The nature of the Bisayan tongue argues for such a simplicity. Dr. T.H. Pardo de Tavera, referring to the ancient Filipino alphabet, says: “The alphabet was composed of seventeen letters, three of which were vowels. A consonant standing alone was always pronounced with an a sound following; by the use of a dot or dash near and above the consonant stem, in much the same fashion as is used in certain systems of shorthand, instead of the sound of the a, the sound of the vowels e or i was produced: when the dot or dash was placed below the consonant stem the vowel sound given was equivalent to o or u.” (See Census of the Philippine Islands: 1903 Volume One, page 327). [↑]
THE ACCENTS.
The orthographical accent is an important sign in Bisayan, in order to give to the words their proper pronunciation, and, consequently, their proper meaning.
Of the emission of the voice in pronouncing the Bisayan vowels, there are two ways: one is the ordinary way, like that of the English vowels, as in
| baga | (red-hot coal or wood), |
| dinhi | (here), |
| olo | (head), |
and the other is by a guttural suspended emission of the voice, like
| the last a in bagà | (lungs), |
| the last i in dirì | (not or no), and |
| the last o in torò | (drop). |
This guttural pronunciation is only used in the endings of words.
From the various combinations of these ways of pronouncing the vowels and the force with which they are pronounced, it follows that a vowel, no matter which one it is, has four different sounds: