This article deals with current phonology and phonetics and with historical developments of the phonology of the Tagalog language, including variants. The Filipino language is considered the national language and one of the two official languages of the Philippines; de facto, it is the modern standard form of Tagalog.

Tagalog has allophones, so it is important here to distinguish phonemes (written in slashes / /) and corresponding allophones (written in brackets [ ]).

Consonants

Table of consonant phonemes of Tagalog Bilabial Dental/Alveolar Postalveolar/Palatal Velar Glottal Nasal Plosive () () Fricative () Approximant Rhotic Phoneme Spelling Distribution and quality of allophonesStops pulá ('red')Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally, eg. /haˌrap̚/ front. bugháw ('blue')Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally. tao ('human') When followed by , may be pronounced , particularly by speakers in urban areas. Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally, e.g. /ˌapat̚/ four. diláw ('yellow') When followed by , may be pronounced , particularly by speakers in urban areas. Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally. kamáy ('hand') Post-velar or otherwise relatively far back in the vocal tract for at least some speakers, even when adjacent to front vowels. Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally, eg. /aˌnak̚/ child. Intervocalic tends to become lenited or post-velar , as in bakit ('why') or takot ('fear'). gulay ('vegetable') Post-velar or otherwise relatively far back in the vocal tract for at least some speakers, even when adjacent to front vowels. Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally. mag-uwî ('to return home'). Normally unwritten at the end of a word (galà, 'roaming') or between vowels (Taal, a town in Batangas) A glottal stop occurring at the end of a word is often elided when it is in the middle of a sentence, especially by speakers of the Manila Dialect. The preceding vowel then undergoes compensatory lengthening: > "isn't it?". It is preserved in some dialects of Tagalog.In the Palatuldikan (diacritical system), it is denoted by the pakupyâ or circumflex accent when the final syllable is stressed (e.g. dugô 'blood'), and by the paiwà (grave accent) if unstressed (susì 'key').Fricatives sangá ('branch') When followed by , it is often pronounced , particularly by speakers in urban areas. siyam ('nine') sya (a form of siya, second person pronoun)

shabú ('methamphetamine') May be pronounced , especially by speakers in rural areas. hawak ('being held') Sometimes elided in rapid speech.Affricates tiyan ('stomach') pangungutyâ ('ridicule')

tsokolate ('chocolate'); May be pronounced (or if spelled or ), especially by speakers in rural areas. Diyos ('god') dyaryo ('newspaper')

jaket ('jacket')May be pronounced [dj], especially by speakers in rural areas.Nasals matá ('eye') nais ('desire') In names borrowed from Spanish, it may assimilate to before labial consonants (e.g. in San Miguel, in San Pedro, and in Infanta) and to before velar ones (e.g. and ) and, rarely, glottal . ngitî ('smile') Assimilates to before and (pampasiglâ, 'invigorator') and to before (pandiwà, 'verb'); some people pronounce as a geminate consonant , as in Angono.Laterals larawan ('picture') Depending on the dialect, it may be dental/denti-alveolar or alveolar (light L) within or at the end of a word. It may also be velarized (dark L) if influenced by English phonology.Rhotics saráp ('deliciousness'); kuryente ('electricity') Traditionally an allophone of , the phoneme may be now pronounced in free variation between the standard alveolar flapped , a rolled , an approximant and

The sounds , , (spelled , , ) are accepted in loanwords (e.g. ), but are nativized by some speakers to , , . In older loanwords, nativization is reflected in writing, e.g. from Spanish .

Vowels and semivowels

Table of vowel phonemes of TagalogFrontBackCloseMidOpen Phoneme Spelling AllophonesVowels asoge ('mercury') is raised slightly to in unstressed positions and also occasionally in stressed positions (e.g. Ináng Bayan , 'motherland').

The diphthong and the sequence have a tendency to become or (e.g. tenga from taínga, 'ear'; kelan from kailan, 'when').

The diphthong and the sequence occasionally have a tendency to become or (e.g. isolì from isaulì, 'to return'). in any position (espíritu, 'spirit'; tsinelas, 'slippers') and often in final syllables (e.g., hindî) and with exceptions like mulî (adverbial form of 'again') and English loanwords. can be pronounced or diphthongized to . ibon ('bird') Unstressed is usually pronounced (e.g. sigalót, 'discord').

In final syllables, can be pronounced , as and were formerly an allophone of .

before s-consonant clusters has a tendency to be dropped, as in isports ('sports') and istasyon ('station'). oyayi ('lullaby') can be pronounced or diphthongized to . were also former allophones. Morphs into before and (e.g. Bagumbayan, literally 'new town’, a place now part of Rizal Park; kumpisál, 'Confession'). utang ('debt') Unstressed is usually pronounced .Semivowels and/or Semiconsonants yugtô ('chapter') wakás ('end')

The sounds (spelled ) is accepted by the Commission on the Filipino Language in loanwords from other Philippine languages such as angë́p 'fog' (from Ilocano) or language names such as wikang Mëranaw 'Maranao language'.

Stress and final glottal stop Stress is a distinctive feature in Tagalog. Primary stress occurs on either the final or the penultimate syllable of a word. Vowel lengthening accompanies primary or secondary stress except when stress occurs at the end of a word.

Tagalog words are often distinguished from one another by the position of the stress and/or the presence of a final glottal stop. In formal or academic settings, stress placement and the glottal stop are indicated by a diacritic (tuldík) above the final vowel. The penultimate primary stress position (malumay) is the default stress type and so is left unwritten except in dictionaries. The name of each stress type has its corresponding diacritic in the final vowel.

+ Phonetic comparison of Tagalog homographs based on stress and final glottal stop Common spelling Unstressed ultimate syllableno diacritic Stressed ultimate syllableacute accent (´) Unstressed ultimate syllable with glottal stopgrave accent (`) Stressed ultimate syllable with glottal stopcircumflex accent (ˆ) baba baba ('father') babá ('piggy back') babà ('chin') babâ ('descend [imperative]') baka baka ('cow') baká ('possible') bata bata ('bathrobe') batá ('perseverance') batà ('child') bayaran bayaran ('pay [imperative]') bayarán ('for hire') kaya kaya ('can') kayâ ('so') labi / labì ('lips') / labî ('remains') pito pito ('whistle') pitó ('seven') sala sala ('fault') salá ('interweaving [of bamboo slats]') salà ('filtering; sifting') salâ ('broken [of bones]')

See also Tagalog orthography Help:IPA/Tagalog

References