Native to Philippines Ethnicity Bicolano people | Region Bicol | |
Native speakers (2.5 million cited 1990 census)
6th most spoken native language in the Philippines Language family Austronesian
Malayo-Polynesian
Philippine
Central Philippine
Bikol languages
Coastal Bikol
Central Bikol Writing system Latin (Bikol alphabet)
Bikol Braille
Historically Baybayin | ||
Central Bikol, commonly called Bikol Naga, is the most-spoken language in the Bicol Region of southern Luzon, Philippines. It is spoken in the northern and western part of Camarines Sur, second congressional district of Camarines Norte, eastern part of Albay, northeastern part of Sorsogon, San Pascual town in Masbate, and southwestern part of Catanduanes. Central Bikol speakers can be found in all provinces of Bicol and it is a majority language in Camarines Sur. The standard Sprachraum form is based on the Canaman dialect.
Contents
Central Bikol features some vocabularies that are not found in other Bikol languages nor to other members of the Central Philippine language family like Tagalog and Cebuano. Examples of these are words the matua and bitis which are the same with Kapampangan words that means older and foot/feet respectively. The word banggi (night) is another example of this as it is different from the usual Bikol word "gab-i" but closer to the word bengi of Kapampangan. There's no formal study about the relationship of the Central Luzon languages to Central Bikol but the latter has several words that are also found in the archaic form of Tagalog spoken in the Rizal and Quezon provinces that are believed to be the home of Central Luzon languages such as Kapampangan in Pampanga and southern Tarlac, and Sambalic languages in Zambales province.
Central Bikol dialects
Because of its broad geographic coverage as compare to other Bikol languages separated by islands and mountains, Central Bikol diverged into 6 dialects, but are mutually comprehensible. The division of the language into different dialects are mainly because of the influence from other Bikol languages and other languages surrounding the region.
The Canaman dialect, despite being used only by a small number of population in Camarines Sur, is the standard form of Central Bikol being used in literature, Catholic religious rites and mass media. Naga City dialect is spoken in the first and second districts of Camarines Sur, Albay province (except in Del Gallego, where residents are mostly Tagalog speakers) and in San Pascual, Masbate (Burias island). The Partido dialect is spoken in the eastern part of Camarines Sur centered in Goa and Lagonoy. The Tabaco-Legazpi-Sorsogon (TLS) dialect is spoken in the eastern coast of Albay and the northeastern part of Sorsogon. TLS is the dialect that has been most influenced by the Inland Bikol languages. The Daet dialect on the other hand is spoken in the southern half of the province of Camarines Norte. The Virac dialect is spoken around Virac, Catanduanes and surrounding towns on the southwestern part of the island of Catanduanes.
Dialectal comparison of Central Bikol
Like other Philippine languages, Bikol has a number of loanwords, largely Spanish as a result of 333 years of Spanish rule in the Philippines. This includes suerte (luck), karne (carne, meat), imbestigador (investigador, investigator), litro (liter), pero (but), and krimen (crimen, crime). Another source of loanwords is Sanskrit, with words like hade (king) and karma.
Particles
Like many other Philippine languages, Bikol has a rich set of discourse particles.