Waray language

Waray
Waray-Waray, Samar-Leyte Visayan
Winaray, Samareño, Lineyte-Samarnon, Binisayâ nga Winaray, Binisayâ nga Samar-Leyte
Native toPhilippines
RegionEastern Visayas, some parts of Masbate, southern part of Sorsogon, and Gibusong Island of Mindanao
EthnicityWaray
Native speakers
3.6 million (2015 census)
DialectsStandard Waray (Tacloban dialect), Northern Samar dialect, Calbayog dialect, Culaba-Biliran dialect, Abuyog dialect and 20 other identified dialects and subdialects
Latin;
Historically Baybayin
Official status
Official language in
Regional language in the Philippines
Regulated byKomisyon sa Wikang Filipino
Historically regulated by the Sanghiran san Binisaya ha Samar ug Leyte
Language codes
ISO 639-2war
ISO 639-3war
Glottologwara1300
Areas where Waray-Waray is spoken
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Waray (also known as Waray-Waray or Bisaya/Binisaya nga Winaray/Waray, Spanish: idioma samareño meaning Samar language) is an Austronesian language and the fifth-most-spoken native regional language of the Philippines, native to Eastern Visayas. It is the native language of the Waray people and second language of the Abaknon people of Capul, Northern Samar, and some Cebuano-speaking peoples of western and southern parts of Leyte island. It is the third most spoken language among the Bisayan languages, only behind Cebuano and Hiligaynon.

Nomenclature

The term Waray comes from the word often heard by non-speakers meaning 'none' or 'nothing' in the language; similarly, Cebuanos are known in Leyte as mga Kana[what language is this?] and their language as Kana (after the oft-heard word kana, meaning 'that' in the Cebuano language).[not verified in body] The Cebuano pronunciation of Waray is walay with the same meaning.

During the Spanish period, texts refer to the language as simply being a dialect of "Visayan". In contrast, most contemporary linguists consider many of these "Visayan dialects" (e.g., Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Karay-a, etc.) to be distinct languages, and the term Visayan is usually taken to refer to what is called Cebuano in contemporary linguistic literature. Domingo Ezguerra's 1663 (reprinted 1747) Arte de la lengua bisaya de la provincia de Leyte refers to the "Visayan tongue of the province of Leyte", Figueroa's Arte del idioma Visaya de Samar y Leyte refers to the "Visaya language of Samar and Leyte". Antonio Sanchez's 1914 Diccionario español-bisaya (Spanish-Visayan Dictionary) refers to the speech of "Sámar and Leyte".

Dialects

Linguist Jason Lobel (2009) considers there are 25 dialects and subdialects of Waray-Waray.

Many Waray dialects feature a sound change in which Proto-Bisayan *s becomes /h/ in a small number of common grammatical morphemes. This sound change occurs in all areas of Samar south of the municipalities of Santa Margarita, Matuginao, Las Navas, and Gamay (roughly corresponding to the provinces of Samar and Eastern Samar, but not Northern Samar), as well as in all of the Waray-speaking areas of Leyte, except the towns of Javier and Abuyog. However, this sound change is an areal feature rather than a strictly genetic one (Lobel 2009).

Most Waray dialects in northeastern and Eastern Samar have the close central unrounded vowel /ɨ/ as a reflex of Proto-Austronesian *e.

Usage

Waray is one of the many regional languages found in the Philippines and used in local government. It is widely used in media particularly in television and radio broadcasts, however, not in print media because most regional newspapers are published in English.

The language is used in education from kindergarten to primary level as part of the Philippine government's K–12 program since 2012 in which pupils from kindergarten to third grade are taught in their respective indigenous languages.

Waray is also used in the Mass in the Roman Catholic Church and in the worship services of different Christian sects in the region. Bibles in Waray are also available. In 2019, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures was released in Waray-Waray. However, there is a growing population of Muslims in the region with the first mosque, Tacloban Mosque and Islamic Center, through a charity built by a Turkish Islamic religious authority in Tacloban at 2017 which teaches the scriptures and offers Friday sermons in both Waray and Cebuano in general.

Phonology

Vowels

Most Waray dialects have three vowel phonemes: /a/ [a], /i/ [ɛ~i] and /u/ [ɔ~u]. Some dialects have an additional vowel /ə/ [ə]; words with /ə/ in these dialects have /u/ in the majority dialects.

Front Central Back
Close/Mid i (ə) u
Open a

Consonants

Waray has a total of 16 consonant phonemes: /p, t, k, b, d, ɡ, m, n, ŋ, s, h, l, ɾ~r, w, j, ʔ/. Two extra postalveolar sounds [tʃ, dʒ] are heard when /i/ occurs after /t, d/, further proceeding another vowel sound.

Labial Alveolar Dorsal Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Stop p b t d k g ʔ
Fricative s h
Rhotic ɾ~r
Approximant w l j

Grammar

Writing system

Waray, like all Philippine languages today, is written using the Latin script. There is no officially-approved orthography for the language and different writers may use differing orthographic styles. In general, it has become common to write the language following the current orthographic conventions of Filipino.

Vocabulary

Waray uses many different words to specify a particular thing. These words might not be the same in spelling and in construction but they share the same meaning, making it a very diverse language.[citation needed]

Here are some examples of demonstratives and adverbs together with their equivalent definition in Waray-Waray:

English Waray
what ano, anyá, náno
where diin, ngain, háin
who hino/sino (hin-o/sin-o)
when sán-o, kakán-o, kasán-o
how páno, gin-áano, gin-áanya
here didi, dinhi, ngadi, nganhi, áanhi, áadi
there ngada, dida, ngadto, didto, aadto, aada
that iito, iton, ito, it
those adto, adton, aadto
these aadin, adin, inin
why kay, kay ano, kay ngano, ngano
this ini, inin, adin, adi

Verbs

English Waray English Waray
to run dalágan to fix something aydi/a
to walk lakát to explain ig-eksplikar
to climb saká, sak-a/i to invite ig-imbitar, kumbidahi
to swim langoy to attend atender, atendera/i
to talk/speak igyakán, igsumát, igsiring to send something ipadara, padad-a/i
to jump ambaka/i, lukso to create paghimo, pagbuhat
to sit lingkod to build pagtindog
to stand tindog to fly lupad
to shout/scream guliat to sleep katurog
to make friends makig-sangkay to write ig-surat
to cry tuok, haya to lay down higda
to buy palit, palita/i to love higugma-a
to travel biyahe to care asikasuha/i
to sing kanta to discuss pag-istorya, pagsabot, himangraw
to dance sayaw to drive pagmaneho, pagdrayb
to fetch water pag-alog to ride sakay, sakya/i
to drink inom, imna/i to carry pas-ana/i, dad-a, bitbita
to eat kaon to sell something ig-baligya, ig-tinda

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 (except for gatos for hundred and yukot for thousand). Some, especially the old ones, are spoken alongside the Spanish counterparts.

English Native Waray Derived from Spanish Spanish
one usá uno un/uno (m) una (f)
two duhá dos dos
three tuló tres tres
four upat kuwatro cuatro
five limá singko cinco
six unom sais/says seis
seven pitó syete siete
eight waló otso ocho
nine siyám nuebe/nuybe nueve
ten napúlô dies/dyis diez
eleven napúlô kag-usá onse once
twelve napúlô kagduhá dose doce
thirteen napúlô kagtuló trese trece
fourteen napúlô kag-upat katorse catorce
fifteen napúlô kaglimá kinse quince
sixteen napúlô kag-unom disisays/disisais dieciséis
seventeen napúlô kagpitó disisyete diecisiete
eighteen napúlô kagwaló disiotso dieciocho
nineteen napúlô kagsiyám disinuybe diecinueve
twenty karuhaàn baynte veinte
twenty one karuhaàn kag-usà baynte uno veintiuno
twenty two karuhaàn kagduhà baynte dos veintidós
thirty katluàn traynta treinta
forty kap-atàn kuwarenta cuarenta
fifty kalim-àn singkwenta cincuenta
sixty kaunmàn saysenta/sisenta sesenta
seventy kapituàn sitenta setenta
eighty kawaluàn otsenta/ochienta ochenta
ninety kasiyamàn nobenta noventa
one hundred usa ka gatòs syen cien
one thousand usa ka yukòt mil mil
one million usa ka ribo milyon un millón

Loanwords and cognates

Waray has borrowed vocabulary extensively from other languages, especially from Spanish. These words are being adopted to fill lexical gaps of the recipient language. Spanish colonialization introduced new systems to the Philippine society.[citation needed]

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-08-23 23:27 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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