This article deals with the proposed orthographies of Mapudungun. The Mapuche did not have a writing system when the Spanish arrived, and historically there have been a number of proposals for a Mapudungun alphabet, all of them using Latin script. To this day, no consensus has been achieved between authorities, linguists and Mapuche communities on an unified writing system; the main systems are the following:
Mapudungun has the following consonant system.
Phoneme | Unified Alphabet | Ragileo | Nhewenh | Azumchefi | NICE | place of articulation | type of articulation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
/p/ | p | p | p | p | p | bilabial | stop |
/t̟/ | ṯ | * | td | * | t' | interdental | stop |
/t/ | t | t | t | t | t | alveolar | stop |
/k/ | k | k | k | k | k | velar | stop |
/tʃ/ | ch | c | ch | ch | ch | postalveolar | affricate |
/tʂ/ | tr | x | tr | tx | tr | retroflex | affricate |
/f/ | f | f | f | f | f | labiodental or bilabial | fricative |
/θ/ | d | z | sd | z | d | interdental | fricative |
/s/ | s | s | * | s | s | alveolar | fricative |
/ʃ/ | sh | * | sh | sh | sh | postalveolar | fricative |
/ɻ/ | r | r | r | r | r | retroflex | fricative |
/m/ | m | m | m | m | m | bilabial | nasal |
/n̟/ | ṉ | h | nd | nh | n' | interdental | nasal |
/n/ | n | n | n | n | n | alveolar | nasal |
/ɲ/ | ñ | ñ | nh, ñ | ñ | ñ | palatal | nasal |
/ŋ/ | ng | g | g | g | ng | velar | nasal |
/w/ | w | w | w | w | w | labiovelar | approximant |
/j/ | y | y | j | y | y | palatal | approximant |
/ɣ/ or /ɰ/ (**) | g | q | q | q | g | velar | approximant |
/l̟/ | ḻ | b | ld | lh | l' | interdental | lateral |
/l/ | l | l | l | l | l | alveolar | lateral |
/ʎ/ | ll | j | lh | ll | ll | palatal | lateral |
(*) Raguileo doesn't distinguish between /s/ and /ʃ/, and between /t̪/ and /t/. Also, Raguileo aims to use only one grapheme for each phoneme (no digraphs), so he uses some letters from the alphabet in a non-standard way.
(**) Corresponds to /ɨ/ in the same way that /j/ corresponds to /i/ and /w/ corresponds to /u/.
Mapudungun has six vowels. The three high vowels also have corresponding approximant consonants.
Phoneme | Unified Alphabet | Ragileo | Nhewenh | Azumchefi | [front] | [back] | [round] | [high] | [low] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
/a/ | a | a | a | a | + | - | - | - | + |
/e/ | e | e | e | e | + | - | - | - | - |
/i/ | i, y | i | i | i, y | + | - | - | + | - |
/o/ | o | o | o | o | - | + | + | - | - |
/u/ | u, w | u | u | u, w | - | + | + | + | - |
/ɨ/* | ü | v | v, y | ü | - | - | - | + | - |
(*) When unstressed, it becomes a schwa (ə).