Modern Alphabet (28 letters)
Tagalog uses the Filipino alphabet — a Latin-based set of 26 letters (A–Z) plus Ñ and the digraph Ng as a single phoneme.
Vowels (5)
| Glyph | Latin Chain | Phoneme (IPA) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | a | /a/ | open front vowel |
| E | e | /ɛ/ | mid-front vowel |
| I | i | /i/ | close-front vowel |
| O | o | /o/ | mid-back vowel |
| U | u | /u/ | close-back vowel |
Consonants (21 core)
| Glyph | Latin Chain | Phoneme (IPA) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| B | b | /b/ | |
| C | c | /k/ or /s/ in loans | not native |
| D | d | /d/ | |
| F | f | /f/ in loans | not native; often /p/ in native speech |
| G | g | /g/ | |
| H | h | /h/ | |
| J | j | /d͡ʒ/ in loans | not native; often /h/ or /dy/ in adaptation |
| K | k | /k/ | |
| L | l | /l/ | |
| M | m | /m/ | |
| N | n | /n/ | |
| Ñ | n + tilde | /ɲ/ | palatal nasal (as in señor) |
| Ng | n + g | /ŋ/ | velar nasal; single phoneme in Tagalog |
| P | p | /p/ | |
| Q | q | /k/ in loans | not native |
| R | r | /ɾ/ | alveolar tap/trill |
| S | s | /s/ | |
| T | t | /t/ | |
| V | v | /v/ in loans | not native; often /b/ in native speech |
| W | w | /w/ | |
| X | x | /ks/ in loans | not native |
| Y | y | /j/ | palatal approximant |
| Z | z | /z/ in loans | not native; often /s/ in native speech |
Multi-letter graphemes
- Ng → /ŋ/ (velar nasal) — always a single sound, never “n” + “g” in native words.
- In our LGM, treat Ng as
phoneme_unit=trueso parsing doesn’t split it.
Historical Layer (Baybayin mapping)
Tagalog historically used Baybayin, an abugida with inherent vowel /a/ and diacritics for /e,i/ and /o,u/, plus a virama mark to cancel vowels. Each Baybayin symbol maps directly to a Latin base consonant + vowel combination.
Example mapping:
- ᜃ (ka) → k + a
- ᜃᜒ (ki) → k + i
- ᜃᜓ (ku) → k + u
- ᜃ + virama → k (no vowel)
System Integration Notes
- Modern Tagalog is entirely phonemic in spelling; what you see is what you pronounce.
- Loan letters (C, F, J, Q, V, X, Z) are fully part of the alphabet but occur mostly in borrowed words.
- Ng and Ñ are critical phonemic units — must be preserved in any transliteration or speech model.