Journal of Social Work and Science Education

Volume 4 (1) 2023, 188-197

E-ISSN 2723-6919, P-ISSN 2746-0827

A Grammar of Bisaya in Davao

Mary Jane A. Cooke1, Ana Helena R. Lovitos1

1University of Mindanao, Phillipines

Corresponding author e-mail: maryjane.cooke0524@gmail.com

Article History: Received on 5 January 2023, Revised on 17 February 2023

Published on 11 March 2023

Abstract: This research presents a detailed linguistic description of the Bisaya in

Davao language based on the examination of Basic Linguistic Theory. Three primary
language consultants are native speakers of the language who translated and recorded
word and sentence lists for accurate pronunciation. The analysis reveals the
language's phonological, morphological, syntactic, and morphosyntactic
characteristics. Based on the translated eliciting materials spoken and pronounced by
the language consultants, there are three vowels and sixteen consonants in the
phonemic inventory. Distinct phonological characteristics such as minimal pairs,
diphthongs, and phonotactics are readily apparent. It demonstrates that the language
has morphological characteristics and follows ergative-absolutive and verb Initial
structure, precisely like other Austronesian languages in the Philippines. This
description provides actual language documentation, additional research on language
contact or migration, linguistic typology, and crosslinguistic study. This is vital for
students and teachers in DepEd Davao in teaching the Bisaya in Davao as a mother
tongue.

Keywords: Applied Linguistics, Bisaya Language Description, Linguistic Features,

Philippines

A. Introduction

The Cebuano (ISO 639-3 ceb) language belongs to the "Austronesian, Malayo-
Polynesian, Greater Central Philippine, Central Philippine, Bisayan, Cebuano,
Mansakan, Davaweño. It is extensively spoken in the Bicol region, including parts of
Mindanao and the Visayas (Ethnologue, 2021). Although the Expanded Graded
Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIS) (Simons & Fennig, 2022) considers the
language to be institutional, that is, it has been developed to the point and is used and
sustained by institutions beyond the home and community; the language still needs
to be documented to add to the language's sustainable and functional literature.

In her study, Rubrico (2012) defined Cebuano, referred to as Bisaya or Binisaya by the
people of Davao, as the language most people speak. In addition, she cited Ethnologue
(2009), one in every three (33.32%) is Cebuano. The regional quarterly publication of
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the Davao NCSO gives the following ethnolinguistic groups distribution in Davao:
Cebuano, 74.56%; Tagalog, 3.86%; Hiligaynon, 3.43%; Bagobo, Guiangao, 3.16%;
Davaweño, 1.26%; Tagacaolo, 2.38%; Bilaan, 1.67%; Ilocano, 1.01%; Waray, 0.55%;
Manobo, 2.15%; Maguindanao, 1.91%; Mandaya, 2.01%; other languages, 2.04%;
uncertain, 0.01%.5 According to Ethnologue 2009, Davawenyo synthesizes Filipino,
Cebuano, and other Visayan dialects. In addition, Lobel and Pouezevara (2021)
added that the only Philippine language with a native speaker population that
approaches Tagalog (16 million) is Cebuano. Additionally, Cebuano, which is spoken
as a native tongue in the central part of the Philippines, is the only language to match
its geographic range, the majority of central and eastern Mindanao, the Visayan
Islands, and beyond. Compared to Tagalog as the most extensively studied language
among the various academic studies on the Philippine languages, as claimed by
Jubilado (2021), Davao Bisaya is scarce and limited as studies were focused richly on
the Visayas region. Moreover, it appears to be undocumented throughout Mindanao,
particularly Davao City. Some literature available on the linguistic analysis of
Cebuano is rich and timely. However, as a result, it is critical to preserve this Davao
variety. Hence, it the important to document this Davao variety to add to the rich
literature of Philippine languages. Language is an ever-evolving entity it is difficult to
predict when it will change (Atos, 2015). Therefore, language documentation is an
essential task for any linguist and research enthusiast to consider. However, high-
quality data and literature availability are critical for continuing these investigations.
Speakers of all languages must consciously document their languages so that future
generations can utilize them as guides or references.

The documentation of languages, cultures, and histories of the world's peoples has
been an exciting undertaking in the past, as Hinton, Leanne, et al. (2018) put it. She
cited epi-Olmec hieroglyphic writing, one of the many writing systems developed in
Mesoamerica and used thousands of years ago. Besides, the works of Campbell, L.&
Rogers, C. (2015) and (Klessa, 2014) made a brief review of the history of linguistic
ideas shows. It intensified that language documentation is among the oldest traditions
in the linguistic field.

New literature, such as grammar, would be a great addition. While it is true that this
language is thriving and valuable in some pillars of society, it is still undeniable that
it will be a rich addition to the teaching of the mother tongue under DepEd's Mother
Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTBLE) to uphold its Four Minima for a
language to become a mother tongue: weaving to standard orthography, grammar,
dictionary, and literacy materials. In this case, this study would address the grammar
requisite. Suffice it to say that this endeavor of the Grammar of Bisaya in Davao is
significant.

It is for this cause that this proposal is postulated. Writing a Grammar involves two
primary objectives: documentation of threatened or endangered languages and (making
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these languages mother tongues. Documentation includes a detailed description of

the language's phonological, morphological, and syntactic aspects.

B. Methods

The research design of this paper is qualitative descriptive research, specifically

descriptive which explores the documentary analysis and involves gathering data
through comprehensive interviews from the selected three informants who are Bisaya
native speakers. The research participants or language consultants were three Davao
Bisaya, native speakers in Davao City. Before data collection started, we prepared the
elicitation materials, which are the 505 Wordlist and 700-sentence list from the
University of the Philippines Linguistics Department, within the parameters of my
research study. Experts validated the elicitation materials to ensure the viability of the
expected output. The language consultants of this study were three participants who
were native speakers of the language. They are more than 20 years old. They were
educated enough to translate from their native language to Bisaya and Tagalog.

Barlow (2020) noted that people older than 30 tended to be fluent speakers (of varying
proficiency). In contrast, people in their twenties only seemed capable of producing
basic phrases (although their comprehension might have been quite good). The
translation was conducted in the comfort of their preferred location during their free
time. For further clarification and validation of the elicited data, these respondents
were interviewed in person and via Facebook messenger.

To gather sufficient data for this study, we used the elicitation technique to collect the
data for this study. We utilized the elicitation materials, such as the 505-Word List and
the 775-Sentence List designed and enhanced by the linguistics department of the
University of the Philippines (Diliman) (UP Department of Linguistics, 2018a, 2018b,
2018c). The elicitation materials were used with appropriate consent from the rightful
owner. The first three materials enumerated above are all wordlists, which have been
utilized to collect lexical data from the Bisaya language to decide how to test the
emerging conclusions.

This study was conducted with a firm adherence to the ethical protocols. The
researcher religiously requested and secured from key school officials the
corresponding permission necessary to complete this research. Furthermore, the
researcher ensured the appropriateness of identified recruiting parties and reviewed
the risks and measures to mitigate these risks (including physical, psychological, and
social-economic. Proper authorization and consent are also obtained from the sample
of the study, in which they are assured that all their rights would be fully protected,
specifically in handling the data such as, but not limited to, voluntary participation,
privacy, and confidentiality, informed consent process, recruitment, benefits,

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plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, conflict of interest (COI, deceit, permission from

organization/location: Technology Issues and authorship.

C. Results and Discussion

With roughly 16 million native speakers, Cebuano is the only language spoken in the
Philippines, close to Tagalog's native speaker population. Moreover, speaking as a
native tongue in the central region of the Philippines, Cebuano is the only language to
match its geographic breadth—the majority of central and eastern Mindanao, the
Visayan Islands, and beyond.

The Place where the Language is Spoken

Bisaya or Binisaya is a variety of the Cebuano (ISO 639-3 ceb) language. It belongs to
the "Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Greater Central Philippine, Central
Philippine, Bisayan, Cebuano, Mansakan, Davaweño. Widely spoken in the Bicol
region: south Masbate province; parts of Mindanao; throughout the Visayas regions
(Ethnologue, 2021). Cebuano is classified as ISO 639-3 ceb, a member of the
"Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Greater Central Philippine, Central Philippine,
Bisayan, Cebuano, Mansakan, and Davaweño" ethnic groups. The Philippine
language is widely spoken in the Bicol region, including south Masbate province,
sections of Mindanao, and the Visayas. It is natively called by its generic term Bisaya
or Binisaya.

Figure 1: Visayan language distribution map

source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/

Bisaya in Davao Phonological Component

The Bisaya's phonological structure in Davao comprises the phonemic inventory of

vowels and consonants, phonotactics, which addresses the restrictions on phoneme
combination, and phonological constraints, which address Bisaya in Davao consonant

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clusters, and the observable phonological processes employed to simplify their

speech.

Figure 2. The Davao Bisaya Vowels

Based on the translated eliciting materials spoken and pronounced by the language
consultants, Bisaya in Davao vowels and consonants are applied to Bisaya in Davao's
sound system, as in all other Philippine languages. Three sounds—/a/,/i/, and
/o/u/—are the critical discoveries for vowels. They could be in diphthongs, minimal
pairings, and open and closed syllables. Consonants consist of 16 sounds, including
/b/, /d/, /g/, /k/, /h/, /l/, /m/, /n/,/p/, /r/, /s/, /t/, w/, /y/j/, and / ʔ/ (Refer
to Table 1). They are divided into four groups based on how they are articulated: stops,
fricatives, nasals, flaps, and approximants. Also, the consonants are categorized in
their places of articulation based on the tongue positions; bilabial, dental/alveolar,
velar, and glottal.

Table 1. The Bisaya in Davao Consonant Phonemes

Bisaya in Davao Morphological Features

Although Bisaya in Davao is simpler than other Philippine languages, it is ideal to be

aware of the slight complexity of the morphological process. Morphological
awareness is fundamental because, according to Borleffs et al. (2019), in the study of
Lobel and Pouezevara (2021), after mastering basic decoding, morphological
awareness continues to be a crucial skill for reading development in higher grades. In
some languages, it is also connected with the capacity to read words. Morphemes are
the primary/smallest unit of language that bares meaning. These morphemes are also
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observed in the Bisaya in Davao variety. Some of which are inflectional, derivational,
and free. Inflected words retain their lexical categories. The affixes added to the root
word add information or grammatical functions needed by the word, such as tense,
case, number, and agreement to other words. The Bisaya in Davao verbs demonstrate
this morphological process (Refer to Table 2).

Table 2. Bisaya in Davao Inflected Words

Root Words English Inflected Words English

tindog stand up nitindog stood up

motindog will stand up

tanom plant nitanom planted

motanom will plant

tao person mga tao persons

balay house mga balay houses

Bisaya in Davao root words changed forms in the above examples through the affixes
attached, but their lexical categories remained unchanged. For example, the verb
tindog stand up changed the form to nitindog stood up by adding the prefix ni became a
contemplative form of a verb, which denotes that the action has already been
completed. In the same manner, adding the prefix mo- to the word will make it an
imperfective tense of the verb; transforming it to motindog will stand up, thus making
it an action still to be completed at some point in the future. This is also true for the
verb tanom plant, respectively. As a result, the affixes added to Bisaya in Davao root
words provide additional information or grammatical structure. Tindog and tanom,
two root words used in the examples, are verbs. No matter what affixes are added,
they still function as verbs in that sense; the only difference is between their
contemplative and imperfective tenses. The plurality in Bisaya in Davao is expressed
periphrastically expressed through mga. The root words, tao person and balay house
are singular nouns. When the plural marker mga precedes them, they become plural,
mga tao persons; mga balay houses but remain a noun as their lexical category. In
this case, the number changes, but not their lexical category. Inflectional morpheme
combinations do not form new words. Delahunty, G. P., & Garvey, J. J. (2004) added
that they merely alter the word in which they appear to denote grammatical features
like plurality.

The Syntax in Bisaya in Davao

Languages require more than simply stringing words together to form whole
sentences. To create a notion, certain words must be joined together, and groupings
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of words must be grouped to produce a thought. These groupings are controlled by

rules, or what is known as syntax. Each language has syntax, which means that syntax
is universal. However, the syntax is also language-bound, meaning that a language's
syntax may be like or different from other languages. The sequence of words is
essential for comprehending sentences in languages because each language has its
distinctive sentence structure and word order. The Bisaya in Davao exhibits
characteristics of being an Ergative - Absolutive language and a Verb Initial language,
just like other Austronesian languages in the Philippines. The presentation of the
language analysis covers sentence patterns as well as phrase and clause structure . The
traditional grammatical analysis presents an immediate distinction between
intransitive and transitive verbs.

In contrast to intransitive verbs, transitive verbs take objects or a patient. In Bisaya in

Davao, several transitive and intransitive constructions are shown. The number of
necessary noun arguments a verb can take in a grammatical formulation depends on
its transitivity.

The verb has a big role in Bisaya in Davao and other languages. How many nouns are
required to build the phrase depends on the verb. This idea of transitivity is akin to
valency, which also encompasses nouns other than the one the verb directly affects.
Intransitive construction contains just one distinct argument, like all other languages:
the subject. The absence of an object renders the statement comprehensive and
comprehensible but lacking essential details. This construction has also been made
evident by the Bisaya in Davao transitive construction.

Verb Initial Sentences in Bisaya in Davao

The verb initial patterns in Philippine languages are vital to sentence formation.
Predicate occurs first, then the subject of the sentence, a pattern also seen in
Austronesian languages. In both spoken and written language, this arrangement
comes naturally. Although additional languages, such as Tagalog, may allow the
inverse order, the natural and straightforward way of constructing sentences in these
languages, including Bisaya in Davao, is verb first, followed by the arguments.

The Morphosyntax in Bisaya in Davao

The markers are one of the most observable features of Philippine languages
categorized as Austronesian. These are words that do not have language equivalence
in other languages. They do not have an accurate literal translation. Their primary
purpose is syntactic. The sentences may have all the main parts, verbs, and nouns but
would still sound awkward and complete with these markers. The discussion above
shows that these markers are also found in Bisaya in Davao sample sentences. The
markers are one of the most distinguishing characteristics of Austronesian-classified
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Philippine languages. These terms do not exist in other languages in the same way.
They are not translated literally and accurately. Their primary objective is syntactic.
Even though the sentences contain all the necessary nouns and verbs, they would
sound odd and unfinished without these markers.

The Verbal Affixation and Case Marker in Bisaya in Davao

As previously mentioned, the co-indexing of the absolutive markers to the affixation

of the verb in the sentence is a very noticeable morphosyntactic trait of Austronesian
languages spoken in the Philippines. This characteristic is typically seen in Bisaya in
Davao as well. Depending on the verbal affixation, the "ang," the absolutive marker in
Bisaya in Davao, adopts a different voice or emphasizes a particular aspect. The
aspects of a verb in a sentence are altered by changing its affixes, as is the verb's
necessity for the absolutive case to take on voice. Like other Philippine languages
classified as Austronesian languages, Bisaya in Davao contains a trait known as verbal
affixation related to its arguments in sentences. These languages may be studied well
using this morphosyntactic feature, which also provides a very understandable
description of the typology of the languages.

D. Conclusion

The extensive discussion on the widely spoken Bisaya in Davao, a Cebuano variety,
demonstrated the relevance of the need to document this. This research offers a
linguistic description of the language's grammar based on an evaluation of Basic
Linguistic Theory and strict adherence to the functional theory of grammar in
assessing the language's peculiarities. The study identified the phonological,
morphological, syntactic, and morphosyntactic features of the language with the
assistance of the three principal language consultants (of varying ages), who are native
speakers of the language and diligently translated and recorded word and sentence
lists for accurate pronunciation. Despite Bisaya in Davao's relative simplicity
compared to other Philippine languages, it is advisable to be aware of the language's
morphological system's slight complexity. It illustrates an intriguing set of
morphological traits from which morphemes can derive or inflect. Language's
morphological procedures and the existence of the lexical categories of prefixes,
infixes, and circumfixes are excellent sources for linguists to study further and
investigate. They are also a valuable resource for MTBLE teachers in their instruction
and a source of knowledge for Bisayan speakers in Davao to learn. This description
paves the way for future researchers on actual documentation of the language and
pursues research topics like dialectal distinctions in Visayas and Mindanao, language
contact, survival of the language despite the presence of other prominent and
dominant languages, language migration, linguistic typology, and even
crosslinguistic study. I hope other linguist enthusiasts will continue what this paper
may not have comprehensively addressed in some areas and may have overlooked
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some significant works expected discussions. This significant undertaking may

provide a concrete reference for Mother Tongue–Based Multilingual Education (MTB-
MLE) for students and teachers in DepEd divisions in Davao. As a result, the teaching
of Bisaya is a mother tongue because it introduces linguistic notions that support
pedagogical strategies and resources. Furthermore, this humble research endeavor
hopes to strengthen the community's awareness of preserving languages regardless
of their status through language documentation in partnership with the National
Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP).

E. Acknowledgement

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our family, friends, colleagues,
students, immediate supervisors, and language consultants for their love and support.

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About the authors

Mary Jane A. Cooke graduated BSEd Major in English and MAed in English
Language Teaching. She is currently working on her Ph.D. in Applied
Linguistics dissertation at the University of Mindanao. She is also currently
teaching at the Philippine College of Technology and the University of
Southeastern Philippines.
Ana Helena R. Lovitos is a seasoned Language Professor at UM Davao. A graduate
with a BSEd Degree in English, Master of Arts in Language Teaching (MALT),
and PhD in Applied Linguistics. She completed her Master of Educational
Studies (MedStud) in Educational Research at the University of Newcastle,
Australia.

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