for the glottal stop regardless of position. Diphthongs were spelled with vowels, such as were spelled "ao, ai, oi". The orthography used in the study by Lobel (2009) was the one developed by Aleem Abdulmajeed Ansano of Taraka (1943–2008), Senator Ahmad Domocao "Domie" Alonto of Ramain (1914– 2002), and Shaiekh Abdul Azis Guroalim Saromantang of Tugaya (1923–2003). In this orthography, the "hard consonants" are written as "ph, th, kh, z". Phonology Below is the sound system of Maranao including underlying phonetic features. Vowels Maranao has four vowel phonemes that can become more close or higher when in certain environments (see hard consonants below). The vowel raising effects of hard consonants may have led earlier studies to Although previous studies have analyzed the sound as a separate phoneme (written with ae) instead of a raised allophone of . Vowel [e] only occurs in loanwords from Spanish thru Tagalog or Cebuano and from Malay. Consonants According to Lobel (2013), Maranao has the following consonants: In Maranao, is not phonemic word-initially (similar to non-Philippine English). Hence, ('friend of mine') is smoothly pronounced . Since the heavy consonants developed from consonant clusters, they are only found word-medially. Orthography-wise, "r" is used for , "y" is used for , and "ng" is used for Fricative [h] According to Lobel (2013), only occurs in a few recent Malay loanwords: 'God' 'astrological sign' 'in front (of God)' Earlier Arabic loanwords with "h" that entered Proto-Danao or earlier Maranao were realized as k. 'halal (anything that is permissible in Islam)' 'haram (anything not permissible in Islam)', 'hadji (title for a man who has made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca)' 'Hadith' Consonant elongation Consonants are also pronounced longer if preceded with a schwa . However, this process is not a form of gemination since consonant elongation in Maranao is not distinctive as seen in other Philippine languages such as Ilokano and Ibanag. Some of these are: 'get off a vehicle' 'startled; surprised' Hard consonants and vowel raising Since 2009, it has been proposed that previous studies on the phonology of Maranao had overlooked the presence of "heavy" consonants, these four "heavy" consonants being . Vowels that follow these consonants are raised in position. There are four possible environments for that determine whether the vowel will be raised or not: Non-raising – Obligatory raising – is pronounced as instead of Optional raising – Evidenced by some younger speakers writing as