This appendix details the standard spellings of Ilocano words, as specified in the Tarabay iti Ortograpia ti Pagsasao nga Ilokano (Guide to the Orthography of the Ilocano Language) published by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) in December 2021 (uploaded here), along with its supplement published in September 2019. Its rules are based on practices used by the Bannawag magazine, the most well-known publication in Ilocano. The current orthography is a revised version of the original orthography released in 2012.
Common nonstandard spellings are to be entered as alternative forms of the word with the standard spelling. As much as possible, the spelling rules below should be followed when writing Ilocano example sentences.
Ilocano spelling rules are similar to Tagalog spelling rules with some significant differences. In cases where the orthography is still unclear as to which spelling should be used, the Ilocano-English dictionary of Rubino (2000, 2009) or popular periodicals can be consulted.
Historically, the Ilocano language used the kur-itan script, which was a modified version of the baybayin script, an abugida or alphasyllabary used by the ancient Tagalogs. Originally, the baybayin script did not write ending consonants, until Fr. Francisco Lopez reformed the script in 1620 as he published the Ilocano translation of the Doctrina Christiana. The kur-itan script was the first to mark ending consonants, doing so with a small cross below the baybayin consonant to cancel its inherent /a/ sound. However, this form was not widely accepted by other baybayin writers at the time.
With the advent of the Spaniards, the Ilocanos, along with most Philippine languages, adopted the Latin alphabet initially following Spanish orthography rules.
The following lists conventions used in historical Ilocano spelling:
Throughout the 20th century, Ilocano writers and publishers were split between the Spanish spelling system and the Abakada spelling system, while others did a mix of both. For example, the popular 1973 translation of the Bible to Ilocano (Ti Biblia), still retains some Spanish spelling conventions, specifically conventions 1, 3, 8, 9, 10, and 11 mentioned above, but the ⟨qu⟩ rule was already superseded in favor of using ⟨k⟩ instead, and ⟨w⟩ is already used instead of always either ⟨o⟩ or ⟨u⟩. Even until now, some Ilocano writers still partly follow Spanish spelling conventions, especially the older population, even if the current orthography is already in place.
Before orthographies were formed for the Ilocano language, writers usually followed the practices of well-known publications such as the famous Bannawag magazine for their spellings, or were still split between using Spanish and Tagalog/Filipino spelling rules.
The 2012 Tarabay iti Ortograpia ti Pagsasao nga Ilokano, based on conventions already used by Bannawag and the current Filipino alphabet, was the first orthography that was sanctioned by the national government to set standard spelling rules for Ilocano. The orthography was necessary for the implementation of the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE) program by the Department of Education. This was promoted by the Gunglo Dagiti Mannurat nga Ilokano (GUMIL, Association of Ilocano Writers), the largest association of Ilocano writers, along with other groups of Ilocano writers and speakers.
However, in October 2018, the KWF released the Ortograpiya ti Pagsasao nga Ilokano in an attempt to harmonize all the orthographies of Philippine languages according to the Ortograpiyang Pambansa. This move was heavily protested by GUMIL, along with many writers' associations and organizations, because of many radical changes such as biag being spelled as biyag. Despite KWF's promotion of the 2018 orthography and its use in the UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino, most Ilocano writers stuck with the 2012 orthography, now with a supplement by Ilocano language experts to clarify some rules and fill in gaps which have not yet been tackled by the original orthography.
The current orthography of Ilocano with the same title as the 2012 orthography was released in December 2021, rolling back many changes made in the 2018 orthography; in effect, the 2021 orthography is an update to the 2012 orthography.
Because the five vowels (paaweng) present in the Latin script does not fully correspond to the original four-vowel system of Ilocano (/a i o~u ɯ/), the orthography had to prescribe standard spellings to prevent the interchangeability of vowels.
When the Latin alphabet was first introduced to Ilocano, the letter ⟨e⟩ was used to represent the /ɯ/ sound present in native words (met, pinakbet), while it represented the /e/ sound in borrowed Spanish words (elemento, elepante).
In the southern dialects, the distinction between the two sounds was kept. In the northern dialects, meanwhile, both sounds merged into /ɛ/ over time, so both the ⟨e⟩ in met and the ⟨e⟩ in elemento were pronounced /ɛ/. In dialects of the Cagayan Valley, both sounds merged into /i/ or /ɪ/, so met is written as mit in informal writing.
The orthography recommends the use of ⟨e⟩ in native words regardless of the differences in pronunciation of the letter in different dialects, in accordance to tradition and etymology. However, some native words with ⟨e⟩ have variants with ⟨i⟩ in both the northern and southern dialects, such as denna and dinna. In these cases, both are accepted.
The letter ⟨e⟩ in most Spanish words should be retained when borrowed into Ilocano (mantener ɴᴏᴛ *mantenir ᴏʀ *mantiner, desnudo ɴᴏᴛ *disnudo, estilo ɴᴏᴛ *istilo, konsentidor ɴᴏᴛ *kunsintidor ᴏʀ *konsintidor).
This rule, however, does not apply to all words, especially in colloquially and frequently used words (diskarte, mintis, nipis, sibuyas). The letter ⟨e⟩ should also no longer be retained when the Spanish loanword resulted in doublets with two different pronunciations and meanings, such as seguro which evolved into siguro (“probably”) and seguro (“insurance”).
Ilocano originally did not distinguish the /o/ and /u/ sounds, like in most Philippine languages. The ancient kur-itan (baybayin) script also uses the same letter for both /o/ annd /u/. Because of this, ⟨o⟩ and ⟨u⟩ tend to be interchangeable in informal writing (ammo/ammu, aso/asu, no/nu). Some dictionaries also reflect this interchangeability by treating both ⟨o⟩ and ⟨u⟩ as the same letter in lexicographic order.
However, with the influx of Spanish loanwords into the language, there are already words that minimally distinguish between /o/ and /u/, such as uso (“in style, vogue”) and oso (“bear”). To avoid the interchangeability of both letters, the following rules are used:
Often, ⟨o⟩ and ⟨u⟩ in Spanish loanwords become interchangeable because of similar words appearing in both Spanish and English, such as in sorpresa and surprise. This results in the informal spelling of *surpresa in Ilocano.
The orthography recommends retaining the ⟨o⟩ and/or ⟨u⟩ in Spanish loanwords, regardless of the ⟨o⟩/⟨u⟩ rules stated above. For example, kosina, sorpresa, koriente, komperensia, telepono, diksionario, and bokabulario.
The spelling of vowel clusters (ragup ti paaweng) and diphthongs (diptonggo) is one of the aspects where Tagalog and Ilocano spellings diverge. This is because of the differences between how Tagalog (wherein CV reduplication is used) and Ilocano (wherein both CV and CVC reduplications are used) syllables and reduplications work, which takes into account the spelling of vowel clusters and diphthongs.
For example, roots that start with a (C)VC structure undergo CVC reduplication, such as agtaray (“to run”) → agtartaray (“is running”), while roots that start with a (C)VV structure undergo CV reduplication, such as aglua (“to cry”) → aglulua (“is crying”). Spelling lua as *luwa may confuse one into thinking that the word has two syllables and wrongfully applying CVC reduplication, thus writing *luwluwa, when one should apply CV reduplication instead and write lulua. (See more at the Affixation and Reduplication and the Plural Nouns and Articles sections.)
In Ilocano, weak vowels (nakapsut a paaweng) are vowels pronounced like the semivowels ⟨w⟩ and ⟨y⟩, while strong vowels (napigsa a paaweng) are pronounced as their corresponding vowel sounds. Open diphthongs (aglukat a diptonggo) are vowel digraphs with an initial weak vowel, while closed diphthongs (agrikep a diptonggo) are vowel digraphs with a final weak vowel.
For open diphthongs ⟨ia⟩, ⟨ie⟩, ⟨io⟩, ⟨iu⟩, ⟨ua⟩, ⟨ue⟩, ⟨ui⟩, the two vowels are written as is when succeeding a consonant (not counting the semivowels ⟨y⟩ and ⟨w⟩).
For open diphthongs at the beginning of a root, ⟨i⟩ is replaced by ⟨y⟩ while ⟨u⟩ is replaced by ⟨w⟩. This rule applies even when a prefix ending with a consonant is attached to the root.
For open diphthongs succeeding a vowel or semivowel, ⟨i⟩ is replaced by ⟨y⟩ while ⟨u⟩ is replaced by ⟨w⟩.
For open diphthongs found in repeated syllables, ⟨i⟩ is replaced by ⟨y⟩ while ⟨u⟩ is replaced by ⟨w⟩. This rule applies even when a prefix ending with a consonant is attached to the root.
Open diphthongs ⟨ii⟩ and ⟨ie⟩, when formed from prefixing i- to words starting with ⟨i⟩ or ⟨e⟩, are spelled as ⟨yi⟩ and ⟨ye⟩, respectively.
Open diphthongs ⟨uo⟩ and ⟨uu⟩ are spelled ⟨wo⟩ and ⟨wu⟩ respectively.
When open diphthongs ⟨ie⟩ and ⟨iu⟩ are the last syllable of a polysyllabic root, they are replaced by ⟨ye⟩ and ⟨yu⟩, respectively.
When open diphthong ⟨ui⟩ is directly preceded by a syllable ending with a consonant, it is replaced by ⟨wi⟩.
Open diphthong ⟨io⟩ is written as ⟨yo⟩ when it succeeds the letter ⟨g⟩ or ⟨ng⟩ (from being spelled as ⟨uio⟩ in Spanish spelling).
The Spanish diphthong ⟨uo⟩ is replaced by ⟨o⟩.
When writing closed diphthongs ⟨ai⟩, ⟨ao⟩, ⟨au⟩, ⟨io⟩, ⟨iu⟩, ⟨oi⟩, and ⟨ui⟩, especially those at the end of a syllable, ⟨i⟩ is replaced by ⟨y⟩ while ⟨u⟩ is replaced by ⟨w⟩.
Exception: Closed diphthongs ⟨ai⟩ and ⟨au⟩ from Spanish loanwords should be retained as is.
Dialectal ⟨ey⟩ is considered nonstandard. In formal texts, use ⟨ay⟩ instead.
The diphthongs ⟨ea⟩, ⟨eo⟩, and ⟨eu⟩ can be considered either as open diphthongs or non-diphthongs, depending on the pronunciation. They are retained as is, regardless of environment.
Vowel clusters are not diphthongs when two vowels next to each other are in separate syllables. Vowels in non-diphthongs do not undergo any changes.
Vowels that are next to each other in spelling but separated with a glottal stop /ʔ/ in pronunciation are not diphthongs. There is no need to write a hyphen in between.
Vowel clusters ⟨ea⟩, ⟨ei⟩, ⟨eo⟩, ⟨eu⟩ are not considered diphthongs when the ⟨e⟩ is stressed, or when formed by prefixes that end with ⟨e⟩, such as re- or pre-, or by vowel-initial suffixes, such as -ismo or -(o)logo, that attach to an ending ⟨e⟩.
Vowel clusters ⟨oa⟩ and ⟨oe⟩ are not considered diphthongs. Vowel cluster ⟨oi⟩ is not considered a diphthong when the ⟨i⟩ pronounced as /i/.
There are some cases where consonant clusters (ragup ti pauni) have to be respelled in Ilocano orthography.
Initial consonant clusters consisting of ⟨p⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨b⟩, ⟨v⟩, ⟨t⟩, ⟨d⟩, ⟨k⟩, and ⟨g⟩, followed by ⟨l⟩ or ⟨r⟩, all retain their spellings.
English loanwords with initial consonant digraphs or trigraphs starting with ⟨s⟩ should be prefixed with an ⟨i⟩ to facilitate pronunciation.
Ending consonant clusters permitted in Ilocano include ⟨y⟩ or ⟨w⟩ followed by any consonant, and ⟨r⟩ and ⟨l⟩ followed by any one or two consonants.
If a word contains any of the ending consonant clusters ⟨st⟩, ⟨kt⟩, ⟨pt⟩, the ending ⟨t⟩ is removed.
Words containing the digraph ⟨ch⟩ can either:
Words containing the digraph ⟨sh⟩ can either:
For newer loanwords, the latter is preferred.
Geminate or double consonants (sinningin) are unique to Ilocano and other Northern Luzon languages compared to other Philippine languages. A geminate consonant is a consonant written twice in a row consecutively. All abakada consonants, except ⟨h⟩, can be geminated in Ilocano (kebba, dakkel, adda, beggang, balligi, ammo, innapuy, tengnga, uppat, serrek, bassit, getta, lawwalawwa, and bayyek).
The other consonants in the Ilocano alphabet may also be geminated, although words that contain them are either using Spanish spelling conventions (Baccay, Buccat), or are loanwords (Itawis alifuffug, Ibanag davvun, Ibanag kazzing, English hajji).
Geminate consonants are contrastive in Ilocano, which means that words can change meaning if a consonant is geminated or not, such as ikan (“fish”) and ikkan (“to give”). Thus, geminate consonants in a word should be written and pronounced as is, not shortened into single consonants, especially when contrastive. On the other hand, there are variants with geminated or nongeminated consonants, such as addayo (variant of adayo) or puruak (variant of purruak). These are permitted as long as there is no contrast in the meaning and that they are recorded in dictionaries.
Old Spanish loanwords containing ⟨rr⟩ are either spelled with ⟨r⟩ (in most southern dialects) and pronounced as a tap /ɾ/, or ⟨rr⟩ (mostly in northern dialects) and pronounced as a trill /r/, such as barreta → bareta ᴏʀ barreta. Both forms are accepted in the orthography. Meanwhile, Spanish personal names and new Spanish loanwords containing ⟨rr⟩ should retain the geminated consonant, but the ⟨rr⟩ may be pronounced either as /ɾ/ or /r/ (Serrano ɴᴏᴛ *Serano).
The orthography recommends, as much as possible, finding equivalent words in Ilocano before deciding to use a loanword (bulod a balikas). If this cannot be done easily, here are some general rules when spelling loanwords in Ilocano:
The following shows the replacement of consonants (pauni) of old loanwords in Ilocano, according to how they would be pronounced in the old Abakada system.
| Spanish/English | Ilocano | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ⟨ca⟩, ⟨co⟩, ⟨cu⟩ | ⟨ka⟩, ⟨ko⟩, ⟨ku⟩ | corona → korona |
| ⟨ce⟩, ⟨ci⟩ | ⟨se⟩, ⟨si⟩ | centro → sentro |
| ⟨c⟩ + consonant | ⟨k⟩ | crema → krema |
| ⟨f⟩ | ⟨p⟩ | familia → pamilia |
| ⟨ge⟩, ⟨gi⟩ (Spanish) | ⟨he⟩, ⟨hi⟩ | gelatina → helatina |
| ⟨gue⟩, ⟨gui⟩ | ⟨ge⟩, ⟨gi⟩ | aguila → agila |
| ⟨h⟩ (Spanish) | omitted | horas → oras |
| ⟨j⟩ (Spanish) | ⟨h⟩ | jamón → hamon |
| ⟨j⟩ (English) | ⟨di⟩ + vowel, ⟨dy⟩ | janitor → dianitor, jeep → dyip |
| ⟨ll⟩ (Spanish) | ⟨li⟩ | caballo → kabalio |
| ⟨nc⟩ | ⟨ngk⟩ | encanto → engkanto |
| ⟨nf⟩ | ⟨mp⟩ | conferencia → komperensia |
| ⟨ng⟩ + vowel | ⟨ngg⟩, ⟨ngh⟩ | ángulo → anggulo, ángel → anghel |
| ⟨ng⟩ + consonant | ⟨ng⟩ | inglés → Ingles, congreso → kongreso |
| ⟨nv⟩ | ⟨mb⟩ | convento → kombento |
| ⟨ñ⟩ | ⟨ni⟩ | paño → panio |
| ⟨v⟩ | ⟨b⟩ | vaca → baka |
| ⟨z⟩ | ⟨s⟩ | razón → rason |
Exceptions to the rule include doublets from the same Spanish or English words, as shown in the following examples:
Newer loanwords are now subject to the new Ilocano alphabet adopted from the current 28-letter Filipino alphabet, which adds the letters ⟨c⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨j⟩, ⟨ñ⟩, ⟨q⟩, ⟨v⟩, ⟨x⟩, and ⟨z⟩ to the old Abakada. The rules for spelling new loanwords are as follows:
The original spellings of personal names and technical terms are retained in Ilocano.
Like in Tagalog, respellings of borrowings from English and other foreign languages are permitted, provided they are easy to read, and take in consideration their cultural, religious, and political roots, and is not confused with another native word. The respelling of English and other foreign loanwords is still being experimented, so no rigid rules are set on this matter.
There are many types of affixes (panilpo) in Ilocano: prefixes (pasakbay), infixes (pasengseng or patengnga), suffixes (paipus), and circumfixes (palikmut or palawlaw). Multiple types of affixes can also be combined in a single root. Meanwhile, reduplication (reduplikasion or panangulit) has many functions, including to indicate the imperfective aspect, plurality, or repetition of an action, and also comes in many forms.
Affixation (panagsilpo) and reduplication can result in the following spelling changes.
When the prefix i- is added to words beginning with a vowel, the prefix becomes y-, following the open diphthong rules stated earlier.
This rule also applies to derivations of the i- prefix, such as mangi-, agi-, makai-, agpai-, i- -an, etc.
This rule also applies to respelled proper nouns beginning with a vowel, but the proper noun is lowercased when prefixed.
This rule also applies to respelled loanwords that begin with a vowel, without any changes to the loanword.
When applied to direct loanwords that begin with a vowel sound, a hyphen (-) is added.
Note that iy- is a recognized variant of y-, so for example, i- + uper → iyuper is also valid.
When CVC or CVCVN reduplication is done to roots starting with ⟨p⟩/⟨b⟩ + vowel + ⟨n⟩, the ⟨n⟩ of the reduplicated syllable changes to ⟨m⟩.
This also applies to roots that start with ⟨pl⟩, ⟨pr⟩, ⟨bl⟩, and ⟨br⟩.
When prefixes ending with ⟨n⟩ are attached to roots starting with ⟨p⟩ or ⟨b⟩, the ⟨n⟩ also changes to ⟨m⟩.
When CVC or CVCVN reduplication is done to roots starting with ⟨g⟩ + vowel + ⟨n⟩, the ⟨n⟩ of the reduplicated syllable changes to ⟨ng⟩.
When prefixes ending with ⟨n⟩ are attached to words starting with ⟨g⟩, the ⟨n⟩ also changes to ⟨ng⟩.
Note that ⟨n⟩ does not assimilate to ⟨ng⟩ with ⟨k⟩.
This is because this does not cause confusion in syllabifying the word. Notice that the syllabification of inkali is clearly in·ka·li, unlike in the word inggaraw, which, without assimilation, would be spelt *ingaraw and might be wrongly syllabified or pronounced as i·nga·raw.
When a word ending with ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ is suffixed by -an, -en, or by circumfixes containing either, such as ka- -an, pag- -an, or pang- -en, the ending ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ does not change. In these cases, the pronunciation of ⟨e⟩ and ⟨i⟩ becomes /j/ or palatalizes the preceding consonant.
Exception 1: When there is a preceding vowel, the ending ⟨i⟩ is changed to ⟨y⟩ when suffixed, following open diphthong rules stated above.
Exception 2: When there is a preceding semivowel ⟨w⟩ or ⟨y⟩, the ending ⟨i⟩ is changed to ⟨y⟩ when suffixed, following open diphthong rules stated above.
Exception 3: When a word ending with ⟨e⟩ is suffixed by -en, the ending ⟨e⟩ is changed to ⟨i⟩.
Note that when a word ends with a syllable structure (C)eC, the ⟨e⟩ is retained, even in the presence of prefixes and/or infixes.
When a word ending with ⟨o⟩ or ⟨u⟩ is suffixed by -an, -en, or by circumfixes containing either, such as ka- -an, pag- -an, or pang- -en, the ending ⟨o⟩ changes to ⟨u⟩, while the ending ⟨u⟩ does not change, following open diphthong rules stated above. In these cases, the pronunciation of ⟨o⟩ and ⟨u⟩ becomes /w/.
Exception 1: When there is a preceding vowel, the ending ⟨o⟩ is changed to ⟨w⟩ when suffixed, following open diphthong rules stated above.
Exception 2: When there is a preceding semivowel ⟨w⟩ or ⟨y⟩, the ending ⟨o⟩ is changed to ⟨w⟩ when suffixed, following open diphthong rules stated above.
These exceptions do not apply when the ending ⟨o⟩ or ⟨u⟩ is part of an open diphthong itself, following the rule of vowel clusters ⟨oa⟩ and ⟨oe⟩. In these cases, the pronunciation of the ending ⟨o⟩ or ⟨u⟩ does not change.
Note that when a word ends with a syllable structure (C)oC, the ⟨o⟩ is retained, even in the presence of prefixes and/or infixes.
For respelled loanwords, reduplication is applied as is done with native words. For those with initial consonant clusters, the whole consonant cluster is reduplicated along with the rest of the syllable.
For those with final consonant clusters, the whole consonant cluster is also reduplicated along with the rest of the syllable.
For direct loanwords, the reduplicated syllable is written to approximate the pronunciation of the original loanword in Ilocano. /ʃ/ is transformed to ⟨si⟩, /t͡ʃ/ is transformed to ⟨ts⟩, and /d͡ʒ/ is transformed to ⟨di⟩ or ⟨dy⟩.
For monosyllabic loanwords, the reduplicated syllable does not need to include the consonant sound/s after the vowel sounds, in essence using CV reduplication.
For direct loanwords with initial consonant clusters starting with ⟨s⟩, the reduplicated syllable is written as ⟨is⟩.
Note that a hyphen should separate the direct loanword from the rest of the word (See also Use of Hyphens below).
Ilocano nouns can be pluralized by the following forms of reduplication:
Plural forms of Ilocano nouns are placed after the headword. Separate entries may be created for all Ilocano plural noun forms.
Ilocano also has plural articles and demonstratives, as shown in the table below.
| Case/Number | For common nouns | Demonstratives | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Singular | ti | daytoy | dayta | daydiay | daytay | daydi |
| Core Plural | dagiti | dagitoy | dagita | dagidiay | dagitay | dagidi |
| Oblique Singular | iti | kadaytoy | kadayta | kadaydiay | kadaytay | kadaydi |
| Oblique Plural | kadagiti | kadagitoy | kadagita | kadagidiay | kadagitay | kadagidi |
It is recommended to either use plural articles and demonstratives with singular nouns, or use singular articles with plural nouns, and to avoid using plural articles and demonstratives together with plural nouns (unless one wants to emphasize the different kinds or the individuality of the units of the plural noun).
Ilocano has also borrowed plural forms from Spanish and English.
The orthography does not recommend using Spanish plural animate loanwords with plural articles nor applying plural morphology to them.
Spanish plural inanimate loanwords are already considered singular forms in Ilocano, thus their original singular forms should not be used, and the same recommendations apply as is with native words.
The orthography does not recommend using English plural loanwords with plural articles nor applying plural morphology to them.
However, for some English plural loanwords that have long been considered singular, their singular forms should not be used.
For respelled English loanwords, the same recommendations apply as is with native words.
All absolutive, ergative, and fused pronoun enclitics (-ak, -k(o), -kami, -natayo, etc.) have to be bound to the word it should be connected to, with no space in between. This is explained by the fact that even if these enclitics can be partly considered as words, no particle must go in between a word and its bound enclitic. Consider these Tagalog and Ilocano sentences:
In the Tagalog example, the pronoun kami is not a bound enclitic, thus pa can come before kami. This is not the case in the Ilocano example, where pay should come after -kami. The movable pronoun enclitic ida does not bind to any word.
Likewise, the bound adverbial enclitics -(e)n, -(n)to, and -(n)sa are under the same rule, as shown in the following example.
The enclitics -kami and -nto should be bound to the verb, but movable adverbial particles such as met in the example above do not bind to any word (except in combined adverb particles such as -en → metten).
Separating bound enclitics can give the impression that other particles may come between the main word and the enclitics, which may produce ungrammatical on non-native sounding sentences. Using the example sentence above, these sentences:
are all ungrammatical or may be contrived by a non-native speaker or an inexperienced learner of the language. When bound enclitics are not separated as individual words, it will be easier for a non-native speaker or learner to avoid contriving the ungrammatical sentences shown above, especially when speaking. Despite this, many native speakers tend to write the bound enclitics separately. It is discouraged to write bound enclitics separately (unless quoting text intentionally so written) here in Wiktionary, especially with the possibility that Wiktionary may be used as a learning resource.
Bound enclitics should include the connector hyphen in their entry name (datayo should be separate from -datayo).
Separate entries using bound enclitics are not required to be created (For anak, no need to create separate entries for anakko, anakta, anakmi, etc.), except for oblique pronouns, independent possessive pronouns, phrasebook entries (ay-ayatenka, etc.), interjections, and conjunctions, adverbials, or particles with the -na enclitic (kalpasanna, inggana, etc.).
Ilocano words can have these syllable (silaba or ebkas) structures: V, VC, VCC, VV, VVC, CV, CVV, CCV, CCVV, CVC, CVCC, CVCCC, CVVC, CVVCC, CVVCCC, CCVC, CCVCC, CCVCCC, CCVVC.
Rules on syllabification (silabikasion) or hyphenation are as follows:
Unlike in Tagalog, the diacritics (diakritiko or kurtalikas) normally used in Ilocano are only the acute (agudo) ⟨´⟩ and the double dot (patuldek) ⟨¨⟩. The grave ⟨`⟩ and the circumflex ⟨ˆ⟩ are not used since the glottal stops that these indicate are not allowed word-finally in Ilocano.
Indicating primary stress by ⟨´⟩ in a headword is encouraged, especially when distinguishing between homonyms, as already done in Tagalog entries. For example, dáya (“east”) and dayá (“party, feast”). In headwords, penultimate stress does not need to be marked, but ultimate stress should always be marked.
Secondary stress is only required to be marked in the headword when contrastive, such as in the following cases where a root starting with the structure (C)VV is reduplicated:
Secondary stress can be seen in other cases such as in vowels before geminated consonants, or when enclitics and/or affixes with inherent stress are added to a word. In such cases, the secondary stress does not need to be marked, though phonetic transcriptions (enclosed in square brackets) should show the secondary stress.
As explained earlier in the Vowels section, ⟨e⟩ can be pronounced in different ways depending on the dialect. The double dot is marked above ⟨e⟩ to form ⟨ë⟩, or ⟨ë́⟩ when the vowel is stressed, to specify that the letter should be pronounced /ɯ/. Since Wiktionary describes both pronunciations of the letter ⟨e⟩ in Ilocano, it is not required to mark every ⟨e⟩ in native words as ⟨ë⟩.
It is recommended that ⟨ë⟩ only be used in loanwords from other Philippine languages that do not natively pronounce ⟨e⟩ as /e/ or /ɛ/ in any of their dialects, such as ëtag or Panagbënga from Kankanaey, or in cases where the /ɯ/ sound of a native word is intentionally specified or exemplified.
The hyphen (parangtay) in Ilocano is used in the following cases:
Similar to rules used in English and Tagalog, the following are capitalized in Ilocano: