Chapter 2.

Ilokano Phonology and Pronunciation

Overview
Like all other languages, there are rules governing phonology and pronunciation of words. They
have their own set of grammar rules duly approved by their linguistics governing boards.
For the Ilokano language, The Komisyon sa wikang filipino published in 2012 a book that
governs all contrasting Ilokano grammar rules. This is the Tarabay iti Pagsasao nga ilokano. This
most updated and recognized book by KWF is a group effort of the seasoned and notable Ilokano
linguists, writers, editors and practitioners.

Objectives:
1. Discuss the Ilokano Phonology and Pronunciation

1. Cite examples of the Iluko words that glide, that evoke stop (glottal stop)

1. Construct sentences that show stress, glides, syllabication among others

1. compare and contrast Ilokano words that glide, that have stress, that show glottal stops.

Phonology and Pronunciation

Phonology refers to the sounds and sound systems of a language.

Topic 4. Consonants
Ilokano has 15 original phonemes (contrastive consonants), one loan consonant (h) and two
complex affricates:

Labial dental alveolar alveopalatal palatal velar glottal

stops p t k -(?)
b d g

fricatives s si +v (h)
affricates ts/ti +v
dy/di+v

lateral l

tap/trill r

glides w y

nasal m n ng

Topic 6. The stops

Stops are produced by a complete closure in the oral cavity, followed by an immediate release of
air. They are differentiated by place of articulation (the exact place in the mouth where the
closure takes place) and voicing (whether or not the vocal chords vibrate during their
articulation.
Ilokano stops are contrastive for voicing and have four places of articulation: bilabial, dental,
velar and glottal. Voiceless stops in Ilokano are not articulated with aspiration ( puff air). as
syllable codas (final consonant of the syllable), they are usually unreleased and not articulated
with full force.

Bilabial stops

The bilabial stops are /p/ (voiceless) and /b/ (voiced). They are unaspirated.

Topic 7. The liquids

Ilokano has two liquid consonants, /r/ and /l/. ?l/ is pronounced as a dental lateral in all
environments. It does not have a velarized variant like the English ‘l’ in syllable-final position.

lallaki lal.la.ki
agilo ?a.gi.lo
nagadal na.ga.dal

The consonant /r/ is a dental tap pronounced like the spanish r in arana. In careful speech, it is
often trilled like the Spaniosh rr or perro.
 diario dza.ryo
agrugarog ?ag,ru,ga,rog
nariri na.ri.ri

Topic 8. The Glides

Ilokano has two glides, /w/ and /y/.

The labio-velar glide /w/ is formed with rounded lips and some obstruction at the velar part of
the mouth.

agbariwengweng ?ag.ba.ri.wun.wun
walawal wa.la.wal
nawadwad na.wad.wad
silaw si.law

The palatal glide/ y/ is pronounced like y in yes. It is the consonantal counterpart of the high
front vowel i.

laya la.ya
nalaylay na.lay.lay
yo yo

The nasals
Ilokano has three nasal consonants, differentiated by the place of articulation in which the oral
airstream is blocked. The three nasals in Ilokano are ?m/, /n/, and /ng/.
The bilabal nasal /m/ is formed by closing the airstream at the lips. It is equivalent to the English
m in mother.
umay ?u.may
ama ?a.ma
medmedan mud.mu.dan
kama ka.ma
The dental nasal /n/ is formed by obstructing the airpflow in the mouth with the togue touching
the upper teeth or the alveolar ridge slightly behind the upper eeth. It is equivalent to the Spanish
n in no.
ina ?i.na
nengneng nun.nun
intan ?in.tan

The velar nasal /ng/ is formed by obstructing the airflow in the mouth at the velum.. It is
equivalent to the English ng in sing. The velar nasal may appear in syllabl;e-initial position.
ngata nga.ta
singsing sing.sing
agmangisit ?ag.ma.ngi.sit

Palatalization
The obstruents /t/, /d/, and /s/ all palatalize before the glide /y/ or its equivalent, i.e. the high
vowel /i/ followed by another vowel.
the dental stops /t/ and /d/ form alveo-palatal affricates before the glide /y/, /tj/ and /dz/
respectively.
buttiog
diak
diammo
idiay
dyip

The alveolar fricative /s/ forms an alveo-palatal fricative before the glide /y/ or its equivalent i.e.
vowel i followed by another vowel.
siak
Asia
siuman

Topic 5. The vowels

Ilokano has six contrastive vowels (5 in the northern dialect) represented in the orthography by
five letters /a, e,i,o,u/ based on the borrowed Spanish system. The use of the Spanish writing
system to represent the vowels is one of the few instances of non phonemic practice in the
language.

Front Central Back

unround round
high i e u
mid e o
low a

/a/. The low central vowel is the most common vowel in the language. Of all the vowels, this one
is least subject to variation.
basa
allawagi
atsara

/e/. The orthographic symbol ‘e’ in Ilokano constitutes two separate sounds in southern speech,
and one sound in the northern dialects. In the northern dialects, (Ilocos Norte, Ilocos sur), it
corresponds to a front, central lax vowel /e/ similar to e in pet.
In the southern dialects, the letter ‘e’ represents two separate vowel sounds. In Spanish loan
words, it is equivalent to the northern pronunciation. In native wods, however, it is pronounced
as a high to high-mid centralized back unrounded vowel ?e/ that does not occur in word-final
position.
Spanish loanwords
kalesa
presidente
keso
ehe

Native words
suraten
tabbed
nabengbeng
met
/i/. The vowel ‘i’ is pronounced as a high front vowel, not quite as tense as the English ee as in
meet. In unstressed environments, it has a lax variant a little higher than the English /i/ in pick.
itlog
sangit
lasi
/o/ and /u/. Historically, the vowels o and u did not meaningfully contrast. in the natiove
syllabary, they were both represented by one character ( or by a small dot underneath the syllabic
character corresponding to the consonantal onset)/ After the arrival of the Spanairds and the
incorporation of many spanish loanwords in Ilokano vocabulary, native Ilokanos were abn;e to
distinguish these vowels and chose to do so in subsequent orthographic practice. The /o/ vowel is
a rounded upper mid vowel similar to the Spanish o in no, while the /u/ vowel is rounded high
back vowel similar to the Spanish u in azul with a amore lax interpretation in unstressed
environments.
Word-finally, /u/ is realised as /o/, whil;e in word-medial positions and stressed environments, as
/u/. In Spanish loanwords, the Spanish pronunciation is retained for these vowels.
ulo
surat
agtutor
nablo
bolo
bulo

Topic 8. Stress and vowel length

Stress may occur on the open penultimate or final syllable in Ilokano. It is contrastive, as it may
contribute to a change of meaning in a few words. Stress assigned to an open syllable (syllable
ending in a vowel) entails that the vowel is long.
sika dysentery
sika you

abut reach, catch up with

abut hole

padaya go to the east

padaya party

sapaen to do early
sapaen to spit out chewed betel leaf

basaan to read to someone

basaan to wet someone

Consonant gemination
Consonant gemination in Ilokano occurs both in root words and as a result of productive
derivational affixation. All Ilokano consonants may be geminated (except the glottal fricative). In
many roots, consonants are underlyingly geminate
ittip
pittagaw
 lammin
sammaked
ikkat
kappo
balligi

Some consonants may geminate as a result of derivational affixation.

lalaki lallaki
babai babbai
asawa assawa
baro babbaro

Geminate consonants /t, d/ k, m/n) may result from enclitization.

agdaitto agdait + to
tabbedda tabbed + da
nagragsakkan! nagragsak + kan
sardammo sardam + mo
ayanna? ayan + na

Gemination may also transcend prefix boundaries, where the coda consonant of the prefix
matches the onset consonant of the root or following prefix.
naggatangan nag + gatang+ an + mo
pagattao a sarming pagat+tao a sarming

Certain prefixes may trigger consonant gemination, such as agaC-/agat- ‘ to smell like’ pagaC-
/pagat- “ to reach until’
pagabbarukongnak pagaC-barukong+ na+ak
agattakkida agaC-takki + da

Geminate nasals may be triggered by fusing a homorganic nasal (N) prefix to certain roots in
which the onset consonant appears as a nasal in the appropriate place of articulation.
taray mannaray
daniw mannaniw
sugal mannugal
duriken mannuriken
dait mannait
bagi pammagi
pati pammati
uma mangnguma
sao pannao

Morphophonemics. Phonological Changes due to affixation

The infix -in- may metathesize to ni- before l or r to Tagalog influence. Both forms are found in
spoken ilokano but the non-metathesized form is preferred in writing.
nirugian rinugian
niluto linuto
nilukatan linukatan

The vowel e of many roots is often lost with affixation that causes it to become unstressed.
itdan ited+an
ulsan ules+an
pagablan pag+abel+an

With certain roots, single vowels may be lost with affixation.

kanen kaan + en
tarimnen tarimaan+en
luktan lukat+an

Many roots containing geminate consonants usually undergo two changes under affixation. The
geminate consonant becomes single, and the unstressed or de-stressed vowel (ofen e) is lost.

maikatlo maika+tallo
lumteg letteg + -um-
kadaklan ka+dakkel+an
pannakatnag pannaka+tinnag
napno na+punno
nalpas na+leppas
nakalpeng naka+leppeng
pannakapnek pannaka+pennek
bumtak bettak +-um-
rumsua russia +-um-
parsua pa+russua
sumgar seggar+-um-
Certain roots may add epenthetic consonants when affixed.
pastreken pa+serrek+en
sumbrek serrek +-um-
bistraden bisrad+en

The homorganic nasal (represented as N in the dictionary) assimilates to the first consonant of a
root (N>-ng before velars k, g, sonorants r, l, w, y and vowels; m before labials m. p, b; and n
elsewhere). In some cases, the initial consonant of the root becomes a nasal.

panguloten pan+kulot+en

mamati man+pati

mangapkappo maN+CVC+kappo

panait paN+dait

namituen naN+bituen

nanaksi naN+saksi

pamigat paN+bigat

pangngeddeng paN+keddeng

In few are cases, high frequency roots with t/d onsets preceding an unstressed vowel may lose a
syllable (*starred forms are not synchronically parsable).

mangged maN+tegged

panggedan paN+tegged+an

mangngeg maN+dengngeg

makangngeg maka+dengngeg

pangngegan paN+dengngeg+an

mambi maN+tibbi

pagpagteng pag+CVC+dateng

mapagteng mapag+dateng

makagteng maka(pa)g+dateng
pamkuatan paN+*takkuat+an

pambar paN+*tebbar

Some roots undergoing onomatopoetic affixation undergo internal modification resulting in the
reduplication of their second vowel (V2 V2). These affixes include: voice affix +-V2-,
commonly seen with the following forms: m(an)a- -V2-, CaC- -V2-, k(an)a- -V2-, and
permutations thereof.

tumpaak fall down with a thump tupak -um- -V2-

rumsiit sizzle; hiss (burning meat) rissit - um- -V2-

palbaagen slam a door pa- libag -V2- -en

palsuotan shoot someone with a pop gun pa- lisut -V2- -en

dadpuor crumbling, rumbling sound CaC- dipor -V2-

kaktuol clicking sounds of heels CaC- kitol -V2-

makakreeb crash (waves) ma- CaC- kireb -V2-

pababtuogen slam a door ma- CaC- bitog -V2- -en

mababseet dart out; swish ma- CaC- biset -V2-

kanadluog continuous thunder k(an)a- dilog -V2-

kanaklaang successive clattering sounds k(an)a- kilang -V2-

manarsiit produce a hissing/ crackling sound m(an)a- rissit -V2-

agkanarsibok make a loud splash ag-k(an)a- rissibok -V2-

panalpaaken slap some in the face p(an)a- lipak -V2- -en

panarsaaken crush dry leaves p(an)- rissak -V2- -en

ipanabraang slam i-p(an)a- birang -V2-

Topic 10. Syllabication

Every syllable in native Ilokano words is composed of a consonant onset and vowel, with an
optional consonant coda {CV(C)}
arak ?a.rak
agsangit ?ag. sa.ngit
 nasam-it na. sam?.it
arasaas ?a.ra.sa?.as

Each vowel in Ilokano maintains its own syllable, except word finally with a suffix in which the
vowel becomes a glide. This rule holds true for all vowels combinations except i followed by a,
e, o or u; or u followed by a, e, i.
babbai bab.ba.?i
agsao ?ag.sa.?o
agintuturog ?a.gin.tu.tu.rog
ruot ru?.ot
siak one syllable
diak one syllable
dios one syllable
siempre two syllables
suitik two syllables

Evaluation:
I. Ited ti puon a balikas dagiti sumaganad:
1. panguloten
2. nasam-it
3. panarsaaken
4. pababtuogen
5. makangngeg
II. Give ten examples of consonant gemination.
III. How are affixation/ enclitics used in ilokano words?