Chabacano Language

The Chabacano language has 31 letters:

a b c ch d e f g h i j k l ll m n
ng o p q r rr s t u v w x y z

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
: ora
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/ may be interchangeable but only /i/ substituting /e/ but no the other way
around. Also, the exchange may occur in the initial and final /e/ 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.
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 Central Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low 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
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stops:
voiceless
voiced

p

t

k

(-,`)
b d g
Fricatives s h
Nasals m n ng
Lateral l
Flapped r
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 [jst]. 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 non-
adjacent to a consonant (aya 'this').















Batad Ifugao language

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Velar Pharyngeal
Obstruents:
voiceless
voiced

p

t

k

glottal stop (')
b d g
Sonorants:
nasal

m

n




oral w l y h

Vowels
Front Central Back
High i

u
Low e a o




























Bikol Language

Consonants
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stops
Fricatives
Affricates
Nasals
Laterals
Flap
Semi-Vowels

Vowels
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a

Dipthongs
i + u iw
a + i ay
a + u ~ o aw
o ~ u + i 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, , , i, o, , u. a is low
central, e is mid close front, is mid open front, is mid close central, i is high front, o is
mid close back, is mid open back, and u is high back, as shown in Table 3.

TABLE 3: PHONETIC QUALITY OF VOWEL PHONEMES
Front Central Back
High i u
Mid close
open
e

o

Low a


















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.