cebuano consonants

 

b, k, d, g, h, l, m, n, ng, p, r, s, t, w, y they are pronounced the same way they are pronounced in English. ng has the same sound as the ng in "bang".

 

 

unaccented cebuano vowels

 

a, e, i, o, u unlike English, there are no long and short vowel sounds. a is always pronounced as the "a" in the English word "append"; if followed by the letter y, the resulting sound is equivalent to a long i in English (for instance, "bay" is pronounced the equivalent of "bi" in the English word "binary"). e should always be pronounced as the "e" in the English word "bed" (but mind you, many Cebuanos don't make a distinction between an "e" sound and an "i" sound, nor between an "o" sound and a "u" sound). i should always be pronounced as the "i" as in the English word "bit". o should always be pronounced as the "o" in the English word "polite". u should always be pronounced as the "oo" in the English word "book".   Demo | a | e | i | o | u | Note: The sound files used in the demo sections of this page require the use of RealPlayer. If your computer does not have RealPlayer installed, you can download the free software from http://www.real.com.

 

accented cebuano vowels

 

à, â, è, ê, ì, î, ò, ô, ù, û there's no easy way to describe their pronunciation in writing, but we'll try to do it in a very unconventional way. let's take à. This accented vowel appears in a word like batà (child). The "a" in the first syllable "ba" is pronounced as described in the section on unaccented Cebuano vowels. But the "à" in the second syllable "tà" is pronounced differently. try to pronounce the word "ta" (using unaccented "a") and prolong the pronunciation. while the sound is still coming out of your mouth, suddenly choke your throat with your strong fingers (taking care that you don't kill yourself). the resulting sound at the point of choking is the sound of "à"! this absurd exercise applies to è, ì, ò, and ù. (if you don't find yourself perspiring after these exercises, you must be an exceptionally strong person.). with practice you can cause the inside of your throat to "choke" these syllables without strangling yourself. For â, ê, î, ô and û, the procedure is the practically the same; the only difference is that vowels bearing this accent are pronounced in a shorter duration.   Demo | à | â | è | ê | ì | î | ò | ô | ù | û | the use of accented vowels in Cebuano words changes the meaning of the word although the spelling looks the same. for example: demo cebuano english [go] baga ember [go] bagà lung [go] bagâ thick