Filipino alphabet
The modern Filipino alphabet is made up of 28 letters based on the Latin alphabet. It uses the standard 26 letters, plus two additional ones. It was made with the intention to replace the older, 20-letter "Abakada" alphabet, which was introduced by Lope K. Santos during the American colonial period as the alphabet for the Wikang Pambansâ na Batay sa Tagalog (English: Tagalog-Based National Language). It can used today as the writing system for all autochthonous Austronesian languages in the Philippines.
The Filipino Alphabet
| Letter | Pronunciation | IPA | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | ey | /a/ | Becomes [ɐ] in unstressed |
| B | bi | /b/ | |
| C | si | /k/ or /s/ | Substituted by the letters k or s in Abakada, depending on the sound the letter generates. It is only used for words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into Filipino or Filipino words which were written using Spanish orthography. |
| D | di | /d/ | /ɾ/ and /d/ are sometimes interchangeable |
| E | ee | /ɛ/ | Sometimes pronounced [i ~ ɪ ~ ɛ] |
| F | ef | /f/ | Substituted by the letter p in Abakada. It is only used for words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into Filipino or Filipino words which were written using Spanish orthography. |
| G | dzi | /g/ | |
| H | eyts | /h/ | |
| I | ay | /i/ | /i/ is usually pronounced [ɪ] in unstressed positions |
| J | dzey | /dʒ/ or /h/ | Written as the digraph dy or trigraph diy in Abakada when using the /dʒ/ phoneme or as h when using the /h/ phoneme. The sound varies depending on the language. It is only used for words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into Filipino or Filipino words which were written using Spanish orthography. |
| K | keé | /k/ | /k/ has a tendency to become [x] between vowels |
| L | el | /l/ | |
| M | em | /m/ | |
| N | en | /n/ | |
| Ñ | enyé | /ɲ/, /nʲ/ or /nj/ | Written as the digraph ny or trigraph niy in Abakada. It is only used for words of Spanish origin that have not been assimilated into Filipino or Filipino words which were written using Spanish orthography. |
| Ng | endzi | /ŋ/ | pronounced 'ng' as in sing, running, etc. Note its similarity with the word 'ng' (originally 'ng̃' with a tilde over the g), which is a propositional word that is pronounced 'nang'. |
| O | o | /o/ | /o/ can sometimes be pronounced as [u ~ ʊ], and tends to become [ɔ] in stressed positions |
| P | pi | /p/ | |
| Q | kyu | /kʷ/ | Written as the digraph kw or trigraph kuw in Abakada. It is only used for words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into Filipino or Filipino words which were written using Spanish orthography. |
| R | ar | /ɾ/ | /ɾ/ and /d/ are sometimes interchangeable |
| S | es | /s/ | |
| T | ti | /t/ | |
| U | yu | /u/ | When unstressed, /u/ is usually pronounced [ʊ] |
| V | vi | /v/ | Substituted by the letter b in Abakada. It is only used for words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into Filipino or Filipino words which were written using Spanish orthography. |
| W | dobol yu | /w/ | |
| X | eks | /ks/ | Written as the digraph ks in Abakada. It is only used for words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into Filipino or Filipino words which were written using Spanish orthography. |
| Y | way | /j/ | |
| Z | zi | /z/ | Substituted by the letter s in Abakada. It is only used for words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into Filipino or Filipino words which were written using Spanish orthography. |
Notes
- C, F, J, Ñ, Q, V, X, and Z are used mostly for loan words or regional words.
- The vowels are A, E, I, O, and U.
- Usual diacritic marks are acute ( ´ ), grave ( ` ), circumflex ( ˆ ), which are optional, and only used with the vowels. The latter two may only appear at the end of a word ending in a vowel. Diacritics have no impact on the primary alphabetical order. Possible combinations include: á, à, â, é, è, ê, í, ì, î, ó, ò, ô, ú, ù, û. A historically used diacritic in many Philippine languages was g̃, a letter which was notably used to shorten the words nang ("of/of the") and man͠gá (a word which pluralizes nouns) into ng̃ and mg̃á respectively. Today, these two words are usually just simply written as ng and mga, with no g̃ diacritic.
- Ñ is considered as a separate letter, instead of a letter-diacritical mark combination.
- The alphabet also uses the digraph Ng, even originally with a large tilde that spanned both n and g (as in n͠g) when a vowel follows the digraph. (This tilde indicates that the "n͠g" and the vowel should be pronounced as one syllable, such as "n͠ga" in the three-syllable word "pan͠galan" ("name") - syllabicated as [pa-n͠ga-lan], not [pan-ga-lan]. The use of the tilde over the two letters is now rare).
- The diagraph letter Ng is similar to, but not the same as, the prepositional word ng ("of"/"of the"), originally spelled ng̃ (with a tilde over the g only). The words ng and ng̃ are shortened forms of the word nang.
See also
References
- The Orthography of the National Language (Draft), Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, Wika.PBWiki.com, August 1, 2007
- The Orthography of the National Language (Final) Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, Wika.PBWiki.com, May 20, 2008
- Proyectos-Saluda, KWF Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, Proyectos-Saluda.org
- Proyectos-Saluda, Part I: Definitions, KWF Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino, Proyectos-Saluda.org
- Nang or ng? - The long and the short of it, In Other Words by Paul Morrow, Pilipino Express, Pilipino-Express.com, July 1, 2006.