Subanen languages

Subanen
Subanen
Subanon, Subanun
Kalibugan, Kolibugan
Region	Western Mindanao
Native speakers	(400,000 cited 1978–2011)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Greater Central Philippine Subanen; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously:; syb – Central; stb – Northern; suc – Western; skn – Kolibugan; laa – Southern; sfe – Eastern
Glottolog	suba1253

The Subanen language (also Subanon and Subanun) is an Austronesian language belonging to the Greater Central Philippine languages. It is typically considered by linguists as a dialect cluster more than a monolithic language. Subanon is 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 Subanon community in Misamis Oriental. Most go by the name of Subanen, Subanon or Subanun, while those who adhere to Islam refer to themselves as Kalibugan.

Internal classification

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

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 is also notable for having completely lost Proto-Greater Central Philippine *h.

Lobel (2013) also provides a reconstruction of Proto-Subanen.

Phonology

Western Subanon has 15 native consonants. There is no phonemic contrast between velar and uvular consonants.^[2]

Western Subanon Consonants

**Consonant phonemes**
	Bilabial		Alveolar			Velar/ Uvular			Glottal
Plosive	p	b	t	d		k~q	g~ɢ		ʔ
Fricative			s						h
Nasal		m		n			ŋ
Approximant					j			w
Lateral approximant				l

Western Subanon Vowels

Western Subanon has 5 vowels.^[2]

Monophthongs

Monophthongs
	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

Diphthongs

The diphthongs of Western Subanon are /au/, /ua/, /io/, /oi/, /ai/, and /ia/.

Example

The chorus of the Western Subanon song Momula ita 'Let’s plant' is shown.^[2]

Gumani ita
We will harvest (or, Let’s harvest)
Gumani ita
We will harvest
Landu’ da’da’an ta
Great is our rejoicing
Po’ gumani ita
Because we will harvest
Gumani ita
We will harvest
Gumani ita
We will harvest
Di’ na mobon sinsaan ta
Our suffering will not last long
Gumani ita
We will harvest

References

^ Central at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Northern at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Western at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Kolibugan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Southern at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Eastern at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ ^a ^b ^c Estioca, Sharon Joy. "Subanon (Spring 2015)". Language Documentation Training Center. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Retrieved 2 September 2017.

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.

External links

Audio recordings of Subanon are archived with Kaipuleohone, including a word list, sentences, and a traditional song

This Austronesian languages-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[e18-1] Central at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Northern at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Western at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Kolibugan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Southern at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Eastern at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[LDTC-2] Estioca, Sharon Joy. "Subanon (Spring 2015)". Language Documentation Training Center. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Retrieved 2 September 2017.

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