Orthography

1. Introduction

Asmah Haji Omar (1972) of the University of Malaya in her article "Language and the Uniformity of Spelling" notes that English, although highly criticized because of its non-phonemic writing system, is actually very consistent in its orthography since the vast majority of English words have only one spelling, no matter how atrocious that spelling may be. By contrast, Malay, which has several highly phonemic writing systems (Omar 1972), lacks standardization in the representation of its words.1 One word may have several spellings depending on the bias of the writer toward one or another of the various systems of writing.

In regard to spelling systems, Tausug is very much like Malay2 since for the most part there is a one-to-one relationship between phonemes (distinctive sounds) and the graphic symbols, and like Malay there is widespread lack of uniformity as to how individual words should be spelled.

The purpose of these paragraphs is (in view of the alternative choices available in writing Tausug) to give an account of the practical orthography used in this dictionary. It is hoped that this account will give insights into some of the problems involved in writing Tausug and contribute also to the development of a standardized system of writing. It is assumed that any orthography (including the one presented here) will undergo refinement. Deletions, additions, and adaptations will be made till a stable system of writing emerges.

2. Inventory of Symbols

Tausug does not have a highly complicated sound system as do some languages of the world. It has only three vowel phonemes, /a/, /i/, and /u/ (a fact which undoubtedly facilitated the adoption by the early people of Sulu of Arabic, or Jawi, script, or "sulat Sūg," as the Tausug call it) and 19 consonant phonemes distributed in basic syllable patterns which, except in instances involving semivowels, permit consonant clusters only at syllable boundaries.  The 19 segmental consonants are displayed in the phoneme chart below:

Chart 1 Consonantal Phonemes of Tausug

Bilabial Alveolar Alveo-palatal Velar Glottal
Stops

voiceless

voiced

 

p

b

 

t

d

 

k

g

 

ʔ

 

Fricative h
Nasals m n ñ ŋ
Affricates

voiceless

voiced

 

t͡ɕ

d͡ʑ

Sibilant  s
Lateral  l
Vibrant  r
Semivowels  w  y

In the practical orthography used in this dictionary, the above phonemes are written just as they appear in the chart except for ʔ, ŋ, ñ, t͡ɕ and d͡ʑ. The glottal stop is symbolized in intervocalic position by the absence of any other symbol, as in liug "neck," pais "skin," and laung "quotative." Elsewhere it is indicated by an apostrophe, as in kura' "horse," ta'ping "jaw," and mag'usiba' "to despoil." The alveopalatal nasal is written ny, as in dunya "world," and the velar nasal is written ng, as in patung "bamboo." The voiceless alveolar palatal affricate is written ch, as in bichara "to speak," and the voiced alveopalatal affricate is written j, as in janap "a kind of working bolo."

3. The Symbolization of Length

There is also a phoneme of length with both vowels and consonants.  With vowels, it is symbolized by a macron written above the vowel, as in īpun "slave," mūs "borrow," and kakās "rake." In the case of consonants, it is symbolized by writing an identical consonant, as in gallang "bracelet," laggu' "bigness, size," sawwal "split-leg pajama type trousers," and Jayyari "man's name."

4. The Symbolization of the Phoneme u

Some writers of Tausug, influenced by their knowledge of other Philippine languages, symbolize the vowel u, particularly in word-final position, with the letter o. However, in Tausug the difference between the vowels and u is not distinctive. There are no two Tausug words whose difference in meaning depends on the difference between o and u. A Tausug speaker may say balu or balo; there is no difference in meaning. Both words mean the same thing—a widow.  Therefore we conclude (within limits) that most Tausug speakers hear the sounds o and u as similar, if not the same.  Consequently there is no need to use both o and u when writing Tausug (even though other Philippine languages may have a sound difference which makes semantic difference between words involving o and u.)  It is essential in Tausug, in order to avoid confusion, that only one symbol be used for these two sounds.  It is preferable to choos u since it is the sound which occurs the more frequently of the two.

5. The Symbolization of Glottal Stop

5.1 The apostrophe

The basic principle which guides the orthographer in his work is that each distinctive sound (phoneme) must have one and only one distinctive symbolization. (There must be a one-to-one phoneme-grapheme relationship.) This means that each distinctive sound should be written the same way in each occurrence unless other considerations dictate to the contrary.  Ideally, then, in Tausug it would be best to write even the glottal stop with only one symbol wherever it occurs (a hyphen or grave accent or apostrophe or any symbol—so long as it is consistently used).  However the orthographer is forced, by other factors outside his control, to alter this basic principel somewhat. Current usage and related language usage are two such factors.  For Tausug this means, for example, that no glottal stop will be written intervocalically (following Tagalog precedent and accepted practice in schools).  The word "yes" will be simple huun and not hùun, or hu-un or hu'un. The word "skin" will be pais and not pàis or pa-is or pa'is. Note the implications of this rule. It means that to be consistent (the major objective of all orthography) no word may be written containing two contiguous vowels except words which contain a glottal stop between the (seemingly) contiguous vowels.  Therefore words like suysuy "rumor," and bāy "house" may not be written suisui and bāi since, following the rule given above, such a symbolization would posit a glottal stop between the contiguous vowels.

Some writers of Tausug regularly use h to symbolize word-final glottal stop. Other writers use the grave accent but the position taken in this dictionary is that all occurrences of glottal stop which are not intervocalic should be symbolized by an apostrophe.

5.2 Reasons for using the apostrophe

Practical reasons for using the apostrophe as a symbol are:

a. It is available on all typewriters and printing machines (in contrast to the grave accent).3

b. It shows that the glottal stop comes after or before the vowel, in contrast to the grave accent, which makes it seem as though the glottal stop is simultaneous with the vowel. Compare batà with bata' "child," taỳ with tay' "excrement," and sumbaỳ with sumbay' "slaughter."

c. Use of the apostrophe will avoid giving the symbol h a double value. Compare bahu' with bahuh "stench."

d. It avoids confusion from two values being assigned to the hyphen. To illustrate, compare nag-anad "to learn" and ta-ping "jaw" with anak-apu' "descendants" (a compound word) and adlaw-adlaw "daily" (a reduplicated word). In the first two words the hyphen functions as a glottal stop, but in the last two it merely shows where compound or reduplicated words are joined. Confusion will be avoided if the above four words are written as follows: nag'anadta'pingi, anak-apu', and adlaw-adlaw.

e. Use of the apostrophe limits the number of symbols for glottal stop to two instead of three.

6. The Symbolization of High Vocoids

All six possible vocoid combinations in Tausug present problems in orthography because they involve at least one high vocoid.

6.1 The ai combination.

Wherever this vocoid sequence occurs it should be spelled ay as in:

bāy

“house”

bayta' to tell”

ayaw

don’t”

aymuka

facial appearance”

sayng

banana”

kayt

safety pin”

gulamay

digit”

sumbay'

slaughter”

The last words of the above list might have been spelled saying, kayit, and sumbayi'. However, since such spelling would give rise to on-glides and extra syllables which do not occur even in artificially slowed speech, it is preferable for accuracy and simplicity to write only the y as in the first examples. A concise statement is thus possible: wherever ai occurs (without a medial glottal stop), it will always be spelled ay (not ayi).

6.2. The au combination

Wherever the vocoid sequence occurs it should be spelled aw as in:

sāw

anchor”

sawm

under”

jawm

needle”

taw'

to hold in store”

bawang

garlic”

asawa

wife”

Some of the above words might have been written as sawum, tawu', jawum, etc. However since spellings would give rise to on-glides and extra syllables which do not occur even in artificially slowed speech it is preferable to write only the w. A short precise statement is thus possible: wherever au occurs (without a medial glottal stop), it will always be spelled aw (not awu).

6.3 The ia and ua combinations

Word-initially, these combinations should be spelled ya and wa respectively:

yan

there” (near speaker)

yari

here”

yaun

there” (farther than yan)

way

none”

wajib

necessary”

wadjit

type of rice confection”

In other positions, the ia and ua combinations should be spelled iya and uwa respectively in conformity with Tagalog and in order to avoid violating the rule previously adopted that when two vowels are written next to one another a glottal stop is to be pronounced between them:

siya

he, she, it”

biya'

like

diyā

carried”

duwa

two”

buwa

rock (a cradle)”

buwahan

lanzones”

A helpful rule to remember as to how to write the combinations ai, au, ia, or ua is that, when either i or u occurs next to a, it should always be written as a semivowel y or w.

6.4 The ui combination

This sequence presents more problems than the others because both vocoids are high ones and so both could be treated as consonants. In most occurrences it seems best to treat the sequence as a vowel-consonant sequence uy (similar to ay and aw) in order to concord best with non-suspect CVC patterns in the language and cause the least syllable distortion. Note the following:

babuy

pig”

suysuy

rumor”

luuy

pity”

dūy

drive away”

tuyu'

diligent”

guyud

abduct”

dūyan

durian”

One might be tempted to spell the above words uwi instead of uy. Note, however, what would happen with the word dūy, for instance, if it were spelled dūwi. When one adds the imperative suffix -a, the word becomes a three-syllable word (dūwiya "drive it away") which is not how the imperative sounds.  Even an abnormal slowing of speech does not give rise to three syllables. The final argument against spelling such words like dūy as dūwi is the fact that in actual speech whenever the verb dūy occurs with an objective or referential suffix, the suffix always takes the form (-un, -an, -a, or -i) which normally follows stems ending in consonants, not the form (-hun, -han, -ha, or -hi) which normally follows stems ending in vowels.

When the u of the ui combination occurs next to the vowel, the combination should be written as wi, not uy. Note that the in the following words occurs in the initial consonant slot of CV and CVC syllable patterns.

kawin

marry”

gawi

purpose”

lawig

to anchor”

ilawi

light it for me”

6.5 The iu combination

When the i of the iu combination occurs adjacent to the vowel a, the iu will be written yu.

kayug

thin”

tayum

type of sea urchin”

bayu

pound with pestle

sayu

consciousness”

In other positions the iu should be written iyu. Note that the y occurs in the initial consonant slot of CV and CVC syllable patterns.

siyu

who”

liyu

beyond”

siyum

kiss”

siyumu

become bored, disinterested”

7. The Symbolization of Compound and Reduplicated Words

All compound words and all reduplicated words will be spelled with a hyphen between the isolatable parts of the word:

kasi-lasa

love”

daub-daya'

“end over end”

hulas-sangsa'

blood and tears”

usug-usug

little boy”

tahun-tahun

yearly”

ambak-ambak

accordion”

1 In Malaysia today there are at least four spelling systems: the Ejaan Sekolah, Ejaan Wilkinson, Ejaan Kongres, and Ejaan Bersama Malaysia-Indonesia. This profusion of writing systems (with its attendant confusion) prompts Omar to say that the immediate need of the Malay language is one standardized spelling system which will give confidence to teachers, administrators, office workers and people in all walks of life who use written Malay.

2 It should be noted here that the comparison made between Tausug and Malay is only a rather general comparison since the two languages differ greatly in development, number of speakers, and national prestige.

3 In materials produced by the Bureau of Public Schools, word-final glottal stop is not symbolized. In private talks at the Division Office in Jolo, however, the editor was told that this was not due to any reluctance on the part of those producing the materials, but rather to a lack of diacritic marks at the printers.