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Maranao language
Maranao (Mëranaw  [ˈmәranaw])[3] is an Austronesian language
Maranao
spoken by the Maranao people in the provinces of Lanao del Norte and
Mëranaw
Lanao del Sur in the Philippines, and in Sabah, Malaysia.
Pronunciation [ˈmәranaw]
Iranun was once considered a dialect. Native to Philippines

Unique among other Danao languages, Maranaoan is spoken with a Region Lanao del Norte
and Lanao del
distinct downstep accent, as opposed to stress accent.
Sur
Ethnicity Maranao people
Native speakers (780,000 cited
Contents 1990 census)[1]

Distribution Language family Austronesian

Orthography Malayo-
Polynesian
Phonology
Philippine
Vowels
Consonants Greater
Central
Velar fricative [h] Philippine
Consonant elongation Danao
Hard consonants and vowel raising
Maranao
Grammar
Writing system Latin;
Case markers Historically
Pronouns[7][10] written in Arabic
See also Official status
References Official language in Regional
language in the
External links Philippines
Regulated by Komisyon sa
Wikang Filipino
Distribution Language codes
Maranao is spoken in the following areas (Ethnologue). ISO 639-3 mrw

Glottolog mara1404 (htt

Lanao del Sur
p://glottolog.o
Lanao del Norte rg/resource/lan
northwestern Maguindanao guoid/id/mara14
northwestern Cotabato 04)[2]
northwestern Bukidnon

Orthography
Maranaoan was historically written in Arabic letters, which were
known as Batang Arab. It is now written with Latin letters.[4] Though
there is no officially proclaimed standard orthography, Maranao is

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more or less written phonetically as influenced by Filipino. The

following are the letters used in writing out native words:

A, B, D, E, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, NG, O, P, R, S, T, U, W, Y [5]

In representing the mid central vowel (or schwa) /ə/, different authors
have employed various means to represent this sound (e.g. "E" or
"U").[6] Consequently, Maranao social media use either of the two
letters or just leave it blank (e.g. saken can also be spelled sakn and
sakun in the internet). "Ë" may also be used as recommend by the
Komisyong ng Wikang Filipino's Ortograpiyang Pambansa of 2013.

In 1996, McKaughan and Macaraya, in their revised Maranao

dictionary, the digraph "ae" was introduced and used to represent the
supposed presence of the vowel /ɨ/.

Double vowels are pronounced separately. For example, "kapaar" is

pronounced as /kapaʔaɾ/. Area where Maranao is spoken

In some older orthographies, "q" is used for the glottal stop regardless of position,[7] while in others an
apostrophe is used. Outside of linguistic literature, the glottal stop, regardless of position, is not marked in
contemporary spelling.

The final /w/ sound in diphthongs and "W" were marked with "-o" in older orthographies, as in other
Philippine languages, but both are nowadays spelled as "W". Also, "i" was used in older orthographies to
transcribe /j/, which is currently spelled as "Y".

"H" is only used for Malay loanwords[4], and "sh" (pronounced as /ʃ/) is used for Arabic loanwords and
names such as "Ishak" (Isaac)[7].

"Di" or "j" are used to transcribe the /d / sound, such as "radia/raja" (from the Sanskrit word for "king",
"Rāja") or the English name "John"[7].

Phonology
Below is the sound system of Maranao including underlying phonetic features.[6]

Vowels
Maranao has four vowel phonemes that can become more close or higher when in certain environments (see
hard consonants below).[8] Although previous studies have analyzed the ɨ sound as an ae phoneme.

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Vowels[8]
Front Central Back
/i/
Close [ɪ ~ i]

/ə/ /o/
Mid [ə ~ ɨ] [o ~ u]

/a/
Open [a ~ ɤ]

Consonants
According to Lobel (2013), Maranao has the following consonants:[6]

Consonants
Bilabial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Voiceless p t k ʔ
Stop Heavy p’ t’ k’
Voiced b d ɡ
s
Fricative
Heavy s’ (h)
Flap ɾ
Lateral l
Approximant w j

Velar fricative [h]

According to Lobel (2013), [h] only occurs in a select number of Malay loanwords:[6]

tohan 'God'
tahon 'astrological sign'
hadapan 'in front (of God)'

Consonant elongation
Consonants are also pronounced longer if preceded with a schwa /ə/. However, this process is not a form of
gemination since consonant elongation in Maranao is not distinctive as seen in other Philippine languages
such as Ilokano and Ibanag. Some of these are:

tëpad [təpːad] 'get off a vehicle'

tëkaw [təkːaw] 'startled; surprised'
Mëranaw is spoken by the Maranao tribe.
Solutan [solutːan] (Sultan of Gandamatu) Sultan sa Gandamatu.

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Hard consonants and vowel raising

Since 2009, it has been proposed that previous studies on the phonology of Maranao had overlooked the
presence of "heavy" consonants.[8][9][6] These four "heavy" consonants being /p’ t’ k’ s’/. Vowels that follow
these consonants are raised in position.

The four Maranao vowels (a, ə, i, o)

are raised when they follow hard
consonants[8]

There are four possible environments for that determine whether the vowel will be raised or not:

1. Non-raising - /p t k s m n ŋ r w y/
2. Obligatory Raising - /p’ t’ k’ s’ (h)/
Tohan is pronounced as [to.h̪ ɤn] instead of [to.han]
3. Optional Raising - /b d g/
4. Transparent - /l ʔ/ - (meaning the consonant before it will determine the raising)

Grammar

Case markers
In contrast to Tagalog which has 3 case markers (ang/ng/sa), and Iloko which has 2 (ti/iti),

Maranao has four: so ko o sa

Pronouns[7][10]
Maranao pronouns can be free or bound to the word/morpheme before it.

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Nominative Nominative Genitive/Ergative Oblique

Meaning (free) (bound) (bound) (free)

I saken (a)ko aken raken

you
seka ka (ng)ka reka
(singular)
he/she/it sekaniyan sekaniyan (n)iyan rekaniyan
we (dual) sekta ta ta rekta
we
(including sektano tano tano rektano
you)
we
(excluding sekami kami (a)mi rekami
you)
you
sekano kano (n)iyo rekano
(plural)
they siran siran (i)ran kiran

See also
Languages of the Philippines

References
1. Maranao (https://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/mrw/) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Maranao" (http://glottolog.org/re
source/languoid/id/mara1404). Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of
Human History.
3. "Ortograpiyang Pambansa" (https://web.archive.org/web/20131012055004/http://www.kwf.gov.ph/wp-cont
ent/uploads/Ortograpiyang-Pambansa1.pdf) (PDF). Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino. Archived from the
original (http://www.kwf.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/Ortograpiyang-Pambansa1.pdf) (PDF) on 2013-10-12.
Retrieved 2013-08-28.
4. "Maranao language and alphabet" (http://www.omniglot.com/writing/maranao.htm). Omniglot. Retrieved
2018-09-23.
5. Rubino, Carl. "Maranao" (http://iloko.tripod.com/Maranao.htm). iloko.tripod.com.
6. Lobel, Jason William (2013). Philippine and North Bornean languages: issues in description, subgrouping,
and reconstruction (http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/graduate/Dissertations/JasonLobelFinal.pdf) (PDF) (Ph.D.
dissertation thesis). Manoa: University of Hawaii at Manoa.
7. McKaughan, Howard P.; Macaraya, Batua A. (1967). A Maranao Dictionary (https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltex
t/ED013450.pdf) (PDF). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
8. Lobel, Jason William; Riwarung, Labi Hadji Sarip (2009). "Maranao Revisited: An Overlooked Consonant
Contrast and its Implications for Lexicography and Grammar". Oceanic Linguistics. 48 (2): 403–438.
doi:10.1353/ol.0.0040 (https://doi.org/10.1353%2Fol.0.0040). JSTOR 40783537 (https://www.jstor.org/stab
le/40783537).
9. Lobe, Jason William; Riwarung, Labi Hadji Sarip (2011). "Maranao: A preliminary phonological sketch with
supporting audio". Language Documentation & Conservation. 5: 31–59. hdl:10125/4487 (https://hdl.handl
e.net/10125%2F4487).
10. Kaufman, Daniel (2010). "The grammar of clitics in Maranao" (https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/1
3/07/70/130770395534694674649839873268234450496/20_Kaufman_McKaughan2010.pdf) (PDF).
Piakandatu ami: Dr. Howard P. McKaughan: 132–157 – via SIL Pacific.

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External links
Bansa.org (http://www.bansa.org/dictionaries/mrw/), Maranao Dictionary
The files for a Maranao lexical database with English glosses are archived with Kaipuleohone
SEAlang Library Maranao Resources (http://sealang.net/maranao/)

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This page was last edited on 22 September 2019, at 17:49 (UTC).

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