Filipino orthography () specifies the correct use of the writing system of the Filipino language, the national language and one of the two official languages of the Philippines.
In 2013, the Commission on the Filipino Language () published ("National Orthography"), a new set of guidelines that resolved long-standing issues in phonemic representation across Philippine languages. This was supplemented in 2014 by ("KWF Handbook on Proper Writing"), which provided a broader scope of typographic, stylistic, and formatting guidelines not previously covered. Together, these laid the groundwork for the Commission's Harmonization of Orthographies of Filipino Languages () initiative, with the Filipino orthography as the "universal model" for all existing and upcoming state-sanctioned orthographies. Since regional and local orthographies may adapt national guidelines to represent phonemes absent in Tagalog, on which Filipino is originally based, this has led to the introduction of new graphemes and diacritics in Filipino as well as the reintroduction of historical Spanish-based letters and digraphs.
This article discusses the application of the Filipino orthography in writing Filipino and other Philippine languages. Unless otherwise noted, examples are given in Filipino, which is the modern standard form of the Tagalog language.
Alphabet
Each grapheme in the is called a títik, most of which represent a distinctive sound. They are classified as a patínig (vowel) or a katínig (consonant). The letters W and Y may be classified as a malápatínig (semivowel). The letters are alphabetized and pronounced in the same way as in English, save for the (letter) Ñ and (digraph) NG.
Letter/Digraph Name IPA ContextFor other Philippine languages A ey Becomes in unstressed syllables and in stressed syllables. B bi C si , For unassimilated words in Spanish and English, ⟨ca, co, cu⟩ generally represent , while ⟨ce, ci⟩ generally represent . Historically, words now written with ⟨ka, ko, ku⟩ were written with ⟨ca, co, cu⟩ under the Abesedaryo.Also used in Philippine languages where is orthographically preserved as ⟨ch⟩. D di In Tagalog, often allophonic with in intervocalic position, which is usually reflected in spelling (e.g., dami "amount" vs. marami "many"). However, not all words follow this convention (e.g., dali "ease" vs. madali "easy"), and some have diverged to carry distinct meanings (e.g., madamdamin "passionate" vs. maramdamin "sensitive"). E i , Normally , but can become in emphatic speech. Also normally in words from Philippine languages where it occurs, as the dedicated letter Ë was only introduced in 2013. F ef Often indistinguishable from . Generally used for proper names (e.g., Felix, Ifugao) and words of English origin (e.g., fakulti "teaching staff"). Also used in Filipino words of Tëduray origin (e.g., faga "meteorite").Also used in Philippine languages where occurs. G ji, dyi, diyí ; , ; Always . For unassimilated foreign words, ⟨ga, go, gu⟩ generally represent in English and Spanish, while ⟨ge, gi⟩ generally represent in English and in Spanish. Historically, words now written with ⟨ge, gi⟩ were written with ⟨gue, gui⟩ under the Abesedaryo.Also normally in Philippine languages where it occurs, such as Boînën (e.g., sugud "spouse"), as the dedicated letter G̓ was only introduced in 2023. H eych, eyts Sometimes pronounced . I ay Becomes in unstressed syllables and in stressed syllables. J jey, dyey, diyéy , Sometimes indistinguishable from or . Usually respelled with ⟨dy, diy⟩ to represent or , or with ⟨h⟩ to represent or . For unassimilated foreign words, ⟨j⟩ generally represents and in English, and and in Spanish. Also used in Filipino words of Bahasa Sug origin (e.g., julup "imbecile").Also used in Philippine languages where occurs. K key Always unaspirated in clear speech and often unreleased in coda (e.g., /aˈnak̚/ "child"). only with (e.g., bakwit "evacuee", kuwintas "necklace").Not to be confused with . L el Also used in Philippine languages where is orthographically preserved as ⟨ll⟩. M em N en only with (e.g., pinya "pineapple", kaniya "his/her[s]/its"). Ñ énye Usually respelled with ⟨ny, niy⟩. Generally used for proper names (e.g., Niño, Malacañang) and recent words of Spanish origin (e.g., ñu "wildebeest"). Also used in Ivatan (e.g., iñinen "to lament"), Ichbayaten (e.g., hañin "typhoon"), and other Philippine languages where occurs. NG énji, éndyi, éndiyí Comparable to in English along and singer. Not to be confused with the indirect case marker ng pronounced . only in words of Spanish origin containing ⟨ngl, ngr⟩ (e.g., Ingles "English", kongreso "congress"). O o, ow Normally , but can become in emphatic speech. P pi Always unaspirated in clear speech and often unreleased in coda (e.g., /haˈrap̚/ "front"). only with (e.g., datapwat "nevertheless", kapuwa "fellow").Not to be confused with . Q kyu, kiyú , Usually respelled with ⟨kw, kuw, k⟩. Generally used for proper names (e.g., Tariq, Siquijor) and words of English (e.g., quits), Spanish (e.g., quedan "warehouse receipt"), and Arabic origins (e.g., talaq "husband-initiated divorce"). Also used for Filipino words of ultimate Latin origin (e.g., quorum). Historically, words now written with ⟨ke, ki⟩ were written with ⟨que, qui⟩ under the Abesedaryo.Also used in Philippine languages where ⟨q⟩ is orthographically preserved. R ar Normally , but can become within consonant clusters. Also used in Philippine languages where is orthographically preserved as ⟨rr⟩. S es T ti Always unaspirated in clear speech and often unreleased in coda (e.g., /ˈapat̚/ "four"). only with (e.g., estatwa "statue", tuwina "at all times") and in a few exceptions (e.g., bituin "star").Not to be confused with . U yu , Becomes in unstressed syllables and in stressed syllables. Also normally in words from Philippine languages where it occurs, as the dedicated letter Ë was only introduced in 2013. V vi Often indistinguishable from . Generally used for proper names (e.g., Valdez, Davao) and words of English origin (e.g., varayti "variety"). Also used in Filipino words of Chabacano origin (e.g., vinta "outrigger boat").Also used in Philippine languages where occurs. W dóbolyú X eks , , , , , Usually respelled with ⟨eks, ks, s, h, z⟩. Generally used for proper names (e.g., Roxas, Mexico) and words of English origin (e.g., xerox "photocopy"). Also used in Filipino words of Isnëg origin (e.g., xaddan "malaria-related myalgia"). Also used for writing the sounds or in Philippine languages where they occur, such as Boînën (e.g., axag "to appropriate") and Ichbayaten (e.g., maxnep "high tide"), as the dedicated letter G̓ was only introduced in 2023. Y way , Generally for proper names (e.g., Syquia, Famy) and words of English origin (e.g., party-list "proportional representation system for under-represented sectors"). For common nouns, only with the conjunction y ("and") within phrases of Spanish origin (e.g., ala-una y medya "one-thirty"). Historically, words now written beginning with ⟨i⟩ were written beginning with ⟨y⟩ under the Abesedaryo, as evident in surnames (e.g., Ybañez, Ybarra) and archaic place names (e.g., Yligan, Ylocos) and plant names (e.g., ylang-ylang, ypil). Z zi Often indistinguishable from . Generally used for proper names (e.g., Mendoza, Zamboanga) and words of English origin (e.g., zigzag). Also used in Filipino words of Ibanag origin (e.g., ziga "hardship"). Sometimes pronounced .Also used in Philippine languages where occurs, such as Porohanon (e.g., kazu "fire").
Orthographies of some other Philippine languages also have additional letters, see Filipino alphabet for details.
Glottal stop and diacritic marks When glottal stop () occurs at the beginning of a word or between vowel letters, it is not written: aso kain After a consonant, it is written as a hyphen (): pang-araw At the end of a word, it is indicated with a grave accent mark (): batà
Final stress is indicated with an acute accent mark (): sakít (The acute accent mark is also used in foreign loan words, particularly Spanish)
When both acute and grave accents occur on the same letter, they merge into a circumflex (): likô
The glottal stop disappears when followed by another word and the vowel lengthened especially in urban speech, but is generally retained.
The acute, grave, and circumflex accent marks ( or ) are not mandatory in writing. Generally, they are used to show pronunciation or to distinguish homonyms.
Indicating stress by an acute accent is encouraged, especially when distinguishing between homonyms, both within Tagalog and with other Philippine languages, e.g. vs
The prefix may be spelled with an acute accent when it indicates an accidental action or event to distinguish it from a homophone with a different part of speech or a similarly-spelled word, e.g. vs , vs , vs , and and .
Orthographies of some other Philippine languages also have additional accents: the macron () is used in Cebuano, Gaddang, and Kamayo (Kinamayú) for long vowels, and the arc () is used in Boînën to show that two adjacent vowels are pronounced without a glottal stop.
Notes on Filipino orthography C, F, J, Ñ, Q, V, X, and Z are used mostly for loanwords, regional words and proper nouns. The vowels are A, E, I, O, and U. Usual diacritic marks are acute , grave , circumflex , diaeresis which are optional, and only used with the vowels. Grave and circumflex may only appear at the end of a word ending in a vowel. Diacritics have no impact on collation or alphabetical order. Possible combinations include: á, à, â, é, è, ê, ë, ë́, ë̀, ë̂, í, ì, î, ó, ò, ô, ú, ù, û. Historically, the tilde was used with <g> (g̃) in many Philippine languages. It was notably used to shorten the words nang (ergative case marker) and man͠gá (pluralization particle) into ng̃ and mg̃á respectively. Today, these two words are just simply written as ng and mga. In modern orthography, the conjunction or particle and the preposition are distinguished, although they are both pronounced . Ñ is considered as a separate letter, instead of a letter-diacritical mark combination. The alphabet also uses the Ng digraph, 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 obsolete. Due to technical constraints, machine-printed variants of "n͠ga" emerged, which included "ñga", "ng̃a", and even "gña" (which is conserved in the geographical name Sagñay, Camarines Sur). The Ng digraph letter 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. Ë is a new variant of e introduced in 2013 to represent (schwa) in Austronesian words of non-Tagalog origin. D and R are commonly interchangeable depending on the letter's location: "D" becomes "R" if there is a preceding vowel, e.g. dagat ("sea") to mandaragat ("seafarer"), dunong ("intelligence") to marunong ("knowledgeable"). This does not, however, apply to some words such as dumadagundong ("booming") as well as loanwords and proper nouns.
History
Pre-Hispanic scripts
During the Pre-Hispanic Era, most of the languages of the Philippines were written in abugida, an ancient segmental writing system. Examples of this ancient Philippine writing system which descended from the Brāhmī script are the Kawi, Baybayin, Buhid, Hanunó'o, Tagbanwa, Butuan, Kulitan and other Brahmic family of scripts known to antiquity. A controversial and debatable script of the Philippines is the Eskayan script.