Agusan language explained

Agusan
States:	Philippines
Region:	Mindanao
Date:	1978–2002
Ref:	e18
Familycolor:	Austronesian
Fam2:	Malayo-Polynesian
Fam3:	Philippine
Fam4:	Greater Central Philippine
Fam5:	Manobo
Fam6:	Central
Lc1:	msm
Ld1:	Agusan, Omayamnon
Lc2:	mbd
Ld2:	Dibabawon
Lc3:	mqk
Ld3:	Rajah Kabunsuwan
Glotto:	east2478
Glottorefname:	East Manobo

Agusan is a Manobo language of northeastern Mindanao in the Philippines.

Distribution and dialects

Agusan Manobo (consisting of the Umayam, Adgawan, Surigao, and Omayamnon dialects) is spoken in the following areas.^[1]

• Agusan del Sur Province: western area, southeast of Lake Buluan
• inland areas of Surigao del Sur Province
• southwest of Lanuza Peninsula to Lianga Bay in Surigao del Sur Province
• western Agusan del Norte Province
• Compostela Valley and Davao del Norte provinces: continuous strip along northern borders
• Surigao del Norte Province: southern tip, inland
• scattered small border areas of Bukidnon and Davao Oriental provinces

Dibabawon Manobo is spoken in the following areas.^[2]

• northern Compostela Valley Province: upper Agusan River area
• Davao Oriental Province: Boston and Cateel municipalities
• Davao del Norte Province: Asuncion municipality (in Manguagan)

Rajah Kabunsuwan Manobo is spoken in the following areas.^[3]

• northern border of Davao Oriental Province
• southeast corner of Agusan del Sur Province
• southern Surigao del Sur Province: Lingig (in Rajah Cabungsuan)

The Omayamnon, Dibabawon, and Rajah Kabunsuwan dialects are divergent.

Phonology

Consonants

In Agusan, the stops have unreleased variants when occurring before another consonant, silence, and in syllable-final position.^[4] The glottal stop pronounced as //ʔ// occurs in all consonant positions. Of the continuants, all occur in syllable-initial position and all except pronounced as //h// in word-final position. The consonants pronounced as //d// and pronounced as //j// are used interchangeably.

Agusan Manobo consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Nasal	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Fricative		pronounced as /link/			pronounced as /link/
Flap		pronounced as /link/
Approximant	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/

Vowels

Agusan has only five vowels, pronounced as //i//, pronounced as //u//, pronounced as //e//, pronounced as //æ//, and pronounced as //a//. Vowels may appear alone, after a consonant, or between consonants in a syllable. All vowels, with the exception of pronounced as //æ//, may occur "in a sequence of identical vowels separated by a glottal stop". The vowel pronounced as //e// never occurs next to the consonant pronounced as //r//.

Agusan Manobo vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Mid	pronounced as /link/
Low	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/

Notes and References

1. [Ethnologue]
2. [Ethnologue]
3. [Ethnologue]
4. Book: Weaver, Daniel H. . Papers on Philippine Languages 1 . Weaver . Marilou . 1963 . Institute for Language Teaching and Summer Institute of Linguistics . Wolfenden . Elmer . Manila . 1–6 . The phonology of Agusan Manobo (with special reference to æ).