Fricatives

F and V are present in the acrolect and mesolect but absent in the basilect, except among speakers of Philippine languages like Ibanag, which has these two fricatives in its phonetic inventory. Amongst basilectal speakers the voiceless [p] and [b] are substituted for [f] and [v] respectively. In the mesolectal group the substitution of [p] for [f] is not as frequent as of [b] for [v]. Some inconsistencies from the point of view of gAmE occur – for example, there is no distinction in the pronunciation of the prepositions of and off in PhlE, although the former calls for the use of [v] and the latter [f] in many varieties of AmE.

The interdental fricatives [θ] and [ð] are likewise absent in the basilect (and in most Philippine languages). They are substituted with the alveolar stops [t] for [θ] and [d] for [ð] in the basilect; but are in free variation in the other two varieties. Acrolect and mesolect speakers produce /θ/ and /ð/ sounds in focused and deliberate speech.

Of the sibilants [z], [ʃ] and [Ʒ], are absent in the basilect variety (as in most Philippine languages). This is an example of a split category where one phoneme in the native language, /s/, has several different distinct phoneme equivalents in the target language. Hence, among speakers of the basilect, /z/ is rendered [s], /ʃ/ and /Ʒ/ are pronounced [sij] in initial position and [ts] and [ds] in final position. Examples of the former are [sijur] for sure, and [sijor] for shore. Examples of the latter are [garads] for garage and [bus] for bush.

All of the sibilants are present in the acrolect. Among the mesolect group of speakers, [z], [ʃ], or [Ʒ] are pronounced as in gAmE in word-initial, but not in word-medial or word-final position. Thus, initial /z/ in zoo is pronounced as [z] but is rendered [s] in final position as in buzz. The phoneme /ʃ/ in word-medial and word-final positions occur as [sj] and [s] respectively; thus [lisjur] for leisure and [bas] for bash.

There is final devoicing of [Ʒ] in all three varieties of PhlE. This applies even to the noun plural and 3^rd singular verb morphemes. Thus plays, birds and runs all have [s], rather than the voicing assimilation rule of gAmE, which would result in [z]. The same applies to the /ɪZ/ allophone of noun plurals, which occurs as [is] or [εs] – thus [basεs] for buses, rather than [bΛsɪZ] in the target language.