Tausūg (, , , ) is an Austronesian language spoken in the province of Sulu in the Philippines and in the eastern area of the state of Sabah, Malaysia. It is widely spoken in the Sulu Archipelago (Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Basilan), the Zamboanga Peninsula (Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga City), southern Palawan, Malaysia (eastern Sabah), and Indonesia (Tarakan City and Nunukan Regency, province of North Kalimantan).
Tausūg has some lexical similarities or near similarities with Surigaonon language of the provinces Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, and Agusan del Sur and with the Butuanon language of Agusan del Norte; it has also some vocabulary similarities with Sugbuanon, Bicolano, and with other Philippine languages. Many Malay and Arabic words are found in Tausug language.
Nomenclature In English, the language is primarily known as Tausug (i.e. Tausug language). The local name of the language is bahasa Sūg or Sinūg. The term Tausūg (, meaning "people of Sulu") is derived from two words: tau ("person" or "people") and Sūg
is the modern form of the older term (meaning "[sea] currents"), which was also the old name of the island of Jolo. It is derived from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *sələg ("flowing water, current"), and is a cognate of Cebuano , Tagalog , and Malay (a borrowing).
Classification
Tausūg is an Austronesian language. It is classified by linguists as being a member of the Bisayan languages family, which includes Cebuano and Waray. In particular, it has many similarities with the Surigaonon language of the provinces Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur and Agusan del Sur and with the Butuanon language of Agusan del Norte – both spoken in northeastern Mindanao; hence, Zorc (1977) groups these three languages as part of a "South Bisayan" grouping.
Speakers
Tausūg is primarily spoken in the Sulu Archipelago, which aside from the island of Sulu, also includes the Tawi-Tawi chain of islands and the island of Basilan. It is a lingua franca spoken in different areas/islands of the archipelago.
Due to migration, the language is also spoken alongside other local languages in the Zamboanga Peninsula (e.g., Cebuano and Chavacano), which includes the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga City. It is also spoken in Southern Palawan, Eastern Sabah, Malaysia and in Tarakan City and Nunukan Regency, North Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Phonology
Vowels Tausūg has three vowel phonemes: /a/, /i/, /u/, with phonemic length (e.g. īpun, "shrimp" vs. ipun, "tooth"). Stress is not phonemic and usually occurs on the final syllable.
The vowel phonemes have a broad range of allophones: /a/: /i/: /u/:
Tausūg has expectedly developed some variations in accent and vocabulary from one area to another, but there are two basic dialects characterized by differences with regard to vowel sounds. The "Gimbahanun" (literally means people from the farm) speakers, the residents of the out-of-town rural areas, use four vowels: /a/, /i/, /u/ and /ə/, the last vowel representing schwa sound or "obscure u", a retention from Proto-Philippine and Proto-Bisayan. The "Parianun", the residents of the urban areas, use only three vowel phonemes: /a/, /i/, /u/,; the loss of /ə/ is common in many Bisayan and other Philippine languages.
Consonants The consonant phonemes are:
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Nasal PlosiveAffricate Fricative Approximant Trill
Allophones: /b/: per default , but between vowels /g/: per default , but between vowels /h/: per default , but between vowels /r/: per default , but before /m,n,g,k/
Medial gemination (of all non-glottal consonants) is phonemic.
Grammar
Pronouns
Personal pronouns Tausūg has three pronoun sets:
nominative genitive oblique 1st person singular dual plural exclusive inclusive 2nd person singular plural 3rd person singular plural
Demonstratives
Case markers The case markers of Tausūg are: nominative genitive oblique common in sin ha proper singular hi kan proper plural hinda' kanda' Non-subject undergoers take the oblique marker when definite or a proper noun, but indefinite common nouns take the genitive marker sin. Hi Nasul in kimaun ha mampallam. "It was Nasul who ate the mango." Nagdakdak sin baju' in manga bujang. "The maidens washed clothes."
Existentials The positive existential ("there is") is aun, the negative existential ("there is none") is way.
Interrogative words English Tausug Who? Siyu?/Hisiyu? What? Unu? Where? Diin? / Hariin? / Hāin? (contracted Hariin) / Haunu? (Ha+uuu) Why? Mayta'? / Mahi? When? (future) Ku'nu? When? (past) Ka'nu? How? (manner) Biya'diin? How many? Pila?
Verbs Verbs in Tausūg are inflected for focus and aspect.
completedprogressivecontemplativeimperative Actor focus nag-naN- CV-nag-CV-naN-CV- ‹um›mag-maN- ∅∅paN- Patient focus CV- -un -a Locative focus -an CV- -an -an -i Instrument focus CV- hi- -an Affixes expressing ability: completedprogressivecontemplative Actor focus naka- nakaka- maka- Patient focus na- na-CV- ma- Locative focus kiya- -an kiya-CV- -an ka- -an Instrument focus kiya- kiya-CV- hika-
Numbers Tausūg numerals: Tausug 1 isa / hambuuk 2 duwa 3 tū 4 upat 5 lima 6 unum 7 pitu 8 walu 9 siyam 10 hangpū' 11 hangpū' tag isa 20 kawha'an 30 katlu'an 40 kapatan 50 kay'man 60 kanuman 70 kapituwan 80 kawaluwan 90 kasiyaman 100 hanggatus / gatus 1,000 hangibu / ibu 1,282 hangibu tag duwang gatus tag kawaluwan tag duwa 2,000 duwa nga'ibu 10,000 hangpu' nga'ibu
Writing system
Tausūg is today primarily written using the Latin alphabet. Historically, it had previously been written using the Arabic alphabet. The script used was derived from Jawi used in writing the Malay language. The script is referred to as Sulat Sug
The Arabic script used to write Tausūg differs in some aspects from the script used for Arabic and in the Jawi script used for Malay.
In Sulu, there is no separate letter for [g]. Whereas in Jawi, the sound [g] is represented by the letter (which has a pronunciation [ɣ] in Arabic) is reserved for Arabic loanwords, and sometimes the letter .
In Sulu, there is no differentiation between [f] and [p]. Whereas in Jawi, the letters and are used respectively, in Sulu the letter is used in all instances.
For the sound [ɲ] in the final position, in Sulu, the letter is used whereas in Malay Jawi, the letter is instead used. The letter is associated with the sound [p] in Persian and other scripts derived from Persian. In both Malay Jawi and Sulu the letter / is used in all other positions.
For the sound [k] in the final position, in Malay Jawi, the letter is used, having the same form as when in initial or medial positions. In Sulu, similar to Arabic, it is customary to use .
Latin
+ Tausūg Alphabet (Bahasa Sūg Alipbā'tā')LetterABDGHIJKLMNameAlipbā' dālgā' hā' ījīmkāplāmmīmIPA , , , LetterNNgPRSTUWY'Namenūnngā' pā' rā' sīntā' ūwāwyā' hamjaIPA ,
Arabic + Tausūg Alphabet – Arabic Script Character Isolated Initial Medial Final Name ا ﺍ ﺎ alip ب ب بـ ـبـ ـب bā' ت ﺕ ﺗ ـﺘ ـﺖ tā' ث ث ثـ ـثـ ـث sā(thā') پ پ پـ ـپـ ـپ nyā' ج ﺝ ﺟ ـﺠ ـﺞ jīm ح ح حـ ـحـ ـح hā' خ خ خـ ـخـ ـخ khā' چ چ چـ ـچـ ـچ chā' د د ـد dāl ذ ذ ـذ jāl ر ﺭ ـر rā' ز ز ـز jā' س ﺱ ﺳ ـﺴ ـﺲ sīn ش ش شـ ـشـ ـش sīn ص ص صـ ـصـ ـص sād ض ض ضـ ـضـ ـض dād ط ط طـ ـطـ ـط tā' ظ ظ ظـ ـظـ ـظ lā' ع ع عـ ـعـ ـع 'ayn غ ﻍ ﻏ ـﻐـ ـﻎ gayn ڠ ڠ ڠـ ـڠـ ـڠ ngā' ف ﻑ ﻓ ـﻔ ـﻒ pā' ق ق قـ ـقـ ـق kāp ك ك كـ ـكـ ـك kāp ل ﻝ ﻟ ـﻠ ـﻞ lām م ﻡ ﻣ ـﻤ ـﻢ mīm ن ﻥ ﻧ ـﻨ ﻦ nūn ه ﻩ ﻫ ـﻬ ﻪ hā' و ﻭ ـو wāw ي ﻱ ﻳ ـﻴـ ﻲ yā' ء ء ء hamja أ أ ـأ alip with hamja above ﺅ ﺅ ـﺆ wāw with hamja above ئ ئ ئـ ــئـ ـئ yā' with hamja above لا لا لا ــلا ــلا lām alip
Sample Texts
Below some examples of Sulu in both Latin and Arabic scripts:
Latin script: Wayruun tuhan malayngkan Allāh, hi Muhammad ing (in) rasūl sin Allāh Arabic script
English translation There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah
Latin script Uu kamu manga bang-sa Islam dii haka-pu'-pu' an Suug, agad tu'ud kamy sing da'akun i-ban sing tagga-hun sing parin-ta. Arabic script
English translation Oh ye of Islamic race here in the Sulu Archipelago, obey ye fully the orders and prohibitions of the government.
Examples
EnglishTausūg Latin ScriptTausūg Arabic ScriptWhat is your name?Unu in ngān mu? / Siyu in ngān mu? My name is Muhammad.In ngān ku Muhammad. How are you?Maunu-unu na kaw? I am good.Marayaw da isab. Where is Ahmad?Hariin hi Ahmad? He is in the house.Yadtu siya ha bāy. Thank you!Magsukul kaymu!
Loanwords
Many Tausug words derive from the Arabic language.
Some examples of Arabic words in Tausug are