<HTML><BODY> The volatile "-h"<br> <br> Dear colleagues, <br> <br> Malay root morpheme patterns traditionally did not tolerate the final /-e/ (e-taling, as well as -e-pepet, "schwa")<br>or /-ei/, and the final /-o/. Thus in some loan-words these vowels were changed for diphtongs /ai/ and /au/; <br><em><br>seperai</em> < Dutch <em>sprei <em> 'bed sheet', <br></em></em><em>towkay</em> < Chin.dial. <em>thay ke</em> 'employer' (var. <em>taukeh) <br>selai</em> < Dutch <em>gele </em> 'jam'<br><em>tembakau <</em> Port.<em> tabaco </em>(if not pronounced at the time of borrowing with final<em> /-u/ </em>, as at present) <br><em>panau</em> < Port. <em>pano</em> 'skin desease' (the same notice), <br><br>or supplied by the additional /-h/: <br><em> teh, taukeh, tempoh</em>. <br><br>(Not so in Malay dialects in Java: <em>sore, sate, </em><em>toko </em>etc). <br> <br> Meanwhile Javanese around 1700 did not tolerate any longer the final /-a/, so that this /-a/ also received the additional /-h/. e.g. <em>Amerikah</em>. Such forms as <em>sekolah</em> could arise from Javanese speakers of Malay. <br> A rather chaotic use of final /-h/ was the consequence. This is attested in Melayu Rendah and Chinese-Malay texts: <br><br><em>stenga taoen</em> 'setengah tahun ' <br><em>rapih</em> 'rapi', <br><em>celah</em> 'cela' etc. <br><br>The same perhaps occurred with <em>kasih</em> producing<em> kasi</em>.<br> <br>Thanks for this interesting discussion.<br> Best,<br> A.Ogloblin <br><br></BODY></HTML>