Visayan 1/linguistic characteristics

Pronunciation
Consonants are pronounced the same as in English except for:
 * g is always pronounced like a hard g in English (as in "get").
 * ng is the same sound as the ng in fang. In Visayan the ng sound can occur at the beginning of a word (ngalan).

Although there are five vowels in Visayan, there are only three vowel sounds: a, e/i, and o/u.
 * a is always pronounced like the a in apple.
 * e and i are either pronounced like the second vowel in taxi (gabii) or like the vowel in it (pansit). e should always be pronounced as the e in bed.
 * In vowel-consonant syllables, o and u are pronounced like the vowel in the English word cute (ugma). In consonant-vowel syllables, o and u are pronounced like the vowel in the English word boat (e.g. ko); u should always be pronounced as the oo in look.

Visayan has three dipthongs:
 * aw (ikaw) is pronounced like the English cow.
 * ay (balay) is pronounced like the English sky.
 * oy and uy (kahoy) are pronounced like the English boy.