Malay word that words like pěrkataan, pěrbuatan, aluran, kěděngaran, di-katakan, for example, are pronounced practically with the same stress on every syllable.
Ordinarily in the Malay word, the accent falls on the penultimate except that
(1) when the penultimate is ĕ in an open syllable and rarely in a closed, then the accent falls on the last syllable, ěnám, těngáh;
(2) when a derivative is built up by prefixes from a monosyllabic root, the accent sometimes remains on that root, namely, on the last syllable;
(3) in the vocative, the stress is sometimes thrown on the last syllable.
The case of words built up of suffixes presents a special problem. The Arab system used the huruf saksi و ا and ي to indicate quantity, and in its application to Malay treated accent as the equivalent of quantity, putting the huruf saksi in accented open syllables. The early spelling has left this mark of accent in the penultimate of derivatives ڤرکتأن pěrkatáan from کات káta, چمبرون chěmburúan from چمبور chěmbúru, کتهوي kětahúï from تاه tahu, and even جديکن jadíkan from جاد jádi, کتاڽ katá-nya from کات káta, کداڽ kudá-nya from کود kúda, and so on-except in the case of the particles lah, tah, kah. The Indonesian rule is that the accent falls on the penultimate whether of simple or of derivative words. The general opinion of Dutch scholars, from Werndly down to Tendeloo and Fokker, has insisted on the same rule holding good of Malay. Two notable exceptions, however, are von de Wall and Gerth van Wijk. Only the scientific study of dialect throughout the Peninsula and Archipelago could explain fully how experts have come to differ. In the Peninsula I confess I had supposed in common with Europeans who have lived there a quarter
