Waray language
| Waray | |
|---|---|
| Waray-Waray, Samar-Leyte Visayan | |
| Winaray, Samareño, Lineyte-Samarnon, Binisaya nga Winaray, Binisaya nga Samar-Leyte | |
| Native to | Philippines |
| Region | Eastern Visayas, some parts of Masbate, and some parts of Sorsogon |
| Ethnicity | Waray people |
|
Native speakers
|
3.4 million (2015) 5th most spoken native language in the Philippines |
| Dialects | Standard Waray (Tacloban dialect), Northern Samar dialect, Calbayog dialect, Culaba-Biliran dialect, Abuyog dialect and other 20 identified dialects and subdialects |
|
Latin; Historically Badlit |
|
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
Regional language in the Philippines |
| Regulated by |
Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino Historically regulated by the ha Samar ug Leyte |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | wara1300 |
Areas where Waray-Waray is spoken
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|
Waray is the fifth-most-spoken native regional language of the Philippines, specific to the provinces of Samar, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Biliran, and the north-east of Leyte island (surrounding Tacloban). It is the third most spoken language among the Visayan languages after Hiligaynon (Ilonggo) and Cebuano. The language name comes from the word often heard by non-speakers, "waray" (meaning "none" or "nothing" in Waray); similarly, Cebuanos are known in Leyte as "mga Kana" and their language as "Kana" (after the oft-heard word "kana", meaning "that" in the Cebuano language).
Linguist Jason Lobel (2009) considers there are 25 dialects and subdialects of Waray-Waray.
Waray-Waray is characterized by a unique sound change in which Proto-Bisayan *s becomes /h/ in a small number of common grammatical morphemes. This sound change occurs in all areas of Samar south of the municipalities of Santa Margarita, Matuginao, Las Navas, and Gamay (roughly corresponding to the provinces of Samar and Eastern Samar, but not Northern Samar), as well as in all of the Waray-speaking areas of Leyte, except the towns of Javier and Abuyog. However, this sound change is an areal feature rather than a strictly genetic one (Lobel 2009).
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Wikipedia