Syllable Final “k”

In Indonesian, the glottal stop is represented by the letter “k”, and its IPA symbol is /ʔ/. This consonant does not exist in English, except in the exclamation “oh-oh.” German has a few instances of the glottal stop, such as in the word “Oase”, pronounced /ʔoʔaːzǝ/. Similarly, the Danish stød is often realized as a glottal stop, but most other European languages lack this sound.

The glottal stop is represented by the letter “k”, which makes sense since it closely resembles an unaspirated, unreleased K. However, not all Indonesians pronounce the glottal stop this way. Depending on the region, in some areas, syllable-final “k” is pronounced as an unaspirated, unreleased K. Therefore, syllable final “k” is actually closely related to syllable-final “p”, and “t” (see previous lesson).

As mentioned, the glottal stop only occurs at the end of a syllable. Therefore, there is no glottal stop in the word kokoh (firm). Consider the following tongue-twister, which contains many “k”-s but only one glottal stop. Can you identify which one?

Kukikis-kikis kuku kaki kakakku.
I file the toenails of my elder sibling.

Here is where you can check your answer:

The glottal stop occurs in the following words: bapak (father), enak (delicious), masuk (enter), titik (point). It most frequently appears at the end of a word, but it can also occur at the end of a syllable within a word, such as in rakyat (the people), though this is relatively uncommon.

    Pak ‘Mr. (followed by name)’

    baik ‘good’

    cewek ‘girl’

    jeruk ‘citrus fruit’

    traktir ‘to treat someone’

    kotak ‘a box’

    mabuk ‘intoxicated, drunk, motion sick’

    baik ‘good’

    masuk ‘to enter’

    menarik ‘interesting, attractive’

    naik ‘go up, ascend’

The glottal stop is retained, when the following syllable begins with a consonant. Like when the suffix -lah or the suffix -kan is added to the base word:

    baiklah ‘fine, okay’

Compare masuk “enter” with syllabus structure /ma.suk/…

    masuk ‘enter’

….with memasukkan “to put something into something” with syllabus structure /mǝ.ma.suk.kan/:

    memasukkan ‘to put something into something’

However, when the suffix -an is added, the glottal stop is not present because the “k” is no longer in final position. The syllable structure of masukan “input” is /ma.su.kan/.

Compare cantik “beautiful” with syllabus structure /can.tik/…

    cantik ‘beautiful’

…with kecantikan “beauty” with syllabus structure /kǝ.can.ti.kan/:

    kecantikan ‘beauty’

When two identical vowels occur together in a word, they are not pronounced as a long vowel but as two separate vowels with a glottal stop in between. For example, the word saat (time) is pronounced as [saʔat¬], and word cemooh (mockery; ridicule) is pronounced [cə.mo.ʔ.oh]. Word with two identical vowels next to each other are usually Arab loanwords.

    maaf ‘excuse me, I am sorry’

The indonesian language consists of various dialects that are often influenced by the local languages. A Batak from Sumatra and a Sundanese feom West Java can perfectly communicate, but one can often hear where a person originates from. Therefore, not all Indonesians pronounce final “k” as a glottal stop. It is also often realised by an unaspirated /k/ but never as /kʰ/ as in the English word “sick”.

Exercise

Listen carefully to the following words:

merusak • mengetik • agak • berteriak • gemuk
/mǝ.ru.saʔ • /mǝ.ŋe.tiʔ/ • /agaʔ/ • /bǝr.tǝ.riaʔ/ /gǝ.muʔ/

Afterward, use the voice recorder to capture your own voice. Then, compare your recording with how a native speaker pronounces the words.

For more information on the pronunciation of Indonesian final plosives we recomend: Huili Li1, Praptomo Baryadi, I Dewa Putu Wijana (2019). “Sound Pattern of Indonesian Plosives“. Linguistik Indonesia, Februari 2019, 1-12 Volume ke-37, No.1. pp. 1–12.