| Phoneme |
Spelling |
Distribution and quality of allophones |
| Stops |
| /p/ |
⟨p⟩ pulá ('red') |
Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally.[1]: 19 |
| /b/ |
⟨b⟩ bugháw ('blue') |
Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally.[1]: 20 |
| /t/ |
⟨t⟩ tao ('human') |
When followed by /j/, may be pronounced [tʃ], particularly by speakers in urban areas. Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally.[1]: 19 |
| /d/ |
⟨d⟩ diláw ('yellow') |
When followed by /j/, may be pronounced [dʒ], particularly by speakers in urban areas. Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally.[1]: 20 |
| /k/ |
⟨k⟩ kamáy ('hand') |
Post-velar [k̠] or otherwise relatively far back in the vocal tract for at least some speakers, even when adjacent to front vowels.[1]: 19 Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally.[1]: 19 Intervocalic /k/ tends to become [x], as in bakit ('why') or takot ('fear').[1]: 19 |
| /ɡ/ |
⟨g⟩ gulay ('vegetable') |
Post-velar [g̠] or otherwise relatively far back in the vocal tract for at least some speakers, even when adjacent to front vowels.[1]: 19 Unreleased or nasally released phrase-finally.[1]: 20 |
| /ʔ/ |
⟨-⟩ 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: /hinˈdiʔ + ba/ > /hinˈdiː + ba/ "isn't it?".[1]: 16 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 |
| /s/ |
⟨s⟩ sangá ('branch') |
When followed by /j/, it is often pronounced [ʃ], particularly by speakers in urban areas. |
| /ʃ/ |
⟨siy⟩ siyam ('nine')
⟨sy⟩ sya (a form of siya, second person pronoun)
⟨sh⟩ shabú ('methamphetamine') |
May be pronounced [sj], especially by speakers in rural areas. |
| /h/ |
⟨h⟩ hawak ('being held') |
Sometimes elided in rapid speech. |
| Affricates |
| /tʃ/ |
⟨tiy⟩ tiyan ('stomach')
⟨ty⟩ pangungutyâ ('ridicule')
⟨ts⟩ tsokolate ('chocolate'); |
May be pronounced [ts] (or [tj] if spelled ⟨ty⟩ or ⟨tiy⟩), especially by speakers in rural areas.[1]: 24 |
| /dʒ/ |
⟨diy⟩ Diyos ('god')
⟨dy⟩ dyaryo ('newspaper')
⟨j⟩ jaket ('jacket') |
May be pronounced [dj], especially by speakers in rural areas. |
| /ts/ |
⟨zz⟩ pizza; ⟨ts⟩ tatsulok ('triangle') |
May be pronounced [tʃ], especially by rural speakers and in some urban areas. |
| Nasals |
| /m/ |
⟨m⟩ matá ('eye') |
|
| /n/ |
⟨n⟩ nais ('desire') |
In names borrowed from Spanish, it may assimilate to [m] before labial consonants (e.g. /m/ in San Miguel, /p/ in San Pedro, and /f/ in Infanta) and to [ŋ] before velar ones (e.g. /g/ and /k/) and, rarely, glottal /h/. |
| /ŋ/ |
⟨ng⟩ ngitî ('smile') |
Assimilates to [m] before /b/ and /p/ (pampasiglâ, 'invigorator') and to [n] before /d t s l/ (pandiwà, 'verb'); some people pronounce /ŋɡ/ as a geminate consonant [ŋŋ], as in Angono. |
| Laterals |
| /l/ |
⟨l⟩ 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 |
| /ɾ/ |
⟨r⟩ saráp ('deliciousness'); kuryente ('electricity') |
Traditionally an allophone of /d/, the /r/ phoneme may be now pronounced in free variation between the standard alveolar flapped [ɾ], a rolled [r], an approximant [ɹ] and more recently, the retroflex flap [ɽ].[citation needed] |
