Waray language
Austronesian language primarily spoken in the islands of Samar and Eastern Leyte
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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 and their language as Kana (after the oft-heard word kana, meaning 'that' in the Cebuano language). 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".
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Dialects
Linguist Jason Lobel (2009) considers there are 25 dialects and subdialects of Waray-Waray.
- Tacloban: "standard" dialect: the dialect used in television and radio broadcasts and in education
- Abuyog, Leyte: heavy Cebuano influence
- Culaba, Biliran: heavy Cebuano influence
- Catbalogan: "original" dialect: Pure Waray, central part of Samar Island
- Calbayog: mixture of the Tacloban dialect and the dialect of Northern Samar
- Allen, Northern Samar: mostly Waray Sorsoganon mixed with Northern Samarenyo. Dialects in neighboring towns have also borrowed extensively from Waray Sorsoganon.
Many Waray dialects feature a sound change in which Proto-Bisayan *s becomes 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.
Most Waray dialects in northeastern and Eastern Samar have the close central unrounded vowel 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 native 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: , and . Some dialects have an additional vowel ; words with in these dialects have in the majority dialects.
Consonants
Waray has a total of 16 consonant phonemes: . Two extra postalveolar sounds are heard when occurs after , further proceeding another vowel sound.
Alphabet
Waray, like all Philippine languages today, is written using the Latin script. There exists an officially-approved orthography for the language.
The 28-letter Filipino alphabet is used for writing Waray:
The letters ⟨c⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨j⟩, ⟨ñ⟩, ⟨q⟩, ⟨v⟩, ⟨x⟩, and ⟨z⟩ are not used in any native Waray words. Even in loanwords they are usually replaced by other letters (e.g. ⟨k⟩ or ⟨s⟩ for ⟨c⟩, ⟨p⟩ for ⟨f⟩, ⟨dy⟩ or ⟨h⟩ for ⟨j⟩, ⟨ny⟩ for ⟨ñ⟩, ⟨kw⟩ for ⟨qu⟩, ⟨b⟩ for ⟨v⟩, ⟨ks⟩ for ⟨x⟩, and ⟨s⟩ for ⟨z⟩).
The accent marks are used in the same manner as in the Filipino orthography.
Grammar
Case markers
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.
Here are some examples of demonstratives and adverbs together with their equivalent definition in Waray-Waray:
Verbs
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.
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.