Tagalog phonology

This article deals with current phonology and phonetics and with historical developments of the phonology of the Tagalog language, including variants.

Tagalog has allophones, so it is important here to distinguish phonemes (written in slashes / /) and corresponding allophones (written in brackets [ ]).

The diphthong /ai/ and the sequence /aʔi/ have a tendency to become [eɪ] or [ɛː] (e.g. tenga from taínga, 'ear'; kelan from kailan, 'when').

The diphthong /au/ and the sequence /aʔu/ occasionally have a tendency to become [oʊ] or [ɔː] (e.g. isolì from isaulì, 'to return something').

In final syllables, /i/ can be pronounced [ɪ ~ i ~ e ~ ɛ], as [e] and [ɛ] were formerly an allophone of /i/.

/i/ before s-consonant clusters has a tendency to be dropped, as in isports [sports] ('sports') and istasyon [staˈʃon] ('station').

See also /j/ below.

...
Wikipedia