Southern Sorsogon (also known as Waray Sorsogon, Gubat) is a Bisayan language spoken in the southern part of Sorsogon, Philippines, in the municipalities of Gubat, Barcelona, Bulusan, Santa Magdalena, Matnog, Bulan, and Irosin. Although located in the Bicol Region, Southern Sorsogon belongs to the Warayan Bisayan subgroup, and is mutually intelligible to Waray which is spoken to the south on the neighboring island of Samar. The other two Bisayan languages spoken in the Bicol Region (Region V) are Masbate Sorsogon and Masbateño.
Phonology Southern Sorsogon has the following phoneme inventory: VowelsFrontCentralBackClose Open
ConsonantsLabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalPlosivevoiceless voiced Fricative Nasal Lateral Trill Semivowel
Grammar Personal pronouns Southern Sorsogon has three personal pronoun sets. nominativegenitiveoblique1st person singular2nd person singular, 3rd person singular1st person plural inclusive1st person plural exclusive2nd person plural3rd person plural
Deictic pronouns Southern Sorsogon has three deictic pronoun sets. nominativegenitiveobliquethis, here (near speaker & addressee)that, there (near addressee)yon, over there (remote), Jamora, Michael John A. (2011). “A Preliminary Study of the Lexical, Morphological, and Syntactic Variation of the Sorsoganon Languages”. In Proceedings of the 11th Philippine Linguistics Congress. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Department of Linguistics. Accessed 10 March 2025 at the UP Department of Linguistics website: https://linguistics.upd.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/11PLC-Proceedings-.pdf.
Noun case markers Southern Sorsogon has three noun case marker sets. nominative genitive oblique definite indefiniteCommonPersonal singularPersonal plural
Verbs Verbs in Southern Sorsogon are inflected for focus and aspect.
completedprogressiveanticipativeinfinitiveimperative Actor focus nag-/naN- nag-CV-naN-CV- má-maN-CV- mag-/maN- pag-/∅paN- Patient focus CV- CV- -un -un -a Locative focus -an CV- -an CV- -an -an -i Instrument focus CV- i-CV- i- -an
Vocabulary Numbers Southern Sorsogon has the following numbers: +EnglishTagalogSouthern SorsogonWaray
See also Waray language Waray people Masbateño language Bisakol languages Visayans
References