Standard Waray (Tacloban dialect), Northern Samar dialect, Calbayog dialect, Culaba-Biliran dialect, Abuyog dialect and 20 other identified dialects and subdialects
Waray (also known as Waray-Waray or Bisayâ/Binisayâ nga Winaray/Waray, Spanish: idioma samareño meaning Samar language) is an Austronesian language and the fifth-most-spoken native regional language of the Philippines, native to Eastern Visayas. It is the native language of the Waray people and second language of the Abaknon people of Capul, Northern Samar, and some Cebuano-speaking peoples of western and southern parts of Leyte island. It is the third most spoken language among the Bisayan languages, only behind Cebuano and Hiligaynon.
Nomenclature
The term Waray comes from the word often heard by non-speakers meaning 'none' or 'nothing' in the language; similarly, Cebuanos are known in Leyte as mga Kana and their language as Kana (after the oft-heard word kana, meaning 'that' in the Cebuano language).[not verified in body] The Cebuano pronunciation of Waray is walay with the same meaning.
During the Spanish period, texts refer to the language as simply being a dialect of "Visayan". In contrast, most contemporary linguists consider many of these "Visayan dialects" (e.g., Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Karay-a, etc.) to be distinct languages, and the term Visayan is usually taken to refer to what is called Cebuano in contemporary linguistic literature. Domingo Ezguerra's 1663 (reprinted 1747) Arte de la lengua bisaya de la provincia de Leyte refers to the "Visayan tongue of the province of Leyte", Figueroa's Arte del idioma Visaya de Samar y Leyte refers to the "Visaya language of Samar and Leyte". Antonio Sanchez's 1914 Diccionario español-bisaya (Spanish-Visayan Dictionary) refers to the speech of "Sámar and Leyte".
Dialects
Linguist Jason Lobel (2009) considers there are 25 dialects and subdialects of Waray-Waray.[2]
Tacloban: "standard" dialect: the dialect used in television and radio broadcasts and in education
Many Waray dialects feature a sound change in which Proto-Bisayan *s becomes /h/ in a small number of common grammatical morphemes. This sound change occurs in all areas of Samar south of the municipalities of Santa Margarita, Matuginao, Las Navas, and Gamay (roughly corresponding to the provinces of Samar and Eastern Samar, but not Northern Samar), as well as in all of the Waray-speaking areas of Leyte, except the towns of Javier and Abuyog. However, this sound change is an areal feature rather than a strictly genetic one (Lobel 2009).[2]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2018)
Waray is one of the many regional languages found in the Philippines and used in local government.
It is widely used in media particularly in television and radio broadcasts, however, not in print media because most regional newspapers are published in English.
The language is used in education from kindergarten to primary level as part of the Philippine government's K–12 program since 2012 in which pupils from kindergarten to third grade are taught in their respective indigenous languages.
Waray is also used in the Mass in the Roman Catholic Church and in the worship services of different Christian sects in the region. Bibles in Waray are also available.[3] In 2019, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures was released in Waray-Waray.[4] However, there is a growing population of Muslims in the region with the first mosque, Tacloban Mosque and Islamic Center, through a charity built by a Turkish Islamic religious authority in Tacloban at 2017 which teaches the scriptures and offers Friday sermons in both Waray and Cebuano in general.
Phonology
Vowels
Most Waray dialects have three vowel phonemes: /a/[a], /i/[ɛ~i] and /u/[ɔ~u]. Some dialects have an additional vowel /ə/[ə]; words with /ə/ in these dialects have /u/ in the majority dialects.[5][6]
Waray has a total of 16 consonant phonemes: /p,t,k,b,d,ɡ,m,n,ŋ,s,h,l,ɾ~r,w,j,ʔ/. Two extra postalveolar sounds [tʃ,dʒ] are heard when /i/ occurs after /t,d/, further proceeding another vowel sound.[7][8]
Waray, like all Philippine languages today, is written using the Latin script. There is no officially-approved orthography for the language and different writers may use differing orthographic styles. In general, it has become common to write the language following the current orthographic conventions of Filipino.
Vocabulary
Waray uses many different words to specify a particular thing. These words might not be the same in spelling and in construction but they share the same meaning, making it a very diverse language.[citation needed]
Here are some examples of demonstratives and adverbs together with their equivalent definition in Waray-Waray:
English
Waray
what
ano, anyá, náno
where
diin, ngain, háin
who
hino/sino (hin-o/sin-o)
when
sán-o, kakán-o, kasán-o
how
páno, gin-áano, gin-áanya
here
didi, dinhi, ngadi, nganhi, áanhi, áadi
there
ngada, dida, ngadto, didto, aadto, aada
that
iito, iton, ito, it
those
adto, adton, aadto
these
aadin, adin, inin
why
kay, kay ano, kay ngano, ngano
this
ini, inin, adin, adi
Verbs
English
Waray
English
Waray
to run
dalágan
to fix something
aydi/a
to walk
lakát
to explain
ig-eksplikar
to climb
saká, sak-a/i
to invite
ig-imbitar, kumbidahi
to swim
langoy
to attend
atender, atendera/i
to talk/speak
igyakán, igsumát, igsiring
to send something
ipadara, padad-a/i
to jump
ambaka/i, lukso
to create
paghimo, pagbuhat
to sit
lingkod
to build
pagtindog
to stand
tindog
to fly
lupad
to shout/scream
guliat
to sleep
katurog
to make friends
makig-sangkay
to write
ig-surat
to cry
tuok, haya, tangis
to lay down
higda
to buy
palit, palita/i
to love
higugma-a
to travel
biyahe
to care
asikasuha/i
to sing
kanta
to discuss
pag-istorya, pagsabot, himangraw
to dance
sayaw
to drive
pagmaneho, pagdrayb
to fetch water
pag-alog
to ride
sakay, sakya/i
to drink
inom, imna/i
to carry
pas-ana/i, dad-a, bitbita
to eat
kaon
to sell something
ig-baligya, ig-tinda
Numbers
Native numbers are used for numbers one through ten. From eleven onwards, Spanish numbers are exclusively used in Waray today, their native counterparts being almost unheard of by the majority of native speakers (except for gatos for hundred and yukot for thousand). Some, especially the old ones, are spoken alongside the Spanish counterparts.
Waray has borrowed vocabulary extensively from other languages, especially from Spanish. These words are being adopted to fill lexical gaps of the recipient language. Spanish colonialization introduced new systems to the Philippine society.[citation needed]
^Makabenta, Eduardo (2004). Pagpurulungan nga Binisaya (Waray) ha Leyte ug Samar (Binisaya-English English-Binisaya Dictionary) (2nd ed.). Quezon City: Adbox Book Distributors and Eduardo A. Makabenta Sr. Foundation. p. 121.
Further reading
Abuyen, Tomas A. (2005). Dictionary English Waray-Waray/Tagalog, National Book Store, 494 pp., ISBN971-08-6529-3.
Rubino, Carl. Waray-Waray. In Garry, Jane and Carl Rubino (eds.), Facts About the World's Languages, An Encyclopedia of the World's Languages: Past and Present (2001), pp. 797–800.
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