Waray-Waray language

Wáray-Wáray or Waráy (commonly spelled as Waray; also referred to as Winaray or L(in)eyte-Samarnon) is a language spoken in the provinces of Samar, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte (eastern portion), and Biliran in the Philippines. The language should not be mistaken with the Waray-waray, a bigfoot-like creature also in the province of Samar.

The Warayan group of languages consists of Waray, Waray Sorsogon and Masbate Sorsogon. Waray Sorsogon and Masbate Sorsogon are called Bisakol because they are intermediate between Visayan and Bicolano languages. All the Warayan languages belong to the Visayan language family and are related to Cebuano and more closely to Hiligaynon and Masbatenyo.

Grammar

Pronouns

The Waray copula

Waray, like other Philippine languages, does not have any exact equivalent to the English linking verb be. In Tagalog, for example, the phrase "Siya ay maganda" (She is beautiful) contains the word ay which, contrary to popular belief, does not function as an attributive copula predicating maganda (beautiful) to its subject and topic Siya (he or she). The function of Tagalog's ay is rather a marker of sentence inversion, which is regarded as a literary form but somewhat less common in spoken Tagalog.

The Waray language in comparison would express "She is beautiful" only as "Mahusay hiya" or sometimes "Mahusay iton hiya" (iton functioning as a definite article of hiya, she), since Waray doesn't have a present-tense copula or even an inversion marker. As in other Philippine languages, attributive statements are usually represented in predicate-initial form and have no copula at all. Take for example the ordinary English sentence "This is a dog" as translated to Waray:

Ayam ini.

The predicate Ayam (dog) is placed before the subject ini (this); no copula is present. Another example:

Amo ito an balay han Winaray o Binisaya nga Lineyte-Samarnon nga Wikipedia.

Asya it an balay han Winaray o Binisaya nga taga Eastern Samar.

In English: "This is the Waray/Leyte-Samar Visayan Wikipedia". The predicate Amo ini is roughly translated as "This here" but the rest of the sentence then jumps to its subject, marked by the particle an. A more literal translation would therefore be "This is the Waray/Leyte-Samar Visayan Wikipedia". Unlike Tagalog, it is grammatically impossible to invert a sentence like this into a subject-head form without importing the actual Tagalog inversion marker ay, a growing trend among younger people in Leyte. Amo word is use only in waray waray leyte. In Samar Asya (This).

Despite the debate regarding the Waray copula, it would be safe to treat structures like magin (to be), an magin/an magigin (will be or will become), and an nagin (became) as the English treat linking verbs:

Makuri maging estudyante. ([It's] hard to be a student.)

Ako it magiging presidente! (I will be the president!)

Ako an naging presidente. (I became the president.)

Existential

WARAY TAGALOG ENGLISH

may-ada meron/mayroon there is wara/waray wala none

Modal

WARAY TAGALOG ENGLISH

puyde/sadang maaari/pwede may/can diri puyde hindi maaari/pwede may/cannot Pahudma Pahiram/hiram may i borrow Pakit-a Patingin May i see

Interrogative Words

• Waray of Leyte (Winaray nga pan Leyte)

 WARAY       TAGALOG     ENGLISH
 
 hin-o       sino        who
 kay-ano     bakit       why
 diin        saan        where
 kanay       kanino      whose
 pa-o-nanho    paano       how
 san-o       kailan      when
 nano        ano         what

• Waray of Samar (Winaray nga pan Samar)

 WARAY       TAGALOG     ENGLISH
 
 sino        sino        who
 kay-ano     bakit       why
 diin        saan        where
 kankanay    kanino      whose
 guin-aano    paano       how
 san-o       kailan      when
 nano/ano    ano         what

Orthography issues

While the now-defunct Sanghiran San Binisaya ha Samar ug Leyte (Academy of the Visayan Language of Samar and Leyte) formulated and recommended a standard orthography, this was never widely disseminated and therefore as of present there is still no official orthography commonly accepted. In effect, there may exist two spellings of the same word (these usually limited to differences in vowels only), such as

• diri or dire ("no")
• hira or hera ("them")
• maopay or maupay ("good")
• guinhatag or ginhatag ("gave")
• direcho or diritso ("straight [ahead]")

Sounds

The Waray language has sixteen consonants: p, t, k, b, d, g, m, n, ng, s, h, w, l, r and y. There are three main vowels: [a], [ɛ]/[i], and [o]/[ʊ]. [i]/[ɛ] and [ʊ]/[o] sound the same, but [o] is still an allophone of [ʊ] in final syllables. But they now have separate sounds for each. Consonants [d] and [ɾ] were once allophones but cannot interchange, like palaron (to be lucky) [from palad, palm (because someone's luck is seen in the palm] but not paladon and tagadiín (from where) [from diín, where] but not tagariín.

Numbers

Native numbers are used for numbers one through ten. From eleven onwards, Spanish numbers are exclusively used in Waray today, their native counterparts being almost unheard of by the majority of native speakers. Some, specially the old ones, are spoken alongside the Spanish counterparts.

   ENGLISH      NATIVE WARAY      BORROWED FROM SPANISH
   
   One          Usá               Uno
   Two          Duhá              Dos
   Three        Tuló              Tres
   Four         Upat              Kuwatro
   Five         Limá              Singko
   Six          Unom              Siez/says
   Seven        Pitó              Siete/syete
   Eight        Waló              Ocho/otso
   Nine         Siyám             Nuebe/nueve
   Ten          Napúlô            Diez
   Eleven       (Napúlô kag usá)  Onse
   Twenty       (Karuhaan)        Baynte
   Thirty       (Katloan)         Trenta
   Forty        (Kap-atan)        Kwuarenta
   Fifty        (Kalim-an)        Singkwenta
   Sixty        (Kaunman)         Siesenta
   Seventy      (Kapitoan)        Setenta
   Eighty       (Kawaloan)        Ochienta
   Ninety       (Kasiaman)        Nobenta
   One Hundred  (Usa ka Gatus)    Cien
   One Thousand (Usa ka Yukut)    Mil

Some common words and phrases

Below are examples of the Waray spoken in Metropolitan Tacloban and the nearby areas:

• Good morning (noon/afternoon/evening): Maupay nga aga (udto/kulop/gab-i)
• Can you understand Waray?: Nakakaintindi/Nasabut ka hin Winaray? (hin or hiton)
• Thank you: Salamat
• I love you: Hinihigugma ko ikaw or Ginhihigugma ko ikaw or Pina-ura ta ikaw
• Where are you from? : Taga diin ka? or Taga nga-in ka? or Taga ha-in ka?
• How much is this? : Tag pira ini?
• I can't understand: Diri ako nakakaintindi
• I don't know: Diri ako maaram or Ambot
• What: Ano
• Who: Hin-o
• Where: Hain
• When (future): San-o
• When (past): Kakan-o
• Why: Kay-ano
• How: Gin-aano?
• Yes: Oo
• No: Dire or Diri
• There: Adto or Didto or Ngad-to
• Here: Didi or Nganhi
• Front or in front: Atbang or Atubangan
• Night: Gab-i
• Day: Adlaw
• Nothing: Waray
• Good: Maupay
• Who are you?: Hin-o ka?
• I'm a friend: Sangkay ak.
• I'm lost here: Nawawara ak didi.
• Maybe: Kunta or Bangin

See also

• Waray literature
• Languages of the Philippines
• Filipino
• Cebuano
• Kapampangan
• Chabacano
• Pangasinan
• Visayan languages
• Bikol
• Ilokano
• Hiligaynon

External links

• Radyo Waraynon - Waraynon Internet Radio Station
• Onine Museum of Everything Waray
• Online Lineyte-Samarnon(Waray)-English Dictionary(also with Videos, Photos, Music, News, Local Destinations)
• Waray lessons
• Online Waray dictionary
• Bansa.org Waray Dictionary
• Ethnologue Report for Waray
• A downloadable Waray dictionary with etymologies and Cebuano, Tagalog cognates by Andras Rajki
• Waray Explained (Online Tutorial)

Languages of the Philippines National language Filipino Official languages English • Filipino Recognized regional languages Bikol • Cebuano • Hiligaynon • Ilokano • Kapampangan • Kinaray-a • Maguindanao • Maranao • Pangasinan • Tagalog • Tausug • Waray-Waray Recognized auxiliary languages Arabic • Spanish Language groups Borneo-Philippines {Central Philippine (Bikol {Inland • Pandan} • Visayan {Aklan • Bisakol}) • (Batanic • Sambalic)}