Page 429 - Tagalog for Beginners: An Introduction to Filipino, the National Language of the Philippines

Footnotes

1. The discussion on phonemes comes from Cecilio Lopez’s 1941 work A Manual of the Philippine National
Language upon which his work The Structure of Tagalog (1980) was based; and from Schachter, 1972.
Lopez lists 21 segmental phonemes and one-supra-segmental phonemic contract. Of these, there are
fourteen consonants, five vowels, and two vowels.
According to Schachter 1972, the five vowel phonemes are: the high-vowel phonemes /i/ and /u/; the
mid-vowel phonemes /e/ and /o/ and one vowel phoneme with a range from mid to low /a/. From the
point of view of tongue frontness, there are two front-vowel phonemes, /i/ and /e/ (characterized by
spread lips), one central-vowel phoneme, /a/ (neutral lip position), and two back-vowel phonemes, /o/ and
/u/ (rounded lips).
2. The discussion on stresses and accents derives from Alejandro 1947 and Aspillera 1980.