Maguindanao language

Maguindanaon (Basa Magindanawn, Jawi: باس مڬندنون‎), or Magindanawn is an Austronesian language spoken by Maguindanaon people who form majority of the population of eponymous provinces of Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur in the Philippines. It is also spoken by sizable minorities in different parts of Mindanao such as the cities of Zamboanga, Davao, General Santos, and Cagayan de Oro, and the provinces of North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, Sarangani, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, Bukidnon as well as Metro Manila.^{[citation needed]} As of 2020, the language is ranked to be the ninth leading language spoken at home in the Philippines with only 365,032 households still speaking the language.^[2]

Maguindanaon
Basa Magindanawn باس مڬندنون‎
Native to	Philippines
Region	Maguindanao del Norte, Maguindanao del Sur, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sarangani, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Occidental, Bukidnon
Ethnicity	Maguindanaon
Native speakers	2,021,099 (2020)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Greater Central Philippine Danao Maguindanaon
Dialects	Tau sa Ilud Tau sa Laya Biwangen
Writing system	Latin Arabic (Jawi)
Official status
Official language in	Regional language in the Philippines
Regulated by	Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mdh
Glottolog	magu1243
Areas where Maguindanaon is the majority language
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History

The Maguindanaon language is the native language of the Maguindanaon people of the province of Maguindanao located in the west of Mindanao island in the south of the Philippines. It was the language of the Sultanate of Maguindanao, which lasted until near the end of the Spanish colonial period in the late 19th century.

The earliest works on the language by a European were carried out by Jacinto Juanmartí, a Catalan priest of the Society of Jesus who worked in the Philippines in the second half of the 19th century.^[3][4] Aside from a number of Christian religious works in the language,^[6] Juanmartí also published a Maguindanao–Spanish/Spanish–Maguindanao dictionary and reference grammar in 1892.^[7] Shortly after sovereignty over the Philippines was transferred from Spain to the United States in 1898 as a result of the Spanish–American War, the American administration began publishing a number of works on the language in English, such as a brief primer and vocabulary in 1903,^[8] and a translation of Juanmartí's reference grammar into English in 1906.^[9]

A number of works about and in the language have since been published by Filipino and foreign authors.

Maguindanao language in Arabic script on Maguindanao royal seal from the 18th century

Distribution

Maguindanao has 3 major dialects: Ilud, Laya, and Biwangen.

Maguindanao dialects are:

• Ilud dialect: is spoken in Cotabato City, municipalities of Sultan Kudarat, Parang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, South Upi, North Upi, Kabuntalan, Datu Piang, Datu Unsay, Shariff Aguak, Ampatuan, Mamasapano, Guindulungan, Sultan sa Barongis, Pagalungan, Pagagawan, Talitay and Talayan. From the province of North Cotabato, the municipalities of Pigcawayan, Libungan, Midsayap, Aleosan, Alamada, Banisilan, Carmen, Pikit, Midsayap, Kabacan, Matalam, Kidapawan and Mlang. The speech of the municipalities of Pikit, Matalam, Pagalungan and Pagagawan differs in pronunciation and intonation from the ilud dialect, but is similar in vocabulary.
• Laya dialect: is spoken in municipalities of Buluan, Datu Paglas, General Salipada K. Pendatun, and Paglat, all in the province of Maguindanao del Sur, and Tulunan in the province of North Cotabato; the municipalities of Lambayong, Esperanza, Isulan, Senator Ninoy Aquino, Bagumbayan, Tacurong, President Quirino, Columbio and Lutayan, all in the province of Sultan Kudarat; the municipalities of Sto. Nino, Surallah, Norala, Banga, Lake Sebu, Koronadal, Tantangan, Polomolok, Tampakan and Tupi, all in the province of South Cotabato as well as some other parts of Davao City, Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and Bukidnon.
• Biwangen dialect: is spoken in General Santos, Sarangani, the coastal municipalities of Sultan Kudarat (Palimbang, Kalamansig and Lebak), the coastal municipalities of Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay, some municipalities in Zamboanga del Norte and in Pagadian.

Phonology

Vowels

Maguindanaon vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ ~ ə	u
Mid	(e)		(o)
Open		a

The vowels [e] and [o] only occur in loanwords from Spanish through Tagalog or Cebuano and from Malay.

Consonants

Maguindanaon consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k
	voiced	b	d	(dʒ)	ɡ
Fricative			s (z)			h
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Tap			ɾ
Lateral			l
Approximant		w		j

The phonemes /z/ and /dʒ/ only appear in loanwords. The sound [dʒ] also appears an allophonic realization for the sequences /d + s/ (e.g. [dʒaɭumˈani ka] /(ə)dsalumani ka/ 'repeat that!') and /d + i/ (only before another vowel before vowel, e.g. [ˈmidʒas] /midias/ 'stockings'); the sound [z] also appears as an allophone of /s/ before voiced consonants. /ɾ/ can also be trilled [r]. Intervocalic /d/ is realized as [ɾ].^[10][11]

/ɾ/ and /l/ are interchangeable in words which include a written l, and the prevalence by which it is used or is dominant denotes the local dialects of Maguindanaon. /l/ may also be heard as a retroflex [ɭ] in intervocalic positions.^[10] The Laya (Raya) or lowland dialect of Maguindanaon, spoken in and around Cotabato City, prefers the flapped r over l, while the more conservative upland variety spoken in Datu Piang and inland areas favors l.

Grammar

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

As in the Maranao language, Maguindanaon pronouns can be also free or bound to the word/morpheme before it.

Maguindanaon free and bound pronouns^[12]

	Nominative (free)	Nominative (bound)	Genitive/Ergative (bound)	Oblique (free)
I	saki	aku	ku	laki
you (singular)	seka	ka	'engka ~ nengka	leka
he/she/it	sekanin	sekanin	nin	lekanin
we (dual)	sekita	ta	ta	lekita
we (including you)	sekitanu	tanu	tanu	lekitanu
we (excluding you)	sekami	kami	nami	lekami
you (plural)	sekanu	kanu	nu	lekanu
they	silan	silan	nilan	kanilan

Numbers

Maguindanaon numerals:

	Maguindanaon
1	isa/sa
2	dua
3	telu
4	pat
5	lima
6	nem
7	pitu
8	walu
9	siaw
10	sapulu
20	dua pulu
30	telu pulu
40	pat pulu
50	lima pulu
60	nem pulu
70	pitu pulu
80	walu pulu
90	siaw pulu
100	magatus
1,000	sangibu

Colors

English	Maguindanaon
black	maitem
white	maputi
red	maliga
orange	kulit
yellow	binaning
green	gadung
blue	bilu
purple	lambayung
pink	kasumba
gray	kaumbi
brown	malalag

Phrases

English	Maguindanaon	English	Maguindanaon
How are you?	Ngin i betad engka?	Good morning	Mapia mapita
Good noon	Mapia maudtu	Good afternoon	Mapia malulem
Good day	Mapia gay	Good evening	Mapia magabi
I will go now	Lemu aku den	Until next time	Sampay sa tundug a kutika
You're so diligent	Sangat i katulanged nengka / Matulanged ka a benal	You're so kind	Sangat i kalimu nengka / Malimu ka a benal
You're so beautiful	Sangat i kanisan nengka / Manisan ka a benal	Thanks!	Sukran!
Thank you!	Sukran sa leka!	Thank you very much!	Sukran a benal!
You're welcome	Afwan	Welcome!	Talus ka!
Yes	Uway	No	Di
None	Da	Not	Kena
Who?	Entain?	What?	Ngin?
Where?	Endaw?	Which?	Endaw san?
When?	Kanu?	How?	Panun?
Why?	Enduken?	This	Inia
That	Intu/Nan	There	San
Here	Sia	In	Lu

Signs

Street sign samples

• 
  No smoking
• 
  No littering
• 
  No spitting
• 
  Do not urinate here

Writing system

Maguindanao is written with the Latin script, and used to be written with the Jawi script. Among works on the language published by Jacinto Juanmartí, his sacred history Compendio de historia universal contains Maguindanao texts in both Jawi and the Latin script.^[5]

Latin

Maguindanaon alphabet – Latin script

Letter	Name	Sound
A	a	[a]
B	ba	[b]
D	da	[d]
E	e	[ə]
G	ga	[g]
H	ha	[h]
I	i	[i/e]
J	ja	[ʒ]
K	ka	[k]
L	la	[l]
M	ma	[m]
N	na	[n]
Ng	nga	[ŋ]
P	pa	[p]
R	ra	[ɾ/r]
S	sa	[s]
T	ta	[t]
U	u	[u/o]
W	wa	[w]
Y	ya	[j]
Z	za	[z]

Jawi

Maguindanaon alphabet – Jawi script

Character	Name
ا	alip
ب	ba
ت	ta
ث	t̲a
ج	jim
ح	ḥa
خ	xo
د	dal
ذ	ḏal
ر	ro
ز	zai
س	sin
ش	šin
ص	ṣod
ض	ḍod
ط	ṭo
ظ	ẓo
ع	'ain
غ	ǧain
ڠ	nga
ف	fa
ڨ	pa
ق	qaf
ک	kaf
ڬ	gaf
ل	lam
م	mim
ن	nun
و	wau
ه	ha
ء	hamza
ي	ya
ى	ye

See also

• Philippines portal
• Language portal

• Languages of the Philippines
• Danao languages
• Maranao language
• Iranun language

References

1. "Ethnicity in the Philippines (2020 Census of Population and Housing)". Philippine Statistics Authority. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
2. "Tagalog is the Most Widely Spoken Language at Home (2020 Census of Population and Housing) | Philippine Statistics Authority | Republic of the Philippines". psa.gov.ph. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
3. Juanmartí, Jacinto, S. I. (1833-1897) (in Spanish). Retrieved 2020-10-10. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
4. Aguilera Fernández, María (2018). "Literatura misional y hagiografía en el siglo XIX: Jacinto Juanmartí, un misionero jesuita en Filipinas (1833–1897)" [Missionary literature and hagiography in the 19th century: Jacinto Juanmartí, a Jesuit missionary in the Philippines (1833–1897)]. Hispania Sacra (in Spanish). 70 (141): 321. doi:10.3989/hs.2018.024.
5. i.e., Compendio de historia universal desde la creación del mundo hasta la venida de Jesucristo y un breve vocabulario en castellano y en moro maguindanao [Compendium of universal history from the creation of the world to the coming of Jesus Christ and a brief vocabulary in Spanish and Moro-Maguindanao] (in Maguindanao and Spanish). Singapore: Koh Yew Hean. 1888.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
6. such as a Maguindanao–Spanish bilingual "sacred history", with a short wordlist, in 1888,^[5][4] in which Maguindanao was written in both Arabic characters and the Latin alphabet
7. i.e., Juanmartí (1892a) and Juanmartí (1892b)
8. i.e., Porter (1903)
9. i.e., Juanmartí (1906)
10. Eck, Jerry (1972). Sketch of Magindanaon phonology. Nasuli, Malaybalay, Bukidnon: SIL.
11. Racman, Tenex; Zorc, R. David (2009). Maguindanaon: Dialogs and Drills (PDF). Dunwoody Press.
12. Allison, E. Joe (1979). "Proto-Danaw: A Comparative Study of Maranaw, Magindanaw and Iranun". In Gallman, Andrew F.; Allison, E. Joe; Harmon, Carol W.; Witucki, Jeannette (eds.). Papers in Philippine Linguistics No. 10. Pacific Linguistics, Series A, No. 55. Canberra: The Australian National University. pp. 53–112. doi:10.15144/PL-A55.53.

Bibliography

• Juanmartí, Jacinto (1892a). Diccionario moro-maguindanao-español [Moro-Maguindanao-Spanish dictionary] (in Spanish). Manila: Tipografía «Amigos del País».
• Juanmartí, Jacinto (1892b). Gramática de la lengua de maguindanao según se habla en el centro y en la costa sur de la isla de Mindanao [A grammar of the Maguindanao tongue according to the manner of speaking it in the interior and on the south coast of the island of Mindanao] (in Spanish). Manila: Tipografía «Amigos del País».
• Juanmartí, Jacinto (1906) [First published in Spanish 1892]. A Grammar of the Maguindanao Tongue According to the Manner of Speaking It in the Interior and on the South Coast of the Island of Mindanao. Translated by Smith, C. C. Washington: Government Printing Office.
• Porter, R. S. (1903). A Primer and Vocabulary of the Moro Dialect (Magindanau). Washington: Government Printing Office for the Bureau of Insular Affairs.

External links

• Maguindanao at Wiktionary
• Bansa.org Maguindanao Dictionary
• SEAlang Library Maguindanao Resources