Waray (also known as Waray-Waray or Bisayâ/Binisayâ and Winaray/Waray, 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 and their language as Kana (after the oft-heard word , meaning 'that' in the Cebuano language). The Cebuano pronunciation of Waray is 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) refers to the "Visayan tongue of the province of Leyte", Figueroa's refers to the "Visaya language of Samar and Leyte". Antonio Sanchez's 1914 (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.

Tacloban: "standard" dialect: the dialect used in television and radio broadcasts and in education Abuyog, Leyte: heavy Cebuano influence Culaba, Biliran: heavy Cebuano influence Catbalogan: "original" dialect: Pure Waray, central part of Samar Island Calbayog: mixture of the Tacloban dialect and the dialect of Northern Samar Allen, Northern Samar: mostly Waray Sorsoganon mixed with Northern Samarenyo. Dialects in neighboring towns have also borrowed extensively from Waray Sorsoganon.

Many Waray dialects feature a sound change in which Proto-Bisayan *s becomes 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.

Most Waray dialects in northeastern and Eastern Samar have the close central unrounded vowel as a reflex of Proto-Austronesian *e.

Usage

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 native 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. In 2019, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures was released in Waray-Waray. 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: , and . Some dialects have an additional vowel ; words with in these dialects have in the majority dialects. P. 47

FrontCentralBackClose/Mid()Open

Consonants Waray has a total of 16 consonant phonemes: . Two extra postalveolar sounds are heard when occurs after , further proceeding another vowel sound.Rubino, (2001:797–800)

LabialAlveolarDorsalGlottalNasalStop FricativeRhotic~Approximant

Alphabet Waray, like all Philippine languages today, is written using the Latin script. There exists an officially-approved orthography for the language.

The 28-letter Filipino alphabet is used for writing Waray:

Majuscule form A B C D E F G H I J K L M N Ñ NG O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Minuscule form a b c d e f g h i j k l m n ñ ng o p q r s t u v w x y z

The letters ⟨c⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨j⟩, ⟨ñ⟩, ⟨q⟩, ⟨v⟩, ⟨x⟩, and ⟨z⟩ are not used in any native Waray words. Even in loanwords they are usually replaced by other letters (e.g. ⟨k⟩ or ⟨s⟩ for ⟨c⟩, ⟨p⟩ for ⟨f⟩, ⟨dy⟩ or ⟨h⟩ for ⟨j⟩, ⟨ny⟩ for ⟨ñ⟩, ⟨kw⟩ for ⟨qu⟩, ⟨b⟩ for ⟨v⟩, ⟨ks⟩ for ⟨x⟩, and ⟨s⟩ for ⟨z⟩).

The accent marks are used in the same manner as in the Filipino orthography.

Grammar

Case markers  AbsolutiveErgativeObliquesingular impersonal*plural impersonal*singular personalplural personal

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.

Here are some examples of demonstratives and adverbs together with their equivalent definition in Waray-Waray:

English Waray what , , where , , who () when , , how , here , , , , , there , , , , , that , , , those , , these , , why , , , this , , ,

Verbs English Waray English Waray to run to fix something to walk to explain to climb , to invite , to swim to attend , to talk/speak , , to send something , to jump , to create , to sit to build to stand to fly to shout/scream to sleep to make friends to write to cry , , to lay down to buy , to love to travel to care to sing to discuss , , to dance to drive , to fetch water to ride , to drink , to carry , , to eat to sell something ,

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 for hundred and for thousand). Some, especially the old ones, are spoken alongside the Spanish counterparts.

English Native Waray Derived from Spanish Spanish one (m) (f) two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen seventeen eighteen nineteen twenty twenty one twenty two thirty forty fifty sixty seventy eighty ninety one hundred one thousand one million

Loanwords and cognates 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.

See also Waray people Waray literature Waray Wikipedia Languages of the Philippines Samar Leyte Waray Sorsogon language

References

Further reading Abuyen, Tomas A. (2005). Dictionary English Waray-Waray/Tagalog, National Book Store, 494 pp., .

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.

External links

Arte de la Lengua Bisaya de la Provincia de Leyte (1747) – Google Books Arte del idioma visaya de Samar y Leite (1872) – Google Books Diccionario espanol-bisaya para las provincias de Sámar y Leyte (1914) – University of Michigan collection

Waray Museum Blog featuring Waray literature Waray lessons Bansa.org Waray Dictionary Waray-Waray Dictionary by Andras Rajki SEAlang Library Waray Resources A large collection of bible study material in Waray language (free audio books, videos, publications) – Jehovah's Witnesses