Hiligaynon language

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") in Iloilo, Panay, whom Spanish explorer Miguel de Loarca called Yligueynes (or the more popular term Hiligaynon, also referred to by the Karay-a people as Siná).

The term Hiligaynon comes from the root word ilig ('to go downstream'), referring to a flowing river in Iloilo. 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. Standard Hiligaynon 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. In contrast, Standard Hiligaynon more commonly uses dayán, a term that is rarely or never used by other dialects of the language anymore. 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 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 (which incorporated some Cebuano and other languages due to the mass influx of migrants from Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor and Cebuano-speaking parts of Mindanao reside in the Soccsksargen area).

Some native speakers also consider Kinaray-a (also known as Hiniraya or Antiqueño) and Capiznon dialects of Hiligaynon. However, linguists have classified Kinaray-a as a Western Bisayan language, while Capiznon is a Central Bisayan language closely related to Hiligaynon.

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 exists an officially recognized standard orthography for the language, which was standardized in 2022 and is based on the current orthographic rules of Filipino.

A noticeable feature of the formerly used Spanish-influenced orthography absent in those writing following Filipino's orthography is the use of "c" and "qu" in representing (now replaced with "k" in all instances) and the absence of the letter "w" ("u" was formerly used in certain instances).

The core alphabet consists of 20 letters used for expressing consonants and vowels in Hiligaynon, each of which comes in an uppercase and lowercase variety.

Alphabet

Formerly, the letter K was sorted between B and D, as in the Abakada alphabet.

Additional letters for foreign words are shown in the official orthography in a separate table:

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 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 and , 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 as opposed to .

The diacritical marks are also sometimes used, in the same way as in the Filipino orthography.

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 fewer 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.

Personal pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns

In addition to this, there are two verbal deictics, karí, meaning 'to come to the 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 Leni ay maganda (Tagalog)

Si Leni matahum / Gwapa si Leni (Hiligaynon) = 'Leni is beautiful.'

'Leni 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:

May

EXIST

idô

dog

(a)ko

1SG

I have a dog.

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, '(the) good morning', and maayong aga, the greeting for 'good morning'.

The linker ka is used if a number modifies a noun.

Example:

Anum ka ido
'six dogs'

Interrogative pronouns

The interrogative pronouns 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 about 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, meaning '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:

1. The man is stealing rice from the market for his sister.
2. The man is stealing rice from the market for his sister.
3. The man is stealing rice from the market for his sister.
4. The man is stealing rice from the market for his sister.

Furthermore, active and passive grammatical constructions can be used in English to place focus on the actor or object as the subject:

The man stole the rice. vs. The rice was stolen by the man.

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:

1. Nagakawat ang lalaki sang bugas sa tinda para sa iya utod.
2. Ginakawat sang lalaki ang bugas sa tinda para sa iya utod.
3. Ginakawatan sang lalaki sang bugas ang tinda para sa iya utod.
4. Ginakawatan sang lalaki sang bugas sa tinda para sa iya utod.

(lalaki 'man'; kawat 'to steal'; bugas 'rice'; tinda 'market'; utod 'sibling'; kamot 'hand')

Summary table

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.

(1)

balay-bálay

house-house

toy-house, playhouse

(2)

maestra-maestra

teacher-teacher

make-believe teacher

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).

(3)

Nag-a-

NAG-IMP-

hìbî-híbî

cry-cry

ang

FOC

bátâ.

child

The child has been crying and crying.

(4)

Nag-a-

NAG-IMP-

tinlò-tinlò

clean-clean

akó

1SG.FOC

sang

UNFOC

lamésa

table

I'm just cleaning off the table (casually).

(5)

Nag-a-

NAG-IMP-

kàon-káon

eat-eat

lang

just

silá

3PL.FOC

sang

UNFOC

nag-abót

NAG-arrive

ang

FOC

íla

3PL.UNFOC

bisíta.

visitor

They were just eating when their visitor arrived.

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). 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.

(6)

Iní

this.FOC

nga

LINK

kwárto

room

ma-dulùm-dulúm

MA-dark-dark

sang

UNFOC

sa

OBL

sinâ

that.UNFOC

This room is darker than that one.

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

Numbers

Just like other Philippine languages that are influenced by Spanish, Hiligaynon uses 2 systems of numbers, one from its Austronesian roots and one derived from Spanish.

filipino

Days of the week

The names of the days of the week are derived from their Spanish equivalents.

Months of the year

Quick phrases

Greetings

This/that/what

Space and time

Ancient times of the day

When buying

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:

1. Believe in God and worship only him
2. Do not use the name of God without purpose
3. Honor the day of the Lord
4. Honor your father and mother
5. Do not kill
6. Do not pretend to be married against virginity (don't commit adultery)
7. Do not steal
8. Do not lie
9. Do not have desire for the wife of your fellow man
10. Do not covet the riches of your fellow man

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Ang Kalibutánon nga Pahayag sang mga Kinamaatárung sang Katáwhan)

Ang tanán nga táwo ginbún-ag nga hílway kag may pag-alalangay sa dungóg kag kinamatárong.
Silá ginhatágan sing pagpamat-ud kag balatyágon kag nagakadápat nga magbinuligáy sa kahulugan sang pag-inuturáy.

Translation:

Every person is born free and equal with honor and rights.
They are given reason and conscience and they must always trust each other for the spirit of brotherhood.

Notable Hiligaynon writers

• Peter Solis Nery (born 1969) – prolific writer, poet, playwright, novelist, editor, "Hari sang Binalaybay", and champion of the Hiligaynon language. Born in Dumangas.
• Antonio Ledesma Jayme (1854–1937) – lawyer, revolutionary, provincial governor and assemblyman. Born in Jaro, lived in Bacolod.
• Graciano López Jaena (1856–1896) – journalist, orator, and revolutionary from Iloilo, well known for his written works, La Solidaridad and Fray Botod. Born in Jaro.
• Flavio Zaragoza y Cano (1892–1994) – lawyer, journalist and the "Prince of Visayan poets". Born in Janipaan, Cabatuan.
• Conrado Saquian Norada (born 1921) – lawyer, intelligence officer and governor of Iloilo from 1969 to 1986. Co-founder and editor of Yuhum magazine. Born in Miag-ao.
• Ramon Muzones (1913–1992) – prolific writer and lawyer, recipient of the National Artist of the Philippines for Literature award. Born in Miag-ao.
• Magdalena Jalandoni (1891–1978) – prolific writer, novelist and feminist. Born in Jaro.
• Angel Magahum Sr. (1876–1931) – writer, editor and composer. Composed the classic Iloilo ang Banwa Ko, the unofficial song of Iloilo. Born in Molo.
• Valente Cristobal (1875–1945) – noted Hiligaynon playwright. Born in Polo (now Valenzuela City), Bulacan.
• Elizabeth Batiduan Navarro – Hiligaynon drama writer for radio programs of Bombo Radyo Philippines.
• Genevieve L. Asenjo – Filipino poet, novelist, translator and literary scholar in Kinaray-a, Hiligaynon and Filipino. Her first novel, Lumbay ng Dila, (C&E/DLSU, 2010) received a citation for the Juan C. Laya Prize for Excellence in Fiction in a Philippine Language in the National Book Award.