In contrast to Cuyonon, Ratagnon dropped the schwa /ë/ sound, instead opting for a “u/o” sound. It too borrowed lexical terms from the languages of its Mangyan neighbors and to a lesser extent Spanish It is notable in Barbian's "Mangyan - English Vocabulary", 1977 that by that time, Ratagnon might have already experienced heavy Tagalization, present in words such as "heart", "tagiposon" in Cuyonon, albeit "puso" in Ratagnon, same with Tagalog's "puso". The word "why", "ayamo" in Cuyonon is noted as "bakit" and "basi" in Ratagnon, "bakit" being a loan from Tagalog and "basi" a Hanunuo Ambahan term, perhaps inferring that "basi" is a loan from Ratagnon, as Ambahans have been known to use archaic Hanunuo terms and loans from various languages, one being Ratagnon. This phenomenon is also observed in the Hanunuo traditions of Urukay, perhaps closely related to the Erekay of the Cuyonons, both being a form of "Balagtasan". Ratagnon also have terms specific to their lowland river surroundings which are not present in modern Cuyonon, most of which are borrowings from Hanunuo and Buhid, whereas a few are either archaic Cuyonon terms or innovations made within the Ratagnon language. Aside from the aforementioned differences from the Cuyonon language, the two languages are still very much mutually intelligible. Differences from Cuyonon would include: The usage of the "t" sound over the "d" sound, present in: Usage of the "k" sound over the "g" sound: The aforementioned dropping off the schwa for the "u" sound present in:
English
Ratagnon
Cuyonon
ours
kanamun
kanamen
mine
akun
aken
straight
matadlong
matadleng
The preference to the "l" over the "r" sound There are some words that have differed in meaning from Cuyonon to Ratagnon, this is most observed at the terms specific to their respective surroundings, these have created false friends that have almost the same meaning but still differ.
According to the Ethnologue, Ratagnon is spoken in the southernmost extreme tip of Mindoro islands, including the municipalities of Magsaysay and Bulalacao.
Ratagnon is closely related to the Cuyonon language, a Bisayan language spoken in the Cuyo Archipelago just to the south of Mindoro. This may be brought about by migrations of Cuyonons to the southern tip of Mindoro, akin to their migrations to mainland Palawan, a very much gradual process. It could be inferred that these migrations happened at an earlier date before the migrations to mainland Palawan started due to its diversion from the Cuyonon language, whereas the Cuyonon of mainland Palawan, Calamian and that of the Cuyo itself remain the same language with relatively little dialectal differences.
