Butuanon language

Butuanon
Native toPhilippines
EthnicityButuanons
Native speakers
72,000 (2005 [needs update])[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3btw
Glottologbutu1244

Butuanon (Binutwanon, [binutwɐnʊn]) is an Austronesian language spoken by the Butuanon people in Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur, with some native speakers in Misamis Oriental and Surigao del Norte. It is a part of the Bisayan language family and is closely related to other Philippine languages. As of 2007, Butuanon is believed to be spoken by fewer than 500 younger speakers in Butuan itself.[2]

Butuanon is very closely related to the Tausug language of distant Sulu and the Surigaonon language of neighboring provinces Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte.

Phonology

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Vowels

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Butuanon has three vowels: /a/, /i/, and /u/, with phonemic length.

Front Central Back
Close i  u 
Open a 

Consonants

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Bilabial Dental Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Stop p b t d k ɡ ʔ 
Fricative s h
Approximant
(Lateral)
j w
l
Rhotic ɾ~r

Stress

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Stress is phonemic in Butuanon and can be on either the penultimate or the final syllable.

Minimal pairs in Butuanon based on stress
Spelling With penultimate stress With ultimate stress
amo /ˈamuʔ/ ('ours') /aˈmuʔ/ ('monkey')
kuwang /ˈkuaŋ/ ('lacking') /kuˈaŋ/ ('lie down' [imperative])
lupa /ˈlupaʔ/ ('earth') /luˈpaʔ/ ('spit' [imperative])
tu-o /ˈtuʔu/ ('believe' [imperative]) /tuˈʔu/ ('right side')

Grammar

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Morphosyntactic alignment

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Case markers in Butuanon
direct indirect oblique
general ang hong sa[a]
personal singular si ni kang
plural sinda ninda kanda
  1. ^ Sa may be dropped, replaced with hong, or replaced with a locative demonstrative.

References

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  1. ^ Butuanon at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Cabuang, Fred S. (September 6, 2007). "Saving Butuanon Language". The Manila Times. Archived from the original on 2007-10-15. Retrieved 2010-03-14.

Further reading

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