Collado's handling of the nasal sounds is too inconsistent to be a reliable source for phonological data. Given his rather awkward specification that nasalization is predictable before what we must assume he means to be the voiced stops and affricates,[[8]] his grammar presents an uncomfortably irregular pattern in the transcription of the phenomena. Thus, on page [39] we find vo mõdori aró ca? as well as
modori aró ca?. Again, what he presents as the ending zũba in his description of the formation of the negative conditional (p. [34]) appears in tovazunba in its only occurrence in a sample sentence (p. [62]). To further confound the issue such forms as tovazunba and qinpen occur in contrast to sambiacu, varambe, and varãbe.
In Chart 1 the traditional pattern of the gojūonzu (chart of 50 sounds) is followed as a convenient framework in which to display the transcriptional system employed by Collado.
Chart 1
COLLADO'S TRANSCRIPTION SYSTEM
| The Simple Series | |||||||||||||||
| /#/ | /k/ | /g/ | /s/ | /z/ | /t/ | /d/ | /n/ | /φ/ | /b/ | /p/ | /m/ | /y/ | /r/ | /w/ | |
| /a/ | a | ca | ga | sa | za | ta | da | na | fa | ba | pa | ma | ia | ra | va |
| /i/ | i | qi | gui | xi | ji | chi | gi | ni | fi | bi | pi | mi | - | ri | - |
| /u/ | u | cu | gu | su | zu | tçu | zzu | nu | fu | bu | pu | mu | iu | ru | - |
| /e/ | [ie] | qe | gue | xe | je | te | de | ne | fe | be | pe | me | ie | re | - |
| /o/ | [vo] | co | go | so | zo | to | do | no | fo | bo | po | mo | io | ro | vo |
| The Long Series | |||||||||||||||
| /au/ | [vó] | có | gó | só | zó | tó | dó | nó | fó | bó | (pó) | mó | ió | ró | vó |
| /uu/ | ú | cú | (gú) | (sú) | - | (tçú) | - | - | fú | (bú) | (pú) | - | iú | rú | - |
| /ou/ | [vô] | cô | (gô) | sô | zô | tô | dô | nô | (fô) | (bô) | pô | mô | iô | rô | vô |
| The Palatal and Labial Series | ||||||||||||||
| /ky/ | /gy/ | /sy/ | /zy/ | /ty/ | /dy/ | /ny/ | /φy/ | /by/ | /py/ | /my/ | /ry/ | /kw/ | /gw/ | |
| /a/ | (qua) | (guia) | xa | ja | cha | gia | (nha) | fia | bia | pia | (mia) | (ria) | qua | gua |
| /u/ | qui | (guiu) | xu | ju | (chu) | (giu) | (nhu) | (fiu) | - | - | (miu) | (riu) | - | - |
| /o/ | qio | guio | xo | (jo) | cho | gio | (nho) | (fio) | (bio) | - | (mio) | (rio) | - | - |
| /au/ | qió | guió | xó | jó | chó | gió | - | (fió) | (bió) | - | mió | (rió) | quó | guó |
| /uu/ | (qiú) | (guiú) | (xú) | jú | (chú) | giú | nhú | - | - | - | - | (riú) | - | - |
| /ou/ | qiô | (guiô) | xô | jô | chô | giô | nhô | fiô | (biô) | piô | (miô) | (riô) | - | - |
In this chart the phonemic grid is presented in a broad phonetic
notation while the underlined entries are in the form used by the text. Dashes indicate sequences which do not occur in the Christian material; while the forms in parentheses are sequences which do not occur in the text but have been reconstructed on the basis of the overall system from sequences attested to elsewhere. The forms ie, vo, vó, and vô have been placed in brackets to indicate that neither /e/, /o/, /oo/, or /au/ occur in the syllable initial position; and, where in the modern language they do, the text regularly spells that with an initial i or v. The forms in eô at the foot of the chart represent sequences that are phonetically identical to the forms above them, but which are transcribed differently to reflect morphological considerations; e.g., the form agueô from the stem ague. The phonetic values of /au/, /uu/, and /ou/ are [ɔ:], [u:], and [o:].
Two aspects of the usage of q should be noticed. First, as in the Arte, c is changed to q before o and u, when the sequence occurs at a morphological juncture; e.g., ioqu 'well,' and iqó 'I shall go.' (This rule does not extend to a in such contexts; cf., iocatta 'was good.') Second, in contrast to the system used by Rodriguez, Collado does not feel compelled to follow q with u in all contexts. Thus what Rodriguez spells as queredomo Collado spells as qeredomo. Finally, the text records one usage of the letter h in the exclamation ha.