Page 426 - Tagalog for Beginners: An Introduction to Filipino, the National Language of the Philippines
P. 426
Appendix 1
Speaking in Filipino: Notes on the Phonetic Features of the Language
How do we speak Filipino? To this, I respond with the most basic of responses:
“Ang bigkas ang siyang baybay, at ang baybay ang siyang bigkas.” Speak it the
way it is spelled and spell it the way you speak it.
Here we’ll go over some general notes about the phonetics of the language, based
on the writings of P/Filipino linguists, then we’ll explore guidelines from a popular
expert, and finally, we’ll review practical tips that I have used when guiding my
students in the Filipino-language classroom.
General Notes 1
Filipino is not a tonal language. However, a word may change its meaning because
of the change in stress.
It is, however, a phonetic language.
To better understand the consonant phonemes, below is a useful chart from
Schachter 1972:
There are no aspirated sounds in Filipino.
There are five Tagalog diphthongs: iw (front); ay, aw (center); and oy, uy (back).
Here are some examples of the diphthongs:
