Philippine Languages and where are they spoken

Otto Scheerer, a professor of German at the University of Philipines was aware of the
diversity of Philippine languages and was inetrested in where they came from and what
languages they were related to. He discussed was the belief that the Philippine languages are
descended from Malay.

The Filipino people have their ancestors in Malays, who came from Southeast Asia, the area
which is now called Indonesia. Filipino language are likely similar to the Indonesian and
Malaysian languages because the languages came from the same parent language. The
Indonesian and Malaysian languages are siblings to Filipino language.

A. LANGUAGE RELATIONSHIPS

In linguistics, the Philippine languages are a proposal by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and
Robert Blust (1991;2005) that all the languages of the Philippines and Northern Sulawesi form a
subfamily of Austronesian Languages.

The Austronesian language is a largest language family in the world, stretches halfway
around the world, covering a wide geographic area from Madagascar to Eastern island, and from
Taiwan and Hawaii to New Zealand. The family includes most of the languages spoken on the
islands of the Pacific with the exception of the Indigenous Papuan and Australian languages. The
Philippine languages belong to the Austronesian Language.

Austronesian language are spoken in Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia,

New Zealand, Philippines, Taiwan, etc. The total number of speakers of Austronesian language is
estimated at 311, 740, 132 with a median of 3, 384 speakers per language (Ethnologue).

The Austronesian language split into two families. The Formosan language and Malayo-
Polynesian language. Formosan is the group of languages found on the island of Taiwan, and
includes 23 languages (SIL 1996). Malayo-Polynesian is split into Central-Eastern and Western
branches. The Central-Eastern contains around 706 languages spoken in Samoa, Fiji, Guam, etc.
The Western include 531 languages spoken in Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, etc.

Below is a list of some of the Austronesian languages with the number of speakers in their
respective branches.

Language No. Of Speakers Where spoken primarily

Western

Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) 23 Million Indonesia

Cebuano 20 Million Philippines

Malay 17.6 Million Malaysia

Tagalog (Pilipino, Filipino) 15.9 Million Philippines

Ilocano 8 Million Philippines

Hiligaynon 7 Million Philippines

Malagasy (Plateau) 6 Million Madagascar

Bicolano (Bikol) 2.5 Million Philippines

Central-Eastern

Samoan 371, 000 Samoa

Fijian 334, 000 Fiji

Tahitian 124, 000 Tahiti

Tongan 105, 000 Tonga

Chamorro 77, 000 Guam

Languages of Malayo-Polynesian origin coexist in the Philippines. The most widely spoken:

Cebuano: Mainly in central Visayas and Mindanao

Ilocano: In Luzon and other islands

Hiligaynon: In Western Visayas

Bicolano: Chiefly in Bikol

C. THE MAJOR LANGUAGES OF THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippines has 8 major dialects and these are: Bikolano, Cebuano, Hiligaynon (Ilonggo),
Ilocano, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Tagalog, and Waray. However, there are articles or lists that
show that Tausug and Meranaw include in the major languages of the Philippines. The language
being taught all over the Philippines is Tagalog and English.

The Cebuano dialect originated in Cebu, which is in the Visayas. However, it spread to
neighboring islands and in the northern and eastern parts of Mindanao. This was probably
facilitated by the American and Spanish policies to christianize Mindanao. Meanwhile, the
Tagalog and Bikol dialect (Bikolandia) boundaries seem to remain predominantly they were
centuries ago. This map only shows the dialect majority in each region. Actually, southeastern
Mindanao is populated with Ilocano, Tagalog, and other dialects, but Cebuano has become the
dominant dialect in that area. The Ilocano dialect has spread out from its origin in the western
coast (Ilocandia), which was also probably facilitated by Spanish and American policies.

Top 8 Languages Used in the Philippines

1. Tagalog

Tagalog is not spoken universally throughout the country, but dominates the area around the
capital city of Manila and has long enjoyed a special status in the country. It is used mainly in
Manila Area and nearby provinces such as Batangas, Bulacan, Cavite, Nueva Ecija, and Laguna.
This is the only Filipino language that is generally used and can be understood around the
country. Based on the Philippine census conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority, there
were 26,387,855 Filipinos who speak this language in the country.

Example:

Good morning – Magandang umaga

Good evening – Magandang Gabi
I love you – Iniibig kita or minamahal kita

2. Cebuano

It is good to note that Cebuano or Bisaya has become intertwined in many of the dialects in this
A-list. For instance, Waray-waray and Ilonggo have large number of vocabularies that are
distinctly Bisaya.

Cebuano speakers from Bohol refer to their language as Bol-anon while Cebuano speakers in
Leyte identify their language as Kana. And many Cebuano-speaking people of Mindanao simply
call it Bisaya. However, there has been dissent to the use of Bisaya as Waray-waray and
Hiligaynon are also dialects from the Visayan region.
Cebuano is the next most spoken language in the Philippines with a total of 21,340,000 Filipinos
using it. This is mainly used in Cebu City and some areas in Mindanao, such as Butuan, Cagayan
de Oro, Davao, and General Santos City.

Example:

Good morning – Maayong buntag

Good evening – Maayong gabii
I love you – Gihigugma ko ikaw

3. Ilocano

Ilokano or Ilocano is a combination of other languages from other countries such as Chamorro of
Guam, Indonesian, Hawaiian, Malay, Samoan and Tahitian. It is mostly spoken in the Northern
part of the country but because Ilocano speaking people have spread throughout the Philippines,
it ranked as third of the most spoken language with 7,779,000 Filipinos using it.

Example:

Good morning – Naimbag a bigat

Good evening – Naimbag a sardam
I love you – Ayayatenka

4. Hiligaynon

Hiligaynon or Ilonggo is the language used in Aklan, Antique, Bacolod, Capiz, Iloilo, Panay
Islands as well as in North and South Cotabato in Mindanao. This language is distinct for having
a sweet intonation. And as of 2000, there were 7,000,979 sweet speaking Filipinos in the country.

Example:

Good morning – Maayo nga Aga

Good evening – Maayo nga Hapon
Goodbye – Asta sa liwat.

5. Waray-Waray/Waray

If Hiligaynons are known for being sweet, the Waray people are known for being tough and
strong. Waray is spoken in the Eastern Visayas, particularly Samar and some parts of Leyte and
Biliran Province. The Waray comes fifth with 3,100,000 Filipinos using this language as of year
2000.

Example:
Good morning – Maupay nga aga
Good evening – Maupay nga gab-i
Thank you very much – Damo nga salamat

6. Kapampangan

Kapampangan or Pampangueño are spoken by 2,900,000 Filipinos. This is mostly spoken in the
northern part of the country particularly Pampanga Province, and portions of Bataan and Tarlac.

Example:

Good morning – Mayap a abak

Good evening – Mayap a bengi
Thank you very much – Dakal a salamat

7. Bicolano

Bikolano or Bicolano is the language used in the Bicol Region. Bicol is one of the biggest
regions in the Philippines and there are about 2,500,000 Bicolanos speaking the language.

Example:

Good morning – Marhay na aga

Good evening – Marhay na banggi
I love you – Namomotan ta ka

8. Pangasinense

Pangasinense is the language used in Pangasinan Province in Central Luzon. It has a population
of more than 2 million and 2,434,086 of which use the language. Classification-wise it is an
Austonesian language and it is closely related to the Ibaloi language spoken in the neighboring
province of Benguet and Baguio City, areas located north of Pangasinan. The Pangasinan
language also called Pangasinense by the Spaniards, is one of the 12 major languages in the
Philippines spoken mainly by the people of Pangasinan.

Example:

Good morning! – Maabig ya kaboasan!

Good afternoon! – Maabig ya ngarem!
I love you – Inaro ta ka.
Other Philippine languages spoken by many in the Philippines are as follows:

9. Meranaw

Meranaw is the language spoken by 2,150,000 Meranaw people living in Lanao del Norte and
Lanao del Sur Provinces. It is a Western Austronesian language likewise used in Sabah,
Malaysia.

Example:

Good Morning! – Mapiya kapipita

Good Evening! – Mapiya gagawi-i
I Love You! – Pekababaya-an ko seka!

10. Tausug

Tausug is the language used by 1,822,000 people in the Sulu Archipelago, the Zamboanga
Peninsula, and Southern Palawan. It is likewise used in the eastern part of Sabah, Malaysia, and
North Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Example:

I love you - Kalasahan ta kaw

Take care always - Kamaya daran
Thanks - Magsukul
References:
https://www.onehourtranslation.com/translation/blog/major-languages-philippines

https://www.csun.edu/~lan56728/majorlanguages.htm

https://www.justlanded.com/english/Philippines/Philippines-Guide/Language/Language-in-the-
Philippines

https://en.m.wikipedia.org

https://www.marstranslation.com

https://www.mustgo.com

https://imphscience.wordpress.com

https://linguistics.byu.edu