Читать книгу Basic Tagalog for Foreigners and Non-Tagalogs - Paraluman S. Aspillera - Страница 10

LESSON ONE

The Tagalog Alphabet

In the 1930s, when Tagalog was chosen as the basis for the national language, there were 20 letters in the alphabet consisting of five vowels and 15 consonants. These were:

The consonants were originally referred to with the vowel a appended to each letter so that these were pronounced ba, ka, da, and so on. The ng consonant was pronounced as nang.

In the 1980s, eight more consonants were added to the alphabet. These are c, f, j, ñ, q, v, x and z. This was done to facilitate the writing of new words and terms borrowed from other languages. The letters of the Tagalog alphabet are now referred to in the same way as the letters in the English alphabet except for ng and ñ (pronounced en-ye) which is of Spanish origin.

Generally, the eight additional consonants are used for proper nouns (names of persons, places, buildings, brand names, the like) such as Fe, Carlos, Santo Niño, Leyte Gulf, Jones Bridge, Jollibee and Louis Vuitton. They are also used for borrowed terms like zakat (almsgiving, the third pillar of Islam), indigenous or native terms like carayab (an Igorot costume made of tree bark), and medical and scientific terms like zinc and amoxicillin.

There are conventions in the pronunciation of the consonants ñ and ng. Tagalog words with ñ are pronounced as if there is a combination of n and y consonants instead of one consonant. The first half is the n part which takes the sound of the vowel before it while the second half is the y part which takes the sound of the vowel after it. For example, the word Niño in Santo Niño is pronounced ninyo. Note that ñ is between i and o, thus n takes the initial sound of the vowel i while y takes the sound of the vowel o.

The pronunciation of the consonant ng is very difficult for foreigners particularly when it appears at the beginning of a word. To produce the sound ng, push the tongue back and up—making sure that the back part of the tongue is curled and almost touches the molars and the roof of your mouth to produce a nasal sound, and then add the sound of the vowel after it. The syllable before ng usually rides on the nasal ng sound.

Another Tagalog consonant that may pose some difficulty for foreigners is the consonant r. Unlike the English r where the tongue does not touch the sides of the mouth, the Tagalog r is produced by quickly tapping the tip of the tongue on the gum ridge behind the upper teeth (like a Spanish r but not rolled or trilled).

A Tagalog word is pronounced just as it is spelled, and each syllable is pronounced separately and distinctly. Except for certain vowel and semi-vowel combinations (diphthongs) such as ay, aw, ey, iw, oy, and uy, foreigners will have minimal difficulty in pronouncing most Tagalog words. However, foreigners may find the iw and uy combinations a bit hard to pronounce and may likely break up the combinations especially when they appear at the end of words. Some Tagalog examples of these diphthongs are:

agiw	a-giw	cobweb	áway	a-way	fight
bítiw	bi-tiw	let go	láway	la-way	saliva
kasúy	ka-suy	cashew	reyna	rey-na	queen
badúy	ba-duy	dowdy	káhoy	ka-hoy	wood
mabábaw	ma-ba-baw	shallow	amóy	a-moy	scent
áyaw	a-yaw	do not like

Foreign Words in Tagalog

When a foreign word is borrowed or assimilated into Tagalog, it is written according to the conventions of Tagalog phonetics. However, the names of persons and places need not be changed. Many foreign words (mostly Spanish and English) have been absorbed into the Tagalog vocabulary and remain foreign when their original spelling and pronunciation is retained. But when changed to conform with the Tagalog alphabet, they become Tagalog words. Although many new English loan words have come into the language in recent years (especialy technical and scientific terms), there are still many common, everyday words in the language that were borrowed from Spanish in earlier times. Between the English word telephone and the Spanish equivalent telefono, for example, the Tagalogs have adopted the latter and write it as teléponó.

In writing and pronouncing Spanish loan words in Tagalog, be guided by the following:

			SPANISH	TAGALOG	ENGLISH
hard c	is changed to k	as in	calesa	kalésa	rig
soft c	is changed to s	as in	circo	sírko	circus
ch	is changed to ts	as in	lechon	litsón	roast pig
f	is changed to p	as in	final	pinál	final
soft j	is changed to h	as in	cajon	kahón	box, drawer
	or s	as in	jabon	sabón	soap
ll	is changed to ly	as in	calle	kálye	street
q	is changed to k	as in	maquina	mákina	machine
v	is changed to b	as in	vapor	bapór	ship
z	is changed to s	as in	lapiz	lápis	pencil

English words also undergo changes when they are assimilated into the Tagalog language. Some words may bear some resemblance to the original English words although others have an added hint of Spanish influence. Still others undergo odd, sometimes comical changes when English sounds are given the nearest Tagalog equivalent such as kwaliti for quality. Since kalidád is another Tagalog loan word (from Spanish), an English word may often have more than one Tagalog equivalent.

A current but debatable issue on the Filipinization of English words has also led to the use of words such as efektiv from the English word effective, the Tagalog equivalent of which is mabísa. Another example is varayti from variety (or urí in Tagalog).

The following lists a few of the rules:

			ENGLISH	TAGALOG
soft c	is changed to s	as in	cinema	sine
hard c	is changed to k	as in	academic	akadémik
ck	is changed to k	as in	gimmick	gímik
ct	is changed to k	as in	addict	ádik
qua or q	are changed to kwa	as in	quality	kwáliti
long i	is changed to ay	as in	driver	dráyber
f	is changed to p	as in	traffic	trápik
v	is changed to b	as in	believe	bilíb
long o	is changed to u	as in	approve	aprúb
cle	is changed to kel	as in	tricycle	tráysikel
tion	is changed to syon	as in	institution	institusyón
x	is changed to ks	as in	boxing	bóksing
j	is changed to dy	as in	janitor	dyánitor
beginning s	is changed to is	as in	sport	ísport
soft ch	is changed to ts	as in	teacher	títser
hard ch	is changed to k	as in	school	iskúl

Students should also learn how to write the following foreign words in Tagalog that are very common in everyday conversation. Needless to say, correct pronunciation is very important. Learn to pronounce these words as true Tagalog words by taking particular notice of the accent marks and stresses (these will be discussed in Lesson Two). Repeat the words aloud and take note of the vowels.

alkohól	alcohol	klub	club	silyá	chair
piyáno	piano	sinehán	movie house	kompyúter	computer
rádyo	radio	pelíkula	movie	pasapórte	passport
kótse	car	bentiladór	electric fan	tiangge	bazaar
telépono	telephone	otél	hotel	tindáhan	store
bangkô	bench	tabáko	tobacco	papél	paper
kapé	coffee	tenis	tennis	plástik	plastic
restawrán	restaurant	sigarílyo	cigarette	telebísyon	television

DAYS OF THE WEEK

Lúnes	Monday	Biyérnes	Friday
Martés	Tuesday	Sábado	Saturday
Miyérkules	Wednesday	Linggó	Sunday
Huwébes	Thursday

MONTHS OF THE YEAR

Enéro	January	Húlyo	July
Pebréro	February	Agósto	August
Márso	March	Setyémbre	September
Abríl	April	Oktúbre	October
Máyo	May	Nobyémbre	November
Húnyo	June	Disyémbre	December