This article deals with the phonology of the Mapudungun language, and its proposed orthographies. The Mapuche did not have a writing system when the Spanish arrived, and historically there have been a number of proposals for Mapudungun spelling, all of them using the Latin alphabet. To this day, no consensus has been achieved between authorities, linguists and Mapuche communities on an unified writing system; currently the most widely used systems are: The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists to accurately and uniquely represent each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) used in spoken human language. ... Phonetic (pho-NET-ic) is a nationwide voicemail-to-text messaging service available for most digital mobile phones in which a subscriber is provided a custom voice mailbox for the purpose of receiving all incoming voice messages as actual transcribed text for reading via short messaging (also known as SMS... Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... Phonology (Greek phone = voice/sound and logos = word/speech), is a subfield of linguistics closely associated with phonetics. ... Mapudungun is an Araucanian language spoken in Chile and Argentina by the Mapuche people. ...

• Alfabeto Mapuche Unificado (Unified Alphabet), used by Chilean linguists and other people in many publications in the language.
• Grafemario Mapuche, made by Anselmo Ragileo Lincopil and defended by the indigenous Mapuche organization Consejo de Todas las Tierras.
• "Azumchefi" (also called "Azümchefe"), proposed by the Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena as a summary of about six earlier proposals, and recognized by the Chilean Ministry of Education, but not widely used.

Consonants

Mapudungun has the following consonant system.

(*) Ragileo doesn't distinguish between /s/ and /ʃ/, and between /t̪/ and /t/. Both /ʃ/ and /t̪/ are used as affective markers, and there's no phonemic contrast between /ʃ/ and /s/ outside of loanwords. Also, Ragileo aims to use only one grapheme for each phoneme (no digraphs), so he uses some letters from the alphabet in a non-standard way. In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... Interdental consonants are produced by placing the blade of the tongue against the upper incisors. ... A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... Interdental consonants are produced by placing the blade of the tongue against the upper incisors. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lips and the upper teeth, or viceversa. ... In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... Interdental consonants are produced by placing the blade of the tongue against the upper incisors. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... Postalveolar (or palato-alveolar) consonants are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue between the alveolar ridge (the place of articulation for alveolar consonants) and the palate (the place of articulation for palatal consonants). ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... Sub-apical retroflex plosive In phonetics, retroflex consonants are consonant sounds used in some languages. ... Fricatives (or spirants) are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. ... A labiovelar consonant is a consonant made with two blockages, one at the lips (labial) and the other at the soft palate (velar). ... Approximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants. ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Approximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants. ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... Approximants are speech sounds that could be regarded as intermediate between vowels and typical consonants. ... Postalveolar (or palato-alveolar) consonants are consonants articulated with the tip of the tongue between the alveolar ridge (the place of articulation for alveolar consonants) and the palate (the place of articulation for palatal consonants). ... Affricate consonants begin like stops (most often an alveolar, such as or ), but release as a fricative such as or (or, a couple languages, into a fricative trill) rather than directly into the following vowel. ... Sub-apical retroflex plosive In phonetics, retroflex consonants are consonant sounds used in some languages. ... Affricate consonants begin like stops (most often an alveolar, such as or ), but release as a fricative such as or (or, a couple languages, into a fricative trill) rather than directly into the following vowel. ... Interdental consonants are produced by placing the blade of the tongue against the upper incisors. ... Laterals are L-like consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue, while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both sides of the tongue. ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... Laterals are L-like consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue, while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both sides of the tongue. ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Laterals are L-like consonants pronounced with an occlusion made somewhere along the axis of the tongue, while air from the lungs escapes at one side or both sides of the tongue. ...

Allophones

Vowels

Mapudungun has six vowels. The three high vowels also have corresponding approximant consonants.

See also

• List of phonetics topics