The Letters /Bb/ and /Gg/

Originally published: June 7, 2012 Thursday
Updated: January 9, 2015

Assalamu Alaykum. This is the 2nd lesson on “Tausūg 101: Learning Bahasa Sūg” by Anak Iluh. For more lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons.

Among the 17 commonly used consonants we have in Bahasa Sūg, two letters are notable of having a “special ruling” on articulating their sounds. These are the letters /Bb/ and /Gg/. Both letters can be pronounced with (1) their regular distinct sounds and (2) their special “spirant” sounds. The following rules must be learnt by anyone who wants to learn to speak Bahasa Sūg fluently.

We first published this article in July 2012 and we have found out that this lesson actually agree with the guideline by Dr. Bangahan’s “Bahasa Sūg Phonetics and Orthography” which again, we will follow for this lesson.

The rules are simple: look for the letters /Bb/ and /Gg/ and find out what precede them in a word or a sentence. 

The Distinct /Bb/ and /Gg/

Rule #1: When the letters Bā’ and Gā’ are placed in the BEGINNING or in the END of a word, they will be pronounced with their regular ‘solid’ or distinct /Bb/ and /Gg/ sounds. This is known as “Bā’ mahantap” for /Bb/ and “Gā’ mahantap” for /Gg/. Examples of these words are:

Bā’ mahantap	Gā’ mahantap
basi’ (iron/metal)	gadja (elephant)
badju’ (cloth/shirt)	gallang (bracelet)
saub (cover/lid)	niyug (coconut tree)
ukab (open)	hulug (fall)

Rule #2: The same rule applies when these letters are placed in the MIDDLE of a word and then follows or is followed by another consonant or a glottal stop (‘). We retain the distinct /Bb/ and /Gg/ sounds such as in:           

Bā’ mahantap	Gā’ mahantap
dagbus (face)	siyagnat (hooked)
sambut (catch)	si’gub (burp)
sa’bu (already)	bugtu’ (broken, for strings)

The Aspirant /Bb/ and /Gg/

Rule #3: The special rule (the aspirant sound), applies when the two letters are in BETWEEN TWO VOWEL sounds. When this happens, the two letters will take their “spirant” form or sound; meaning they will have a bit of “softer” sound and should not have a “stopping”, bursting distinct sound. 

The letter /Bb/ will be pronounced with a slight opening of the lips letting air to smoothly and freely pass during the pronunciation. This is called the “Bā’ mahangin”. It would have the sound /v/ as in LEVITATE, but not /V/ in VIOLET. But it should also be noted that the letter /Vv/ should never be used to replace the aspirant /Bb/ sound. Listening to the recordings I have prepared would make this clearer.

The letter /Gg/ would then sound like the Huruf Ghain /Gh/ in Arabic and not with the distinct /Gg/ sound. This is called the “Gā’ mahangin” sound.

Bā’ mahangin	Gā’ mahangin
(vowel)+/b/+(vowel)	(vowel)+/g/+(vowel)
Labay (Pass by, v.)	Bagay (Friend)
Lubid (Rope)	Tagad (Wait, v.)
Tabang (Help, v.)	Higad (Side)
Habay-Habay (Amulet)	Tagaynup (Dream)
Sabun (Soap)	Agap (Parrot)

(Please download the audio copy of these examples or watch the video I prepared. See the links at the end of this post.)

Rule #4: Now what about if we attach affixes (prefixes, suffixes) to these words? The following rules should be followed. Notice that they are exactly the same as those in single words.

4a) When adding a prefix ending with a vowel to a word beginning with /Bb/ or /Gg/, the letters /Bb/ and /Gg/ will take the aspirant forms. Attaching a suffix beginning with a vowel sound will also have the same effect.

Sinūg word	+ prefix / suffix	new word
biskay (fastness)	ma+	mabiskay (fast, adj.)
gituk (tickle)	ma+	magituk (tickling)
ukab (open)	+an	ukaban (to open)
hulug (fall)	+un	hulugun (to drop)

On the new word the letters /Bb/ and /Gg/ are now in between tow vowel sounds; and following the third rule, they will take the aspirant forms.

4b) When words beginning with letters /Bb/ and /Gg/ are attached with prefixes with another consonant, the distinct sounds Bā’ mahantap and Gā’ mahantap are retained. There are no suffixes attached to words ending with /Bb/ and /Gg/.

Sinūg word	+ prefix / suffix	new word
bugsay (oar)	mag+	magbugsay (fast, adj.)
guling (fry)	nag+	nag-guling (fried something)

 Rule #5: The last one is about finding these words in a sentence with other words. We will follow the same rules with a slight difference:

5a) In a sentence, when a word beginning with /Bb/ or /Gg/ is preceded by another word ending with a consonant sound or a glottal stop (‘), the distinct Bā’ mahantap or Gā’ mahantap will be retained.

Sentence with words beginning in Bā’ mahantap or Gā’ mahantap	English
Masawa in bulan.	The moon is bright.
Kiyta’ ku in gadja.	I saw the elephant.

5b) In a sentence, when these words on the other hand, are preceded by another word ending with a vowel sound, they will take the aspirant Bā’ mahangin or Gā’ mahangin.

Sentence with words beginning in Bā’ mahangin or Gā’ mahangin	English
Didtu kami limingkud ha bangka’.	We sat there at the boat.
Simakat kami ha gadja.	We rode an elephant.

5c) In a sentence, when a word ends with letters /Bb/ or /Gg/, they will always take the distinct Bā’ mahantap or Gā’ mahantap regardless of the kind of letters the next word begins with.

Sentence with words ending in Bā’ mahantap or Gā’ mahantap	English
Naukab in lawang.	The door was opened.
Nahulug in sāmin.	The mirror fell.
Yari in saub garapun.	Here is the container lid.
Sulug kaw badju’.	Wear some clothes.

Comparing with Tagalog

                The special sounds of /Bb/ and /Gg/ sounds are found to be unique in Bahasa Sūg. There is indeed a great difference in pronouncing these sounds in Bahasa Sūg compared to that in Tagalog, where these sounds are more distinctly pronounced regardless of their positions. Comparisons are seen in the following examples:

Tagalog (The sounds /B/ and /G/ are more pronounced)	Bahasa Sūg (The sounds are spirantized; softened)
Bagay (Things)	Bagay (Friends)
Agap (To hasten, v.)	Agap (Parrot)
Libutan (to encircle)	Libutan (to encircle)
Mahaba (long)	Mahaba’ (long)

                                               

                A little confused now? Hehe. It is really hard to understand this if we will stick with the written examples only. We have to listen to their actual pronunciations to better understand them. And so, to easily understand this special ruling, please listen to the audio file I have prepared for this lesson. You can download them in this link: DOWNLOADS- I was finally able to make a video as well. Check it out here:

==video==

In summary, we learned:

1. There are two ways to pronounce the letters /Bb/ and /Gg/: the distinct mahantap type and the aspirant mahangin type;

2. In root-words or words with affixes, whenever the /Bb/ and /Gg/ sounds are PRECEDED or are FOLLOWED by another CONSONANT SOUND or a GLOTTAL STOP (‘), they will be pronounced with their distinct Bā’ mahantap or Gā’ mahantap sounds;

3. In root-words or words with affixes, whenever the /Bb/ and /Gg/ sounds are placed IN BETWEEN TWO VOWEL SOUNDS, they will be pronounced with their aspirant, soft Bā’ mahangin or Gā’ mahangin sounds;

4. When found in sentences, words BEGINNING with /Bb/ or /Gg/ and PRECEDED by words ending in VOWELS, the aspirant /Bb/ or /Gg/ mahangin will be used; and lastly

5. When found in sentences, words BEGINNING with /Bb/ or /Gg/ and PRECEDED by words ending in consonants or a glottal stop, the distinct /Bb/ or /Gg/ mahantap will be retained. The same thing happens with words ENDING with /Bb/ or /Gg/ regardless of the beginning of the next word.

Most non-Tausūg and non-Arabic speakers would have a hard time learning these rules. Yet nevertheless, it would only take a little patience and a lot of practice to master their correct sounds. It’s really fun if you will only put your heart in it, right?

This ends our second lesson.

I hope we have achieved something today. Our next topic will be on the other special letters: “The Transforming Letters /Dd/, /Rr/, etc.”, which will be posted hopefully next Thursday. We have at least one week to practice what we have learned today, the special sounds of /B/ and /G/. You can always ask questions in our page Tausug101 or email me at anakiluhmd@gmail.com.

For Download link: (feel free to share it with others)

Letters Bb and Gg

The file includes:

·         Tausūg word samples for regular /B/ and /G/--Audio file

·         Tausūg word samples for special /B/ and /G/--Audio file

·         Comparisons between Tagalog and Tausūg samples—Audio file

·         New Tausūg words for Lesson 2 and Proper way of writing the special letters /B/ and /G/--pdf file

(Audio files are in MP3 format, so you can always listen to them in your MP3s, ipods or iphones :-)

Salama Kasilasa!

Anak Iluh

Translations 8

M.A.C: 

Good day! What was the meaning of AMUNA & KAYAN in tausug? Tnkyouu

Anakiluh:

Good day!

Both of them can be translated in different ways depending on how they are used.

"Amuna" is used to determine the subject, it can be translated as "That's it" as in "Amuna sa ini in liyawag ko." to mean "THIS IS what I am looking for". or it can be used as "Amuna in iyan ku", to mean "I told you so".


"Kayan" on the other is not a aTausug term. or maybe a different term, say of two words: "ka" and "yan". "Ka" is the equivalent of the article "ba" in tagalog as in "Nakita mo ba?" (in Tausug: "Kiyta' mu ka?") "Yan" can be used as "That or This", as in "Yan in kitab ku". "That/This is my book".

If we will combine the three terms ( I presumed they were used in one sentence "Amuna ka yan" can be translated as "IS THAT IT?"

its kinda weird how they turned out to mean that way :)

Sorry cant check my references, been busy. Just message me up if you still need more translations

Thanks! 

===========

Jeron P.: 

Hi I have a report tom about tausug words. I had a hard time translating some wors. Please, please translate these 

Paaralan

Bulaklak

Dumi

Malaki

mayaman

Tubig

Tanong

Bahay 

Pintuan

If you can send them today, please. Thanks. 

Anakiluh:

Hello :)

Good thing I signed in today. Here are you're Translations:

Bahasa Sug are italized

Paaralan = Iskul (from "school")

Bulaklak = Sumping

Dumi = Lummi'

Malaki = Malaggu'

Mayaman = Dayahan

Tubig = Tubig

Tanong = Pangasubu

Bahay = Bay

Pintuan = Lawang

You can also download this "100 Tausug words" at http://www.mediafire.com/download/5eh70cmgk8u1nnv/Tausug+Vocabulary+JUNE+2012+%28Alpha%29.pdf

Enjoy the rest of the day!

-AIMD

JP: Hi. Please translate these two tagalog words. Tanhks very very much. You are a very big help to my report in Fil40. :)

* patay

* Kapatid

Anakiluh:

Patay is also Patay in Bahasa Sug. But to give you more examples on how they differ in Filipino:

When using Patay in past tense, you can use 2 words: Piyatay (killed, with emphasis on actor as in "Piyatay sin kuting in ambaw": The cat killed the mouse) or Miyatay ("was killed/died", with emphasis on subject of verb, as in "Miyatay in kuting"; The cat died)

Kapatid is Taymanghud.

================================

Note: This is part of the series "Translations from my inbox". I am sharing some selected emails and questions/translations-to-be-done sent by our readers :) Their identities were hidden for, you know, privacy thing. And oh, THIS IS NOT AN ABSOLUTE ANSWER TO THEIR QUESTIONS! I am no expert in this field so please, if you happen to notice any errors in these posts pls do notify me that I may correct them.

I would gladly hear your concerns :D naks

Thank you for visiting and supporting this humble blog :)

Hope you will continue learning Bahasa Sug the fun way!

Salam Kasilasa!

-Anak iluh

Sipat: Common Adjectives

           Bismillah. This is Lesson number 10 and the last lesson for Part II: Words and Phrases for “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For complete lists of lessons (and to check where we are now), please go to: Lists of Lessons.

           Before we begin, let me first apologize to all of our readers for the delay of lessons for the past few weeks. Blame my Final Exams who had literally put me (and all of my classmates as well) in full battle-gear. Of course, I have to prepare for them in able to survive and make it for the next sem. Alhamdulillah, everything went well naman, and now we’re back to our tracks (yeay! *clap clap*). 

           For today’s lesson, we are going to talk about the most-sensible, most-intriguing, most-beautiful, most-awaited, and most-adjectively-described part of the sentence: the Commonly used Tausug Sipat (Adjectives).

           Tausug Sipat (from the Arabic “sifat”) are used to describe a particular object. It is basically used to give us more idea on how the object looks like; how big or small; how tall or short; how far or near; on how it smells, what color it has, etc., etc. I believe we already got the idea about a sipat, so we should move on to our next question: “How do we identify a sipat?” Here’s a short (a very short, indeed) guideline we made in identifying sipats.

Identifying Sipat.

1. Know what the sipat means.

           Of course, it goes without further explanations that the best way to identify a sipat is to know what it means; or what is its translation to English or Tagalog. At the end of this post, we have provided a download link on “Manga Kasipat-sipatan (Common Tausug Adjectives)”. Please be sure to download and print a copy later =)

      2. Know the origin of the sipat.

           Most sipats have a common similarity. They have a common denominator that distinguishes them from the other parts of the speech: Most sipat (not all) starts with the prefix “Ma-” and then followed by a noun it represents. This is also observed in Tagalog, but not in English. Let us study the examples below:

  

	Tausug	Tagalog	English
Example 1
Noun	Lingkat	Ganda	Beauty
Adjective	Malingkat	Maganda	Beautiful
Example 2
Noun	Lanab	Lása	Taste
Adjective	Malanab	Malása	Tasteful

           It can be observed that adding the prefix “Ma-” to a noun in Tausug and Tagalog languages is just like adding the suffix “-ful” to a noun in English language to turn it into an adjective. That is just how easy it is!

The Noun Markers “in”, “hi” and “hinda”

Bismillah. This is the 9th lesson on “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons.

In constructing simple sentences in Bahasa Sug (which we will be discussing soon, in sha Allah), we need to know how NOUNS in a sentence are identified. There are, in fact, a number of noun markers that exists in Bahasa Sug. These are articles that let us know whether the one being identified as a subject or a direct object in a conversation is indeed a noun. In this lesson, we will introduce the first three Noun Markers: In, Hi and Hinda (as the name suggests, any words following these 3 markers are always considered to be “nouns”).

The Article “In”

The Tausug article “In” is the equivalent of the English articles “The” and “a/an”. It is almost always used before the “object” it is identifying (the noun). Article “In” is usually followed by improper nouns—nouns that are not absolutely identified or named—and can be used both for subjects and objects of the verb. Let’s see the sentence construction below:

As indicator of subject:

Báy	House
In báy	The House
In báy malingkat.	The House is beautiful.

                

As indicator of direct object:

In báy	The house
Kiyta’ ku in báy.	I saw the house.

The Tausug article “In” can also be used as the verb-to-be “is” in a sentence, such as:

Mastal	Teacher
In mastal	The teacher
Siya in mastal.	He is the teacher.

And even as indicator of the “doer” of the verb:

Nagbayta’	Told; (p.t. of bayta’, “tell”)
…in nagbayta’ káku’…	…the one who told me...
Hi Ahmad in nagbayta’ káku’.	Ahmad is the one who told me.
(An exception: in this example, the article “In” follows a verb instead of a noun)

It will be observed, that the role of the article “In” is greatly affected by the kind of VERBS that are being used in a sentence. We will be discussing this in our upcoming Lessons in Tausug Verbs (Lesson 12 onwards) in sha Allah.

Articles “Hi” and “Hinda”

Another pair of Tausug articles important to be learned is the two Personal Noun Markers: “Hi” and its plural form, “Hinda”. They have almost the same function as the article “In”—identifying nouns either as subjects, objects or doers of the verb. But these two articles are used only with Proper names, particularly names of people (including the ‘people-callings’ like mother, father, uncle, etc.).

Numbers 100 to 1000 and beyond!

              Bismillah. This is the 3rd Bonus lesson for “Tausug 101: Learning Bahasa Sug” by Anak Iluh. For lists of lessons, please go to: Lists of Lessons.

[Update! Don't forget to watch the video at the end of this post! There is also a playable audio and a downloadable mp3 file for this! Salam kasilasa! -T101 team]

             Last time we have introduced the Tausug Numbers and the rules in naming numbers from 1-99. Now, we will go higher up the ladder and talk about naming numbers from 100 to 1000 and beyond! Sounds numerous to learn…

            Let us start by introducing the names of the Hundreds and the Thousands.

THE HUNDREDS (Gatusan)

One Hundred (100)	Hanggatus
Two Hundred (200)	Duwanggatus
Three Hundred (300)	Tuwnggatus
Four Hundred (400)	Upat ngagatus
Five Hundred (500)	Limanggatus
Six Hundred (600)	Unum ngagatus
Seven Hundred (700)	Pitunggatus
Eight Hundred (800)	Walunggatus
Nine Hundred (900)	Siyam ngagatus

(Note that Hundreds in Tausug always end with –nggatus or –ngagatus. Listen to the audio files for the proper pronunciations. Keep practicing on these terms.)

THE THOUSANDS (Ibuhan)

One Thousand (1000)	Ha’ngibu or Hangibu
Two Thousand (2000)	Duwa ngaibu
Three Thousand (3000)	Tuw ngaibu
Four Thousand (4000)	Upat ngaibu
Five Thousand (5000)	Lima ngaibu
Six Thousand (6000)	Unum ngaibu
Seven Thousand (7000)	Pitu ngaibu
Eight Thousand (8000)	Walu ngaibu
Nine Thousand (9000)	Siyam ngaibu

(Note that Thousands in Tausug always end with –ngaibu. Listen to the audio files for the proper pronunciations. Keep practicing on these terms.)

Okay…The Tausug Numbers from 100 to 1000 above are really exhausting to pronounce at first try. Just like the other lessons we had, it all takes practice to master them all. Just remember that –gatus is for “Hundreds” and –ibu or –ngaibu is for “Thousands”. The rules in counting them is either EASIER or HARDER, depending on how we look at it.

Counting numbers 100-1000