Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Subanon language

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Region
  
Western Mindanao

Glottolog
  
suba1253

Native speakers
  
(400,000 cited 1978–2011)

Language family
  
Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Mindanao Subanon

ISO 639-3
  
Variously: syb – Central stb – Northern suc – Western skn – Kolibugan laa – Lapuyan sfe – Eastern

The Subanon language (also Subanen and Subanun) is an Austronesian language belonging to the Mindanao languages. It is typically considered by linguists as a dialect cluster more than a monolithic language. Subanon is spoken in various areas of Zamboanga Peninsula namely the provinces of Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur, and in Misamis Occidental of Northern Mindanao. There is also a sizeable Subanon community in Misamis Oriental. Most go by the name of Subanen, Subanon or Subanun, while those who adhere to Islam refer to themselves as Kalibugan.

Internal classification

Jason Lobel (2013:308) classifies the Subanen varieties as follows.

  • Subanen
  • Western
  • Western Subanon
  • Western Kolibugan
  • Nuclear
  • West Nuclear
  • Tawlet-Kalibugan Subanen
  • Salug-Godod Subanen
  • East Nuclear
  • Southern Subanen
  • Central Subanen
  • Northern Subanen
  • Eastern Subanen

    • Lobel (2013:308) lists the following innovations among each of the following subgroups.

  • Nuclear Subanen: *k > Ø
  • Western Subanen: *k > /k/
  • East Nuclear Subanen: *r > /l/
  • West Nuclear Subanen: *r > /r/
  • Western Subanen: *r > /l/ (independently took place, likely due to contact with Tausug, Maguindanaon, Butuanon, Cebuano, and/or Ilonggo, which have also undergone the *r > /l/ shift independently of one another)

    • Proto-Subanen is also notable for having completely lost Proto-Greater Central Philippine *h.

    Lobel (2013) also provides a reconstruction of Proto-Subanen.

    References

    Subanon language Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA