Cebuano, also known as Sugbuanon, is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines by about 18,000,000 people and is a subgroup or member of Bisaya, Visayan and Binisayâ. The name came from the Philippine island of Cebu, with the Spanish suffix -ano meaning native, of a place, added at the end. Cebuano is given the ISO 639-2 three letter code ceb, but has no ISO 639-1 two letter code. The Austronesian languages are a family of languages widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia. ... Cebu is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. ... ISO 639 is one of several international standards that lists short codes for language names. ... ISO 639 is one of several international standards that lists short codes for language names. ...

Cebuano is a member of the Visayan language family. The Visayan languages of the Philippines, along with Tagalog and Bikol, are part of the Central Philippine language family. ...

ISO 639 is one of several international standards that lists short codes for language names. ... SIL International is a non-profit, Christian, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ... This list of languages is alphabetical by English name. ...

Geographic distribution

Cebuano is spoken natively by the inhabitants of Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental and the people in western Leyte province and northern Mindanao. It is also spoken in a few towns and islands in Samar. Until the 1980's, Cebuano surpassed Tagalog in terms of number of native speakers. Some dialects of Cebuano give different names to their languages. Residents of Bohol may refer to their language as Bol-anon while Cebuano-speakers in Leyte may call their dialect Kana. Cebuano is a language with Verb Subject Object sentence order. It uses prepositions rather than postpositions. Nouns come after adjectives, but before genitives or relative phrases. Cebu is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. ... Bohol is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. ... Negros Oriental is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. ... This article is about the province. ... Map of the Philippines showing the island groups of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. ... Verb Subject Object—commonly used in its abbreviated form VSO—is a term in linguistic typology. ... In grammar, a preposition is a type of adposition, a grammatical particle that establishes a relationship between an object (usually a noun phrase) and some other part of the sentence, often expressing a location in place or time. ... A postposition is a type of adposition, a grammatical particle that expresses some sort of relationship between a noun phrase (its object) and another part of the sentence; an adpositional phrase functions as an adjective or adverb. ...

Sounds

Cebuano has sixteen consonants: p, t, k, ? (the glottal stop), b, d, g, m, n, ng, s, h, w, l, r and y. There are three vowels: i, a, and u/o. The vowels u and o are allophones, with u always being used when it is the beginning of a syllable, and o always used when it ends a syllable. Accent is also a distinguisher of words, so that dápit means "to invite", while dapít means "place".

Grammar

Pronouns

Nouns in Cebuano are inflected for person, number, and case, with inclusive and exclusive "we" distinguished. The four cases are nominative, preposed genitive, postposed genitive, and oblique.

Vocabulary and borrowed words

Cebuano has long borrowed words from Spanish, such as krus [cruz] (cross) and brilyante [brillante] (brilliant). It has several hundred loan words from English as well, which are altered to conform to the limited phonemic inventory of Cebuano: brislit (bracelet), hayskul (high school), syapin (shopping), dikstrus (dextrose), sipir (zipper), bigsyat (big shot), or prayd tsikin (fried chicken).

The clamor for recognition of Cebuano

The use of Tagalog language as a basis for Pilipino drew criticism from other Philippine linguistic groups. To some extent, there was active resistance shown against its usage. For instance, in the eighties, after an attempt by the Central Government to enforce the use of Tagalog as the language of instruction in all public schools, the governor of Cebu initiated the singing of the Philippine national anthem in Cebuano rather that in Pilipino (Tagalog) in the island province of Cebu. This resistance was not intended to undermine the country's national unity. On the part of the Cebuanos, it was mostly a protest against "imperial Manila" and a clamor for linguistic and regional recognition. Tagálog is one of the major languages of the Republic of the Philippines. ... Cebu is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. ...

The Cebuano desire for special recognition finds support from the following arguments:

1. Historically, Cebu is the first and oldest City in the Philippines. Long before Manila fell into the hands of the Spanish Conquerors in the 16th century, Cebu was already an established trading and military post for the Spaniards. It was the ancient trading hub with the Arabs and the Chinese. It was the first city established by Legaspi.
2. Linguistically, Cebuano is recently, the country's second most widely used language. During the independence, it was the first largest linguistic group. Cebuano, though originally spoken only in the island of Cebu, is now being spoken in many parts of Mindanao, the eastern part of Negros island, and Bohol.
3. Strategically and commercially, due to its geographical location, Cebu is the alternate gateway to Manila adding significance to its language. Cebuano is the native language of more regions than Tagalog, being the language with the most native speakers in Region VII (Central Visayas), Region IX (Zamboanga Peninsula), Region X (Northern Mindanao), Region XI (Davao Region), Caraga Region, and Region XII (SOCCSKSARGEN). There are also significant number of speakers in Region VI (Western Visayas, mostly in San Carlos City and neighboring areas) and Region VIII (Eastern Visayas, mostly in western Leyte and Southern Leyte). By comparison, Tagalog is the language of the majority in the NCR, Region IV-A, Region IV-B, and Region III (Central Luzon, where Kapampangan and Ilocano also dominate some areas).
4. Politically, since the colonial days of the Spanish and Americans, the Cebuanos have always resented "arrogance" from Manila. In the Marcos years, Cebu, with the exception of Durano-held Danao, was regarded as a staunch center of opposition.

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES City of Cebu Region: Central Visayas (Region VII) Province: Cebu (capital) Dates: Founded—April 28, 1595 Cityhood—February 24, 1937 Population: 2000 census—718,821 Density—2565. ... Map of the Philippines showing the island groups of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. ... Negros is an island of the Philippines located in the Visayas. ... Bohol is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region. ... Central Visayas, one of the regions of the Philippines, is designated as Region VII. It is part of the Visayas. ... Zamboanga Peninsula is both a peninsula and an administrative region on that peninsula in the Philippines. ... Designated as Region X of the Philippines, Northern Mindanao (Hilagang Mindanao) is composed of five provinces and eight cities, namely: Misamis Oriental (Gingoog City and Cagayan de Oro City), Misamis Occidental (Oroquieta City, Tangub City and Ozamis City), Camiguin, Lanao del Norte (Iligan City), and Bukidnon (Malaybalay City and Valencia... Davao Region, designated as Region XI, is one of the regions of the Philippines, located on the southeastern portion of Mindanao. ... SOCCSKSARGEN is a region of the Philippines, located in central Mindanao, and is officially designated as Region XII. The name is an acronym that stands for the regions four provinces and one of its cities: South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos City. ... Western Visayas one of the regions of the Philippines, is designated as Region VI. It consists of six provinces, namely, Aklan, Antique, Negros Occidental, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo and 17 cities making it the region with the most number of cities. ... San Carlos City is a 1st class city in the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. ... Eastern Visayas Eastern Visayas, one of the regions of the Philippines, is designated as Region VIII. It consists of six provinces, namely, Biliran, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar (Western Samar) and Southern Leyte. ... This article is about the island. ... Southern Leyte is a province of the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. ... Central Luzon region contains the largest plain of the Philippines and produces most of the countrys rice supply. ... Kapampangan is one of the thirteen major languages of the Philippines. ... Ilokano (variants: Ilocano, Iluko, and Iloco) is the third most-spoken language of the Republic of the Philippines Being an Austronesian language, it is related to Indonesian, Malay, Fijian, Maori (of New Zealand), Hawaiian, Malagasy (of Madagascar), Samoan, Tahitian, Chamorro (of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands), Tetum (of East...

Cebuano words and phrases

Numbers

• 1 usá
• 2 duhá
• 3 tulú
• 4 upát
• 5 limá
• 6 unúm
• 7 pitú
• 8 walú
• 9 siyám
• 10 napúlu
• 11 napúlu'g usá
• 11 onse (Spanish is frequently used for numbers above 10)
• 20 kawhaan
• 30 katloan
• 40 kap-atan/kap'atan
• 50 kalimaan/kalim'an
• 60 kaunuman/kan'uman
• 70 kapituan
• 80 kawaloan
• 90 kasiyaman
• 100 usá ka gatos
• 1,000 usá ka libo
• 1,000,000 usa ka libo ka libo/ usa ka milyon

Common expressions

• May I ask a question? Mahimo bang mangutana? Puwede 'ko mangutana?
• How are you? Kumusta ka?
• Good day! Maayong adlaw!
• Good Morning! Maayong buntag!
• Good Nonn! Maayong udto!
• Good Afternoon! Maayong hapon!
• Good Evening! Maayong gabi-i!
• Where do you live? Asa ka nagpuyô?
• Where are you from? Taga-asa ka?
• Where are you going? Asa ka padulong?
• Where is the bathroom? Asa man ang CR(banyo)?
• Where is your bathroom? Asa man ang CR(banyo) 'ninyo?
• What is your name? Unsay ngalan nimo?
• Where is the market? Asa man ang tiyangge?
• I would like to buy that. Gusto ko mopalit ana.
• I would like two of those. Gusto ko ug duha ana.
• Hello, my name is John Kumusta, John akong ngalan., or coloquially, "Ako si John"
• Shut up " Hilom!"
• Help! Tabang!
• Wait a minute "Kadiyot lang"
• What time is it? "Unsa na orasa?"
• I love you "Gihigugma ko ikaw"
• Take care Pag-amping!

See also

• Visayan languages
• Languages of the Philippines
• Tagalog language

The Visayan languages of the Philippines, along with Tagalog and Bikol, are part of the Central Philippine language family. ... There are over 170 languages of the Philippines; almost all of them belong to the Austronesian language family. ... Tagalog (pronunciation: ) is one of the major languages of the Republic of the Philippines. ...

External links

Cebuano language edition of Wikipedia

• BISAYA-Lunsayng Binisaya
• Ethnologue report for Cebuano
• Cebuano - English Dictionary: from Webster's Online Dictionary - the Rosetta Edition.
• Sun Star Cebu News
• Richard Tschumpel's German-Tagalog-Cebuano-English Dictionary
• Mga Panid sa Kagawasan(Cebuano Writings)
• Some Miscellaneous Cebuano Resources
• A short list of popular Cebuano words
• Another short list of popular Cebuano words and phrases
• Links to various free Bibles (ebook and otherwise) published in Cebuano
• Learning Conversational Cebuano