Chabacano Language
The Chabacano language has 31 letters: a b c ch d e f g h i j k l ll ng ñ o p q r rr s t u v w x y
m z
n
It has all the letters found in the English alphabet in addition to the following letters found in either Spanish or Tagalog. ch: Chabacano ll: cuello ng: nga ñ: ñora rr: perro The five vowels have only five corresponding sounds retaining the original sounds found in the original sounds found in Tagalog and Spanish. Allophones are found in both vowels and consonants as in /f/ and /p/, /b/ and /v/, /l/ and /r/. /e/ and /i/ /i/ may be interchan interchangeable geable but but only /i/ substituting substituting /e/ /e/ but no the other way around. Also, the exchange may occur in the initial and final /e/ sound sound but not in medial position. Whenever the /i/ substitutes the /e/, the resulting sound will be somewhere between the two but veering towards the /i/ sound. Similarly with the /o/ and /u/. The /u/ may substitute the /o/ sound but only in the final position and at times at the initial position if it ends the syllable but not in the medial. The substituting sound is somewhere between /o/ and /u/ sounds. sounds. However the /u/ sound is not substituted by /o/. Diphthongs occur when combination of vowels are found and treated as one distinct sound. Blends occur especially with the following common word combines: no hay - o in no becomes u and the h disappears; the result is [nu-AY] ta followed by a words starting with a, often, the succeeding a disappears like ta alla becomes talla [tal-YA], ta aqui becomes taqui [ta-KI]. Shifting of stress occurs in some instances thus changing the meaning and the use of words. The verb is usually stressed on the last syllable.
Masbatenyo language
Symbols used for the Masbatenyo language: A B C D E G H I K L M N NG O P R S T U W Y [-] and [`] glottal stop ['] stress or accent [^] represents the concurrence of stress and glottal stop on the same syllable Vowels Front i e
High Mid Low
Central
Back u o
a ['] (Accent) The two vowels [e] and [o] are distinctive only in load words from Spanish or English. Otherwise they are variants of /i/ and /u/ respectively. Consonants Stops: voiceless voiced
Bilabial
Alveolar
p b
t d s n l r
Palatal
Velar
Glottal
k g
(-,`)
Fricatives h Nasals m ng Lateral Flapped Semivowels w y The glottal stop is symbolized by [-] when it is a member of a consonant cluster in the middle of words, and by a grave accent [`] on a vowel with a following glottal stop.
Maranao language
The following symbols have been used for the Maranao alphabet:
/a/ /b/ /d/ /ae/ /e/ /g/ /h/ /i/ /k/ /j/ /l/ /m/ /n/ /ng/ /o/ /p/ /s/ /t/ /w/ /y/ Most of the consonants are pronounced with their usual phonetic value. The /'/ indicates the glottal stop, /ng/ the velar nasal, and /r/ a flap. The vowel sounds, on the other hand, are not to be equated with English pronunciations. The letter a is usually pronounces as the /a/ of father (tabas cut), though it may be sometimes be heard by the American a bit higher and thus as the /a/ of sofa. The letter /i/ is usually pronounced as the /i/ of machine (lima 'five'), though in some positions (antepenultimate, or even penultimate syllables ) it varies almost to the /e/ of met (lamisa'an 'table'). The /o/ varies between /ui/ of suit , the /oo/ of soot , and the /oa/ of boat (dato 'chief', solotan 'sultan'). The pronunciation is often the high back sound [u], especially in ultimate position, but the variation to the American ear is striking. The digraph /ae/ in Maranao represents the Philippines pepet vowel for which the American has no equivalent. It is technically a central high vowel and is pronounced with the tongue in a fairly high position with considerable tension. It resembles the /u/ in just in the common rapid pronunciation [j ɨst]. The /e/ in Maranao is central like the schwa (/a/ in sofa), but it is mid tense, or perhaps high lax, a bit lower than the pepet and not as tense.
The /w/ and /y/ in Maranao are non-syllabic varieties of the /o/ and /i/ respectively. In the first edition of the dictionary, we wrote these sounds with the /o/ and /i/, but later, after an orthography conference and more experience with Marano readers and writers, opted for indicating the non-syllabic sounds with the semi-vowels. The user will note that the semi-vowels occur in general nonadjacent to a consonant (aya 'this').
Batad Ifugao language
Consonants
Obstruents: voiceless voiced Sonorants: nasal oral
Bilabial
Alveolar
Velar
Pharyngeal
p b
t d
k g
glottal stop (')
m w
n l
ŋ y
h
Vowels Front i e
High Low
Central ə a
Back u o
Bikol Language
Consonants Labial Stops Fricatives
Dental
Alveolar
Palatal
Velar
Glottal
Affricates Nasals Laterals Flap Semi-Vowels Vowels Front i e
High Mid Low Dipthongs i+u a+i a+u~o o~u+i
Central
Back u o
a
iw ay aw oy ~ uy
Dumagat (Casiguran) Language
Consonants The consonant phonems of Casiguran Dumagat are: p, t, k, b, d, g, s, h, m, n, ng, l, r, w, y, and glottal stop. Most of the consonant symbols have their usual phonetic value. The diagraph ng represents the velar nasal, and r is an alveolar flap.
Stops are unaspirated. Glottal stop is not symbolized, except in the few instances where it occurs following a consonant, where it is then represented by a hyphen. Since no utterance initial or final vowels occur, a word such as aso "dog", is to be read as beginning and ending with a glottal stop. Similarly, since no vowel clusters occur, words written with two vowels together are to be read as having a glottal stop between the vowels. Vowels There are eight vowel phonemes in Casiguran Dumagat: a, e, ë, é, i, o, ö, u. a is low central, e is mid close front, ë is mid open front, é is mid close central, i is high front, o is mid close back, ö is mid open back, and u is high back, as shown in Table 3. TABLE 3: PHONETIC QUALITY OF VOWEL PHONEMES Front Central High i Mid close e é open ë Low a
Back u o ö
Sources:
Escalante, E. Chabacano...for everyone: a guide to the Chabacano language (2005). Baby Dragon Printing Press. Manila. Headland, T. and Headland, J. A Dumagat (Casiguran) - English Dictionary (1974). Linguistic Circle of Canberra. Australia.
McKaughan, H. (ed.). A Marano Dictionary (1996). De La Salle University Press, Inc. Manila. Mintz, M. Bikol Dictionary (1971). University of Hawaii. Honolulu. Newel, L. Batad (comp.). Ifugao Dictionary with Ethnographic Notes (1993). Linguistic Society of the Philippines. Manila. Wolfenden, E. (comp.). A Masbatenyo - English Dictionary (2001). Linguistic Society of the Philippines. Manila.