Fricatives
The fricative /h/ may occur in both onsets and codas. In final position, it is sometimes not audible, as in the first instance of lebih kuat [lɐbɪ kʰwat̚] 'stronger' in the recording, though at other times it is quite clear, as in mengalah [məŋalah] 'give in'.
In the table in the Section on the Consonant Chart, five fricatives are shown in brackets: /f, v, z, ʃ, x/. These occur only in loanwords, generally from Arabic or English:
The realisation of these consonants in loan words varies. In more formal registers such as the ‘newscaster' register, they are generally given their standard values, as is the case with our speaker, though she realises the /x/ in khidmat as [χ]. /x/ is often replaced by /h/ in syllable onsets, hence akhirnya /axirɲa ~ ahirɲa/ 'finally', which is pronounced as [ahirɲa] in the reading passage, and by /k/ in codas akhbar /axbar ~ akbar/ 'newspaper'. Examples of some other replacements found in more basilectal pronunciations include:
