bisaya kong dako!

relaxing in between war breaks, i happen to pass by gwapito.com and was very impressed by his efforts to spread bisaya – the language of central and most of southern philippines. you see, more people consider bisaya as their mother tongue though everybody understands tagalog. before i go further let me define some words here.

filipino
-the austronesian language that is based on tagalog, draws its lexicon from other philippine languages, and is the official language of the philippines.(may also refer to the native of the country)
tagalog
-the austronesian language of the tagalog on which filipino is based.
bisaya/binisaya
-a member of the largest ethnic group indigenous to the philippines, found in the visayan islands.
-the austronesian language of the visayans.

based on the above definitions, our official language is predominantly tagalog. i can’t make a statement though, as to why tagalog was declared the wikang pambansa back 1939(or 1937?) by pres. manuel quezon, other than he is also tagalog himself. (no discrimination here) based on the map below(by wikipedia) bisaya and its dialects are widely spoken in the philippines a compared to tagalog. since the declaration is already done centuries ago and all schools are using filipino/tagalog as one of the two media of instruction(the other one is english), us visayan bloggers will be spreading our language through our blogs.

katagalugan

kabisaya-an(kabisay-an)

bisaya/binisaya is actually made up of several dialects with cebuano being widely spoken. other's include boholano, surigaonon, waray-waray, masbatenyo, ilonggo and other dialects.

so, let's start. we will use cebuano here in my blog. here are some common words/phrases from gwapito.com:

Everyday Conversation
English – Cebuano
Good day – Maayong adlaw
Good morning – Maayong buntag
Good noon – Maayong udto
Good afternoon – Maayong hapon
Good evening/night – Maayong gabii
Thank you – Salamat; salamat sa imo, salamat nimo
Thank you very much – Daghan kaayong salamat; salamat kayo
You are welcome – Wala’y sapayan
Please – Palihug
Come in – Dayon
Welcome – Maayong pag-abot
Excuse – Tabi
I am sorry – Gikasubo nako(expressing regret), Pasayloa ko(as an apology)
At once – Karon dayon
Later on – Taod-taod
By and by – Unya
Who – Kinsa
What – Unsa
Where – Asa
When – Kanus-a
What else – Unsa pa
Who else – Kinsa pa
Where else – Asa pa, Hain pa

i have also made a list of words in english-tagalog-bisaya translation below.

body parts:
english - tagalog - bisaya
head - ulo - ulo
hair - buhok - buhok
forehead - no'o - agtang
ear - tenga - dalunggan
eyebrow - kilay - kilay
eyelash - pilik'mata - pilok
eye - mata - mata
nose - ilong - ilong
cheek - pisngi - aping
lip - labi - wa'it
mouth - bibig - ba'ba'
teeth - ngipin - ngipon
tongue - dila - dila
chin - baba' - suwang
neck - le'eg - li'og
nape - batok - tangkugo
shoulder - balikat - abaga
arm - braso - braso
elbow - siko - siko
hand - kamay - kamot
finger - daliri - tudlo
nail - kuko' - kuko'
palm - palad - palad
chest - dibdib - dughan
breast - suso - totoy
rib - ??? - gusok(help on this please hehe)
tummy - tiyan - tiyan
belly button - pusod - pusod
hip - bewang - hawak
genital(both) - ari' - kinataw
butt - puwet - lubot
thigh - binti - paa'
knee - tuhod - tuhod
calf - ??? - bagtak(help on this please hehe)
ankle - sakong - tikod
leg/foot - pa'a - ti'il
sole - talampakan - lapa'lapa'

some tagalog and bisaya words are actually the same but i can't conclude that bisaya descended from tagalog or vice versa. i'm sure of one thing though, the malay-speaking balangay communities had most of their settlements in central philippines and most of our languages are from those natives.

i am not proposing that bisaya shall be our wikang pambansa(national language). gwapito.com and i are aiming for education, awareness , to lessen discrimination and to celebrate our ethnicity and comments are welcome.

more word translations will follow soon or you can read a blog of pure bisaya here.

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fairygodflower says: and a little game here for non-visayan speakers. para nman hindi boring ung post ever! cge mare, simulan mo na...

bitchywitch says: sa mga wa-ing alam sa bisaya i-translate ang sumusunod at ilagay sa comment. cge go:

(1)"taste me!"
(2)"try me"
(3)"bitch"[not the female dog]
(4)"i like your pants"
(5)"are you gay?"
(6)"bisaya kong dako"

Language is a social art.
-Willard Van Orman Quine