Hiligaynon Dictionary

Ill . Phonological Survey

The following symbols have been used for Hili-
gaynon sounds, and are given here in the traditional
Filipino order: a, b, k, d, e, f, h, i_, ]_, m, n, o,
£, r, .s, t, u, w, y_, f . Most of the consonants are
pronounce? wTth their usual phonetic value as they occur
in English. However, stops jd, t^, k, are unaspirated; r
is flapped and t^, d, n, and s_ have a front dental qua-
lity. The symbol 7 f /^has been chosen to represent the
glottal stop, and /ng/ the velar nasal sound as in
English sing . F has been included in this volume with
the thought that the user will interact with educated
Hiligaynon speakers who will prestigiously have f in
their dialect of the language. F, however, is not a
Hiligaynon phcjne and does not malce for a difference in
meaning. Family a and pamilya are both acceptable,
except that the first one is preferred by the elite
group.

Hiligaynon vowel sounds are not to be equated with
English vowels. Basically, Hiligaynon has only three
vowels native to the language: a, i_, and u. The two
other vowel sounds, e and o are adopted from Spanish
and English. The two borrowed vowels are not phonemic
but occur as allophones of i^ and u. :L is pronounced
like the vowel sound in 'see, three, seat'. It occurs
in all positions: initial, medial, and final. When-
ever it is found in the initial position, it is always
preceded by a glottal stop. Sometimes a glottal stop
may follow it in the final position.

The e is a variant sound of i^. Lames a and lamisa
are both acceptable pronunciations of 'table ' . When
not pronounced like ee of 'see 1 , it is like the e of
'met' or the a of 'late'. ~

The a is enunciated as in English 'ah, father',
and 'cot'. It is found in all three positions and
undergoes the least amount of quality change among the
vowels .

The u is like the vowel sound in 'boot, suit, and
food'. It can, however, vary in quality from the high
rounded oo in 'boot', to the oa sound in 'boat'. The

o is an allophone of u in Hiligaynon, and therefore not
plionemically significant. Aku, 'I, me 1 , may be aku or
ako.

Stress is phonemic in Hiligaynon, i.e., it makes
a difference in meaning. In Hiligaynon, words contain-
ing more than one vowel comprise a two or more syllable
utterance. One syllable is pronounced louder or
stronger than the other v This prominence is called
stress. For example, punu T means f tree, trunk, leader,
e tc. f ; P u nu f means 'full to capacity 1 .

Cecile, Motus. 1971. Hiligaynon Dictionary.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.