Philippine English is a
rhotic accent mainly due to the influence of
Philippine languages, which are the first language of most of its speakers. Another influence is the rhotic characteristic of
American English, which has been a standard in the archipelago since the language was introduced through American public education. This is contrary to the majority of
Commonwealth English varieties spoken in neighboring countries such as
Malaysia or
Singapore. The only exception to this rule is the word
Marlboro, which is frequently read as
Malboro. Therefore, phonemes are pronounced in all positions. However, some children of
Overseas Filipinos who are educated in Commonwealth countries (such as Australia, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom) may speak in a non-rhotic accent unless taught otherwise. Native and well-educated speakers (also called acrolectal speakers For non-native speakers, Philippine English phonological features are heavily dependent on the speaker's mother tongue, although foreign languages such as
Spanish have also influenced the pronunciation of English words. This is why approximations are very common, along with
hypercorrections and
hyperforeignisms. The most distinguishable feature of Philippine English is a lack of fricative consonants, including , , , , , and often . Another feature is a general absence of the schwa ; it is instead pronounced by its respective equivalent full vowel, although the r-colored variant has become increasingly popular in recent years.
Consonants The following consonant changes apply for many non-native speakers of the dialect: • The rhotic consonant may vary between a trill , a flap and an approximant . The English approximant is pronounced by many speakers in the final letters of the word or before consonants, while the standard dialect prefers to pronounce the approximant in all positions of . • The fricatives and are approximated into the stop consonants and , respectively. •
Th-stopping: The dental fricatives and become either the alveolar stop consonants and or the dental stop consonants and , respectively. This can be also observed from speakers of
Hiberno-English dialects and a number of American English speakers. •
Yod-coalescence: Like most Commonwealth English variants outside Canada and sometimes in Irish English, the , and clusters become , and respectively. This makes the words
dew,
tune and
pharmaceutical become pronounced as , and , respectively. Yod-coalescence also occurs in some other words where other English variants either resist it or do not call for it, e.g.
Calcium and
celsius are respectively and . Because of these, the use of yod-coalescence is another case of approximation for
aspirated consonants which
Philippine languages lack in general in words such as
twelve and
top and the influence of the phonology of the mother tongues of many speaks of it. • Yod-retention is usually practiced selectively, similar to the historical Irish or British and Commonwealth English, and to a lesser extent, some speakers of English in Canada, in certain words such as
new(s) but not
student. For that reason,
maneuver is mainly pronounced also with the yod, in a somewhat hyperforeign manner, whereas all other accents drop it intrinsically. The yod is also retained in
figure(d/s), thus not rhyming with
bigger. However, yod-dropping is often common due to the influence of modern General American. The yod is also dropped in many words with an unstressed U, e.g.
(ir)regular and
municipal(ity). It, as retained in many words, is sometimes coalesced. More at "
Yod-coalescence" above. • The fricative may be
devoiced into in words such as
measure. Alternatively, it can be
affricated into in words such as
beige. • The phoneme is devoiced into an . This also includes intervocalic and the in examples such as
dissolve,
possess and their derivatives,
brassiere,
dessert,
dissolution,
Missouri(an),
possession and
scissors, which are usually pronounced as a in most other accents of English. However,
Aussie is usually pronounced with as in the United States. • Older speakers tend to add an
i or
e sound before the syllable-initial clusters
sl-,
sm-,
sn-,
sp- and
st- due to Spanish influence, so the words
star and
lipstick sounds like
(i/e)star and
lip(i/e)stick respectively. • Like most non-native speakers of English elsewhere, the "
dark l" () is merged into the usual "
light" equivalent. • The compound is pronounced as a
palatal lateral approximant in between vowels (e.g.
gorilla), especially to those who were exposed to Spanish orthography. This is negligible among younger well-educated speakers. • The letter "z" is sometimes pronounced (and sometimes spelled) as "zey" like in
Jamaican English. However, in standard Philippine English, it is pronounced and spelled as the American "zee" .
Vowels Vowels in Philippine English are pronounced according to the letter representing each, so that are generally pronounced as , respectively. • The following are the various approximations of the schwa: • Words that end in
-le that succeeds a consonant (such as
Google and
castle) are generally pronounced with an , except for words that end
-ple,
-fle or
-ble (
apple,
waffle and
humble), which are pronounced with an . • The in words such as
knowledge or
college, it is pronounced as a
diphthong , making it rhyme with
age,
cage,
rage,
page, and
beige. • The rhotic vowels and may be pronounced as an (command
er), (c
ircle) or an (doct
or), usually by non-native speakers outside urban areas or the elderly. • The pronunciations are pronounced as central vowels and . In the standard dialect, the open front vowel may be pronounced as an allophone of . • For the above reason, words subject to the
trap–bath split, e.g.
basket(ball),
bath,
example,
laugh,
master and
sample can be pronounced with but often not for e.g.
answer(able), ''can't
, chance
and France
. Also, the mary–marry–merry
merger is partial; Harry
and hairy
are distinct but sometimes not carry
and Kerry''. • The first in some words such as
patronage,
patriot(ic/ism),
(ex/re)patriate(d/s) and
(ex/re)patriation usually have the sound of either , like in British/non-Canadian Commonwealth or Irish English, or sometimes , rather than in the United States and Canada. Moreover, the in the unstressed
-ative suffix is reduced to either the schwa or , becoming as in Britain and Ireland, for words stressed on the second syllable such as
administrative,
investigative,
qualitative, sometimes
innovative, and usually
legislative.
Administrative is also erroneously stressed on the third syllable. This does not apply to
negative,
alternative or
initiative. as the unstressed
a- prefix, called
alpha privative, is also the schwa or before stems that begin with consonants, e.g.
apolitical,
asymmetric or
asymmetry,
asymptomatic,
atypical, etc. • The phoneme may be merged or replaced by the longer for some speakers. The words
peel and
pill might sound the same. • The or may be enunciated as an (
color or even
tomorrow,
sorry,
sorrow, etc. like in Canada) or an (
not). • The
u sound from the digraph
qu may be dropped before
e and
i in some words such as
tranquilize(r) and
colloquial likely due to Spanish influence. • The in namely
couple and
double may also be enunciated as an or, rarely, as an . • The in namely
culture and
ultimate is sometimes enunciated as an , partly similar to accents in the
United Kingdom (except
Scotland) without the
foot–strut split.
Emphasis • Distinct non-native emphasis or stress is common. For example, the words
ceremony and
Arabic are emphasized on the second syllable (as and respectively) as another result of indirect Spanish influence. Additionally, words ending in -ary such as
beneficiary,
complementary,
elementary,
judiciary and
supplementary are treated as paroxytones or stressed on the /a/, rather than as proparoxytones or the preceding syllable, a hyperforeignism from the Spanish-derived
-aria/
-arya and
-ario/
-aryo.
Pronunciation Many Filipinos often have distinct non-native English pronunciation, and many fall under different
lectal variations (i.e. basilectal, mesolectal, acrolectal). Some
Philippine languages (e.g.
Ibanag,
Itawis,
Surigaonon,
Tausug) feature certain unique phonemes such as , , , and , which are also present in English. However, Filipinos' first languages (such as
Tagalog) have generally different phonological repertoires (if not more simplified compared to English), and this leads to mis- or distinct pronunciations particularly among basilectal and to some extent mesolectal speakers. ==See also==