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Visayan
Bisaya/Binisaya
Ethnicity	Visayans
Geographic distribution	Visayas, most parts of Mindanao, Masbate, and Mimaropa in the Philippines, Sabah in Malaysia and immigrant communities
Linguistic classification	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Greater Central Philippine Central Philippine Visayan
Subdivisions	Asi Cebuan Central Visayan West Visayan South Visayan
Glottolog	bisa1268[1]
Geographic extent of Visayan languages based on Ethnologue and the National Statistics Office 2000 Census of Population and Housing Cebuan   Cebuano Central Visayan   Waray   Baybayanon   Kabalian   Hiligaynon   Capiznon   Romblomanon   Bantayanon   Porohanon   Ati Bisakol   Masbateño   Southern Sorsogon   Central Sorsogon West Visayan   Cuyonon   Caluyanon   Aklanon   Karay-a   Inonhan   Ratagnon Asi   Asi South Visayan   Surigaonon   Butuanon   Tausug Other legend   Widespread/L2 use of Cebuano   Widespread/L2 use of Hiligaynon

Visayan (Bisaya or Binisaya) is a group of languages of the Philippines that are related to Tagalog and Bikol languages, all of which are part of the Central Philippine languages. Most Visayan languages are spoken in the whole Visayas section of the country, but they are also spoken in the southern part of the Bicol Region (particularly in Masbate), islands south of Luzon, such as those that make up Romblon, most of the areas of Mindanao and the province of Sulu located southwest of Mindanao. Some residents of Metro Manila also speak Visayan.

Over 30 languages constitute the Visayan language family. The Visayan language with the most speakers is Cebuano, spoken by 20 million people as a native language in Central Visayas, parts of Eastern Visayas, and most of Mindanao. Two other well-known and widespread Visayan languages are Hiligaynon (Ilonggo), spoken by 10 million in most of Western Visayas and SOCCSKSARGEN; and Waray-Waray, spoken by 3 million in Eastern Visayas. Prior to colonization, the script and calligraphy of most of the Visayan peoples was the badlit, distinct from the Tagalog baybayin.

Nomenclature

Native speakers of Visayan languages, especially Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Waray not only refer to their language by their local name, but also by Bisaya or Binisaya, meaning Visayan language. This is misleading or may lead to confusion as different languages may be called Bisaya by their respective speakers despite their languages being mutually unintelligible. However, languages that are classified within the Visayan language family but spoken natively in places outside of the Visayas do not use the self-reference Bisaya or Binisaya. To speakers of Masbateño, Romblomanon, Surigaonon and Butuanon, the term Visaya usually refers to either Cebuano or Hiligaynon. Since Tausugs are mostly Muslims, they view the term Bisaya as a religious term referring to Christian Filipinos (mostly referring to either Cebuano and/or Hiligaynon as they are the neighboring languages).

There have been no proven accounts to verify the origins of Bisaya. However, there is an ethnic group in Malaysia and Brunei who call themselves with the same name. However, these ethnic groups in the Philippines must not be confused with those in Borneo.

Internal classification

David Zorc gives the following internal classification for the Visayan languages (Zorc 1977:32).^[2] The five primary branches are South, Cebuan, Central, Banton, and West. However, Zorc notes that the Visayan language family is more like a dialect continuum rather than a set of readily distinguishable languages. The South Visayan languages are considered to have diverged first, followed by Cebuan and then the rest of the three branches. Also, in the Visayas section, the province of Romblon has the most linguistic diversity, as languages from three primary Visayan branches are spoken there aside from the indigenous Romblomanon and Banton.

Notably, Baybayanon and Porohanon have Warayan substrata, indicating a more widespread distribution of Waray before Cebuano speakers started to expand considerably starting from the mid-1800s.^[3]

A total of 36 varieties are listed below. Individual languages are marked by italics.

• 
  Visayan
  
  
  
  • 1. South (spoken on the northeastern coast of Mindanao)
    
    
    
    • Butuan-Tausug
      
      
      
      • Tausug
      
      
      • Butuanon
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Surigao
      
      
      
      • Surigaonon
      
      
      • Tandaganon
      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • 2. Cebuan (spoken in Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, Eastern Negros, western Leyte and northern, southeastern and northwestern parts of Mindanao)
    
    • Cebuan
      
      • 
        Cebuano
        
        • Boholano
        
        
      
      
    
    
  
  
  • 3. Central (spoken across most of the Visayan region)
    
    
    
    • Warayan (spoken in eastern Leyte, Biliran and Samar)
      
      
      
      • Waray
      
      
      • Baybayanon
      
      
      • Kabalian
      
      
      • Southern Sorsogon (Gubat)
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • 
      Peripheral
      
      
      
      • 
        Hiligaynon (Ilonggo) (spoken in eastern Panay and Guimaras, Western Negros and south-central Mindanao)
      
      
      • Capiznon
      
      
      • Bantayanon
      
      
      • Porohanon
      
      
      • 
        Masbate-Sorsogon
        
        
        
        • Masbateño
        
        
        • Central Sorsogon (Masbate)
        
        
        
        
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Romblon (also the name of the province)
      
      • Romblomanon
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • 4. Asi (spoken in northwestern Romblon Province)
    
    • • Asi
    
    
  
  
  • 5. West
    
    
    
    • Aklan (spoken in northwestern Panay)
      
      
      
      • Aklanon/Inakeanon
      
      
      • Malaynon
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Karayan
      
      • 
        Karay-a (spoken in western and inland Panay)
      
      
    
    
    • North-Central (spoken on Tablas Island and the southern tip of Mindoro)
      
      • 
        Inonhan (language related to Karayan)
      
      
    
    
    • Kuyan (spoken in the archipelagos west of Panay and Romblon as well as the southern tip of Mindoro)
      
      
      
      • Ratagnon
      
      
      • Cuyonon
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Caluyanon
      
      • Caluyanon
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

The auxiliary language of Eskayan is grammatically Visayan, but has essentially no Visayan (or Philippine) vocabulary.

Ethnologue Classification

Ethnologue classifies the 25 Visayan languages into five subgroups:

Reconstruction

David Zorc's reconstruction of Proto-Visayan had 15 consonants and 4 vowels (Zorc 1977:201).^[2] Vowel length, primary stress (penultimate and ultimate), and secondary stress (pre-penultimate) are also reconstructed by Zorc.

See also

• Visayan people


• Bisalog


• Bislish


• Bisakol languages

References

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Bisaya phrasebook.

• Kaipuleohone's Robert Blust collection includes materials on Bisaya.