Cebuano language

Below is the vowel system of Cebuano with their corresponding letter representation in angular brackets:[14][20][21]

• /a/ an open front unrounded vowel similar to English "father"
• /ɛ/ an open-mid front unrounded vowel similar to English "bed"
• /i/ a close front unrounded vowel similar to English "machine"
• /o/ a close-mid back rounded vowel similar to English "forty"
• /u/ a close back rounded vowel similar to English "flute"

Sometimes, ⟨a⟩ may also be pronounced as the open-mid back unrounded vowel /ʌ/ (as in English "gut"); ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ as the near-close near-front unrounded vowel /ɪ/ (as in English "bit"); and ⟨o⟩ or ⟨u⟩ as the open-mid back rounded vowel /ɔ/ (as in English "thought") or the near-close near-back rounded vowel /ʊ/ (as in English "hook").[14]

During the precolonial and Spanish period, Cebuano had only three vowel phonemes: /a/, /i/ and /u/. This was later expanded to five vowels with the introduction of Spanish. As a consequence, the vowels ⟨o⟩ or ⟨u⟩, as well as ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, are still mostly allophones. They can be freely switched with each other without losing their meaning (free variation); though it may sound strange to a native listener, depending on their dialect. The vowel ⟨a⟩ has no variations, though it can be pronounced subtly differently, as either /a/ or /ʌ/ (and very rarely as /ɔ/ immediately after the consonant /w/). Loanwords, however, are usually more conservative in their orthography and pronunciation (e.g. dyip, "jeepney" from English "jeep", will never be written or spoken as dyep).[14][22]

For Cebuano consonants, all the stops are unaspirated. The velar nasal /ŋ/ occurs in all positions, including at the beginning of a word (e.g. ngano, "why"). The glottal stop /ʔ/ is most commonly encountered in between two vowels, but can also appear in all positions.[14]

Like in Tagalog, glottal stops are usually not indicated in writing. When indicated, it is commonly written as a hyphen or an apostrophe if the glottal stop occurs in the middle of the word (e.g. tu-o or tu'o, "right"). More formally, when it occurs at the end of the word, it is indicated by a circumflex accent if both a stress and a glottal stop occurs at the final vowel (e.g. basâ, "wet"); or a grave accent if the glottal stop occurs at the final vowel, but the stress occurs at the penultimate syllable (e.g. batà, "child").[23][24][25]

Below is a chart of Cebuano consonants with their corresponding letter representation in parentheses:[14][20][21][26]

In certain dialects, /l/ ⟨l⟩ may be interchanged with /w/ ⟨w⟩ in between vowels and vice versa depending on the following conditions:[14]

• If ⟨l⟩ is in between ⟨a⟩ and ⟨u⟩/⟨o⟩, the vowel succeeding ⟨l⟩ is usually (but not always) dropped (e.g. lalom, "deep", becomes lawom or lawm).
• If ⟨l⟩ is in between ⟨u⟩/⟨o⟩ and ⟨a⟩, it is the vowel that is preceding ⟨l⟩ that is instead dropped (e.g. bulan, "moon", becomes buwan or bwan)
• If ⟨l⟩ is in between two like vowels, the ⟨l⟩ may be dropped completely and the vowel lengthened. For example, dala ("bring"), becomes da (/d̪aː/); and tulod ("push") becomes tud (/t̪uːd̪/).[14] Except if the l is in between closed syllables or is in the beginning of the penultimate syllable; in which case, the ⟨l⟩ is dropped along with one of the vowels, and no lengthening occurs. For example, kalatkat, "climb", becomes katkat (/ˈkatkat/ not /ˈkaːtkat/).

A final ⟨l⟩ can also be replaced with ⟨w⟩ in certain areas in Bohol (e.g. tambal, "medicine", becomes tambaw). In very rare cases in Cebu, ⟨l⟩ may also be replaced with ⟨y⟩ in between the vowels ⟨a⟩ and ⟨e⟩/⟨i⟩ (e.g. tingali, "maybe", becomes tingayi).[14]

In some parts of Bohol and Southern Leyte, /j/ ⟨y⟩ is also often replaced with d͡ʒ ⟨j/dy⟩ when it is in the beginning of a syllable (e.g. kalayo, "fire", becomes kalajo). It can also happen even if the ⟨y⟩ is at the final position of the syllable and the word, but only if it is moved to the initial position by the addition of the affix -a. For example, baboy ("pig") can not become baboj, but baboya can become baboja.[14]

All of the above substitutions are considered allophonic and do not change the meaning of the word.[14]

In rarer instances, the consonant ⟨d⟩ might also be replaced with ⟨r⟩ when it is in between two vowels (e.g. Boholano ido for standard Cebuano iro, "dog"), but ⟨d⟩ and ⟨r⟩ are not considered allophones,[14] though they may have been in the past.[27]

Stress accent is phonemic, so that dapít (adverb) means "near to a place," while dāpit (noun) means "place." dū-ol (verb) means "come near," while du-ól (adverb) means "near" or "close by."

The Boholano dialect of Bohol shares many similarities with the southern form of the standard Cebuano dialect. It is also spoken in some parts of Siquijor. Boholano, especially as spoken in central Bohol, can be distinguished from other Cebuano variants by a few phonetic changes:

• The semivowel y is pronounced [dʒ]: iya is pronounced [iˈdʒa];
• Ako is pronounced as [aˈho];
• Intervocalic l is occasionally pronounced as [w] when following u or o: kulang is pronounced as [ˈkuwaŋ] (the same as Metro Cebu dialect).

Southern Kana is a dialect of both southern Leyte and Southern Leyte provinces; it is closest to the Mindanao Cebuano dialect at the southern area and northern Cebu dialect at the northern boundaries. Both North and South Kana are subgroups of Leyteño dialect. Both of these dialects are spoken in western and central Leyte and in the southern province, but the Boholano is more concentrated in Maasin City.

North Kana (found in the northern part of Leyte), is closest to the variety of the language spoken in northern part of Leyte, and shows significant influence from Waray-Waray, quite notably in its pace which speakers from Cebu find very fast, and its more mellow tone (compared to the urban Cebu City dialect, which Kana speakers find "rough"). A distinguishing feature of this dialect is the reduction of /A/ prominent, but an often unnoticed feature of this dialect is the labialisation of /n/ and /ŋ/ into /m/, when these phonemes come before /p/ /b/ and /m/, velarisation of /m/ and /n/ into /ŋ/ before /k/ /ɡ/ and /ŋ/, and the dentalisation of /ŋ/ and /m/ into /n/ before /t/, /d/ and /n/ and sometimes, before vowels and other consonants as well.

This is the variety of Cebuano spoken throughout most of Mindanao and it is the standard dialect of Cebuano in Northern Mindanao.

Local historical sources found in Cagayan de Oro indicates the early presence of Cebuano Visayans in the Misamis-Agusan coastal areas and their contacts with the Lumads and peoples of the Rajahnate of Butuan. Lumads refer to these Visayan groups as "Dumagat" ("people of the sea") as they came in the area seaborne. It became the lingua franca of precolonial Visayan settlers and native Lumads of the area, and particularly of the ancient Rajahnate of Butuan where Butuanon, a Southern Visayan language, was also spoken. Cebuano influence in Lumad languages around the highlands of Misamis Oriental and Bukidnon was furthered with the influx of Cebuano Visayan laborers and conscripts of the Spaniards from Cebuano areas of Visayas (particularly from Bohol) during the colonial period around the present-day region of Northern Mindanao. It has spread west towards the Zamboanga Peninsula, east towards Caraga, and south towards Bukidnon, Cotabato and the Davao Region in the final years of Spanish colonial rule.

Similar to the Sialo dialect of southeastern Cebu, it is distinctive in retaining /l/ sounds, long since considered archaic in Urban Cebuano. For example: bulan instead of buwan ("moon" or "month"), dalunggan instead of dunggan (ear), and halang instead of hang ("spicy").

Due to the influx of migrants (mostly from Western Visayas and Leyte) during the promotion of settlement in the highlands of Central Mindanao in the 1930s, vocabulary from other Visayan languages (predominantly Hiligaynon and Waray-Waray) have also been incorporated into Mindanao Cebuano. For example, the Hiligaynon sábat ("reply") is commonly used alongside Cebuano tubag, bulig alongside tábang ("help"), and Waray lutô alongside kan-on ("cooked rice"). Though, these influences are only limited to the speakers along the port area and Hiligaynon-speaking communities.

A branch of Mindanao Cebuano in Davao is also known as Davaeño (not to be confused with the Davao variant of Chavacano which is called "Castellano Abakay"). Like the Cebuano-speakers of Luzon, it contains some Tagalog vocabulary to a greater extent. Its grammar is similar to other varieties. However, speakers nowadays exhibits stronger Tagalog influence in their speech by substituting most Cebuano words with Tagalog ones. One characteristic is the practice of saying atà, derived from Tagalog yatà to denote uncertainty of a speaker's any aforementioned statements. For instance, "Tuá man atà sa baláy si Manuel" instead of "Tuá man tingáli sa baláy si Manuel". However, the word atà exists in Cebuano though it means 'squid ink' (atà sa nukos).

Other examples include: Nibabâ ko sa jeep sa kanto, tapos niulî ko sa among baláy ("I got off the jeepney at the street corner, and then I went home") instead of Ninaog ko sa jeep sa kanto, dayon niulî ko sa among baláy. The words babâ and naog mean "to disembark" or "to go down", while tapos and dayon mean 'then'; the former is Tagalog, and the latter Cebuano. It also sometimes add some Bagobo and Mansakan vocabulary, like: Madayaw nga adlaw, amigo, kumusta ka? ("Good day, friend, how are you?", literally "Good morning/afternoon") rather than "Maayo nga adlaw, amigo, kamusta ka?" The words madayaw and maayo mean 'good'; the former is Bagobo, and the latter Cebuano.

The Cebuano dialect in Negros is somewhat similar to the Standard Cebuano (spoken by the majority of the provincial areas of Cebu), with distinct Hiligaynon influences. It is distinctive in retaining /l/ sounds and longer word forms as well. It is the primary dialectal language of the entire province of Negros Oriental and northeastern parts of Negros Occidental (while the majority of the latter province and its bordered areas speaks Hiligaynon/Ilonggo), as well as some parts of Siquijor. Examples of Negrense Cebuano's distinction from other Cebuano dialects is the usage of the word maot instead of batî ("ugly"), alálay, kalálag instead of kalag-kalag (Halloween), kabaló/kahíbaló and kaágo/kaántigo instead of kabawó/kahíbawó ("know").

There is no specific Luzon dialect, as speakers of Cebuano in Luzon come from many different regions in Central Visayas and Mindanao. Cebuano-speaking people from Luzon in Visayas can be easily recognized primarily by their vocabulary which incorporates Tagalog words. Their accents and some aspects of grammar can also sometimes exhibit Tagalog influence. The dialect is sometimes colloquially known as "Bisalog" (a portmanteau of Tagalog and Binisaya).

The term saksak sinagol in context means "a collection of miscellaneous things" and literally "inserted mixture", thus those other few Cebuano-influenced regions that have a variety of regional languages uses this term to refer to their dialect with considerable incorporated Cebuano words. Example of these regions are places likes those in Masbate.

Cebuano uses two numeral systems:
The native system (currently) is mostly used in counting the number of things, animate and inanimate, e.g. the number of horses, houses.
The spanish-derived system, on the other hand, is exclusively applied in monetary terminology and is also commonly used in counting from 11 and above.