| Botolan | |
| Also Known As: | Botolan Sambal |
| States: | Philippines |
| Region: | some parts of Zambales province, Luzon |
| Speakers: | 33,000 |
| Date: | 2000 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Austronesian |
| Fam2: | Malayo-Polynesian |
| Fam3: | Philippine |
| Fam4: | Central Luzon |
| Fam5: | Sambalic |
| Agency: | Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino |
| Iso3: | sbl |
| Glotto: | boto1242 |
| Glottorefname: | Botolan Sambal |
| Notice: | IPA |
| Map: | Botolan_Sambal_language_map.png |
| Mapcaption: | Area where Botolan Sambal is spoken according to Ethnologue |
Botolan is a Sambalic language spoken by 32,867 (SIL 2000) Sambal, primarily in the Zambal municipalities of Botolan and Cabangan in the Philippines. Language status is 5 (developing). [1]
The Ayta people of sitio Villar, Botolan, and sitio Kakilingan, Santa Fe, Cabangan also speak a Botolan dialect with some unique lexical items.[2]
Ethnologue reports Ayta Hambali (Hambali Botolan), Sambali Botolan as dialects of Sambal Botolan. Among themselves, Ayta Hambali reportedly use some words that are similar to Ayta, Mag-Anchi.
Botolan has 20 phonemes: 16 consonants and four vowels. Syllable structure is relatively simple. Each syllable contains at least a consonant and a vowel.
Botolan has four vowels. They are:
There are five main diphthongs: pronounced as //aɪ//, pronounced as //uɪ//, pronounced as //aʊ//, /ij/, and pronounced as //iʊ//.
Below is a chart of Botolan consonants. All the stops are unaspirated. The velar nasal occurs in all positions including at the beginning of a word.
| Bilabial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasals | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Plosives/ Affricates | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ - | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Fricatives | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Laterals | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /lj/ | |||||
| Flaps | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Semivowels | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
Note: Consonants pronounced as //d// and pronounced as //ɾ// can sometimes interchange as they were once allophones.
Stress is phonemic in Botolan. Word stress is very important; it differentiates homonyms, e.g. ('I') and ('elbow').
Many words pronounced with pronounced as //s// and pronounced as //ɡ// in Tagalog have pronounced as //h// and pronounced as //j//, respectively, in their cognates in Botolan. Compare and with the Tagalog and .
Below is a translation in Botolan of the Philippine national proverb[3] "He who does not acknowledge his beginnings will not reach his destination," followed by the original in Tagalog.