Here, I want to consider what happens to initial TH sounds, final [t], and the open front vowels, and how this influences the local pronunciation of English in Brunei.
- In most traditional varieties of English, nearly all words spelled with 'th' at the start are pronounced with [θ] (or with [ð] if they are function words such as this or then). However, when they are borrowed into Malay, theory becomes teori and therapy becomes terapi. As these words are pronounced in Malay with an initial [t], it is hardly surprising if they also begin with [t] in the local variety of English. And this use of [t] instead of [θ] sometimes extends to words such as three and think which are not borrowed into Malay.
- When words which end with a consonant cluster (a sequence of more than one consonant) are borrowed into Malay, the final sound is often omitted if it is [t]. Thus lift is borrowed as lif, and post becomes pos. Once again, if lif and pos have no final [t] in Standard Malay, it is not surprising if many Bruneians pronounce these words without [t] when they are speaking English, and this reinforces the widespread simplification of final consonant clusters in the local variety of English.
- Finally, English has two vowels that are classified as non-close front (when they are pronounced, the jaw is quite open and the tongue is towards the front of the mouth): [e] and [æ], as in the words send and sand respectively. However, when they occur in words that are borrowed into Malay, both these sounds become [e], so taxi becomes teksi and camp becomes kem. And once more it should not surprise us if Brunei speakers of English use [e] in the first syllable of the English word taxi and furthermore if they fail to distinguish between words such as send and sand.
