cebuano
consonants
b, k, d, g, h, l, m, n, ng, p, r, s, t, w, y
they are pronounced the same
way they are pronounced in English. ng has the same sound as the
ng
in "bang".
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unaccented
cebuano vowels
a, e, i, o, u
unlike English, there are
no long and short vowel sounds. a is always pronounced as
the "a" in the English word "append"; if followed by the letter y, the
resulting sound is equivalent to a long i in English (for instance,
"bay" is pronounced the equivalent of "bi" in the English word "binary").
e
should always be pronounced as the "e" in the English word "bed" (but
mind you, many Cebuanos don't make a distinction between an "e" sound and
an "i" sound, nor between an "o" sound and a "u" sound).
i should
always be pronounced as the "i" as in the English word "bit". o
should always be pronounced as the "o" in the English word "polite". u
should always be pronounced as the "oo" in the English word "book".
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Demo
| a | e | i |
o | u |
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Note: The sound files used in
the demo sections of this page require the use of RealPlayer.
If your computer does not have RealPlayer
installed, you can download the free software from http://www.real.com.
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accented
cebuano vowels
à, â, è, ê, ì, î,
ò, ô, ù, û
there's no easy way to describe
their pronunciation in writing, but we'll try to do it in a very unconventional
way. let's take à.
This accented vowel appears in a word like batà
(child). The "a" in the first
syllable "ba" is pronounced as described in the section on unaccented Cebuano
vowels. But the "à" in the second syllable "tà" is pronounced
differently. try to pronounce the word "ta" (using unaccented "a") and
prolong the pronunciation. while the sound is still coming out of your
mouth, suddenly choke your throat with your strong fingers (taking care
that you don't kill yourself). the resulting sound at the point of
choking is the sound of "à"! this absurd exercise applies to è,
ì, ò, and ù. (if you don't find yourself
perspiring after these exercises, you must be an exceptionally strong person.).
with practice you can cause the inside of your throat to "choke" these
syllables without strangling yourself. For â, ê,
î, ô and û, the procedure is the practically
the same; the only difference is that vowels bearing this accent are pronounced
in a shorter duration.
the use of accented vowels
in Cebuano words changes the meaning of the word although the spelling
looks the same.
for example:
| demo |
cebuano |
english |
| [go] |
baga |
ember |
| [go] |
bagà |
lung |
| [go] |
bagâ |
thick |
|
|
unofficial,
unconventional pronunciation guide