Consonants and Consonant Combinations
Spelling | Value in Papiamento (Aruba) (IPA) |
Examples | Value in Papiamentu (Curaçao, Bonaire) (IPA) |
Examples | Exceptions | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
b | /b/ | bala, caba | /b/ | bibu, fabor | ||
ca | before ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩ | /s/ | merece, haci | /s/ | Cecilia | In Papiamento, the ⟨c⟩ has a /ʃ/ sound in words ending in -cion. |
elsewhere | /k/ | caminda, cla | /k/ | Caracas | ||
chb | /tʃ/ | chikito | /tʃ/ | chapi | ||
d | /d/ | documento, dal | /d/ | duru, dede | In Papiamento, the ⟨d⟩ has a /t/ sound when final in words ending in -dad, -tad, -tud. In Papiamentu, they are written as -dat, -tat and -tut. | |
djb | /dʒ/ | djaca | /dʒ/ | djente | ||
f | /f/ | fama | /f/ | fòrki | ||
g | before ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩, final | /x/ | gesto, mag | /x/ | margen, brùg | |
before unstressed ⟨e⟩, elsewhere | /ɡ/ | garganta, sanger | /ɡ/ | gosa, mangel | ||
h | /h/ | hasta, habilidad | /h/ | hari, heru | ||
ja | /j/ /x/ |
jong, jas Juan |
/j/ /x/ |
Jan Thiel Julia |
Some places still maintain their old spelling, e.g. Salinja. Here the ⟨nj⟩ is pronouned /ɲ/. | |
k | /k/ | kishiki, kere | /k/ | kenta, sekreto | ||
l | /l/ | lista, laba | /l/ | lesa, kla | ||
m | /m/ | mucha, premio | /m/ | man, lampi | ||
n | before ⟨co⟩, ⟨cu⟩, ⟨g⟩, ⟨k⟩, final except after stressed vowel |
/ŋ/ | mango, pan | /ŋ/ | anker, bon | In Papiamento, ⟨c⟩ followed by ⟨o⟩ or ⟨u⟩ would be pronounced as a /k/ (see below), thus having the same effect on the ⟨n⟩ as ⟨k⟩ would. |
elsewhere | /n/ | natural, tene, algun | /n/ | nechi, hende, tempran | ||
ñ | /ɲ/ | aña, soño | /ɲ/ | baña, ñapa | ||
p | /p/ | pipa, adopta | /p/ | palu, sapu | ||
qa | /k/ | quesillo | /k/ | Quebec | ||
r | /r/ | tera, rosa | /r/ | barba, poder | ||
s | /s/ | saya, sucu | /s/ | krus, pasa | In Papiamento, the ⟨s⟩ has a /ʃ/ sound in words ending in -sion. In Papiamentu, it is written as -shon. | |
sc | /s/ | adolescente, piscina | ||||
shb | /ʃ/ | shimis | /ʃ/ | shete | ||
t | /t/ | tin, tata | /t/ | trapi, ritmo | ||
v | /b/ /v/ |
viuda divorcio |
/v/ | verbo, vitamina | ||
w | /w/ | wega | /w/ | wowo | ||
xa | /kʃ/ | conexion, reflexionc | In any other loan word, the ⟨x⟩ maintains its pronunciation as it is in its language of origin. | |||
y | /j/ | yama, haya | /j/ | yuda, kayente | ||
z | /z/ | zona | /z/ | zeta | In Papiamento, the ⟨z⟩ has a /s/ sound in words ending in -eza, -anza or with a ⟨z⟩. In Papiamentu, they are written as -esa and -ansa. | |
zjb | /ʒ/ | zjeito | /ʒ/ | zjar |
- ^a The letter ⟨c⟩ appears almost only in proper names in Papiamentu. The letters ⟨j⟩, ⟨q⟩ and ⟨x⟩ are exclusively used in loan words and names in both dialects.
- ^b ⟨ch⟩, ⟨dj⟩, ⟨sh⟩ and ⟨zj⟩ are the four official digraphs of Papiamento/u.
- ^c Words ending in -xion are the only words in Papiamento with the letter ⟨x⟩.
Read more about this topic: Papiamento Orthography, Spelling-to-sound Correspondences
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