Visayan languages

Visayan languages

Infobox Language family
name=Visayan
region=Visayas and Mindanao
familycolor=Austronesian
fam2=Malayo-Polynesian
fam3=Borneo-Philippines
fam4=Central Philippine
child1=Asi
Cebuano
Central Visayan
Southern Visayan
Western Visayan
The Visayan languages of the Philippines, along with Tagalog and Bikol, are part of the Central Philippine language family. Most Visayan languages are spoken in the Visayas region but they are also spoken in the Bicol Region (particularly in Sorsogon and Masbate), islands south of Luzon such as those that make up Romblon, most of the areas of Mindanao, and the province of Sulu located southwest of Mindanao. Some residents of Metro Manila also speak Visayan.

Over thirty languages constitute the Visayan language family. The Visayan language with the most speakers is Cebuano, spoken by 20 million people as a native language in Central Visayas, northern and eastern parts of Mindanao. Two other well-known Visayan languages are Hiligaynon, spoken by 7 million in western Visayas and Waray-Waray spoken by 3 million in eastern Visayas.

Nomenclature

Native speakers of Visayan languages, especially Cebuano, Hiligaynon, and Waray-Waray not only refer to their language by their local name, but also by "Bisaya" or "Binisaya", meaning "Visayan language". This is misleading or may lead to confusion as different languages may be called "Bisaya" by their respective speakers despite their languages being mutually unintelligible. However, languages that are classified within the Visayan language family but spoken natively in places outside of the Visayas do not use the self-reference "Bisaya" or "Binisaya". To speakers of Butuanon, Suriganon, and Masbatenyo, the term "Visaya" usually refers to Cebuano. Since Tausugs are mostly Muslims, they view the term "Bisaya" as a religious term referring to Christian Filipinos (mostly referring either to Cebuano or Hiligaynon as they are the neighboring languages). One must also recognize the distinction between this Bisaya language and people and that of the Malaysian Bisaya.

Geographic distribution

The Visayan languages are further divided into five subfamilies. The list below is by no means exhaustive. Asi and Cebuano constitute their own subfamilies.

*Asi - spoken in towns on Tablas Island as well as the islands of Banton, Simara, and Maestro de Campo in Romblon province..

*Cebuano - includes Boholano, Leytehanon and Mindanao Visayan dialects.

*Southern Visayan - Tausug, Butuanon, and Surigaonon (including Jaun-Jaun).

*Central Visayan - includes Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, Romblomanon, Ati, Capiznon, Masbatenyo, Porohanon, the Bisakol languages of Sorsogon and Northern Samar, and others.

*Western Visayan - includes Kinaray-a (the major language of Antique), Aklan languages (Aklanon, Malaynon), Onhan, Caluyanon, Cuyonon, Ratagnon, and others.

Table of speakers

List of visayan words

kaon-eatdamgo-dream


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Languages of the United States — Official language(s) none Main language(s) English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo European 3.8%, Asian …   Wikipedia

  • Languages of Bicol — The languages of Bicol are a group of four languages that are spoken in the Bicol Region of the Philippines.Despite being mutually unintelligible, the four languages are all called Bikol (and to a lesser extent, Bicolano ) by their speakers. This …   Wikipedia

  • Languages of the Philippines — See also: Philippine languages Languages of the Philippines Map of the dominant ethnolinguistic groups of the Philippines …   Wikipedia

  • Visayan — also Bisayan noun Date: 1951 1. a member of any of several peoples in the Visayan Islands, Philippines 2. the group of Austronesian languages of the Bisayans …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Visayan — Vi•sa•yan [[t]vɪˈsaɪ ən[/t]] also Bisayan n. 1) peo a member of any of a group of peoples living in the Visayan Islands 2) peo the closely related Austronesian languages of these peoples …   From formal English to slang

  • Bisakol languages — Bisakol Geographic distribution: Sorsogon and Masbate Linguistic classification: Austronesian Malayo Polynesian Philippine Central Philippine …   Wikipedia

  • Borneo-Philippine languages — Infobox Language family name=Borneo Philippines region=Southeast Asia and Madagascar familycolor=Austronesian fam2=Malayo Polynesian child1=two dozen branches map caption=The Borneo Philippines languages (red). Not shown: Yami in Taiwan.The… …   Wikipedia

  • Bikol languages — This article is about the various sociolinguistic dialects of Bikol. For the standardized dialect of Bikol based on the Canaman variant, see Bikol language. Bikol Geographic distribution: Bicol Region Linguistic classification: Austronesian… …   Wikipedia

  • Mansakan languages — Mansakan Geographic distribution: Davao Region, Mindanao Linguistic classification: Austronesian Malayo Polynesian Philippine Central Philippine …   Wikipedia

  • List of languages by writing system — This article is a list of languages sorted by writing system (by alphabetical order).Arabic alphabet*Arabic *Azeri (Iran) *Balochi *Berber *Fulani (on occasion) *Hausa (on occasion) *Kanuri (on occasion) *Kashmiri *Kazakh in China *Kurdish (Iran… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”