Butuanon language

Butuanon is an Austronesian regional language spoken in Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur, with some native speakers in Misamis Oriental and Surigao del Norte. It is a part of the Bisayan language family and is closely related to other Philippine languages. As of 2007, Butuanon is believed to be spoken by fewer than 500 youngsters in Butuan itself.[2]

Butuanon
Native to	Philippines
Native speakers	(35,000 cited 1990 census)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Greater Central Philippine Central Philippine Bisayan Southern Bisayan Butuanon
Language codes
ISO 639-3	btw
Glottolog	butu1244

Butuanon is very closely related to the Tausug language of distant Sulu and the Surigaonon language of neighboring provinces Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte.

Orthography

• a – [a]
• b – [b]
• d – [d]
• g – [g]
• h – [h]
• i – [i]
• k – [k]
• l – [l]
• m – [m]
• n – [n]
• ng – [ŋ]
• ny – [ɲ]
• o – [o]
• p – [p]
• r – [r]
• s – [s]
• t – [t]
• u – [u]
• w – [w]
• y – [j]

Long vowels are written as double letters (e.g. aa, ii, etc.)[3]

References

1. Butuanon at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Cabuang, Fred S. (September 6, 2007). "Saving Butuanon Language". The Manila Times. Archived from the original on 2007-10-15. Retrieved 2010-03-14.
3. "Butuanon Language, Alphabet and Pronunciation". omniglot.com.

Further reading

• Kobari, Yoshihiro (2009). The Current Status of the Butuanon Language and Its Speakers in Northern Mindanao: Findings on Ethnic Identity, Language Attitudes, Language Ability, Language Use, and Language Change (Ph.D. thesis). De La Salle University.
• Kobari, Yoshihiro (2016). "The Game of Naming: A Case of the Butuanon Language and its Speakers in the Philippines" (PDF). Language and Linguistics in Oceania. 8: 1–21.