Appendix:Cebuano–Hiligaynon relations

This appendix contains the relations between Cebuano and Hiligaynon.

Cebuano (also Bisaya) and Hiligaynon (also Ilonggo) are two of the most spoken Bisayan languages, both descended from Proto-Bisayan and ultimately from Proto-Philippine, Proto-Malayo-Polynesian, and Proto-Austronesian. Cebuano is natively spoken in Cebu, eastern Negros Island, western and southern Leyte, southeast Masbate, northern Mindanao and central Davao Region (Davao City and southern Davao del Norte, specifically); it is a second language elsewhere in Mindanao except the Muslim-majority regions. Hiligaynon is a Central Bisayan language natively spoken in north, central and eastern Iloilo, most of Capiz, western Negros and parts of central Mindanao; it is a second language in much of central Mindanao. While not official languages of the Philippines, they are recognized as regional auxiliary languages where they are spoken. Cebuano and Hiligaynon vocabularies have 80% mutually intelligibility, but there are also many vocabulary, spelling and grammatical differences; in particular, the Bisayan language family is considered a dialect continuum, with neighboring varieties being mostly mutually intelligible, but differences accumulate over huge distances.

Unless otherwise indicated, Cebuano terms listed usually refer to General Cebuano (the standard language based on the Carcar-Dalaguete/Sialo dialect). Hiligaynon terms usually refer to standard Hiligaynon as spoken in northern and central Iloilo province, as opposed to Urban Hiligaynon as spoken in Iloilo City. Stress is implied on the second-to-final (penultimate) where no accents are provided.

Cebuano and Hiligaynon have striking similarities in core, inherited vocabulary. Except for some differences in vocabulary, grammar and spelling (which are explained below), there is huge mutual intelligibility between the two languages, in both spoken and written forms.

Below is a list of terms shared between Cebuano and Hiligaynon, as well as cognates. Also included is a English translation or gloss, and a Proto-Bisayan reconstruction (mostly following Zorc 1977). Some of the terms are inherited directly from Proto-Central Philippine, Proto-Philippine or Proto-Malayo-Polynesian with no changes.

All cognates display the changes of Proto-Bisayan schwa to /o ~ u/.

The Proto-Central Philippine cluster *l+consonant (except *h, *q or another *l) undergo metathesis in Bisayan (e.g. PPh *qalsəm > PCPh *ʔalsəm > PBis ʔasləm > Cebuano aslom and Hiligaynon aslum)

There is limited borrowing between Cebuano and Hiligaynon despite intense contact due to high mutual intelligibility, but Cebuano dialects spoken in Negros and central Mindanao feature borrowings from Hiligaynon.

Some words similarly pronounced in Cebuano and Hiligaynon and/or mean the same are spelled differently according to their respective de facto spelling standards. For Cebuano, modern standard spelling is based on the rules devised by Bisaya magazine and adapted as standard by the Cebu Provincial Commission on the Cebuano Language and the Philippine Department of Education. For Hiligaynon, there is no effective standard, but spellings from John Kaufmann's Visayan-English Dictionary (1934) are provided for contrast (with some changes to reflect present-day spelling influenced by standard Filipino spelling generally used in written Tagalog). Other spellings as used by other sources (e.g. Pambansang Diksiyonaryo by the University of the Philippines' Sentro ng Wikang Filipino and the Diksiyonaryo ng Wikang Filipino by the Commission on the Filipino Language) are provided in "Notes".

Some differences in spelling are explained due to standardization of Cebuano spelling. For example, standard Cebuano uses ⟨o⟩ for all instances of /o ~ u/ in final syllables of native words.

Contractions are also differently spelled in Cebuano and Hiligaynon. Cebuano removes the requirement for apostrophes, while Hiligaynon still require them. The clitic linker, nga, where contracted to -ng (used with words ending with vowels) or -g (used with words ending with /n/) are always written without apostrophe at word boundaries.

Hiligaynon generally retains the original spellings of Spanish loanwords with minor changes (one possible exception for /sj/ which is transcribed to ⟨sy⟩), though this is not always observed (e.g. abuelo vs. eskwela). Cebuano generally respells them according to standard transcription rules, with the known exceptions such as with corrupted borrowings or simplified spellings (usually a compromise between Cebuano pronunciation and the etymology).

There are also some differences in grammatical items, much of which are minimal. Cebuano and Hiligaynon conjugate have similar basic conjugations (realis, irrealis), but some conjugations are differently affixed in each language and Hiligaynon no longer uses a imperative aspect as Cebuano do.

Cebuano and Hiligaynon also have some differences in their words for certain numerals. Some Hiligaynon numbers are strikingly similar to those in Tagalog, but those are best explained by inheritance from a secondary set of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian numerals which were also the source of some Tagalog numerals.

In Cebuano, a ligature (-ng or -g) is placed at the end of a possessive pronoun ending in a vowel, N or NG before the object modified, but Hiligaynon does not require that for such. In both languages, ligatures are mandatory in all other cases.

Hiligaynon and Cebuano have influence in Masbatenyo, the native Bisayan language spoken in Masbate island; Hiligaynon has the most influence, and it has been hypothesized Masbatenyo is a mix of Hiligaynon, Cebuano, and Bikol, but it is more closely related to the West Sorsogon language spoken in Sorsogon province. Hiligaynon and Masbatenyo has 76% mutual intelligibility but this is one-way; Hiligaynon speakers can understand Masbatenyo, but most Masbatenyo speakers have difficulty understanding Hiligaynon.

Provided here are various example texts for comparison between the two languages.

• Appendix:Cognate sets for Bisayan languages