Surigaonon Language

Surigaonon Language

Surigaonon is a Philippine language spoken by Surigaonon people in the province of Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, and some portions of Agusan del Norte especially the towns near the Mainit Lake. Though it is related to Cebuano, Cebuano speakers can hardly understand Surigaonon speakers. The variety spoken in Tandag city is Tandaganon, and it may be a separate language (The same treatment to Boholano dialect of Cebuano).

Surigaonon is spoken in Surigao del Norte and most part of Surigao del Sur (except in the City of Bislig, Municipalities of Barobo, Hinatuan Lingig and Tagbina) (Surigaonon language, 2006). It has similar consonant and vowel sounds and stress and intonation patterns as the Cebuano and Boholano languages. Surigaonon underwent certain morphophonemic processes, such as assimilation, deletion, alternation and metathesis (Dumanig, 2005). In the study conducted by Dumanig (2005), Descriptive Analysis of Surigaonon language it was found that there are 18 consonants (b, d, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, ng, p, r, s, t, w, y, o, ?) with 18 sounds and 3 vowels (a,i,u) with 5 sounds. It has also 25 noun 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 (Rubrico, 1999).

There are Surigaonon words that are spelled similarly but they differ in meaning depending on how each syllable is stressed (Dumanig, 2005). Surigaonon follows two intonation patterns - rising and falling intonation. Rising intonation is common in asking yes-no questions and falling intonation occurs when ending declarative and imperative statements (Dumanig, 2005). There are also morphophonemic changes, such as deletion, alternation and metathesis.