The Tagakaulo Alphabet

 

There are 21 letters in Tagakaulo; 6 vowels and 15 consonants.

 

a b d e é g i k l m n ng o p s t u w y - '

 

Tagakaulo vowels: a, e, é, i, o, u

Tagakaulo consonants: b, d, g, k, l, m, n, ng, p, s, t, w, y, -, '

 

The Tagakaulo-to-English part of the dictionary is arranged alphabetically according to the above order.

There is no /h/ in Tagakaulo except in a very few words such as: tahaw ‘Philippine Koel’ bird, and talabahu ‘work’.

There are also two symbols used for the glottal stop: one for use in the middle of a word (-), and one used at the end of a word (').

 

Examples of word medial glottal stop in Tagakaulo:

be-en          “rice basket”

pig-usip       “asked a question”

ya-i             “don’t”

 

Examples of glottal stop marked at the end of a word in Tagakaulo:

olo'              “only”

taku'            “domestic pig”

beke'           “not true”

 

In Tagakaulo, pronunciation of the vowel “ é ” corresponds to the vowel sounds in the English words ‘say’ or ‘let’. Examples:

témtém       “taste something”

magté'        “sew; embroider”

kadég         “all”

 

In Cebuano, there is no contrast between  “u” and “o” vowel sounds. However, in Tagakaulo (as well as in Tagalog, and English), they are two distinct sounds.

Examples of contrasts between “u” and “o” in Tagakaulo:

log           “tread something through a small hole”

lug           “hardship”

olo'          “only”

ulu           “head”

muli         “will be first”

moli         “a later time”

 

Diacritic marks used in Tagakaulo:

In Tagakaulo, if two vowels are side by side and are not divided by a “ - ”, the pronunciation is long or glided and will be marked by a “ ͡   ”. This is called the Tagakaulo “balangawan” symbol, i.e. rainbow.

 

Examples of “ ͡   ” in Tagakaulo:

 

dala͡en             “will carry something”

ba͡en                “sneeze”

pigginawa͡an     “love someone”

ka͡ubayan         “wife; woman”

magkakilala͡ay   “know someone by recognition”

 

Examples of contrasts:

 

pagka-utaw     “humanness; form of a humankind”

pagka͡utaw      “be born”

kaliman          “want; wish”

kalima͡an         “fifty”

 

Other diacritics used in Tagakaulo is the macron over some vowels. This is used only to produce the correct pronunciation. For example:

 

awun         “something exists there in a certain location”

awūn         “someone has something”

sala'          “sin; debt”

sāla'          “blame; reproach”