Tagalog phonetics

Hello,
Does anyone know Tagalog phonetics? Do you know any good sources?
Thanx ; )

My Tagalog is pretty rusty even though I spent 20 years in Philippines. I didn't develop a interest in studying Tagalog until it's too late because I am a deaf ethnic Chinese and neither my parents nor my institute (school) has encouraged me to study Tagalog. I only use English to communicate with family and friends.

but I know a bit enough to tell you.

According to the rules of the Tagalog phonetics, most of the Tagalog nouns and adjectives have two syllables [edit]or more.[/edit] The only Tagalog nouns with one syllable I know are "tao" (person), "krus" (cross) and "mais" (corn).

Another rule is unlike English, the pronunciation of Tagalog words is as the same as the speling. It means you pronounce Tagalog words the same way you spell them .

In Tagalog, You do not say "io" or "ia". You simply say "yo", "iyo", "ya" or "iya". Tagalog phonetics dictate that the vowel "I" doesn't precede the vowel "O" or "A".

Examples:

radyo= radio
relihiyon= religion
telebisyon= television
diksiyonaryo= dictionary
pamilya=familia (Spanish word for family)
Diyos- Dios (Spanish word for God)
pilosopiya- filosofia (Spanish word for philosophy)
rosaryo- rosario (Spanish word for rosary)
Bibliya- Biblia (Spanish word for Bible)

We say tenk yu which is the Tagalog-incorporated word of "Thank you"

We don't say "th"

Sound= Tagalog equivalent
ch= ts
v= b
f= p
j= h or dy
z= s

Many of English and Spanish words are incorporated and phonetically altered into Tagalog language.

Examples of "ts"="ch"

titser= teacher
tsokolate= chocolate (is also a Spanish word whose the final "e" is NOT silent, unlike in English).
kotse= coche (Spanish word for car)

Examples of "b"="v"
berde- verde (Spanish word for green)
telebisyon- television
birhen-virgen (Spanish word for virgin)

Examples of "p"= "f"
pamilya- familia (Spanish for family)
telepono- telefono (Spanish for telephone)
Pilipinas- "Felipinas" (Spanish for Philippines)
Pilipino- Filipino
pilosopiya- filosofia (Spanish word for philosophy)

"s"="z"
sapatos- zapatos (Spanish for shoes)
mais=maize (Spanish for corn)
dosena= dozen
krus=cruz (Spanish for cross)

"h"='j" (In English, "gi" and "ge" are prounounced as ""ji" and "je" but because Spanish spellings of "j", "gi" and "ge" are pronounced as "h", we use the word "h" ) For example Spanish names Juan and Jose are pronounced as "Huan" and "Hose"

relihiyon= religion (is also a Spanish word)
heneral= general (is also a Spanish word)
birhen-virgen (Spanish word for virgin)
orihinal=original

dy= j (because in English, we prounounced "gi" and "ge" as "ji" and "je" instead of the "h" )

manadyer=manager
dyanitor=janitor


Here is the Tagalog phonetic alphabet:

a, b, d, e, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, ng, o, p, r, s, t, u, w, y

Thanks a lot

Thank you so much for the info about Tagalog, I'm doing a research on that language and I was totally clueless. I have a question if that's ok. Do they actually write "tsokolate" for the "ch" sound? Or is that only the transcription of how the word 'chocolate' sounds in Spanish? I just thought that it was a little similar to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) which uses [dz] (it's not "z" but it looks like it) for the 'ch' sound.
Again, thanks a lot.
Lingx

You're welcome.

I realized, that [ts] is actually for 'ch' and [dz] is for 'j' as in judge.

Lingx said:

Thank you so much for the info about Tagalog, I'm doing a research on that language and I was totally clueless. I have a question if that's ok. Do they actually write "tsokolate" for the "ch" sound? Or is that only the transcription of how the word 'chocolate' sounds in Spanish? I just thought that it was a little similar to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) which uses [dz] (it's not "z" but it looks like it) for the 'ch' sound.
Again, thanks a lot.
Lingx

Click to expand...

that's cool. I'm a Filipino.. yup, we Filipinos write it as "tsokolate" for the "ch" sound and it is also a transcription of how the word sounds in Spanish.. We, Filipinos have been influenced by different nations out of colonization.. the Spaniards have the greatest influence in our culture (just imagine it.. the Philippines had been colonized by Spain for more than 300 years) --we learned Christianity from them, even some bad habits like na manana habit (it's spelled with an enye --i don't know how to type that letter here using the pc sowee.. but it's pronounced as manyana habit, which is a type of laziness --taking a work for granted like saying 'I'll do it later" lol, and many words are added to our language like cocina, azul, etc. but we just spell it differently...

and sometimes we do have a pure Tagalog equivalent of those Spanish words.. for example, verde = "berde" or luntian (the pure Tagalog) which means yup, the color green

and we have been influenced by USA too.. and some American words, we don't have any equivalent like computer, hotdog, etc. so we either spell it the way Americans spell it or write it the way it is pronounced like for example, computer = kompyuter ..and I think this rule doesn't even apply when it comes to writing the term hotdog lol.. it's as is...

hope this helps you too...