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
Famous quotes containing the word combinations:
“You should try to understand every thing you see and hear; to act and judge for yourselves; to remember you each have a soul of your own to account for; M a mind of your own to improve. When you once get these ideas fixed, and learn to act upon them, no man or set of men, no laws, customs, or combinations of them can seriously oppress you.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815–1884)