Diphthongs?
Some analyses (e.g. Teoh 1988) suggest there are three phonemic diphthongs in Malay:
- /ai/ (as in cukai, 'tax')
- /au/ (as in pulau, 'island')
- /oi/ (as in baloi, 'worthwhile')
These only occur morpheme-finally, and only in disyllabic or trisyllabic morphemes.
Other analyses (e.g. Asmah 1985, Zaharani 1993) consider these morpheme-final sequences to be a monophthong followed by an approximant, thus cukai /tʃukaj/, pulau /pulaw/, and baloi /baloj/.
The description presented here assumes the latter analysis. For a detailed discussion, see Clynes (1997).