Cebuano language

Cebuano redirects here. For the inhabitants of Cebu, see Cebuano people

Cebuano Sinugboanon
Spoken in:	Philippines
Region:	Central Visayas and most of Mindanao
Total speakers:	first language: 20 million (ethnologue) second language: 11 million (est.)
Ranking:	47
Language family:	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Borneo-Philippines Meso Philippine Central Philippine Bisayan Cebuan Cebuano
Writing system:	Latin (Filipino variant); Historically written in Baybayin
Official status
Official language of:	none
Regulated by:	Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (Commission on the Filipino Language)
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	`ceb`
ISO 639-3:	`ceb`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Cebuano, also known as Sinugboanon, is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines by about 20,000,000 people (according to Ethnologue). It is a subgroup or member of Bisaya, Visayan and Binisayâ. The name came from the Philippine island of Cebu, the site of the first and biggest Spanish settlement whose vicinity speaks the said language. Cebuano is given the ISO 639-2 three letter code ceb, but has no ISO 639-1 two letter code.

Cebuano is a member of the Visayan language family.

Geographic distribution

Cebuano is spoken natively by the inhabitants of Cebu, Bohol, eastern part of Negros island, western parts of Leyte and Biliran islands, southern third of Masbate island and throughout the most of Mindanao. It is also spoken in a few towns and islands in Samar. Until 1975, Cebuano surpassed Tagalog in terms of number of native speakers. Some dialects of Cebuano give different names to the language. Residents of Bohol may refer to Cebuano as Binol-anon while Cebuano-speakers in Leyte may call their dialect Kana.

It is also spoken by Warays in Samar and Leyte, Porohanon in Poro, Ilonggos in Negros Oriental, Eskaya in Bohol, and by native (like Atas, Bagobos, and Butuanons) and migrant Filipino ethnic groups (like Ilocanos and Ilonggos), and foreign ethnic groups (like Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans) in Mindanao as second language. Cebuano is a language with erratic Verb Subject Object sentence order, in which the first term in the sentence is the term given emphasis. Nouns and adjectives are joined by the nga connector with their order arbitrary as long as the nga connector in between them.

Predominantly Cebuano-speaking regions in the Philippines.

Sounds

Cebuano has seventeen consonants: p, t, k, ʔ (the glottal stop), b, d, g, m, n, ng, s, h, w, l, r, y, and j (also spelled gy or dy). There are four vowels: i, e, a, and u/o. The vowels u and o are allophones, with u always being used when it is the beginning of a syllable, and o always used when it ends a syllable. But there are some exceptions, like kamatuoran (truth) and hangtúd (until). "E" originally appears only in few word such as "babaye", "dayeg" "parayeg", and "pangadye". When Spanish arrived, more words with e has been added with the introduction of loanwords. Accent is also a distinguisher of words, so that dápit means "to invite", while dapít means "near" or "nearby place". Consonants [d] and [ɾ] were once allophones, but cannot interchange, like kabunturan (uplands) [from buntód, mountain] is correct but not kabuntudan and tagadihá (from there) [from dihá, there] is correct but not tagarihá.

Grammar

Pronouns

Pronouns are infected in person, number, and case but nouns are not. Case marker instead define the function of nouns, verbs, and modifiers(adjectives and adverbs) in the sentence.

The four cases are nominative, preposed genitive, postposed genitive, and oblique.

	Absolutive	Ergative₁ (Postposed)	Ergative₂ (Preposed)	Oblique
1st person singular	ako, ko, (ta only when the object is ka/mo=you)	nako, ko	ako, akoa	kanako, nako
2nd person singular	ikaw, ka	nimo, mo	imo, imoha	kanimo, nimo
3rd person singular	siya	niya	iya, iyaha	kaniya, niya
1st person plural inclusive	kita, ta	nato	ato, atoa	kanato, nato
1st person plural exclusive	kami, mi	namo	amo, amoa	kanamo, namo
2nd person plural	kamo, mo	ninyo	inyo, inyoha	kaninyo, ninyo
3rd person plural	sila	nila	ila, ilaha	kanila, nila

Cebuano, like most other Austronesian languages, makes use of the inclusive and exclusive we. This distinction, not found in most European languages, signifies whether or not the addressee is included in the pronoun "we."

Examples:

Moadto kami sa sinehan.
"We (someone else and I, but not you) will go to the movies."

Moadto kita sa sinehan.
"We (you and I, and perhaps someone else) will go to the movies."

Demonstrative Pronouns

lie

10 Types of Sentences

1) equational ( topic = predicate )

  a) "Mao kini ang Kabisaya-an".             = This is the Visayas.
  b) "Siya si Kulafu."                       = He is Kulafu.
  c) "Amoa kana nga balay"                   = That is our house.

2) non-equational ( topic < predicate )

  a) "Mga Pilipinhon ang mga Bisaya."        = Visayans are Filipinos.
  b) "Pula ang iyang gisul-ob."              = The one he wears is red. (He is wearing red.)
  c) "Gipalitan ka niya og balay."           = (He buys a house for you.)

3) existential sentence of presence

  a) "Dunay Diyos sa langit."                = (There is) God in heaven.
  b) "Didtoy halas sa kahoy."                = (There was) a snake in the tree.

4) existential sentence of possession

  a) "Dunay Diyos ang mga anghel sa langit." = (The angels in heaven have a God.)
  b) "Didto koy ilimnon sa balay."           = (I had wine at home.)

5) locative sentence

  a) "Dia ang kwarta."                       = Here is the money.
  b) "Toa siya sa bukid."                    = She is in the mountain.

6) meteorologic sentence

  a) "Tugnaw diri sa Baguio."                = (It is) cold here in Baguio.
  b) "Hilom ganina sa plaza."                = (It was) calm in the plaza.

7) exclamatory remark

  a) "Kadaghan man nimo og sakyanan?"        = (Wow! You have a lot of cars.)
  b) "Gwapaha nimo oy!"                      = (You are pretty!)
  c) "Kasaba ba ninyo!"                      = (You are so noisy!)

8) imperatives

  a) "Isugba nang isda."                 = (Grill that fish.)
  b) "Umari ka."                             = Come here.

9) question

  a) "Kinsa ka?"                             = Who are you?
  b) "Unsa ang imong ngalan?"                = What is your name?

10) confirmation

  a) "Kini ba ang Kabisay-an?"               = Is this the Visayas?
  b) "Pula ba ang iyang gisul-ob?"           = (Does he wear red?)
  c) "Duna bay Diyos?"                       = (Does God exist?)
  d) "Isugba ba kining isda?"                =  Shall this fish be grilled?

Interrogative Words

Unsa? What?

Asa? Where?(for a place or person)

Diin? Where?

Hain? Where?(for an object)

Kinsa? Who?

Ngano? Why?

Kang-kinsa? To whom?

Gi-unsa? How?

Kanus-a? When?

Pila ka buok? How many?

Tag-pila? How much?

Vocabulary and borrowed words

Cebuano has long borrowed words from Spanish, such as krus [cruz] (cross), swerte [suerte] (luck), and brilyante [brillante] (brilliant). It has several hundred loan words from English as well, which are altered to conform to the limited phonemic inventory of Cebuano: brislit (bracelet), hayskul (high school), syapin (shopping), dikstrus (dextrose), sipir (zipper), bigsyat (big shot), or prayd tsikin (fried chicken), "espisyal"(special). There are also words from other languages like Arabic like salamat (thanks) and religious words like imam and Islam, and Sanskrit mahárlika [mahardikka] (nobility) and karma.

The use of asa and hain

Asa and hain - both mean where - have distinct uses in formal Cebuano writing.

Asa is used when asking about a place. Asa ka padulong? (Where are you going?) Asa ta molarga? (Where are we travelling to?)

Hain is used when asking about a person or thing. Hain na ang gunting? (Where is the pair of scissors?) Hain na si Arsenia? (Where is Arsenia?)

In modern spoken Cebuano, however, asa is commonly used to replace hain. You can rarely hear hain being used (and it is usually spoken by old native Cebuanos).

Words and phrases

Numbers

	Cardinal	Ordinal
1	usà	úna
2	duhà	ika-duhà
3	tulò	ika-tulò
4	upàt	ika-upàt
5	limà	ika-limà
6	unòm	ika-unòm
7	pitò	ika-pitò
8	walò	ika-walò
9	siyàm	ika-siyàm
10	napú'ô/napulo	ika-napú'ô/ika-napulo
11	napú'ô'g usá/napulo'g/napulo ug usá/onse (Spanish words are used more than 10)	ika-napú'ô'g usá/ika-napulo'g usá/ika-napulo ug usá/ika-onse
20	kawhaan/bente
30	katlo-an/trenta
100	usa ka gatos/syento
1000	usa ka libo
100,000	usa ka gatos ka libo
500,000	lima ka gatos ka libo/tunga sa milyon
1000000	usa ka milyon

Common expressions

I am Miguel de Guia. Ako si Miguel de Guia.
May I ask a question? Mahimo bang mangutana? or Puwede ko mangutana?
How are you? Kumusta ka?
Good. (I am well.) Maayo.
How old are you? Pila'y imong idad?
How much? Pila? or Tag-pila?
How many? Pila?
I don't know. Wala ko kahibalo. or Ambut.
Good day! Maayong adlaw!
Good Morning! Maayong buntag!
Good Noon! Maayong udto!
Good Afternoon! Maayong hapon! or Maayong Palis!
Good Evening! Maayong gabii!
Who are you? "Kinsa ka?" (Informal)
When is Kanus-ǎ ang
Where do you live? Asa ka nagpuyô?
Where are you from? Taga-asa ka?
Where are you going? Asa ka padulong?
Where are they going? "Asa sila padulong?"
Where is Asa ang
Where is the bathroom? Asa man ang banyo?
Where is the toilet? Asa man ang kasilyas? or Asa man ang CR? (CR = English "Comfort Room")
Where is the market? Asa man ang merkado?
What Unsa
What's this? Unsa ni?
What's that? Unsa nâ?
What should we do? Unsay among buhaton? or Unsay atong buhaton? or Unsay angay namong buhaton? or Unsay angay natong buhaton
What is your name? Unsay ngalan nimo? Unsay imong ngalan?, or colloquially, Kinsa'y ngalan nimo?
What number of child are you? Ikapila ka sa imong pamilya? (Firstborn, secondborn, etc.; common expression in Cebuano, not English)
I would like to buy that. Gusto ko mopalit anâ.
I would like two of those. Gusto ko ug duha anâ.
Hello, my name is Miko. Kumusta, Miko akong ngalan., or colloquially, Ako si Miko.
Shut up Hilom! or Saba! although "saba" means loud and sometimes people ridicule this word by being louder instead of being silent
Help Me! Tabangi ko!
Help! Tabang!
Please, help me! "Palihug tabangi ko!" or "Palihug tabangi ako!"
Wait a minute Kadiyot lang or Huwat sâ
What time is it? Unsa nang (namang) orasa?
It's five o'clock Alas singko na
I love you. Gihigugma ko ikaw. or Nahigugma ko nimo. or Gihigugma tika. or Gimahal ko ikaw
Take care. Pag-ayo-ayo! or Pag-amping
Take that! (slang) Usapa 'na! (literally "Chew it!")
Ouch! Agay!
Don't! Ayaw!
Yes Oo
No Dili

The Clamor for recognition of Cebuano

The use of Tagalog as a basis for Pilipino drew criticism from other Philippine linguistic groups. To some extent, there was active resistance shown against its usage. For instance, the Philippine national anthem is sometimes sung in Cebuano and not in Pilipino in the island province of Cebu. This resistance did not threaten the country's national sovereignty. On the part of the Cebuanos, this may be a mere clamor for linguistic recognition. Their clamor for recognition might be based on the following arguments:

1. Historically, Cebu is the first and oldest City in the Philippines. Long before Manila fell into the hands of the Spanish Conquerors in the 16th century, Cebu was already an established trading and military post for the Spaniards.

2. Linguistically, Cebuano is recently, the country's second most widely used language. During the independence, it was the first largest linguistic group. Cebuano, though originally spoken only in the island of Cebu, is now being spoken in many parts of Mindanao, the eastern part of Negros island, and Bohol.

3. Strategically, due to its geographical location, Cebu is the alternate gateway to Manila adding significance to its language. Cebuano is the native language of more regions than Tagalog, being the language with the most native speakers in Region VII (Central Visayas), Region IX (Western Mindanao), Region X (Northern Mindanao), Region XI (Davao Region), Caraga Region, and Region XII (Southern Mindanao), and lingua franca speakers in latter 5 regions. There are also significant number of speakers in Region VI (Western Visayas, mostly in San Carlos City and neighboring areas) and Region VIII (Eastern Visayas, mostly in western Leyte and Southern Leyte). By comparison, Tagalog is the language of the majority in the NCR, Region IV-A, Region IV-B, and Region III (Central Luzon, where Kapampangan and Ilocano also dominate some areas).

External links

Cebuano language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Languages of the Philippines
Official languages: Filipino (Tagalog) • English Recognized regional languages: Cebuano • Ilokano • Hiligaynon • Waray-Waray • Kapampangan • Bikol • Pangasinan • Kinaray-a • Maranao • Maguindanao • Tausug Other languages: Chavacano • Spanish

lij:Lengua cebuann-a

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