa. For instance tolong/tulung, orang/urang, kampung/kampong, etc.

These days I am reading a book by Pramoedya Toer, "Bumi manusia". What a wonderful reading!

If you need help or translator, just PM me.
I'm native Indonesia, btw