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Blaan, also known as Bla'an, is an Austronesian language of the southern Philippines spoken by an indigenous ethnic group of the same name who inhabited many areas of Soccksargen and Davao Occidental.
| Blaan | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Philippines |
| Region | Mindanao |
| Ethnicity | Blaan |
Native speakers | 240,000 (2000–2007)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:bpr – Koronadal Blaan (Tagalagad)bps – Sarangani Blaan (Tumanao) |
| Glottolog | blaa1241 |
Classification
editBlaan belongs to the Bilic microgroup of the Philippine language subgroup, along with Giangan Manobo, Tiruray, and Tboli.[2]
Distribution
editThere are two major varieties of Blaan: Koronadal Blaan (Tagalagad) and Sarangani Blaan (Tumanao).
According to the Ethnologue,[specify] Koronadal Blaan is spoken in:
- eastern South Cotabato Province
- Sarangani Province
- Sultan Kudarat Province (Lutayan area)
- Davao Occidental Province
Sarangani Blaan is spoken in:
- almost the entire area of Sarangani Province
- South Cotabato Province (General Santos and north)
- Davao Occidental Province (language area across from Sarangani Province's northern border)
Phonology
editBlaan has fifteen consonant and seven vowel phonemes.[3] Unlike most other Philippine languages and Austronesian languages in general, Blaan (as its related language Tboli, permits a variety of consonant clusters at the onset of a syllable. This is evident in the name of the language, /bla'an/. This contraction of the original schwa sound exists in other Austronesian languages (such as Javanese, a major language of Java in Indonesia), but is rarely seen outside of the Bilic group within the Philippines.[citation needed]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | t | k | ʔ | ||
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||
| Fricative | f | s | h | |||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid | ɛ | ə | ɔ |
| Low | a | ɑ |
/i, ɛ/ are also heard as [ɪ, e]. /ə/ can also be heard as [ɨ, ʌ] within syllables.[citation needed]
Syntax
editBlaan uses word order to indicate the thematic roles of nominal elements in the sentence.[4]
Kamfe
AV.catch
kuku
cat
ungeh.
rat
'The cat catches the rat'
Similar to other Philippine-type Austronesian languages, Blaan uses verbal morphology to indicate voice (or focus, as it is usually called in the literature).[5] Here are some examples of voice/focus types in Blaan:
Agent voice/focus (-m-)
Magin
AV.accompany
nga
child
do.
me
'The child accompanies me.'
Patient voice/focus (-n-)
Nebe
PV.bring
libun
girl
ale.
them
'The girl brings them.'
Vocabulary
edit| English | Blaan |
|---|---|
| chicken | anuk |
| flower | bulek |
| horse | kura |
| corn | agul |
| needle | dalum |
| basket | been |
| broom | fune |
| rat | unge |
| money | filak |
| goat | uhe |
| scissors | gunting |
| mat | igem |
| clouds | labun |
| fish | nalaf |
| eye | mata |
| pestle | sung |
| leaf | doon |
| bone | tulan |
| lamp | salo |
| snake | ulad |
| crow | wak |
| foot | bli |
| mother | ye |
| father | ma |
References
edit- ^ Koronadal Blaan (Tagalagad) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Sarangani Blaan (Tumanao) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ Blust, Robert (1991). "The Greater Central Philippines Hypothesis". Oceanic Linguistics. 30 (2): 73–129. doi:10.2307/3623084. JSTOR 3623084.
- ^ Dean, J.; Dean, G. (1955). "The Phonemes of Bilaan" (PDF). Philippine Journal of Science. 84 (3): 311–322.
- ^ McLachlin, B.; Blackburn, B. (1968). "Verbal Clauses of Sarangani Blaan" (PDF). Asian Studies. 6 (1): 108–128. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 June 2021.
- ^ Dean, James C. (1958). "Some Principal Grammatical Relations in Bilaan". In Healey, Alan (ed.). Studies in Philippine Linguistics by the Summer Institute of Linguistics (Pacific Branch). Oceania Linguistic Monographs, No. 3. Sydney: University of Sydney. pp. 59–64.
- ^ "ABKD" (PDF) – via sil.org.[better source needed]
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