3.22 Glottal stop /ʔ/

In Cebuano publications /ʔ/ is only sometimes indicated. Here we indicate /ʔ/ in word or syllable final position with a grave accent written over the vowel which precedes the glottal stop: walà /waláʔ/ ‘no’, bàbà /báʔbaʔ/ ‘mouth’, làhib /láʔhib/ ‘slice’. (In Cebuano publications the glottal stop of these words is never indicated.)

In post-consonantal position we indicate /ʔ/ with a hyphen, as is done in most Cebuano publications: tan-aw /tanʔaw/ ‘see’. In other positions—that is, intervocalically and in word initial position, glottal stop is not written, as is also the usual practice in Cebuano publications: writing of two adjacent vowels or initial vowel serves to indicate a glottal stop: maáyu /maʔā́yu/ ‘good’, alas /ʔalás/ ‘ace’.