Phonology
Language is sound. When we speak it is the blending of sounds that makes up the words when structurally incorporated with other words make up the sentence by which we communicate. To an educated non-native speaker who wants to learn the target language, the sound representation, which is, spelling helps a lot especially in pronunciation. As writing is only secondary in learning the language, it is important for the student learning another language to get the exact sound of the word in written form.
The Filipino Alphabet, though in a sense, phonetic, does not reflect exactly the correct sound in written form. For this reason, it is important for us to learn the descriptive representation of every Filipino sound aside from the written alphabet so as to help articulate exactly what he wants to convey. To respell this in a systematic device and help one to pronounce the exact sound, one has to know the phonemic transcription of the target language. For this very purpose it is the aim of this site to introduce the phonemes of Filipino after one has been introduced to its alphabet.
Let’s take some example. Notice how the three words are spelled in the same but pronounced with slight differences, which produces different meaning.
Historically the basic baybayin or alphabet is 17.
3 vowels : a, I, u
14 consonants : b, k, d-r, g, h, l, m, n, ng, p, s, t, w, y.
The d-r in the old alphabet has only one symbol. This explains why we have free alteration of d and r on words like madumi or marumi, with the same meaning "dirty" and in some Tagalog regions, d is replaced with r.
With the coming of the conquistadores, bringing with them their language and their sounds which we easily assimilated to our own and later became a part of the language, the foreign sounds freely claimed its place into our alphabet. The letter r was given its own place into our alphabet. The letter r was given its own place and the vowel o and e were added as below:
Vowel : a, e, I, o, u.
Consonant : b, k, d, s, h, l, m, n, ng, p, r, s, t, w, y
Again with the addition of o and e the free alteration occurrences of u and o or the vowel e and I, on native words are noticeable especially for the keen listeners. These free alteration of the sounds above, does not change the meaning of the word, but again only on native words and not on loan or borrowed words. This can be seen on the examples below. Notice the alternation of e and I or the vowel o and u on the underlined words.
Gabi na ba? Darating ba siya mamayang gabe? (Gabi or gabe)
Is it already late? Is he/she going home tonight?
Tau po. Mayroon bang tao? (tao and tau, means the same, person or people)
Hello? Is anybody there?
Babae or Babai (girl, lady or woman)
Lalake or Lalaki (boy or man)
As explained this free alternation of sound does not hold true to loaned foreign words. Notice the following words with I and e. Misa, cannot be alteranted with mesa, as this changes its meaning, misa means mass and mesa means table.
The representation or spelling of the distinct units of sounds to graphic symbols is called phonemes. Each symbol represents distinct sound. Knowledge of the Filipino phonemes does not necessarily, contribute directly to the mastery of the language, but does surely help in understanding the intricacies of its sounds system as a change of a phoneme in a word, produce a difference in meaning.
The Filipino phonemes can be broken down to 22 phonemes:
16 consonants : /b, k, d, g, h, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, w, y /
5 vowels : /a, e, I, o, u/
1 length : /:/
/?/ the glottal stop is considered a phoneme in Filipino, its occurrences in the final position of words give a chance in meaning. See the following example on the minimal pairs below:
tubo -- /tu:bo?/ money gain in business
tubo -- /tu:boh/ a lead pipe
In written form this has only one spelling, but in written transcription above, one can pronounce it’s distinctly as a native speaker would and at the same time get the exact meaning of the word. Here are some exercises on minimal pairs with glottal stops.
Upo -- /upu?/ sit
Upo -- /u:poh/ a kind of vegetable fruit
Labi -- /labih/ excess
Labi -- /la:bi?/ lips
The glottal stop is produced by bringing the two vocal cords together to stop the breath stream down the throat. Glottal stops occur always initially and medially on vowel sounds. If we transcribe umalis and aalis, it will be written in this manner:
/?umalis/ - to leave
/?a:?a:lis/ - will leave
It also occurs in final positions on words ending in vowels as in /dali?/ - "quick", /pu:so?/ - heart.
/:/ length, as seen from the examples is phonemic in Pilipino, as length alone changes the meaning of the word or indicates the meaning of the word. Length occurs in long vowel sound and is produced by a short pause after the affected syllable, as in /a:so/ "dog", /ba:on/ "provisions one brings". Short vowel sounds are not affected by lengthening. Words therefore without length are produced continuously as in /asoh/ "smoke", /baon/ "bury".
From the example below, see how length changes the meaning of words:
/mag:na:na:kaw/ - will rob (verb)
/magnana:kaw/ - robber (noun)
/magsa:sa:kah/ - will till the soil (verb)
/magsasa:kah/ - former (noun)
/pb/: are bilabial sounds, or produced by the two lips coming together tightly to stop
the stream of air coming from the lungs. Since the stopping is caused by the lips, these sounds are called lip sounds or labial stops. Though the description term is the same, the sounds of p and b are not the same. The difference is what is happening in the speech organs. /p/ is made without using the vocal cord or voice, while /b/ is made with a vibration of the vocal cords, that’s why /p/ is a voiceless, labial stop and /b/ voiced, labial stop. Unlike /p/ in English in the initial position, Pilipino /p/ is not aspirated, approximately it is equivalent to English /p/ inn medial position as in /people/. To test this non-aspirated sound, place a piece of paper in front of your mouth. If the paper does not move in the /p/ sound, then you got the right sound of /p/. If the paper moves due to the air or aspiration, try again until you get it right.
/t d/: are called dental stops. They are called dental stops because the breath
stream is stopped by the tip of the tongue which pushes up against the back of
the upper front teeth. Since the teeth are involved, they are called dental stops. /t/ is voiceless while /d/ is voiced. Like /p/, the /t/ in Pilipino is not aspirated.
/k g/: are called velar stops. These sounds are produced by stopping the air stream
further back in the mouth, with the back of the tongue coming up against the soft palate or velum. /k/ is voiceless and is called voiceless velar stop. /g/ is voiced velar stop.
/s/: is an alveolar fricative. Fricatives are produced by almost stopping the breath
stream, leaving only a little hole or slit for the air to go through. Fricative sounds are produced in different places, depending on where we narrow the passage. /s/ is produced by pushing the front of the tongue up almost against the hard ridge behind the upper front ridge behind the upper front teeth leaving a little hole for the breath to go through. The ridge is called the alveolar ridge, that is why /s/ is called an alveolar fricative. Since /s/ is voiceless, we called it a voiceless alveolar.
/m n/: are sounds made by blocking the passage of the breath stream trhough the
mouth, and letting it come out through the nose. /m, n/ both in Pilipino and English are voiced sounds. Each is distinguished from each other by the point in the mouth where the stopping occurs. /m/ is produced when the breath stream is stopped by bringing the two lips together, as in mahal, and mama in English. /n/ is produced when the breath stream is stopped by pressing the tip of the tongue against the back of the upper front teeth or against the alveolar ridge behind the upper front teeth, as in Nonoy and nine in English.
/ng/: is produced when the breath steam is stopped further back in the mouth, by the
back of the tongue pressing against the back of the roof of the mouth or velum, as in nguya or song in English.
/l /: Pilipino /l/ is produced when the tip and also part of the tongue just behind it are
pushed by against the roof of the mouth, just behind the upper front teeth and the stream of air with voicing is permitted to pass around the edges of the tongue. /l/ is an alveolar lateral.
/r /: is produced when the tongue’s tip flips one or two times against the alveolar
ridge behind the upper front teeth as in radyo or Carmen. In English, the tip of the tongue curls back to form a groove and the wides of tongue touch alveolar ridge, as in Ronald and Gary. /t/ is a voiced alveolar trill.
/h /: is a fricative made by drawing the vocal cords close to each other so that air
passing between them makes a hussing sound; this is why it is called a global fricative, referring to the vocal cords, e.g. halaman and bahay.
/w y/: are voiced semi-vowel glides. It is produced similar to vowels, but unlike the
vowels, they are characterized by the movement of the tongue from one vocalic position to another. Both Pilipino and English have the /w/ and /y/ sounds as in walis and "wall" and yaya and "yoga".