Waray-Waray language

language
name=Waray-Waray
nativename=Winaray
familycolor=Austronesian
states=Philippines
region=Eastern Visayas
speakers=3.1 million
fam2=Malayo-Polynesian
fam3=Borneo-Philippines
fam4=Central Philippine
fam5=Visayan
fam6=Central Visayan
script=Latin (Filipino variant);
"Historically written in Baybayin"
nation=Regional language in the Philippines
agency=Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino
(Commission on the Filipino Language)
iso2=war|iso3=war

Wáray-Wáray or Waráy (commonly spelled as "Waray"; also referred to as "Winaray" or "L(in)eyte-Samarnon") is a language spoken in the provinces of Samar, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte (eastern portion), and Biliran in the Philippines. The language should not be mistaken with the Waray-waray, a bigfoot-like creature also in the province of Samar.

The Warayan group of languages consists of Waray, Waray Sorsogon and Masbate Sorsogon. Waray Sorsogon and Masbate Sorsogon are called Bisakol because they are intermediate between Visayan and Bicolano languages. All the Warayan languages belong to the Visayan language family and are related to Cebuano and more closely to Hiligaynon and Masbatenyo.

Grammar

Pronouns

The Waray copula

Waray, like other Philippine languages, does not have any exact equivalent to the English linking verb "be". In Tagalog, for example, the phrase "Siya ay maganda" (She is beautiful) contains the word "ay" which, contrary to popular belief, does not function as an attributive copula predicating "maganda" (beautiful) to its subject and topic "Siya" (he or she). The function of Tagalog's "ay" is rather a marker of sentence inversion, which is regarded as a literary form but somewhat less common in spoken Tagalog.

The Waray language in comparison would express "She is beautiful" only as "Mahusay hiya" or sometimes "Mahusay iton hiya" ("iton" functioning as a definite article of "hiya", she), since Waray doesn't have a present-tense copula or even an inversion marker. As in other Philippine languages, attributive statements are usually represented in predicate-initial form and have no copula at all. Take for example the ordinary English sentence "This is a dog" as translated to Waray:

: "Ayam ini."

The predicate "Ayam" (dog) is placed before the subject "ini" (this); no copula is present. Another example: : "Amo ito an balay han Winaray o Binisaya nga Lineyte-Samarnon nga Wikipedia.": "Asya in an balay han Winaray o Binisaya nga taga Eastern Samar." In English: "This is the Waray/Leyte-Samar Visayan Wikipedia". The predicate "Amo ini" is roughly translated as "This here" but the rest of the sentence then jumps to its subject, marked by the particle "an". A more literal translation would therefore be "This is the Waray/Leyte-Samar Visayan Wikipedia". Unlike Tagalog, it is grammatically impossible to invert a sentence like this into a subject-head form without importing the actual Tagalog inversion marker "ay", a growing trend among younger people in Leyte. "Amo" word is use only in waray waray leyte. In Samar Asya (This).

Despite the debate regarding the Waray copula, it would be safe to treat structures like "magin" (to be), "an magin/an magigin" (will be or will become), and "an nagin" (became) as the English treat linking verbs:

: Makuri maging estudyante. ( [It's] hard to be a student.): Ako it magiging presidente! (I will be the president!): Ako an naging presidente. (I became the president.)

Existential

WARAY TAGALOG ENGLISH may-ada meron/mayroon there is wara/waray wala none

Modal

WARAY TAGALOG ENGLISH puyde/sadang maaari/pwede may/can diri puyde hindi maaari/pwede may/cannot Pahudma Pahiram/hiram may i borrow Pakit-a Patingin May i see

Interrogative Words

*Waray of Leyte (Winaray nga pan Leyte)

WARAY TAGALOG ENGLISH hin-o sino who kay-ano bakit why diin saan where kanay kanino whose pa-o-nanho paano how san-o kailan when nano ano what

*Waray of Samar (Winaray nga pan Samar)

WARAY TAGALOG ENGLISH sino sino who kay-ano bakit why diin saan where kankanay kanino whose guin-aano paano how san-o kailan when nano/ano ano what

Orthography issues

While the now-defunct "Sanghiran San Binisaya ha Samar ug Leyte" (Academy of the Visayan Language of Samar and Leyte) formulated and recommended a standard orthography, this was never widely disseminated and therefore as of present there is still no official orthography commonly accepted. In effect, there may exist two spellings of the same word (these usually limited to differences in vowels only), such as
* "diri" or "dire" ("no")
* "hira" or "hera" ("them")
* "maopay" or "maupay" ("good")
* "guinhatag" or "ginhatag" ("gave")
* "direcho" or "diritso" ("straight [ahead] ")

ounds

The Waray language has sixteen consonants: p, t, k, b, d, g, m, n, ng, s, h, w, l, r and y. There are three main vowels: [a] , [IPA|ɛ] / [i] , and [o] / [IPA|ʊ] . [i] / [IPA|ɛ] and [IPA|ʊ] / [o] sound the same, but [o] is still an allophone of [IPA|ʊ] in final syllables. But they now have separate sounds for each. Consonants [d] and [IPA|ɾ] were once allophones but cannot interchange, like "palaron" (to be lucky) [from "palad", palm (because someone's luck is seen in the palm] but not "paladon" and "tagadiín" (from where) [from "diín", where] but not "tagariín".

Numbers

Native numbers are used for numbers one through ten. From eleven onwards, Spanish numbers are exclusively used in Waray today, their native counterparts being almost unheard of by the majority of native speakers. Some, specially the old ones, are spoken alongside the Spanish counterparts.

ENGLISH NATIVE WARAY BORROWED FROM SPANISH One Usá Uno Two Duhá Dos Three Tuló Tres Four Upat Kuwatro Five Limá Singko Six Unom Siez/says Seven Pitó Siete/syete Eight Waló Ocho/otso Nine Siyám Nuebe/nueve Ten Napúlô Diez Eleven (Napúlô kag usá) Onse Twenty (Karuhaan) Baynte Thirty (Katloan) Trenta Forty (Kap-atan) Kwuarenta Fifty (Kalim-an) Singkwenta Sixty (Kaunman) Siesenta Seventy (Kapitoan) Setenta Eighty (Kawaloan) Ochienta Ninety (Kasiaman) Nobenta One Hundred (Usa ka Gatus) Cien One Thousand (Usa ka Yukut) Mil

ome common words and phrases

Below are examples of the Waray spoken in Metropolitan Tacloban and the nearby areas:
* Good morning (noon/afternoon/evening): "Maupay nga aga (udto/kulop/gab-i)"
* Can you understand Waray?: "Nakakaintindi/Nasabut ka hin Winaray?" ("hin" or "hiton")
* Thank you: "Salamat"
* I love you: "Hinihigugma ko ikaw" or "Ginhihigugma ko ikaw" or "Pina-ura ta ikaw"
* Where are you from? : "Taga diin ka?" or "Taga nga-in ka?" or "Taga ha-in ka?"
* How much is this? : "Tag pira ini?"
* I can't understand: "Diri ako nakakaintindi"
* I don't know: "Diri ako maaram" or "Ambot"
* What: "Ano"
* Who: "Hin-o"
* Where: "Hain"
* When (future): "San-o"
* When (past): "Kakan-o"
* Why: "Kay-ano"
* How: "Gin-aano?"
* Yes: "Oo"
* No: "Dire" or "Diri"
* There: "Adto" or "Didto" or "Ngad-to"
* Here: "Didi" or "Nganhi"
* Front or in front: "Atbang" or "Atubangan"
* Night: "Gab-i"
* Day: "Adlaw"
* Nothing: "Waray"
* Good: "Maupay"
* Who are you?: "Hin-o ka?"
* I'm a friend: "Sangkay ak."
* I'm lost here: "Nawawara ak didi."
* Maybe: "Kunta" or "Bangin"

ee also

*Waray literature
*Languages of the Philippines
*Filipino
*Cebuano
*Kapampangan
*Chabacano
*Pangasinan
*Visayan languages
*Bikol
*Ilokano
*Hiligaynon

External links

* [http://www.radyo.waraynon.com/ Radyo Waraynon - Waraynon Internet Radio Station]
* [http://e-waray.blogspot.com/ Onine Museum of Everything Waray]
* [http://www.leytesamar.org Online Lineyte-Samarnon(Waray)-English Dictionary(also with Videos, Photos, Music, News, Local Destinations)]
* [http://waraylessons.netfirms.com/ Waray lessons]
* [http://waray.cmnworks.com/index.php Online Waray dictionary]
* [http://www.bansa.org/dictionaries/war/ Bansa.org Waray Dictionary]
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=war Ethnologue Report for Waray]
* [http://www.freeweb.hu/etymological/ A downloadable Waray dictionary with etymologies and Cebuano, Tagalog cognates by Andras Rajki]
* [http://www.geocities.com/waraylan/ Waray Explained] (Online Tutorial)