Part 1

A BISAYAN GRAMMAR AND NOTES ON BISAYAN RHETORIC AND POETICS AND FILIPINO DIALECTOLOGY

By NORBERTO ROMUÁLDEZ, B.A.

—Provincial Fiscal of Leyte, P.I.— —Attorney-at-Law— —Formerly Director of “San Jose” College of Takloban— —Professor of Latin—

O! good my lord, no Latin; I am not such a truant since my coming As not to know the language I have liv’d in

SHAKESPEARE

1908.

“PAG PAHAYAG” CO.—TAKLOBAN.

TO THE

TO THE YOUTH OF SAMAR AND LEYTE

who are clearly demonstrating aspirations for a brighter future thru education this book is dedicated, in the hope that it may give a stimulus to their work and an incentive to appreciate what is best in their language as well as in the hope that, at a future day, some one of them may be fitted to do this work better than here presented.

The Author

INTRODUCTION

The publication of a Bisayan grammar has been eagerly awaited by many. It has been desired by those who are interested simply in the study of a native dialect. It has been needed by all Americans who desire an acquaintance with the language of the people among whom they live in order that they may get into closer touch with the great mass of natives as yet unable to speak either Spanish or English. It has been requested by many natives who wish to improve their use of their mother tongue. To all such, the present volume will prove of great value.

The author is recognized throughout Samar and Leyte as one of the highest authorities on the Samareño dialect. His statements may therefore be accepted as authoritative. His treatment of prefixes and suffixes, of similar words with different meanings, and of the various forms of the verb are especially interesting and valuable.

It is hoped that Mr. Norberto Romuáldez may be able to carry out his intention of putting out a combined grammar and language book designed especially for those just beginning the study of Bisayan. Such a work in conjunction with the present grammar would immensly facilitate the acquisition of a speaking knowledge of the dialect.

W. W. MARQUARDT, Division Superintendent of Schools.

PREFATORY REMARKS

This book is not intended to be a complete grammar, but is only an elementary work containing a collection of some principles governing the formation of the words and the construction of the sentences of the Bisayan [1] dialect spoken on the islands of Samar and nearly half of Leyte, by about four hundred thousand people.

At random and at odd intervals as the author’s time permitted, he arranged, more or less in a logical grammatical order, the material gathered. Bearing in mind that there has never been any previous treatise on this subject worthy the name, the whole field therefore remaining practically unexplored, it will not be surprising that the use of spare moments covering only a short period has left much of the field undeveloped. However, what has been collected in this book will be found to be of primary importance to any one desiring to gain a quick acquaintance with the dialect for immediate practical use. After a careful study of the many examples under the different rules, coupled with a continuous practice, the user will be surprised—if he is a stranger—at the ease with which he acquires an Asiatic dialect, and—if he is a Filipino—how clear and logical is one of the most spoken dialects in his Mother-land.

The author had no intention of launching this work at the present time; but it is done at the behest of his American friends who have urged him to issue what has been collected, a portion only of what is intended ultimately to be a complete treatise and grammar of Bisayan, in order that this material may be available for the use of persons taking an interest in the Islands, thereby bringing about a common means of communication, which promotes a better feeling between the people born here and the newcomer.

The exposition of the different subjects is not in the modern didactic form generally used in this class of works. This is simply due to the lack of sufficient time. Thus the grammar is divided into the usual parts: orthography, prosody, etimology, and syntax. Some of these parts have been treated to a very limited extent, because time has not admitted of the collection of sufficient material and of the opportunity to weigh the relative values and eliminate the exceptions from the rules.

An appendix has been added where two topics are treated: notes on Rhetoric and Poetics of Bisayan, and notes on Filipino Dialectology consisting in a short comparative study of this dialect in reference to Tagalog, one of its sister-dialects in the Archipelago. The first notes are designed to complete the knowledge of Bisayan after the grammar is mastered; the second are intended to show the possibility of the formation of a common Filipino language [2] out of the different dialects scattered thru out the Archipelago, in a similar way as the Modern High German has been formed out of the main primitive groups Frisian and Saxon. Frankish, Hessian, and Thuringian, and Alemannian and Bavarian.

We have to repeat that our work is far from being perfect, even complete, on account of lack of sufficient time. Owing to the same circumstance, many errors in printing have crept into this book, which we have tried to correct at the end under the heading Errata. But we sincerely admit that not all of the mistakes that may be found in this book are to be assigned to lack of time. Like any other product of human industry, this work bears marks of errors arising from the two sources pointed out by Horace

quas aut incuria fudit, Vut humana parum cavit natura.

Acknowledgement is hereby made for the help rendered by Messrs. W. W. Marquardt, Div. Superintendent of Schools of Leyte, P.I., Fred Shoemaker, and H. W. Halbourg, in correcting part of the proof, and for the collaboration of Mr. Henry E. Neibert, Former American Teacher of Jaro, Leyte, P.I. whose knowledge of both tongues, English and Bisayan, added much material to the work.

Hoping that this little volume may be of interest and real help, it is offered to an indulgent public for what it is worth.

Norberto Romualdez

Takloban, Province of Leyte, Philippine Islands. November 8, 1908.

CONTENTS

PAGE DEDICATION I INTRODUCTION III PREFATORY REMARKS IV CONTENTS IX

ORTHOGRAPHY AND PROSODY

LETTERS 1 THE ACCENTS 2 PUNCTUATION 3 VOWELS 5 SYLLABLES 5 CAPITALIZATION 5 CONTRACTIONS 7

ETYMOLOGY

PARTS OF SPEECH 6 Articles 7 Declension 8 Nouns 9 Diminutive 10 Figurative 12 Verbal 13 Compound 22 Derivative 23 Proper and Common 29 Positive, Comparative, and Superlative 32 Cardinal, Ordinal, Partitive, and Distributive 35 Collective 38 Gender 40 Number 40 Case 41 Important Observation 41 Transposition of Accents 43 Pronouns 47 Personal 47 Demonstrative 48 Possessive 50 Relative 52 Contractions 56 Verbs 57 Conjugation—Voices 58 Moods and Tenses 58 Number and Person 61 Inflections 61 Table 1.—Primitive Active 61 Table 2.—Progressive Active 61 Table 3.—Primitive Direct Passive 68 Table 4.—Progressive Direct Passive 70 Table 5.—Primitive Indirect Passive 73 Table 6.—Progressive Indirect Passive 75 Table 7.—Primitive Instrumental Passive 76 Table 8.—Progressive Instrumental Passive 78 Negative Forms 80 Interrogative Forms 82 Suppletory Verbs 84 Pronominal Form 84 Adverbial Form 84 Observation 87 Impersonal Verbs 88 Defective Verbs 88 Other classes of Verbs 89 Active Voice 90 Direct Passive 93 Indirect Passive 96 Instrumental Passive 96 Depreciative Verbs 96 Adverbs 97 Prepositions 98 Conjunctions 98 Interjections 99

SYNTAX

Subjective relation 100 Predicative relation 100 Attributive relation 100 Complementary relation 101 Adverbial relation 102 Representative relation 102 Connective relation 103 Absolute and independent constructions 103 Syntax of verbs 103 Arrangement of words 105

VIOLATIONS OF GOOD USE 105 Barbarisms 105 Foreign words 105 Foreign words unnecessarily used in Bisayan 106 Spanish words 106 Chinese words 111 English words 111 Foreign constructions 112 Foreign words necessarily used in Bisayan 112

APPENDIX

NOTES ON BISAYAN RHETORIC AND POETICS 117

Figures of Speech 117 Prose 121 Letters 121 Poetic forms 123 Versification 123 Collection of some Bisayan songs 124 Moral Poetry 124 Philosophic Poetry 125 Love Poetry 125 Sundry 126

NOTE ON FILIPINO DIALECTOLOGY 128

Words exactly the same in Bisayan and in Tagalog 128 Words with some dialectal differences 130 Differences in the vowels i, o 130 Differences k, h, l, r, d, t 131 Differences in the accent, and in the separation of the syllables 132 Transformation from a to o and viceversa 132

ERRATA 133

ORTHOGRAPHY AND PROSODY

LETTERS.

The Bisayan letters are twenty: [3]

a, as a in large b, } c, } as in English d, } e, as e in well g, as g in good ng̃, as ng in long h, as h in hat i, sounding ee l, } m, } as in English n, } o, as o in long p, as in English qu, as the English k r, } s, } as in English t, } u, sounding oo as in good y, as y in young

After knowing the respective sounds of these letters, according to the preceding table, no rule is necessary for the pronunciation of Bisayan words.

THE ACCENTS.

The orthographical accent is an important sign in Bisayan, in order to give to the words their proper pronunciation, and, consequently, their proper meaning.

Of the emission of the voice in pronouncing the Bisayan vowels, there are two ways: one is the ordinary way, like that of the English vowels, as in

baga (red-hot coal or wood), dinhi (here), olo (head),

and the other is by a guttural suspended emission of the voice, like

the last a in bagà (lungs), the last i in dirì (not or no), and the last o in torò (drop).

This guttural pronunciation is only used in the endings of words.

From the various combinations of these ways of pronouncing the vowels and the force with which they are pronounced, it follows that a vowel, no matter which one it is, has four different sounds:

1st. As ordinarily, and without any particular force. 2nd. As ordinarily, but with force in its pronunciation. 3rd. By a guttural suspended emission of the voice, and without force. 4th. By a guttural suspended emission of the voice, and with force.

The first way does not need any orthographical sign. But the last three ones require a special orthographical accent in each ease.

When a vowel is pronounced as ordinarily, but with more force than others in the same word, the proper accent is the acute (´).

When a vowel is pronounced with a suspended guttural sound, but without any force, the corresponding accent is the grave (`).

And when a vowel is pronounced with a suspended guttural sound with force, its accent is the circumflex (ˆ), which is simply the combination of the two foregoing accents, as this last represents a sound that is the combination of the two sounds, suspended guttural and with force.

Therefore, in writing the word quita, for example, in its three different meanings and according to its three different pronunciations, it must be as follows:

quitá (we) quità (see) quitâ (look at).

RULE. There are three different accents in Bisayan: the acute (´); the grave (`); and the angular, which we may call improperly circumflex (ˆ).

The acute is located wherever it is needed, either at the beginning or in the middle or at the ending of the word. Examples:

úpa (reward) upá (rice chaff).

The grave and angular, by their nature, are only used upon words ending in a vowel, and then only upon the last vowel. Examples:

dacò (large), dacô (larger)

PUNCTUATION.

The signs of punctuation in Bisayan are the same as those in English, the rules for the use of the period (.), colon (:), semicolon (;), comma (,), parenthesis (), dash (—), quotation marks (“ ”) and apostrophe (’) being identical.

But the rules are different for the use of the interrogation and exclamation points, and hyphen.

In Bisayan, the Spanish way is followed in using two points of interrogation and two of exclamation, the one at the beginning of the question or exclamation (¿) (¡), and the other at the ending (?) (!).

While the hyphen (-) is also used in Bisayan to connect parts of a word divided at the end of a line, and to connect two or more nouns, adjectives, or particles, so as to form them into a single compound, it has an additional use which is to separate distinctly the syllables of certain words that would have a different meaning or none at all without the said separation. Examples:

sál-ong (to hook) sálong (resin) súl-ay (belching of an infant) súlay (prop) bac-ad (to unroll) os-og (to draw near from afar) im-im (lip) sid-ap (to look at) san-o (when, future) cacan-o (when, past) [4]

NOTE.—The above separations are not of the same character as those caused by contractions or elisions, where the proper sign is not a hyphen, but an apostrophe. As,

gáb’i from gabii (night) cabitón’an, from cabitoónan (stars) pabáy’i, from pabayái (leave him or her) it’ im’ bugtò ng̃an from iton imo bugtò (your brother or hit’ ac’ patód, ng̃an hitón acon patód sister and my cousin).

Therefore, it would not be correct to write gab-i, cabiton-an, pabay-i, where the apostrophe should be employed instead of the hyphen. However, the apostrophe is used only when needed to avoid wrong pronunciation or confusion. So the last of the preceding examples is written without any sign of punctuation, thus: it im bugtò ng̃an hit ac patód.

VOWELS

The Bisayan people, especially in Leyte, always have a tendency to separate the vowels in pronouncing the words, there being no Bisayan dipthong. So it is bi-ol (small basket) and not biol; cá-on (eat), ti-il (foot), ma-opay (good), and not cáon, tiil, maopay. But this refers only to spoken language, not to written.

Some words, like uásay (axe), sabáo (broth) are pronounced ua-say, sa-bao, and not u-a-say, sa-ba-o. These syllables ua and ao are not dipthongs. The u in the syllable ua and the o in the syllable ao, are not the vowels u, o, but the consonant w. These words should be written more properly wásay, sabáw. [5]

SYLLABLES

Every vowel [6] with the consonant or consonants pronounced with it and every vowel pronounced alone form one syllable, and are written as such. This is the rule applied to the division of a word at the end of a line. Examples:

ca-ru-ca-yá-can (conversation) bác-dao (stand) a-ha-cá (hemp), etc.

CAPITALIZATION

In Bisayan, the following words should begin with capitals:

1. The first word of every sentence. 2. The proper nouns. 3. The names of the days of the week and the months of the year. 4. Titles of honor or office. 5. All words, except prepositions, conjunctions and unimportant adjectives, in the titles of books and essays. 6. All names of God, and expressions referring to the Deity. 7. Words representing important events in history and epochs of time.

CONTRACTIONS

There is no contraction used in Bisayan, except that in the sign mg̃a (a particle employed to express the idea of plurality).

Mg̃a is for mang̃a composed of ma (an important prefix of the Bisayan and Tagalog dialects, which bears the idea of abundance or plurality) and ng̃a (a conjunctive particle which is necessarily employed to connect the variable parts of speech).

NOTE. It would be desirable to have the following contractions adopted in Bisayan, inasmuch as they are universally recognized:

i.e. for id est. e.g. ,, exempli gratia. viz. ,, videlicet. etc. ,, et cetera. P.D. ,, post data. P.S. ,, post scriptum. N.B. ,, nota bene. a.m. ,, ante meridiem. p.m. ,, post meridiem. [7]

ETYMOLOGY.

PARTS OF SPEECH.

These are eight in number, in Bisayan: article, noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection.

ARTICLES.

There are three classes:

Definite: an (the) Indefinite: in (a) Personal: hi or si (no equivalent in English).

The definite article, as well as the indefinite, is used in Bisayan in the same manner as its equivalent in English. The definite article, however, is sometimes used before proper nouns, and it is very often used before the demonstrative and possessive pronouns. Examples:

Nacánhi an batà (the boy or girl has come) Nacánhi in batà (a boy or girl has come) An Dyos [8] macagagáhum (God is omnipotent) An iní nga bucád (this flower) An acon calò (my hat)

The personal article is always used before the names of persons; it is also used before the personal pronouns, except the third persons. Examples.

Hi Pedro (Peter) Hi acó (I) Hi icao (you)

Instead of hi, si may be used. [9]

These articles do not change in gender. Examples: an amáy (the father), an iróy (the mother); hi Juan (John), hi María (Mary).

The definite and indefinite articles change in the plural in the following way:

SINGULAR PLURAL

an an mg̃a [10] in in mg̃a

The personal article does not change, in person or number, except in the third person plural where it takes the form of the third personal pronoun third person, plural number. Examples:

Hi quitá (we) Hi camó (you, in plural) Hirá Pedro ng̃an hi Juan (Peter and John)

DECLENSION.—Articles have two cases: nominative and objective.

SINGULAR | PLURAL | NOMINATIVE: an in hi or | an mg̃a in mg̃a hirá or si | sirá OBJECTIVE: han or hin or ni, | han mg̃a hin nira, san sin can | or san mg̃a or canda | mg̃a sin | mg̃a

Examples: