Waray language


Waray 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 eastern 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 "mga Kana" and their language as "Kana".
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" 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 Arte de la lengua bisaya de la provincia de Leyte refers to the "Visayan tongue of the province of Leyte," Figueroa's Arte del idioma Visaya de Samar y Leyte refers to the "Visaya language of Samar and Leyte." Antonio Sanchez's 1914 "Diccionario español-bisaya" refers to the speech of "Sámar and Leyte."

Dialects

Linguist Jason Lobel considers there are 25 dialects and subdialects of Waray-Waray.
Waray is characterized by a unique sound change in which Proto-Bisayan *s becomes /h/ 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, 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 /ɨ/ 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 indigenous 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 of the Holy Scriptures was released in Waray-Waray.

Phonology

Consonants

Waray has a total of 16 consonant phonemes:. Two extra post-alveolar sounds are heard when occurs after, further proceeding another vowel sound.

Vowels

Most Waray dialects have three vowel phonemes: /a/, /i/ and /u/. Some dialects have an additional vowel /ə/ ; words with /ə/ in these dialects have /u/ in the majority dialects.

Grammar

Writing system

Waray, like all Philippine languages today, is written using the Latin script. There is no officially-approved orthography for the language and different writers may use differing orthographic styles. In general, it has become common to write the language following the current orthographic conventions of Filipino.

Vocabulary

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. Some, specially the old ones, are spoken alongside the Spanish counterparts.
EnglishNative WarayDerived from SpanishSpanish
oneusáunoun / uno una
twoduhádosdos
threetulótrestres
fourupatkuwatrocuatro
fivelimásingkocinco
sixunomsais/saysseis
sevenpitósyetesiete
eightwalóotsoocho
ninesiyámnuebe/nuybenueve
tennapúlôdies/dyisdiez
elevennapúlô kag-usáonseonce
twelvenapúlô kagduhádosedoce
thirteennapúlô kagtulótresetrece
fourteennapúlô kag-upatkatorsecatorce
fifteennapúlô kaglimákinsequince
sixteennapúlô kag-unomdisisays/disisaisdieciséis
seventeennapúlô kagpitódisisyetediecisiete
eighteennapúlô kagwalódisiotsodieciocho
nineteennapúlô kagsiyámdisinuybediecinueve
twentykaruhaànbaynteveinte
twenty onekaruhaàn kag-usàbaynte unoveintiuno
twenty twokaruhaàn kagduhàbaynte dosveintidós
thirtykatluàntrayntatreinta
fortykap-atànkuwarentacuarenta
fiftykalim-ànsingkwentacincuenta
sixtykaunmànsaysenta/sisentasesenta
seventykapituànsitentasetenta
eightykawaluànotsenta/ochientaochenta
ninetykasiyamànnobentanoventa
one hundredusa ka gatòssyencien
one thousandusa ka yukòtmilmil
one millionusa ka ribomilyonun millón

Some common words and phrases

Below are examples of the Waray spoken in Metropolitan Tacloban and the nearby areas:

Technical terms

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.

Common Waray Waray words and its foreign and local origin

Indonesian/Malay Cognates