This may be brought about by migrations of Cuyonons to the southern tip of Mindoro, akin to their migrations to mainland Palawan, a very much gradual process. It could be inferred that these migrations happened at an earlier date before the migrations to mainland Palawan started (around the mid- to late 19th century) due to its diversion from the Cuyonon language (Given that Ratagnon descended from an older language spoken in the general area West of Panay, Ratagnon and Cuyonon are classified under Kuyan), whereas the Cuyonon of mainland Palawan, Calamian and that of the Cuyo itself remain the same language with relatively little dialectal difference.[citation needed]
Distribution
According to the Ethnologue, Ratagnon is spoken in the southernmost extreme tip of Mindoro islands, including the municipalities of Magsaysay and Bulalacao.
Barbian (1977) provides lexical and phonological data for Ratagnon.
Numerals
English
Ratagnon
Cuyonon
Kinaray-a
One
Isara
Isara
Sara
Two
Daruwa
Darwa
Darwa
Three
Tatlo
Tatlo
Tatlo
Four
Apat
Apat
Apat
Five
Lima
Lima
Lima
Six
Anum
Anem
Anem
Seven
Pito
Pito
Pito
Eight
Walo
Walo
Walo
Nine
Siyam
Siyam
Siyam
Ten
Napulo
Sampulo
Pulo
In contrast to Cuyonon, Ratagnon dropped the schwa /ë/ sound, instead opting for a u/o sound. It too borrowed lexical terms from the languages of its Mangyan neighbors and to a lesser extent Spanish It is notable in Barbian's Mangyan – English Vocabulary, 1977 that by that time,[clarification needed] Ratagnon might have already experienced heavy Tagalization, present in words such as 'heart', tagiposon in Cuyonon, albeit puso in Ratagnon, same with Tagalog's puso. The word 'why', ayamo in Cuyonon, is noted as bakit and basi in Ratagnon, bakit (bakin + at) being a loan from Tagalog, and basi, a Hanunuo Ambahan term (hayga being non-Ambahan), perhaps inferring that basi is a loan from Ratagnon, as Ambahans have been known to use archaic Hanunuo terms and loans from various languages, one being Ratagnon. This phenomenon is also observed in the Hanunuo traditions of Urukay, perhaps closely related to the Erekay of the Cuyonons, both being a form of Balagtasan. Ratagnon also has terms specific to the lowland river surroundings which are not present in modern Cuyonon, most of which are borrowings from Hanunuo and Buhid, whereas a few are either archaic Cuyonon terms or innovations made within the Ratagnon language. Aside from the aforementioned differences from the Cuyonon language, the two languages are still very much mutually intelligible.
Differences from Cuyonon include:
The usage of the t sound over the d sound, present in:
t and d
English
Ratagnon
Cuyonon
fear
atlok
adlek
Usage of the k sound over the g sound:
k and g
English
Ratagnon
Cuyonon
land
lukta
logta
The aforementioned dropping of the schwa for the u sound present in:
u and ë
English
Ratagnon
Cuyonon
ours (pronoun)
kanamun
kanamen
mine (pronoun)
akun
aken
straight
matadlong
matadleng
The preference for the l over the r sound:
l and r
English
Ratagnon
Cuyonon
pointed
malawis
marawis
There are some words that differ in meaning between Cuyonon and Ratagnon; this is most notable in terms specific to their respective surroundings, which has created false friends with almost the same, yet different, meanings.
False Friends
English
Ratagnon
Cuyonon
to cross from:
tabók (one side of the river to another)
tabók (to cross from a bigger island to a smaller one, ant. of lekas)