Kapampangan/Pronouncing Kapampangan

Part A: Pronouncing Kapampangan words in this book

This first lesson is essential for you to be able to pronounce the words that we have printed in this book. Here we will learn a few basic words, and how to pronounce them.

Consonants

Most consonants are pronounced like in English. But a few have a specific behaviour:

r is rolled and pronounced in the same manner as the Spanish, Italian and Russian pronounce it, but not like in English nor like in French.
dy is pronounced like in English Jack
sy is pronounced like in English shine
ts is pronounced ts, like in English tsar, but sometimes drifts into a pronunciation that sounds more like tch like in English cheer. You will be understood however, if you always pronounce ts.
ng is pronounced like in the English word sing. But beware, this sound can appear at the beginning of a word, not only the middle or the end.
The glottal stop, that we indicate with an apostrophe ' is pronounced in the same way as the t is pronounced in Estuary English in words like bottom (bo'om), Britain (bri'ain} or that (tha'). However a glottal stop that occurs at the end of a word is often omitted when it's in the middle of a sentence.

Vowels

There are 5 vowels:

a similar to English father
i similar to English machine, but shorter like bit when not stressed.
u similar to English loop but shorter like book when not stressed.
e similar to English bed
o somewhere between English forty and English dog

When they are not stressed, i and e are nearly interchangeable: there are many words that can be pronounced and written using either of the two vowels, for example, king can be pronounced and written keng, íni can become íne. Also o and u are frequently interchangeable if unstressed: nukarín can be pronounced and written nokarín, kumustá can be pronounced and written komustá, etc. Although we try to use a consistent spelling in this book, there is currently no consensus on the spelling for unstressed vowels and it may be that this book sometimes contains both possible spellings.

Before the arrival of the Spanish, Kapampangan had three vowel sounds: /a/, /i/, and /u/; This was expanded to five vowels with the introduction of Spanish words.

Stress

Each word with more than one syllable is stressed in a specific way: the stress either falls on the last syllable, or on the penultimate syllable. If it is on the penultimate syllable, it is accompanied by a lengthening of the stressed vowel. We indicate the stress in this book with the following sign above the vowel of the stressed syllable: ’ Please note that the stress is usually not written in texts or websites, however, we indicate it in every word, since this is the only way that you can learn to pronounce each word correctly.

Part B: Application

Here is an example for each of these specific sounds in a simple word. Note the stress location.

Kapampangan word	Translation	Hear it	English-like pronunciation	IPA pronunciation	Comment
reló	wristwatch	Listen	rrEh-loh	[rɛ:'lo]	Remember to roll the r-s as in Spanish
dyip Eng.	jeep	Listen	jip	[dʒip]	Same as English Jack
syémpre	of course	Listen	shEh-m-prreh	['ʃɛ:mprɛ]	Same as English shame
tsa	tea	Listen	ts-ah or tch-ah	[tsa] or [tʃa]	Same as English tsar or drifting to chat
ngan	everyone	Listen	ng-an	[ŋan]	Same as English singing
yátu'	world	Listen	yAh-tu + end of word t in Estuary English	['ja:tuʔ]	Glottal stop: Remember to stop abruptly at the end of the word.
óbra Span.	work, job	Listen	O-brrah	['o:bra]	The o is somewhere between dog and forty
uktúbri Span.	October	Listen	uk-tU-brri	[uk'tu:bri]	The second u is like loop

You can click on the sound file to here a native speaker pronounce the word. You can note that there is no stress indicated for ngan, tsa and dyip. This is because there is only one syllable (vowel) and therefore there is no need to indicate it.

You can now even answer when asked what you would like for a drink:
- syémpre, tsa! Tea, of course!

Part C: Exercises

Given the rules described above, pronounce the following words:

ngéni	now
yélu	ice
syam	nine
réni	these
dyéli	jelly
tsinélas	slippers

Solutions

Part D: Summary

In this lesson you have learned how to pronounce each vowel and consonant of the Kapampangan language. You have a also learned the following words:

ngéni	now	dyip	jeep
yélu	ice	syémpre	of course
syam	nine	tsa	tea
réni	these	ngan	everyone
dyéli	jelly	yátu'	world
tsinélas	slippers	óbra	work
reló	wristwatch	uktúbre	October

Try to remember these words, they will be useful later for constructing sentences.

Part E: IPA sound charts

Consonant chart

When the written convention is different from the IPA, the IPA version is indicated between square brackets.

		Bilabial	Dental / Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stops	Voiceless	p	t		k	' [ʔ]
Stops	Voiced	b	d		g
Affricates	Voiceless			ts [ts] drifts into [tʃ]
Affricates	Voiced			dy [dʒ]
Fricatives			s	sy [ʃ]
Nasals		m	n		ng [ŋ]
Laterals			l
Flaps			r
Semivowels		w		y [j]

Note that all the stops are unaspirated.

Vowels chart

In writing	pronounced if stressed and not final	pronounced unstressed	Description
a	a:	a	open front unrounded
e	ɛ:	ɛ	open mid-front unrounded
i	i:	ɪ	close front unrounded
o	o:	o	close-mid back rounded
u	u:	ʊ	close back unrounded

There are two diphthongs; /oɪ/, and /iʊ/, which we simply write oi and iu.

Continue to Greeting

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