Syllable-final “p” and “t”

In syllable-final positions, the consonants “p” and “t” are pronounced without aspiration, meaning there is no release of air, unlike in the English words “stop or “hat.” The IPA symbols for these unaspirated sounds are /p¬/ and /t¬/.

While this might seem like a minor detail, and people will still understand you if you pronounce “stop” —a word also used in Indonesian — with an aspirated “p”, your Indonesian will sound much more natural if you pronounce syllable-final “p” and “t” without aspiration. It’s a simple adjustment to make, and it’s definitely worth the effort for achieving a more native-like pronunciation.

    menutup ‘to close’

    cukup ‘enough’

    dapat ‘can, get’

    dekat ‘nearby’

    laut ‘sea, ocean’

    nasihat ‘advice’

When the syllable-final “p” or “t” are followed by suffix -kan, the “p” and “t” are pronounced unaspirated

    menasihatkan ‘to advise’

    menghidupkan ‘to switch on’

However, when the syllable-final “p” or “t” are followed by suffix -an, the “p” and “t” are pronounced /p/ and /t/. This is because “p” and “t” no longer appear in syllable-final position. The corresponding noun for the verb menghidupkan is kehidupan, and the syllable structure is now /kǝ.hi.du.pan/. The same happens to the verb buat. When the suffix -an is added the syllable structure changes to /bu.a.tan/.

Compare:

    buat ‘make, do’

with:

    buatan ‘made in’

Exercise

Listen carefully to the following words:

buat • menghidupkan • dekat • laut • cukup • tutup
/bu.at¬/ • /mǝŋ.hi.dup¬.kan/ • /dǝ.kat¬/ • /laut¬/ • /tʃu.kup¬/ /tu.tup¬/

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