TULDIK IN BAYBAYIN: PART 2 - The 4 diacritical marks of Philippine Ortography
Tuldík or Palatuldíkan (Diacritics)
The basis of these additional diacritical marks that we will use for Baybayin comes from the readily available diacritical marks that we already have and already use in our Philippine orthography.
The reason why we have difficulties on how to differentiate two words with the same spelling but have different meanings and emphasis is because of a lack of proper knowledge on how to use tuldík or diacritics.
These are the diacritical marks we use today in our present orthography á à â, é è ê, í ì î, ó ò ô, ú ù û, ë .
Instead of being confused if suso means breast or snail, by using diacritical marks we can now determine that it is susô (snail), and not suso (breast), it is punô (full), and not punò (tree), and it is sukà (vinegar), and not suka (vomit).
What are the Diacritical marks we have in our Philippine orthography?
Pahilís ( ' á, é, í, ó, ú) has two pronunciation: the Malúmay, and the Mabilís.
Malúmay is a pronunciation that has lengthen tone, soft or slow pronunciation (long vowel), and it has no sudden stop or glottal stop.
The pronunciation of a syllable will become a lengthen and soft tone (malúmay) if we will put a Pahilis on any vowel, except the last vowel on the last syllable of the word.
For example, the word "Sabado", will be pronounced softly in the syllable "Sa", that's why it will become Sábado (Saturday), it has lengthened and soft tone at the first syllable, which is Sá.
The word "Binuhay", has a lengthen and soft tone (malúmay) at the second syllable "Nu", that's why it will become Binúhay (raised, revived).
But if we put Pahilis at the vowel on the end syllable of the word, the lengthen and soft tone will be replaced by a fast pronunciation of the word.
For example, if the word Sábado has a lengthen and soft (malúmay) pronunciation, if we make it like this Sabadó, this word will be pronounced fast.
Same with Binúhay, which will be pronounced fast as Binuháy.
This is where the second use of Pahilís, comes into play, the mabilís (fast) pronunciation, with no sudden stop or glottal stop.
Mabilís is a pronunciation that is fast and no sudden stop or glottal stop at the end of the word.
If there is lengthen and soft (malúmay) words, there is fast (Mabilís) words too, and to visualize it, we also use Pahilís (á, é, í, ó, ú), and we will know that it is pronounced fast if the pahilís diacritic is at the vowel on the end syllable of a word.
Examples of these are the words with fast pronunciation like
Gandá (Beauty), Tagál (Duration), Tará (expression - Come), and Palós (Eel)
Paíwà ( ` à, è, ì, ò, ù) has a pronunciation which is malúmì.
Malúmì is a pronunciation that has lengthen tone and has a sudden stop or glottal stop at the end of the word.
Paíwà is placed in the vowel of the last syllable of the word so that it will have a slow or soft tone in the preceding syllables and it will have a glottal stop in the last syllable.
For example,
Hinálà (suspicion), Harì (King), Punò (Tree), Pinúnò (Leader)
Pakupyâ (^ â, ê, î, ô, û) has a pronunciation which is maragsâ.
Maragsâ is a pronunciation that is fast and has a sudden stop or glottal stop at the end of the word.
For example,
Tubâ (Coconut wine), Wagî (Winning), Kulô (Boiling), Sampû (Ten)
While Patuldok (¨ ë/ə) has a schwa pronunciation.
Schwa is a pronunciation where the lips, tongue, and jaw are completely relaxed and a vowel doesn't make it a long or short vowel sound.
Schwa is used in the languages such as Mëranaw, Pangasinense, Ilokano, Kinaray-a, Kuyonon, Kankanaey, Ibaloy, and others.
Some words with schwa on it are,
Marahët (Bad, Wrong), Këtkët (Bite, Sting), Panagbënga (Flowering season), and Matëy (Long time)
This is Part 2 of "Diacritical marks for accent, tone, and pronunciation in Baybayin".
For Part 1 click here
For Part 3 click here
For Part 4 click here
More to follow.
