Blaan language
Austronesian language of the southern Philippines
| Blaan | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Philippines |
| Region | Mindanao |
| Ethnicity | Blaan |
Native speakers | 240,000 (2000–2007)[1] |
Language family | Austronesian
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:bpr – Koronadal Blaan (Tagalagad)bps – Sarangani Blaan (Tumanao) |
| Glottolog | blaa1241 |
Blaan, also known as Bilaan, is an Austronesian language of the southern Philippines spoken by an indigenous ethnic group of the same name who inhabited many areas of Soccksargen and Davao Occidental.
Classification
Blaan belongs to the Bilic microgroup of the Philippine language subgroup, along with Giangan Manobo, Tiruray, and Tboli.[2]
Distribution
There are two major varieties of Blaan: Koronadal Blaan (Tagalagad) and Sarangani Blaan (Tumanao).
According to the Ethnologue, Koronadal Blaan is spoken in:
- eastern South Cotabato Province
- Sarangani Province
- Sultan Kudarat Province (Lutayan area)
- Davao Occidental Province
Sarangani Blaan is spoken in:
- almost the entire area of Sarangani Province
- South Cotabato Province (General Santos and north)
- Davao Occidental Province (language area across from Sarangani Province's northern border)
Phonology
Blaan has fifteen consonant and seven vowel phonemes.[3] Unlike most other Philippine languages and Austronesian languages in general, Blaan (as its related language Tboli, permits a variety of consonant clusters at the onset of a syllable. This is evident in the name of the language, /bla'an/. This contraction of the original schwa sound exists in other Austronesian languages (such as Javanese, a major language of Java in Indonesia), but is rarely seen outside of the Bilic group within the Philippines.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | t | k | ʔ | ||
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||
| Fricative | f | s | h | |||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | ɛ | ə | ɔ |
| Low | a | ɑ |
/i, ɛ/ are also heard as [ɪ, e]. /ə/ can also be heard as [ɨ, ʌ] within syllables.
Syntax
Blaan uses word order to indicate the thematic roles of nominal elements in the sentence.[4]
Kamfe
AV.catch
kuku
cat
ungeh.
rat
Kamfe kuku ungeh.
AV.catch cat rat
'The cat catches the rat'
Similar to other Philippine-type Austronesian languages, Blaan uses verbal morphology to indicate voice (or focus, as it is usually called in the literature).[5] Here are some examples of voice/focus types in Blaan:
Agent voice/focus (-m-)
Magin
AV.accompany
nga
child
do.
me
Magin nga do.
AV.accompany child me
'The child accompanies me.'
Patient voice/focus (-n-)
Nebe
PV.bring
libun
girl
ale.
them
Nebe libun ale.
PV.bring girl them
'The girl brings them.'
Vocabulary
| English | Blaan |
|---|---|
| chicken | anuk |
| flower | bulek |
| horse | kura |
| corn | agul |
| needle | dalum |
| basket | been |
| broom | fune |
| rat | unge |
| money | filak |
| goat | uhe |
| scissors | gunting |
| mat | igem |
| clouds | labun |
| fish | nalaf |
| eye | mata |
| pestle | sung |
| leaf | doon |
| bone | tulan |
| lamp | salo |
| snake | ulad |
| crow | wak |
| foot | bli |
| mother | ye |
| father | ma |
References
- ^ Koronadal Blaan (Tagalagad) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Sarangani Blaan (Tumanao) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ Blust, Robert (1991). "The Greater Central Philippines Hypothesis". Oceanic Linguistics. 30 (2): 73–129. doi:10.2307/3623084. JSTOR 3623084.
- ^ Dean, J.; Dean, G. (1955). "The Phonemes of Bilaan" (PDF). Philippine Journal of Science. 84 (3): 311–322.
- ^ McLachlin, B.; Blackburn, B. (1968). "Verbal Clauses of Sarangani Blaan" (PDF). Asian Studies. 6 (1): 108–128.
- ^ Dean, James C. (1958). "Some Principal Grammatical Relations in Bilaan". In Healey, Alan (ed.). Studies in Philippine Linguistics by the Summer Institute of Linguistics (Pacific Branch). Oceania Linguistic Monographs, No. 3. Sydney: University of Sydney. pp. 59–64.
- ^ "ABKD" (PDF) – via sil.org.
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| Cagayan Valley | |||||||
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| Meso-Cordilleran |
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| Sambalic | |
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Philippine
| Southern Mindoro | |||||||||||
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| Central Philippine |
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| Palawanic | |||||||||||
| Subanen | |||||||||||
| Danao | |||||||||||
| Manobo | |||||||||||
| Gorontalo–Mongondow |
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| Manide–Alabat | |
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- † indicates extinct status
- ? indicates classification dispute
Authority control databases: National  |
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