I left a message on Luiza’s (luiza.i.ph) tagboard with the words, “…ayo ayo,” a Cebuano phrase which means ‘Take care’. Well, I just miss talking to some cebuanos lately (you know how I so love Cebu) and I know she understood what I meant ‘coz most of her tagboard is filled with the dialect. The next time I dropped by her site, I got this reply, “car..bisaya diay ka??”
It was a simple question asking me if I’m bisaya, but it got me tongue-tied (or rather finger-tied?). I couldn’t reply immediately ‘coz I’m not sure if she meant bisaya as somebody from Cebu or bisaya as a dialect.
Anyway, I got ‘finger-tied’ because of these two premises:
1. Bisaya could mean either a person or a dialect.
I got a little help from Wikipedia on this.
Bisaya as a person means somebody living primarily “…in the Visayas and northeastern Mindanao but others have migrated elsewhere in the Philippines, including Manila. Several linguistic groups in the Philippines are primarily of Bisaya descent. The largest of these groups are the speakers of Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Waray-Waray.” (read more…)
On the other hand, bisaya as a dialect refers to Visayan languages which “…along with Tagalog and Bikol, are part of the Central Philippine language family. Most Visayan languages are spoken in the Visayas region but they are also spoken in the Bicol Region (particularly in Sorsogon and Masbate), islands south of Luzon such as those that make up Romblon, the northern and western areas of Mindanao, and the province of Sulu located southwest of Mindanao.” (read more…)
Sometimes both terms cebuano and bisaya are used interchangeably which usually creates confusion.
I used to think before that the term bisaya only applies to provinces speaking the Cebuano dialect, but I later learned that the term is so broad and includes other non-Cebuano speaking provinces as well, including my home province of Negros. The fact is, my Mom is from Bohol, and my Dad is from Negros. We children were all born and raised in Negros so we speak Hiligaynon. Our family stayed for a long time in Cebu because all of us studied there and because of our business. Some of us even worked there after graduation. We speak Cebuano fluently and it’s funny ‘coz I and my siblings always converse in Cebuano more than our mother dialect!
2. Ilonggo or ilongga means a person, not a dialect, somebody born and raised in Iloilo. On the other hand, Hiligaynon is what we call that sing-song dialect (ay teh, amo gid na ya, tu-od gid?) spoken by natives of Iloilo and the western part of Negros Occidental, and some areas in Panay and Mindanao.
I am not so sure about the exclusivity of the term ilonggo/ilongga for Iloilo natives only. I’ve just heard this from somebody who corrected me when I said that I speak ilonggo. He told me Hiligaynon is the correct term while ilonggo is the term for people from Iloilo. Can anybody enlighten me on this please?
Wikipedia states: “The language is referred to as “Ilonggo” in Negros Occidental and in Iloilo. More precisely, “Ilonggo” is an ethnolinguistic group referring to the people living in Panay and the culture associated with the people speaking Hiligaynon. The boundaries of the dialect called Ilonggo and that called Hiligaynon are unclear. The disagreement of where what name is correct extends to Philippine language specialists and native laymen.” (read more…)
It would be a good topic for discussion or might even spark a debate. Though it would be quite correct to say, “He is an ilonggo and he speaks Hiligaynon fluently,” to differentiate the dialect from the person.
As for me, eversince I’ve heard about this exclusivity issue, I don’t call myself an FBI (full blooded ilongga) anymore, its much better to call myself a true-blue Negrense speaking Hiligaynon.
So going back to that question, “…bisaya diay ka?” (Are you bisaya?), I would reply, “yup, I’m bisaya, from Negros… nice meeting you gid.” 🙂
i think you’re right. ilonggo refers to a person and hiligaynon to the dialect. sa resume, ako makit-an ila ibutang sa dialect/s spoken – hiligaynon man, not ilonggo.
bisaya diay ka? ingna lang, “oo bisdak gid!” 🙂
btw, pareho ta gle nga ilonggo man. ay tehhhhh!
Daisy: only those natives of Iloilo daw can be called ilonggo. agree or disagree?
Daisy: only those natives of Iloilo daw can be called ilonggo. agree or disagree?
We would like to think so. but so do the Capizinos, Aklanons, Antiquenanons and Negros Occidentallanons. Para wala lang sing gamo, pa-ayo lang. But I am an Ilongo, from the town of Alimodian, Iloilo, also a Canadian from Toronto for the past 30 plus years, and a Visaya kag Pilipino Pa. Multi nationals…
hahahaaha.. nice meeting you dai.. I asked if you were bisaya..but what i really meant was ..BISDAK diay ka?? bisayang daku…
for tagalog speaker like me (born and raised in manila), all visayas and mindanao inhabitants are bisayas for me. i cant differentiate one dialect from the other, hehe.
There are times na when a tagalog-speaking person ask me, “Bisaya ka?”. My usual reply, “I’m a cebuano”.
When another cebuano-speaking person in luzon ask me that same question, my reply is a big ‘yes’, automatically.
but for me, a bisaya includes all those who speak cebuano, illonggo and waray (plus other minor dialects in vismin), living anywhere in the world.
Bisaya gid/gyud/gad ta!
Vic: uy, Ilonggo gid ka! yup, mag-ginamo gid if some people insist on the exclusivity. pero, they got their basis from ILO-ilo and ILOnggo, so medyo may point man sila. anyway, basta ako Negrense gid.
Luiza: yep, bisdak gyud ko. regards na lang ko diha sa Cebu, wala lang kaayo mi kasuroy when we were there last month…bitin. 🙂
Curacha: well, bisaya can mean both visayas and mindanao inhabitants, so OK lang yan. though to be precise, they say it should be mindanaons for those coming from mindanao. oh well…
Lazarus: when somebody asks me that question, i’d reply, “yes i’m a bisaya and i’m from negros.” but if someboday asks me if i speak bisaya, i know he usually meant the cebuano dialect, and i also reply, “yes”, though i also inform him that my mother tongue is hiligaynon.
…and you’re right when you say that bisaya includes other vismin dialects as well, not only cebuano.
aww that one? well, i don’t agree that only those from Iloilo have the right to be called Ilonggos. hasta sad taga Negros Occidental Ilonggo uy!
Ah, basta ako proud gid ako nga tawagon ako kaugalingon Bisaya although I was born in Mindanao. I don’t call myself Cebuano or Ilonggo gid. I call myself Bisaya nga Mindanaoan. Mabuhi ang kabisayaan.
Rey: yeah, the bisaya term is kinda broad. i’m proud to be bisdak too… bisayang hiligaynon/ilonggo/whatever, hehehe
yep… mee too! pero nd gd mn kla2 ang tawag nga bsaya(dialect) sa mga ilongos…
tawag nmn ya hiligaynon,datz our dialect…
im proud of being ilongos..hehe
bskan mag ginamu pda..
Bisaya is our common people & language.
I’m from Mindanao, a Mindanaoan, but also a Bisaya. Mindanaoan-Bisaya
We also have….
oy ga-inenglis na man ko 🙂
Naa poy, Ilonggo-Bisaya, Bol-anon-Bisaya, Cebuano-Bisaya, Waray-Bisaya….
Dako nga katawhan ang Bisaya, moabot og 13 Milyon.
Nindot unta og magkatapok ang mga Bisaya. Asa ba ang mga Bisaya?
Sa Kalubihan nagtapok.
Ok… will someone tell me a website that teaches you how to speak Hiligaynon(Ilonggo)!! I can’t find anything and I’ve searched over 7 pages on Google!