Hiligaynon language

Hiligaynon
Ilonggo
Inilonggo, Binisayâ nga Hiligaynon, Bisayang Ilonggo
Pronunciation	/hɪlᵻˈɡaɪnən/
Native to	Philippines
Region	Western Visayas, western Negros Island Region, SOCCSKSARGEN, southwestern portion of Masbate, some parts of Palawan and Romblon, and a few parts of Northern Mindanao
Ethnicity	Hiligaynon people
Native speakers	9.3 million (2010) 4th most spoken native language in the Philippines.
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Central Philippine Visayan Hiligaynon
Dialects	Standard/Urban Hiligaynon (Iloilo province/Iloilo City dialect) Bacolodnon Hiligaynon (Metro Bacolod dialect) Negrense Hiligaynon (Negros Occidental dialect) Palaweño Hiligaynon (Palawan dialect) Guimaras Hiligaynon Mindanao Hiligaynon
Writing system	Latin (Hiligaynon alphabet) Hiligaynon Braille Historically Badlit (c. 13th–19th centuries)
Official status
Official language in	Regional language in the Philippines
Regulated by	Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino
Language codes
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3
Glottolog	hili1240
Areas where Hiligaynon is spoken in the Philippines
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The Hiligaynon language, also colloquially referred often by most of its speakers simply as Ilonggo, is an Austronesian regional language spoken in the Philippines by about 9.1 million people, mainly in Western Visayas, western Negros Island Region and SOCCSKSARGEN, most of whom belong to the Visayan ethnic group, mainly the Hiligaynons. It is the second-most widely spoken of the Visayan languages and is closely related to other Philippine languages.

Hiligaynon is mainly concentrated in the provinces of Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Guimaras, and Capiz, as well as in South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and big portions of North Cotabato in Mindanao, but it is also spoken in the other neighboring provinces, such as Antique and Aklan in Panay, Negros Oriental, Masbate, Palawan, Romblon, and some parts of Northern Mindanao. It is also spoken as a second language by Kinaray-a speakers in Antique, Aklanon/Malaynon speakers in Aklan, Capiznon speakers in Capiz, and Cebuano speakers in Negros Oriental. There are approximately 9,300,000 people in and out of the Philippines who are native speakers of Hiligaynon and an additional 5,000,000 capable of speaking it with a substantial degree of proficiency.