Cebuano Language

Cebuano
Visayan
Bisayâ, Sugbuanon, Sinugbuanong Binisayâ, Bisayang Sebwano, Sinibwano
Pronunciation	/sɛbuːwɑːnɒ/
Native to	Philippines
Region	Central Visayas, eastern Negros Island Region, western parts of Eastern Visayas, southern portion of Masbate, and most parts of Mindanao
Ethnicity	Cebuano people
Native speakers	21 million (2007) 2nd most-spoken language in the Philippines, after Tagalog
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Central Philippine Visayan Cebuano
Dialects	Standard Cebuano (Cebu province dialect) Urban Cebuano (Metro Cebu dialect) Negrense Cebuano (Negros Oriental dialect) Boholano Cebuano Leyteño Cebuano (Kana) Mindanao Cebuano (includes Davaoeño Cebuano)
Writing system	Latin (Cebuano alphabet) Cebuano Braille
Official status
Official language in	Regional language in the Philippines
Regulated by	Visayan Academy of Arts and Letters
Language codes
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3
Glottolog	cebu1242
Cebuano-speaking area in the Philippines
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The Cebuano language, often colloquially referred to by most of its speakers simply as Bisaya ("Visayan"; not to be confused with other Visayan languages), is an Austronesian regional language spoken in the Philippines by about 20 million people, mostly in Central Visayas, eastern Negros Island Region, western parts of Eastern Visayas and most parts of Mindanao, most of whom belong to the Cebuano Visayan ethnic group. It is the most widely spoken of the languages within the so-named Visayan language family and is closely related to other Filipino languages.

It has the largest native language-speaking population of the Philippines despite not being taught formally in schools and universities until 2012. It is the lingua franca of the Central Visayas, eastern Negros Island Region (especially Negros Oriental), western parts of Eastern Visayas and most parts of Mindanao. The name Cebuano is derived from the island of Cebu, which is the urheimat or origin of the language. Cebuano is also the prime language in Western Leyte, noticeably in Ormoc and other municipalities surrounding the city, though most of the residents in the area name the Cebuano language by their own demonyms such as "Ormocanon" in Ormoc and "Albuerahanon" in Albuera. Cebuano is given the ISO 639-2 three-letter code ceb, but has no ISO 639-1 two-letter code.

Cebuano is spoken on the island of Cebu and its 167 surrounding islands and islets, Bohol and Siquijor, eastern Negros Island Region (entire Negros Oriental and northeastern Negros Occidental), southern Masbate, many portions of Leyte, Biliran, parts of Samar and most parts of Mindanao, the second largest island of the Philippines. Furthermore, "a large portion of the urban population of Zamboanga, Davao and Cotabato is Cebuano speaking". Some dialects of Cebuano have different names for the language. Ethnic groups of Cebuano speakers from Cebu are mainly called "Cebuano", Cebuano speakers from Bohol are "Boholano/Bol-anon", while Cebuano speakers in Leyte identify their dialect as Kana (Leyte Cebuano or Leyteño). Speakers in Mindanao and Luzon refer to the language simply as Binisaya or Bisaya.