Waray language

Waray
Waray
Waray-Waray, Samar-Leyte Visayan
Winaray, Samareño, Lineyte-Samarnon, Binisaya nga Winaray, Binisaya nga Samar-Leyte
Native to	Philippines
Region	Eastern Visayas (entire Samar island, northeastern portions of Leyte province, some parts of Southern Leyte province, and eastern parts of Biliran), some parts of Masbate (municipalities of Cataingan, Palanas and Dimasalang) and some parts of the southern tip of Sorsogon
Ethnicity	Waray people
Native speakers	3.4 million (2015); 5th most spoken native language in the Philippines
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Central Philippine Visayan Central Visayan Waray; ; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	Standard Waray (Tacloban dialect), Northern Samar dialect, Calbayog dialect, Culaba-Biliran dialect, Abuyog dialect and other 20 identified dialects and subdialects
Writing system	Latin;; Historically Badlit
Official status
Official language in	Regional language in the Philippines
Regulated by	Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino; Historically regulated by the Sanghiran san Binisaya ha Samar ug Leyte
Language codes
ISO 639-2	war
ISO 639-3	war
Glottolog	wara1300
	Areas where Waray-Waray is spoken
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Waray is the fifth-most-spoken native regional language of the Philippines, specific to the provinces of Samar, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Biliran, and the north-east of Leyte island (surrounding Tacloban). It is the third most spoken language among the Visayan languages after Cebuano and Hiligaynon (Ilonggo). The language name comes from the word often heard by non-speakers, "waray" (meaning "none" or "nothing" in Waray); 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).^{[not verified in body]}

Dialects

Linguist Jason Lobel (2009) considers there are 25 dialects and subdialects of Waray-Waray.^[3]

Tacloban: "standard" dialect: the dialect used in television and radio broadcasts and in education
Abuyog, Leyte: heavy Cebuano influence
Culaba, Biliran: heavy Cebuano influence
Calbayog: mixture of the Tacloban dialect and the Waray of Northern Samar
Allen, Northern Samar: mostly Southern Sorsoganon mixed with Northern Samarenyo. Dialects in neighboring towns have also borrowed extensively from Southern Sorsoganon.

Waray-Waray is characterized by a unique sound change in which Proto-Bisayan *s becomes /h/ 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 (Lobel 2009).^[3]

Most Waray dialects in northeastern and eastern Samar have the close central unrounded vowel /ɨ/ as a reflex of Proto-Austronesian *e.^[3]

Usage

Waray is one of the 19 officially recognized regional languages in the Philippines and used in local government.^{[citation needed]}

It is widely used in media particularly in television and radio broadcasts. However, print media in this language are rare 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 where pupils from Kinder to Third grade are taught in their respective indigenous languages.

Waray is also used in the Eucharistic celebrations or Holy Masses in the Roman Catholic Church and in the worship services of different Christian sects present in the region. Bibles published in Waray are also available.^{[citation needed]}

Loanwords

The language of Waray has borrowed vocabulary extensively from other languages.^[which?] These words are being adopted to fill lexical gaps of the recipient language. Spanish colonialization introduced new systems to the Philippine society.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ Waray at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Philippine Census, 2000. Table 11. Household Population by Ethnicity, Sex and Region: 2000
^ ^a ^b ^c Lobel, Jason. 2009. Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World, 914-917. Oxford: Elsevier.

External links

Radyo Waraynon – Waraynon Internet Radio Station
Waray Museum Blog featuring Waray literature
Waray lessons
Bansa.org Waray Dictionary
Waray dictionary, literary database & teaching resource
Waray-Waray Dictionary by Andras Rajki – with Bicol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon &c. cognates and some Proto-Malayo-Polynesian etymologies

[e18-1] Waray at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] Philippine Census, 2000. Table 11. Household Population by Ethnicity, Sex and Region: 2000

[Lobel2009-3] Lobel, Jason. 2009. Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World, 914-917. Oxford: Elsevier.

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