Ilokano phonology

Vowels
Modern Ilocano has two dialects, which are differentiated only by the way the letter e is pronounced. In the Amianan (Northern) Dialect, there exist only five vowels while the Abagatan (Southern) Dialect employs six.


 * Amianan:, , , ,
 * Abagatan:, , , , ,

Reduplicate vowels are not slurred together, but voiced separately:
 * saan: sa-an (no)

The letter in bold is the graphic (written) representation of the vowel.

For a better rendition of vowel distribution, please refer to the IPA Vowel Chart.

Unstressed /a/ is pronounced in all positions except final syllables, like madí  (cannot be) but ngiwat (mouth) is pronounced.

Although the modern (Tagalog) writing system is largely phonetic, there are some notable conventions.

O/U and I/E
In native morphemes, the close back rounded vowel is written differently depending on the syllable. If the vowel occurs in the ultima of the morpheme, it is written o; elsewhere, u.

Example: Root: luto cook agluto to cook lutuen to cook (something) example:lutuen dayta

Instances such as masapulmonto, You will manage to find it, to need it, are still consistent. Note that masapulmonto is, in fact, three morphemes: masapul (verb base), -mo (pronoun) and -(n)to (future particle). An exception to this rule, however, is laud (west). Also, u in final stressed syllables can be pronounced [o], like for danum (water).

The two vowels are not highly differentiated in native words due to fact that was an allophone of  in the history of the language. In words of foreign origin, notably Spanish, they are phonemic.

Example: uso use oso bear

Unlike u and o, i and e are not allophones, but i in final stressed syllables in words ending in consonants can be, like ubíng (child).

The two closed vowels become glides when followed by another vowel. The close back rounded vowel becomes  before another vowel; and the close front unrounded vowel,.

Example: kuarta money paria bitter melon

In addition, dental/alveolar consonants become palatalized before. (See Consonants below).

Unstressed /i/ and /u/ are pronounced and  except in final syllables, like pintás (beauty)  and buténg (fear)  but bangir (other side) and parabur (grace) are pronounced  and.

Pronunciation of 'e'
The letter e represents two vowels in the non-nuclear dialects (areas outside the Ilocos provinces) [] in words of foreign origin and [] in native words, and only one in the nuclear dialects of the Ilocos provinces, [].

Diphthongs
Diphthongs are combination of a vowel and /i/ or /u/. In the orthography, the secondary vowels (underlying /i/ or /u/) are written with their corresponding glide, y or w, respectively. Of all the possible combinations, only /aj/ or /ej/, /iw/, /aj/ and /uj/ occur. In the orthography, vowels in sequence such as uo and ai, do not coalesce into a diphthong, rather, they are pronounced with an intervening glottal stop, for example, buok hair  and dait sew.

The diphthong is a variant of  in native words. Other occurrences are in words of Spanish and English origin. Examples are reyna (from Spanish reina, queen) and treyner  (trainer). The diphthongs and  may be interchanged since  is an allophone of  in final syllables. Thus, apúy (fire) may be pronounced and baboy (pig) may be pronounced.

Consonants
All consonantal phonemes except may be a syllable onset or coda. The phoneme /h/ is a borrowed sound and rarely occurs in coda position. Although, the Spanish word, reloj, clock, would have been heard as [re.loh], the final /h/ is dropped resulting in /re.lo/. However, this word also may have entered the Ilokano lexicon at early enough a time that the word was still pronounced, with the j pronounced as in French, resulting in /re.los/ in Ilokano. As a result, both /re.lo/ and /re.los/ occur.

The glottal stop is not permissible as coda; it can only occur as onset. Even as an onset, the glottal stop disappears in affixation. Take for example the root aramat, use. When prefixed with ag-, the expected form is. But, the actual form is ; the glottal stop disappears. In a reduplicated form, the glottal stop returns and participates in the template, CVC, agar-aramat.

Stops are pronounced without aspiration. When they occur as coda, they are not released, for example, sungbat answer, response.

Ilokano is one of the Philippine languages which is excluded from - allophony, as /r/ in many cases is derived from a Proto-Austonesian */G/, compare dugô (Tagalog) and dara (Ilokano) blood.

The language marginally has a trill [r] which was spelled as “rr”, for example, serrek to enter. But it is different in proper names of foreign origin, mostly Spanish, like Serrano, which is correctly pronounced. Some speakers, however, pronounce Serrano as.

Primary Stress
The placement of primary stress is lexical in Ilokano. This results in minimal pairs such as káyo (wood) and kayó (you (plural or polite)) or kíta (class, type, kind) and kitá (see). In written Ilokano the reader must rely on context, thus kayo and kita. Primary stress can fall only on either the penult or the ultima of the root, as seen in the previous examples.

While stress is unpredictable in Ilokano, there are notable patterns that can determine where stress will fall depending on the structures of the penult, the ultima and the origin of the word.


 * Foreign Words - The stress of foreign (mostly Spanish) words adopted into Ilokano fall on the same syllable as the original.


 * CVC.'CV(C)# but 'CVŋ.kV(C)# - In words with a closed penult, stress falls on the ultima, except for instances of /-ŋ.k-/ where it is the penult.


 * 'C(j/w)V# - In words whose ultima is a glide plus a vowel, stress falls on the ultima.


 * C.'CV:.ʔVC# - In words where VʔV and V is the same vowel for the penult and ultima, the stress falls on the penult.

Secondary Stress
Secondary stress occurs in the following environments:
 * Syllables whose coda is the onset of the next, i.e., the syllable before a geminate.
 * Reduplicated consonant-vowel sequence resulting from morphology or lexicon

Vowel Length
Vowel length coincides with stressed syllables (primary or secondary) and only on open syllables, for example, kayo /'ka:.yo/ tree and kayo /ka.'yo/' (second person plural ergative pronoun).