Masbateño language

There are several accounts on the origins of the word Masbate. One account says that it came from the words masa 'to mix' and batî 'to beat'. The other account says it came from mas batî 'heard better' as in Lumúsad kamó kag umapíke agúd mas batî an íyo ginasábi 'Get down here and get closer so that we can hear better whatever you're saying.' Another account further says that it came from the term that Cebuano migrants used to describe the place, mas batí, which means 'a place where living condition is worse'.[4]

According to a certain Fray Martin de Rada,[5] Masbate took its name from Masbat or Basbat which means 'having many gold mines'. Another claims that the name Masbate came from Masbad. The term Masbad possibly originated from Masbaranon, a barrio that used to be part of the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Placer but is now under the Municipality of Esperanza. This barrio used to be called Surosimbahan because it looks like a church. Its name was then changed Agoho from the tree called agoho. Then, for the third time, its name was changed to Masbaranon because of the supposed abundance of small fish called masbad.[6][5]

Wolfenden[7] identified three major dialects of Masbatenyo: the western dialect centered around the town of Balud on the western coast which is close to Capiz, the southern dialect centered about the town of Cataingan in the southeastern part of Masbate and the northern dialect covering the whole northern half of Masbate and centered on Masbate City, the capital.

Wolfenden [7] reported that although Sorsogon (the southernmost province of Bicol) and Masbate are very much closer to Bicol Peninsula, Sorsoganon and Masbatenyo shared the same grammatical systems which are rather closer to those of Waray and Hiligaynon, the trade languages in the Visayas, rather than that of Bicol.

The presence of competing grammatical and lexical subsystems in the language is the most striking characteristic of Masbatenyo. This has probably been brought on by the influx of settlers from surrounding major language groups who mixed in elements of their language with and alongside of the Masbatenyo. This results to a number of semantic concepts that can be expressed by two to five alternate different words for a single concept.[7]

This led Wolfenden[7] to think that Masbatenyo is unique in the sense of its being a mixed-up language. Speakers of the language often thought that their language is just a mixture of its neighboring languages which are Bikol, Waray-Waray, Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Tagalog. There are still who refer to their own speech as 'Bisaya'.

Masbatenyo shares different types of mutual intelligibility with its neighboring languages. Speakers of Masbatenyo can easily and conveniently converse with speakers of the neighboring languages using their own language. However, speakers of Cebuano, Waray or Hiligaynon would sometimes find it difficult to understand Masbatenyo because of its lexicon. Furthermore, Zorc [9] considered Masbatenyo, together with Kinaray-a, Bulalakaw, Hiligayon, Waray, and Surigaonon, as "linking dialects" because they serve as "centers of dialect complexes".

McFarland[10] presented different views on the classification of the language spoken in Masbate. One view excluded Masbate and the southern part of Sorsogon from the Bikol area on the grounds that the language spoken in these areas was not Bikol. The other view considered the language as dialect of Bikol.

Other claim on the language of Masbate was that 'the language and dialects of Masbate are basically Visayan, with the major influence being Cebuano.' Zorc[9] made a subgrouping and reconstruction of the Bisayan dialects and included Masbatenyo in his work. He stated that while it is true that there are immigrants from the areas that speak Bikol, Cebuano and Hiligaynon languages, the "native dialect" throughout the island is Masbatenyo.

Zorc[9] presented four types of intelligibility among the Bisayan languages and dialects: a) natural or primary intelligibility, where speakers of different dialects can communicate freely, even they never hear the other dialect before (e.g. Bulalakawnon and Ratagnon, Capiznon and Hiligaynon); b) learned or secondary intelligibility, where speakers can adjust to another dialect in a matter of time (e.g. Bulalakawnon and Aklanon); c) sesquilingualism, whereby a speaker is fluent in his native language (dialect), but can only understand (not speak) another (Waray and Cebuano, where speakers of both languages can understand both perfectly but speakers of Cebuano understand Waray poorly); and d) one-way intelligibility, whereby A understands B but B does not understand A.

Masbatenyo speakers in the town of Masbate belong to the fourth kind. The residents of the town can readily understand the speech of the outsiders but the outsiders cannot understand the speech of the local residents. Speakers can understand Sorsoganon, Capiznon, Hiligaynon, and Cebuano but the latter experience varying degrees of difficulty in understanding Masbatenyo.[9]

Regarding the duration of the Bisayan occupancy of the Central Philippines, Zorc reported that there are no pre-Hispanic writings that would account for their existence in the area. Zorc[9] stipulated that current speakers of many of the Bisayan languages and dialects could have given up their original languages long ago in favor of an intrusive or more prestigious language, or in favor of the language already spoken in the region that they invaded and conquered.

In 2016, researchers from the Dr. Emilio B. Espinosa Sr. Memorial State College of Agriculture and Technology (DEBESMSCAT) together with the members of newly established Minasbate Language Society, composed of various stakeholders from Masbate, developed a working orthography on the language based on the discussions in the 1st Minasbate Orthography Congress.

The Minasbate Working Orthography[11] distinguishes between the native Minasbate orthography and the extended working orthography.

A. Native Minasbaté Orthography

1. The following symbols are used in the native Minasbaté orthography:

   Aa, Bb, Dd, Gg, Hh, Ii, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, NGng, Pp, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Ww, Yy, ` (for glottal stop)

2. Minasbaté has three phonemic vowels (V): Aa, Ii, Uu and 16 consonants (C): Bb, Dd, Gg, Hh, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, NGng, Pp, Rr, Ss, Tt, Ww, Yy, ` (for glottal stop).
3. The glottal stop is a distinct consonant sound in Minasbaté and part of its alphabet. The grave accent ( ` ) will be used to represent the glottal stop.
   • The glottal stop may occur between a C and V, e.g pus`on, bag`o
   • It may also occur in the final position of the word, e.g. túro`, pakó`
   • The glottal may also occur between two V, e.g. ti`il, di`in, gu`ol,
   • The glottal stop is also the obligatory onset of the written syllable that begins with a vowel. It will be symbolized when the word begins with a vowel, e.g. `adlaw, `ako, `amó`
4. The syllable pattern of Minasbaté words is CV and CVC, e.g. ba.láy = CV.CVC.
   • All Cs can occur in the beginning of a word (onset) or ending (coda). Examples: pahá` 'thirsty,' dakóp 'to catch'
   • All Vs are used to form a syllable nucleus. Examples:ba.láy, `a.kó
5. In writing stress or accent, the acute accent ( ' ) above the V is used, e.g. buháy, 'alive', dakó`, 'big', ribók 'noise'.
   • A stressed non-final syllable is usually lengthened. For example, in the case of búhay 'life' vs buháy 'alive', the syllable bú in 'life' is longer than the syllable bu in 'alive'.
   • It is possible to have more than one stress in a word, e.g. hámabáw, `ámamáknit.
   • The stress is symbolized by the acute accent ( ' ) if it falls on the last syllable, e.g. hubág, sulód. The stress may not be symbolized if it falls on the penultimate syllable, e.g. gab`i 'night', kiray 'eyebrow'.

B. Extended Orthography

The inclusion of borrowed terms in native Minasbaté vocabulary has resulted in the change in the structure of the language. There is a need to develop an extended orthography to accommodate these words.

1. The extended orthography will consist of the following:

   Aa "ey", Bb "bi", Cc "si", Dd "di", Ee "I", Ff "ef", Gg "ji", Hh "eych", Ii "ay", Jj "jey", Kk "key", Ll "el", Mm "em", Nn "en", Ññ "enye", NGng "en ji", Oo "o", Pp "pi", Qq "kyu", Rr "ar", Ss "es", Tt "ti", Uu "yu", Vv "vi", Ww "dobol yu", Xx "eks", Yy "way", Zz "zi", ` (for glottal stop)

2. All Minasbaté words (native and borrowed) use a, i, e, o and u. The "i" and "e" are indistinct and alternate in written native words and so are/do "o" and "u." The alternation rules are explained below. The "i" and "e" are distinct in borrowed words (e.g. misa vs. mesa).
3. The use of the back vowels "u" and "o":
   • If the word has only one back vowel sound that occurs in the ultimate position, o is used. Examples: pitó, lisód, li`og, didto, `amó, itóm, nano, ka`aralo. Exceptions: kun
   • If the word has more than two back vowels, u is used in the second or third to the last syllable and o is used in the final syllable. Examples: kudkód, bukbók, gu`ól, pumuluyo`, burubaruto, `uru`adlaw, alu`alo, tudló`, katuninungan
   • O in borrowed words is retained in writing. Example: ospital, obra, oro
4. The use of front vowels "i" and "e":
   • All Minasbaté words with an "i" sound will be written as i. Examples: kilmi`, di`ín, didí, silhig, `ikog, tindog, `iní, sin
   • e in borrowed words will be retained in writing. Examples: eroplano, ahente, karné, `onse, dose, nwebe, kwento; i will be used to represent the front vowel ("i") that is added in the original form of borrowed words. Examples: `istorya for storia, `isponsor for sponsor, `ismagol for smuggle
5. The hyphen will be used in the following instances:
   • Reduplication of full words, e.g. tawu-tawo 'toy', balay-balay 'little house', kalan-kalan 'improvised stove'
   • Compound words, e.g. tagúm-matá 'conjunctivitis', supa`-tulon 'very easy', atras-abante 'indecisive'
   • Affixation of borrowed words that are proper names, e.g. pa-LBC, pa-Manila
   • Time expressions, e.g. `alas-dose, `ala-una, `alas-diye
6. The hyphen will be used in the following instances:
   • Partial reduplication of the word, e.g. burubaruto, not *buru-baruto; burubugsay, not *buru-bugsay
   • Affixation of native root words, e.g. ginaka`on, not *gina-kaun; ginsusog, not *gin-susog
   • Affixation of borrowed verbs and nouns, e.g. magtext, not *mag-text; pamerkado, not *pamerkado
   • Linkers, duha ka bilog, not duha ka-bilog.
7. In writing borrowed words, the equivalent sounds in the native Minasbaté will be used to represent the borrowed sounds. The following symbols are used to represent the borrowed sounds:

8. Consonant clusters exist in both native and borrowed words in Minasbaté.

• In representing the off-glides or the sequence of u and w, and i and y, the vowels are dropped and the w and y are used, e.g. pwede instead of puwede, sya instead of siya, kwento instead of kuwento.

9. The apostrophe symbol ( ' ) is used in contracted words. The particles san and sin are often contracted to the immediately preceding word if it ends in either a glottal or vowel sound. The unstressed vowel can also be deleted in fast speech.

Examples:

Masbatenyo has 19 segmental phonemes: 16 consonant sounds /p, t, k, b, d, g, m, n, ŋ, l, r, w, j, s, h, ʔ/ and three vowel sounds /a, ɪ, ʊ/. Post-alveolar sounds /ʃ, tʃ, dʒ/ are also present as a result of loanwords. /ɪ/ has the mid front unrounded, lax vowel [ɛ] (written orthographically as e) as its variant; /ʊ/ has the mid back rounded lax [ɔ] (written orthographically as o) as its variant. The sound [ɛ] only appears in loan words from English and Spanish and occurs in free variation with [ɪ]. Similarly, the sound [ɔ] is a variant of [ʊ] and its occurrence might have been brought by the interaction with the Tagalog language and the incorporation of Spanish and English loan words in Masbatenyo language.[3]

The glottal stop /ʔ/ is the conventional onset of the orthographically vowel-initial words, thus vowels cannot occur in initial position. They only occur in medial and final position.[7][3]

There are two major syllable patterns in Masbatenyo, namely, open syllable /C(C)V, (C(C)VC)/ and closed syllable /CVC/. Most root words in Masbatenyo are disyllabic (they are composed of two syllables) and follows the CV(C).CV(C) pattern. There are monosyllabic words; however, most of them are functors that have no lexical meaning. Most of the disyllabic words contain an affix, reduplicated or compound.

Masbatenyo also has a suprasegmental phoneme, the stress, which is characterized by vowel length. The acoustic analysis of stress correlates using Praat showed that duration is the most consistent factor that characterizes stress. Stressed syllables are longer than their unstressed counterparts.[3]

The diphthongs in Masbatenyo are: [aw] in sabaw 'soup', [ɪw] in agiw 'soot', [aj] in balay 'house', and [ʊj] or [ɔj] in baboy 'pig'.

Consonant clusters are non-native to Masbatenyo phonology. Their occurrence in the language is brought by the entry of borrowed words from Spanish and English.

The form of a morpheme can changed when they are combined to form words or phrases. Such changes are called mophophonemic changes. Among these changes are: vowel deletion; contraction of particles san and sin, assimilation, metathesis, epenthesis and degemination.[3][7]

Pulong Ko Yadto[15]

Pulong ko yadto mato-od kag tunay
An imo sa akon tuga na pagmahal
Nano an nangyari kay imo guin bayaan
Mga pangako mo san nag-agi na adlaw
Mili kay sugad an akon kamotangan
Imo guin bayaan, imo guin bayaan
Nagtios sin labi na kasakitan
Kay gusto mo ada na ako mamatay
Kon dili pa lamang an akon paglaom
Sa imo binilin na mga surmaton
Di kunta nagios inin tagipusu-on
Di kunta nasayang inin lawas nakon.

• https://masbatenyo.webonary.org/ – Dictionary by SIL