Subanen languages

The Subanen languages (also Subanon and Subanun) are a group of closely related Austronesian languages belonging to the Greater Central Philippine subgroup.[1]:303 Often described as a single language, they are considered by linguists as a dialect cluster more than a monolithic language. Subanen languages are spoken in various areas of Zamboanga Peninsula namely the provinces of Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur, and in Misamis Occidental of Northern Mindanao. There is also a sizeable Subanen community in Misamis Oriental. Most speakers of Subanen languages go by the name of Subanen, Subanon or Subanun, while those who adhere to Islam refer to themselves as Kalibugan.

Subanen
Geographic
distribution		Western Mindanao, Philippines
Linguistic classificationAustronesian
Subdivisions
  • Central Subanen
  • Eastern Subanen
  • Northern Subanen
  • Southern Subanen
  • Kolibugan Subanon
  • Western Subanon
Glottologsuba1253

Internal classification

Jason Lobel (2013:308) classifies the Subanen varieties as follows.[1]

  • Subanen
    • Western
      • Western Subanon
      • Western Kolibugan
    • Nuclear
      • West Nuclear
        • Tawlet-Kalibugan Subanen
        • Salug-Godod Subanen
      • East Nuclear
        • Southern Subanen
        • Central Subanen
        • Northern Subanen
        • Eastern Subanen

Lobel (2013:308) lists the following innovations among each of the following subgroups.

  • Nuclear Subanen: *k > Ø
  • Western Subanen: *k > /k/
  • East Nuclear Subanen: *r > /l/
  • West Nuclear Subanen: *r > /r/
  • Western Subanen: *r > /l/ (independently took place, likely due to contact with Tausug, Maguindanaon, Butuanon, Cebuano, and/or Ilonggo, which have also undergone the *r > /l/ shift independently of one another)

Proto-Subanen

The following phoneme inventory can be reconstructed for Proto-Subanen:[1][2]

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close *i *u
Mid *ə
Open *a
Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop voiceless *p *t *k *ʔ
voiced *b *d *g
Fricative *s
Nasal *m *n *ŋ
Lateral *l
Approximant *w *y

Proto-Greater Central Philippine *h was lost in all positions in Proto-Subanen, *ʔ is only retained in final position.

References
  1. Lobel, Jason William. 2013. Philippine and North Bornean languages: issues in description, subgrouping, and reconstruction. Ph.D. dissertation. Manoa: University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
  2. Bulalang, Sharon (2018). "Two Patterns of /a/ and /o/ Alternation in Subanon". Oceanic Linguistcs. 57 (2): 289–302. doi:10.1353/ol.2018.0013.
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