Hiligaynon language
Hiligaynon, also often referred to as Ilonggo, is an Austronesian regional language spoken in the Philippines by about 9.1 million people, predominantly in Western Visayas and Soccsksargen, most of whom belong to the Hiligaynon people. It is the second-most widely spoken language in the Visayas and belongs to the Bisayan languages, and is more distantly related to other Philippine languages. It also has one of the largest native language-speaking populations of the Philippines, despite it not being taught and studied formally in schools and universities until 2012. Hiligaynon is given the ISO 639-2 three-letter  code hil, but has no ISO 639-1 two-letter code. Hiligaynon is mainly concentrated in the regions of Western Visayas (Iloilo, Capiz, Guimaras, and Negros Occidental), as well as in South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and North Cotabato in Soccsksargen. It is also spoken in other neighboring provinces, such as Antique and Aklan (also in Western Visayas), Negros Oriental in Central Visayas, Masbate in Bicol Region, Romblon and Palawan in Mimaropa. It is also spoken as a second language by Kinaray-a speakers in Antique, Aklanon/Malaynon speakers in Aklan, Capiznon speakers in Capiz and Cebuano speakers in Negros Oriental . There are approximately 9,300,000 people in and out of the Philippines who are native speakers of Hiligaynon and an additional 5,000,000 capable of speaking it with a substantial degree of proficiency. Nomenclature. Aside from "Hiligaynon", the language is also referred to as "Ilonggo" (also spelled "Ilongo"), particularly in Iloilo and Negros Occidental. Many speakers outside Iloilo argue, however, that this is an incorrect usage of the word "Ilonggo". In precise usage, these people opine that "Ilonggo" should be used only in relation to the ethnolinguistic group of native inhabitants of Iloilo and the culture associated with native Hiligaynon speakers in  that place, including their language. The disagreement over the usage of "Ilonggo" to refer to the language extends to Philippine language specialists and native laypeople. Historically, the term "Visayan" had originally been applied to the people of Panay; however, in terms of language, "Visayan" is more used today to refer to what is also known as Cebuano. As pointed out by H. Otley Beyer and other anthropologists, the term "Visayan" was first applied only to the people of Panay and to their settlements eastward in the island of Negros (especially its western portion), and northward in the smaller islands, which  now compose the province of Romblon. In fact, at the early part of Spanish Colonization in the Philippines, the Spaniards used the term "Visayan" only for these areas. While the people of Cebu, Bohol and Leyte were for a long time known only as Pintados. The name "Visayan" was later extended to these other islands because, as several of the early writers state, their languages are closely allied to the Visayan dialect of Panay. History. Historical evidence from observations of early Spanish explorers in the Archipelago shows that the nomenclature used to refer to this language had its origin among  the people of the coasts or people of the "Ilawod" (""los [naturales] de la playa""), whom Loarca called "Yligueynes" (or the more popular term "Hiligaynon", also referred to by the Karay-a people as ""Siná""). In contrast, the "Kinaray-a" has been used by what the Spanish colonizers called "Arayas", which may be a Spanish misconception of the Hiligaynon words "Iraya" or "taga-Iraya", or the current and more popular version "Karay-a" (highlanders - people of "Iraya"/"highlands"). Dialects. Similar to many languages in the Philippines, very little research on dialectology has been done on Hiligaynon. The Standard Hiligaynon, or simply  called "Ilonggo," is the dialect that is used in the province of Iloilo, primarily in the northern and eastern portions of the province. It has a more traditional and extensive vocabulary, whereas the Urban Hiligaynon dialect spoken in Metro Iloilo has a more simplified or modern vocabulary. For example, the term for "to wander," "to walk," or "to stroll" in Urban Hiligaynon is "lágaw", which is also widely used by most of the Hiligaynon speakers, whereas in Standard Hiligaynon, "dayán" is more commonly used, which has rarely or never been used by other dialects of the language. Another example, "amó  iní" ("this is it") in Standard Hiligaynon can be simplified in Urban Hiligaynon and become "'mó'ní". Some of the other widely recognized dialects of the language, aside from the Standard Hiligaynon and Urban Hiligaynon, are Bacolodnon Hiligaynon (Metro Bacolod dialect), Negrense Hiligaynon (provincial Negros Occidental dialect that is composed of three sub-variants: Northern, Central and Southern Negrense Hiligaynon), Guimaras Hiligaynon, and Mindanao Hiligaynon. Some native speakers also consider Kinaray-a (also known as Hiniraya or Antiqueño) and Capiznon as dialects of Hiligaynon; however, these have been classified by linguists as separate (Western) Bisayan languages. Phonology. Consonants. Consonants and were  once allophones but cannot interchange as in other Philippine languages: "patawaron" (to forgive) [from "patawad", forgiveness] but not "patawadon," and "tagadiín" (from where) [from "diín", where] but not "tagariín". Vowels. There are four main vowels: , , , and . and (both spelled i) are allophones, with in the beginning and middle and sometimes final syllables and in final syllables. The vowels and are also allophones, with always being used when it is the beginning of a syllable, and always used when it ends a syllable. Writing system. Hiligaynon is written using the Latin script. Until the second half of the 20th century , Hiligaynon was widely written largely following Spanish orthographic conventions. Nowadays there is no officially recognized standard orthography for the language and different writers may follow different conventions. It is common for the newer generation, however, to write the language based on the current orthographic rules of Filipino. A noticeable feature of the Spanish-influenced orthography absent in those writing following Filipino's orthography is the use of "c" and "qu" in representing /k/ (now replaced with "k" in all instances) and the absence of the letter "w" (formerly used "u" in certain instances). The core alphabet consists of 20 letters  used for expressing consonants and vowels in Hiligaynon, each of which comes in an upper case and lower case variety. Additional symbols. The apostrophe and hyphen also appear in Hiligaynon writing, and might be considered separate letters. The hyphen, in particular, is used medially to indicate the glottal stop "san-o "‘when’ "gab-e" ‘evening; night’. It is also used to in reduplicated words: "adlaw-adlaw" ‘daily, every day’, from "adlaw" ‘day, sun’. This marking is not used in reduplicated words whose base is not also used independently, as in "pispis" ‘bird’. Hyphens are also used in words with successive  sounds of /g/ and /ŋ/, to separate the letters with the digraph NG. Like in the word "gin-gaan" 'was given'; without the hyphen, it would be read as "gingaan" /gi.ŋaʔan/ as opposed to /gin.gaʔan/. In addition, some English letters may be used in borrowed words. Grammar. Determiners. Hiligaynon has three types of case markers: absolutive, ergative, and oblique. These types in turn are divided into personal, that have to do with names of people, and impersonal, that deal with everything else, and further into singular and plural types, though the plural impersonal case markers are just the singular impersonal  case markers + "mga" (a contracted spelling for ), a particle used to denote plurality in Hiligaynon. (*)The articles "sing" and "sing mga" means the following noun is indefinite, while "sang" tells of a definite noun, like the use of "a" in English as opposed to "the", however, it is not as common in modern speech, being replaced by "sang". It appears in conservative translations of the Bible into Hiligaynon and in traditional or formal speech (**)The plural personal case markers are not used very often and not even by all speakers. Again, this is an example of a case marker  that has fallen largely into disuse, but is still occasionally used when speaking a more traditional form of Hiligaynon, using less Spanish loan words. The case markers do not determine which noun is the subject and which is the object; rather, the affix of the verb determines this, though the "ang"-marked noun is always the topic. Demonstrative pronouns. In addition to this, there are two verbal deictics, "karí", meaning come to speaker, and "kadto", meaning to go yonder. Copula. Hiligaynon lacks the marker of sentence inversion "ay" of Tagalog/Filipino or "hay" of Akeanon. Instead sentences in SV form (Filipino : "Di karaniwang anyo") are written without any marker or copula. Examples: "Si Maria ay maganda" (Tagalog) "Si Maria matahum/ Gwapa si Maria" (Hiligaynon) = "Maria is beautiful." "Maria is beautiful" (English) There is no direct translation for the English copula "to be" in Hiligaynon. However, the prefixes mangin- and nangin- may be used to mean will be and became, respectively. Example: Manamì mangín manggaránon. "It is nice to become rich." The Spanish copula "estar" (to be) has also become a part of the Hiligaynon lexicon. Its meaning and pronunciation have changed compared to its Spanish meaning, however. In Hiligaynon it  is pronounced as "istar" and means "to live (in)/location"(Compare with the Hiligaynon word "puyô"). Example: Nagaistar ako sa tabuk suba "I live in tabuk suba" "tabuk suba" translates to "other side of the river" and is also a barangay in Jaro, Iloilo. Existential. To indicate the existence of an object, the word "may" is used. Example: Hiligaynon linkers. When an adjective modifies a noun, the linker "nga" links the two. Example: Ido nga itom = Black dog Sometimes, if the linker is preceded by a word that ends in a vowel, glottal stop or the letter N, it becomes acceptable  to contract it into -ng, as in Filipino. This is often used to make the words sound more poetic or to reduce the number of syllables. Sometimes the meaning may change as in "maayo nga aga" and "maayong aga". The first meaning: (the) good morning; while the other is the greeting for 'good morning'. The linker "ka" is used if a number modifies a noun. Example: Anum ka ido six dogs Interrogative words. The interrogative words of Hiligaynon are as follows: "diin", "san-o", "sin-o", "nga-a", "kamusta", "ano", and "pila" "Diin" means where. Example: Diin ka na subong ? "Where are you now?" A derivation of "diin", "tagadiin", is used to inquire the birthplace or hometown of the listener. Example: Tagadiin ka? "Where are you from?" "San-o" means when Example: San-o inâ? "When is that?" "Sin-o" means who Example: Sin-o imo abyan? "Who is your friend?" "Nga-a" means why Example: Nga-a indi ka magkadto? "Why won't you go?" "Kamusta" means how, as in "How are you?" Example: Kamusta ang tindahan? "How is the store?" "Ano" means what Example: Ano ang imo ginabasa? "What are you reading?" A derivative of "ano", paano, means  how, as in "How do I do that?" Example: Paano ko makapulî? "How can I get home?" A derivative of "paano" is paanoano an archaic phrase which can be compared with kamusta Example: Paanoano ikaw? "How art thou?" "Pila" means how much/how many Example: Pila ang gaupod sa imo? "How many are with you?" A derivative of "pila", ikapila, asks the numerical order of the person, as in, "What place were you born in your family?"(first-born, second-born, etc.) This word is notoriously difficult to translate into English, as English has no equivalent. Example: Ikapila ka sa inyo  pamilya? "What place were you born into your family?" A derivative of "pila", tagpila, asks the monetary value of something, as in, "How much is this beef?" Example: Tagpila ini nga karne sang baka? "How much is this beef?" Verbs. Focus. As it is essential for sentence structure and meaning, focus is a key concept in Hiligaynon and other Philippine languages. In English, in order to emphasize a part of a sentence, variation in intonation is usually employed – the voice is stronger or louder on the part emphasized. For example: Furthermore, active and passive grammatical constructions can be used in  English to place focus on the actor or object as the subject: In contrast, sentence focus in Philippine languages is built into the construction by grammatical elements. Focus is marked by verbal affixes and a special particle prior to the noun in focus. Consider the following Hiligaynon translations of the above sentences: Reduplication. Hiligaynon, like other Philippine languages, employs reduplication, the repetition of a root or stem of a word or part of a word for grammatical or semantic purposes. Reduplication in Hiligaynon tends to be limited to roots instead of affixes, as the only inflectional or derivational morpheme that  seems to reduplicate is -pa-. Root reduplication suggests 'non-perfectiveness' or 'non-telicity'. Used with nouns, reduplication of roots indicate particulars which are not fully actualized members of their class. Note the following examples. Reduplication of verbal roots suggests a process lacking a focus or decisive goal. The following examples describe events which have no apparent end, in the sense of lacking purpose or completion. A lack of seriousness may also be implied. Similarly, reduplication can suggest a background process in the midst of a foreground activity, as shown in (5). When used with adjectival roots, non-telicity may suggest  a gradualness of the quality, such as the comparison in (6). In comparative constructions the final syllables of each occurrence of the reduplicated root are accented. If the stress of the second occurrence is shifted to the first syllable, then the reduplicated root suggests a superlative degree, as in (7). Note that superlatives can also be created through prefixation of pinaka- to the root, as in pinaka-dakô. While non-telicity can suggest augmentation, as shown in (7), it can also indicate diminishment as in shown in (9), in contrast with (8) (note the stress contrast). In (8b), maàyoáyo, accented  in the superlative pattern, suggests a trajectory of improvement that has not been fully achieved. In (9b), maàyoayó suggests a trajectory of decline when accented in the comparative pattern. The reduplicated áyo implies sub-optimal situations in both cases; full goodness/wellness is not achieved. Vocabulary. Derived from Spanish. Hiligaynon has a large number of words derived from Spanish including nouns (e.g., "santo" from "santo", "saint"), adjectives (e.g., "berde" from "verde", "green"), prepositions (e.g., "antes" from "antes", "before"), and conjunctions (e.g., "pero" from "pero", "but"). Nouns denoting material items and abstract concepts invented or introduced during the early modern era  include "barko" ("barco", "ship"), "sapatos" ("zapatos", "shoes"), "kutsilyo" ("cuchillo", "knife"), "kutsara" ("cuchara", "spoon"), "tenedor" ("fork"), "plato" ("plate"), "kamiseta" ("camiseta", "shirt"), and "kambiyo" ("cambio", "change", as in money). Spanish verbs are incorporated into Hiligaynon in their infinitive forms: "edukar", "kantar", "mandar", "pasar". The same holds true for other languages such as Cebuano. In contrast, incorporations of Spanish verbs into Tagalog for the most part resemble, though are not necessarily derived from, the "vos" forms in the imperative: "eduká", "kantá", "mandá", "pasá". Notable exceptions include "andar", "pasyal" (from "pasear") and "sugal" (from "jugar"). Examples. Days of the week. The names of the  days of the week are derived from their Spanish equivalents. The Lord's Prayer. Amay namon, nga yara ka sa mga langit Pagdayawon ang imo ngalan Umabot sa amon ang imo ginharian Matuman ang imo boot Diri sa duta siling sang sa langit Hatagan mo kami niyan sing kan-on namon Sa matag-adlaw Kag patawaron mo kami sa mga sala namon Siling nga ginapatawad namon ang nakasala sa amon Kag dili mo kami ipagpadaog sa mga panulay Hinunuo luwason mo kami sa kalaot Amen. The Ten Commandments. Literal translation as per photo: Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 1  of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ("Ang Kalibutánon nga Pahayag sang mga Kinamaatárung sang Katáwhan") External links. Dictionaries Learning Resources Writing System (Baybayin) Primary Texts Secondary Literature