Maguindanao language

Maguindanaon (Basa Magindanawn, Jawi: باس مڬندنون‎), or Magindanawn is an Austronesian language spoken by Maguindanaon people who form majority of the population of eponymous provinces of Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur in the Philippines. It is also spoken by sizable minorities in different parts of Mindanao such as the cities of Zamboanga, Davao, General Santos, and Cagayan de Oro, and the provinces of North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, South Cotabato, Sarangani, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, Bukidnon as well as Metro Manila. As of 2020, the language is ranked to be the ninth leading language spoken at home in the Philippines with only 365,032 households still speaking the language.

The Maguindanaon language is the native language of the Maguindanaon people of the province of Maguindanao located in the west of Mindanao island in the south of the Philippines. It was the language of the Sultanate of Maguindanao, which lasted until near the end of the Spanish colonial period in the late 19th century.

The earliest works on the language by a European were carried out by Jacinto Juanmartí, a Catalan priest of the Society of Jesus who worked in the Philippines in the second half of the 19th century. Aside from a number of Christian religious works in the language, Juanmartí also published a Maguindanao–Spanish/Spanish–Maguindanao dictionary and reference grammar in 1892. Shortly after sovereignty over the Philippines was transferred from Spain to the United States in 1898 as a result of the Spanish–American War, the American administration began publishing a number of works on the language in English, such as a brief primer and vocabulary in 1903, and a translation of Juanmartí's reference grammar into English in 1906.

A number of works about and in the language have since been published by Filipino and foreign authors.

Maguindanao has 3 major dialects: Ilud, Laya, and Biwangen.

Maguindanao dialects are:

• Ilud dialect: is spoken in Cotabato City, municipalities of Sultan Kudarat, Parang, Datu Odin Sinsuat, South Upi, North Upi, Kabuntalan, Datu Piang, Datu Unsay, Shariff Aguak, Ampatuan, Mamasapano, Guindulungan, Sultan sa Barongis, Pagalungan, Pagagawan, Talitay and Talayan. From the province of North Cotabato, the municipalities of Pigcawayan, Libungan, Midsayap, Aleosan, Alamada, Banisilan, Carmen, Pikit, Midsayap, Kabacan, Matalam, Kidapawan and Mlang. The speech of the municipalities of Pikit, Matalam, Pagalungan and Pagagawan differs in pronunciation and intonation from the ilud dialect, but is similar in vocabulary.
• Laya dialect: is spoken in municipalities of Buluan, Datu Paglas, General Salipada K. Pendatun, and Paglat, all in the province of Maguindanao del Sur, and Tulunan in the province of North Cotabato; the municipalities of Lambayong, Esperanza, Isulan, Senator Ninoy Aquino, Bagumbayan, Tacurong, President Quirino, Columbio and Lutayan, all in the province of Sultan Kudarat; the municipalities of Sto. Nino, Surallah, Norala, Banga, Lake Sebu, Koronadal, Tantangan, Polomolok, Tampakan and Tupi, all in the province of South Cotabato as well as some other parts of Davao City, Davao del Sur, Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and Bukidnon.
• Biwangen dialect: is spoken in General Santos, Sarangani, the coastal municipalities of Sultan Kudarat (Palimbang, Kalamansig and Lebak), the coastal municipalities of Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga Sibugay, some municipalities in Zamboanga del Norte and in Pagadian.

The vowels [e] and [o] only occur in loanwords from Spanish through Tagalog or Cebuano and from Malay.

The phonemes /z/ and /dʒ/ only appear in loanwords. The sound [dʒ] also appears an allophonic realization for the sequences /d + s/ (e.g. [dʒaɭumˈani ka] /(ə)dsalumani ka/ 'repeat that!') and /d + i/ (only before another vowel before vowel, e.g. [ˈmidʒas] /midias/ 'stockings'); the sound [z] also appears as an allophone of /s/ before voiced consonants. /ɾ/ can also be trilled [r]. Intervocalic /d/ is realized as [ɾ].

/ɾ/ and /l/ are interchangeable in words which include a written l, and the prevalence by which it is used or is dominant denotes the local dialects of Maguindanaon. /l/ may also be heard as a retroflex [ɭ] in intervocalic positions. The Laya (Raya) or lowland dialect of Maguindanaon, spoken in and around Cotabato City, prefers the flapped r over l, while the more conservative upland variety spoken in Datu Piang and inland areas favors l.

As in the Maranao language, Maguindanaon pronouns can be also free or bound to the word/morpheme before it.

Maguindanaon numerals:

Maguindanao is written with the Latin script, and used to be written with the Jawi script. Among works on the language published by Jacinto Juanmartí, his sacred history Compendio de historia universal contains Maguindanao texts in both Jawi and the Latin script.

• Languages of the Philippines
• Danao languages
• Maranao language
• Iranun language

• Juanmartí, Jacinto (1892a). Diccionario moro-maguindanao-español [Moro-Maguindanao-Spanish dictionary] (in Spanish). Manila: Tipografía «Amigos del País».
• Juanmartí, Jacinto (1892b). Gramática de la lengua de maguindanao según se habla en el centro y en la costa sur de la isla de Mindanao [A grammar of the Maguindanao tongue according to the manner of speaking it in the interior and on the south coast of the island of Mindanao] (in Spanish). Manila: Tipografía «Amigos del País».
• Juanmartí, Jacinto (1906) [First published in Spanish 1892]. A Grammar of the Maguindanao Tongue According to the Manner of Speaking It in the Interior and on the South Coast of the Island of Mindanao. Translated by Smith, C. C. Washington: Government Printing Office.
• Porter, R. S. (1903). A Primer and Vocabulary of the Moro Dialect (Magindanau). Washington: Government Printing Office for the Bureau of Insular Affairs.

• Maguindanao at Wiktionary
• Bansa.org Maguindanao Dictionary
• SEAlang Library Maguindanao Resources