pronounced as /notice/This article deals with current phonology and phonetics and with historical developments of the phonology of the Tagalog language, including variants.
Tagalog has allophones, so it is important here to distinguish phonemes (written in slashes / /) and corresponding allophones (written in brackets []).
| Bilabial | Dental/ Alveolar | Postalveolar/ Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Rhotic | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Phoneme | Spelling | Distribution and quality of allophones | |
| Stops | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /link/ | (p) pulá ('red') | Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally. | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (b) bugháw ('blue') | Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally. | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (t) tao ('human') | When followed by pronounced as //j//, may be pronounced pronounced as /[tʃ]/, particularly by speakers in urban areas. Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally. | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (d) diláw ('yellow') | When followed by pronounced as //j//, may be pronounced pronounced as /[dʒ]/, particularly by speakers in urban areas. Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally. | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (k) kamáy ('hand') | Post-velar pronounced as /[k̠]/ or otherwise relatively far back in the vocal tract for at least some speakers, even when adjacent to front vowels. Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally. Intervocalic pronounced as //k// tends to become pronounced as /[x]/, as in bakit ('why') or takot ('fear'). | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (g) gulay ('vegetable') | Post-velar pronounced as /[g̠]/ or otherwise relatively far back in the vocal tract for at least some speakers, even when adjacent to front vowels. Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally. | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (-) mag-uwî ('to return home'). Normally unwritten at the end of a word (galà, 'roaming') or between vowels (Taal, a town in Batangas) | A glottal stop occurring at the end of a word is often elided when it is in the middle of a sentence, especially by speakers of the Manila Dialect. The preceding vowel then undergoes compensatory lengthening: pronounced as //hinˈdiʔ + ba// > pronounced as //hinˈdiː + ba// "isn't it?".[1] It is preserved in some dialects of Tagalog. In the Palatuldikan (diacritical system), it is denoted by the pakupyâ or circumflex accent when the final syllable is stressed (e.g. dugô 'blood'), and by the paiwà (grave accent) if unstressed (susì 'key'). | |
| Fricatives | |||
| pronounced as /link/ | (s) sangá ('branch') | When followed by pronounced as //j//, it is often pronounced pronounced as /[ʃ]/, particularly by speakers in urban areas. | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (siy) siyam ('nine')(sy) sya (a form of siya, second person pronoun) ⟨sh⟩ shabú ('methamphetamine') | May be pronounced pronounced as /[sj]/, especially by speakers in rural areas. | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (h) hawak ('being held') | Sometimes elided in rapid speech. | |
| Affricates | |||
| pronounced as /link/ | (tiy) tiyan ('stomach')(ty) pangungutyâ ('ridicule') (ts) tsokolate ('chocolate'); | May be pronounced pronounced as /[ts]/ (or pronounced as /[tj]/ if spelled (ty) or (tiy)), especially by speakers in rural areas. | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (diy) Diyos ('god')(dy) dyaryo ('newspaper')⟨j⟩ jaket ('jacket') | May be pronounced [dj], especially by speakers in rural areas. | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (zz) pizza; (ts) tatsulok ('triangle') | May be pronounced pronounced as /[tʃ]/, especially by rural speakers and in some urban areas. | |
| Nasals | |||
| pronounced as /link/ | (m) matá ('eye') | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | (n) nais ('desire') | In names borrowed from Spanish, it may assimilate to pronounced as /[m]/ before labial consonants (e.g. pronounced as //m// in San Miguel, pronounced as //p// in San Pedro, and pronounced as //f// in Infanta) and to pronounced as /[ŋ]/ before velar ones (e.g. pronounced as //g// and pronounced as //k//) and, rarely, glottal pronounced as //h//. | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (ng) ngitî ('smile') | Assimilates to pronounced as /[m]/ before pronounced as //b// and pronounced as //p// (pampasiglâ, 'invigorator') and to pronounced as /[n]/ before pronounced as //d t s l// (pandiwà, 'verb'); some people pronounce pronounced as //ŋɡ// as a geminate consonant pronounced as /[ŋŋ]/, as in Angono. | |
| Laterals | |||
| pronounced as /link/ | (l) larawan ('picture') | Depending on the dialect, it may be dental/denti-alveolar or alveolar (light L) within or at the end of a word. It may also be velarized (dark L) if influenced by English phonology. | |
| Rhotics | |||
| pronounced as /link/ | (r) saráp ('deliciousness'); kuryente ('electricity') | Traditionally an allophone of pronounced as //d//, the pronounced as //r// phoneme may be now pronounced in free variation between the standard alveolar flapped pronounced as /[ɾ]/, a rolled pronounced as /[r]/, an approximant pronounced as /[ɹ]/ and | |
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Open | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Phoneme | Spelling | Allophones | |
| Vowels | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /link/ | (a) asoge ('mercury') | pronounced as //a// is raised slightly to pronounced as /[ɐ]/ in unstressed positions and also occasionally in stressed positions (e.g. Ináng Bayan pronounced as /[iˈnɐŋ ˈbɐjɐn]/, 'motherland'). The diphthong pronounced as //aj// and the sequence pronounced as //aʔi// have a tendency to become pronounced as /[eɪ]/ or pronounced as /[ɛː]/ (e.g. tenga from taínga, 'ear'; kelan from kailan, 'when'). The diphthong pronounced as //au// and the sequence pronounced as //aʔu// occasionally have a tendency to become pronounced as /[oʊ]/ or pronounced as /[ɔː]/ (e.g. isolì from isaulì, 'to return'). | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (e) in any position (espíritu, 'spirit'; tsinelas, 'slippers') and often (i) in final syllables (e.g., hindî) and with exceptions like mulî (adverbial form of 'again') and English loanwords. | pronounced as //ɛ// can be pronounced pronounced as /[i ~ ɪ ~ e ~ ɛ]/ or diphthongized to pronounced as /[ai]/. | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (i) ibon ('bird') | Unstressed pronounced as //i// is usually pronounced pronounced as /[ɪ]/ (e.g. sigalót, 'discord'). In final syllables, pronounced as //i// can be pronounced pronounced as /[ɪ ~ i ~ e ~ ɛ]/, as pronounced as /[e]/ and pronounced as /[ɛ]/ were formerly an allophone of pronounced as //i//. pronounced as //i// before s-consonant clusters has a tendency to be dropped, as in isports pronounced as /[sports]/ ('sports') and istasyon pronounced as /[staˈʃon]/ ('station'). | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (o) oyayi ('lullaby') | pronounced as //ɔ// can be pronounced pronounced as /[u ~ ʊ ~ o ~ ɔ]/ or diphthongized to pronounced as /[au]/. pronounced as /[oe ~ ʊɪ ~ ɔɛ]/ were also former allophones. Morphs into pronounced as /[u]/ before pronounced as /[mb]/ and pronounced as /[mp]/ (e.g. Bagumbayan, literally 'new town’, a place now part of Rizal Park; kumpisál, 'Confession'). | |
| pronounced as /link/ | (u) utang ('debt') | Unstressed pronounced as //u// is usually pronounced pronounced as /[ʊ]/. | |
| Semivowels and/or Semiconsonants | |||
| pronounced as /link/ | (y) yugtô ('chapter') | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | (w) wakás ('end') | ||
Stress is a distinctive feature in Tagalog. Primary stress occurs on either the final or the penultimate syllable of a word. Vowel lengthening accompanies primary or secondary stress except when stress occurs at the end of a word.
Tagalog words are often distinguished from one another by the position of the stress and/or the presence of a final glottal stop. In formal or academic settings, stress placement and the glottal stop are indicated by a diacritic (tuldík) above the final vowel. The penultimate primary stress position (malumay) is the default stress type and so is left unwritten except in dictionaries. The name of each stress type has its corresponding diacritic in the final vowel.[2]
| Common spelling | Unstressed ultimate syllable no diacritic | Stressed ultimate syllable acute accent (´) | Unstressed ultimate syllable with glottal stop grave accent (`) | Stressed ultimate syllable with glottal stop circumflex accent (ˆ) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bayaran | pronounced as /[bɐˈjaːɾan]/ bayaran ('pay [imperative]') | pronounced as /[bɐjɐˈɾan]/ bayarán ('for hire') | |||
| pito | pronounced as /[ˈpiːto]/ pito ('whistle') | pronounced as /[pɪˈto]/ pitó ('seven') | |||
| labi | pronounced as /[ˈlaːbɛʔ]//pronounced as /[ˈlaːbiʔ]/ labì ('lips') | pronounced as /[lɐˈbɛʔ]//pronounced as /[lɐˈbiʔ]/ labî ('remains') | |||
| baka | pronounced as /[ˈbaːka]/ baka ('cow') | pronounced as /[bɐˈka]/ baká ('possible') | |||
| bata | pronounced as /[ˈbaːta]/ bata ('bathrobe') | pronounced as /[bɐˈta]/ batá ('perseverance') | pronounced as /[ˈbaːtaʔ]/ batà ('child') | ||
| baba | pronounced as /[ˈbaːba]/ baba ('father') | pronounced as /[bɐˈba]/ babá ('piggy back') | pronounced as /[ˈbaːbaʔ]/ babà ('chin') | pronounced as /[bɐˈbaʔ]/ babâ ('descend [imperative]') | |
| sala | pronounced as /[ˈsaːla]/ sala ('fault') | pronounced as /[sɐˈla]/ salá ('interweaving [of bamboo slats]') | pronounced as /[ˈsaːlaʔ]/ salà ('filtering; sifting') | pronounced as /[sɐˈlaʔ]/ salâ ('broken [of bones]') |