Native speakers 500,000 (2009) | Ethnicity Surigaonon people | |
Region Surigao del Norte, most parts of Surigao del Sur, and some portion of Dinagat Islands, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur and Davao Oriental Language family AustronesianMalayo-PolynesianPhilippineCentral PhilippineVisayanSouthern VisayanSurigaonon Official language in Regional language in the Philippines | ||
Surigaonon is a Philippine regional language spoken by Surigaonon people in the province of Surigao del Norte, Dinagat Islands, Surigao del Sur, and some portions of Agusan del Norte especially the towns near the Mainit Lake, Agusan del Sur and Davao Oriental.
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Tandaganon
Tandaganon (also called Naturalis, Tagon-on) is a closely related variety spoken in the central Surigao del Sur municipalities of Tandag City, San Miguel, Tago, Bayabas, Cagwait, Marihatag, San Agustin, and most of Lianga. It can be classified as a separate language or alternatively as a southern variety of Surigaonon. There are about 100,000 speakers.
Surigaonon (also called Jaun-Jaun, Waya-Waya) itself is the northern (Surigao del Norte) variety, with about 400,000 speakers. Surigaonon speakers are distributed throughout Surigao del Norte, northern Surigao del Sur, and northern Agusan del Norte. Surigaonon and Tandaganon speakers can understand each other well, even if they use their own languages in conversation (similar to the mutual intelligibility between Boholano and Cebuano).
Together, Surigaonon and Tandaganon are spoken in Surigao del Norte and most parts of Surigao del Sur, except in the City of Bislig, municipalities of Barobo, Hinatuan, Lingig, and Tagbina. In the non-Surigaonons-speaking areas of Surigao, most of the inhabitants are descended from Cebuano-speaking migrants, and the rest are natives who speak Kamayo, a Mansakan language.
Phonology
According to Dumanig (2005), Surigaonon has a similar phonological inventory as its sister Visayan languages, Cebuano and Boholano.
Vowels
Below is the vowel system of Surigaonon (Dumanig, 2005):
Consonants
Below is a chart of Surigaonon consonants (Dumanig, 2005).
Clusters
Surigaonon has 25 consonant clusters (br, bl, bw, by, dr, dy, dw, gr, gw, kr, kl, kw, mw, my, nw, pr, pl, pw, py, sw, sy, tr, tw, ty, hw) and 4 diphthongs (aw, ay, iw, uy), which is similar to Cebuano.