Karay-a language

The Karay-a language, or Kinaray-a (Karay-a + the infix -in-) (ISO: krj), is an Austronesian regional language spoken by the Karay-a people, mainly in Antique in the Philippines as well as Iloilo and other provinces on the island of Panay. It is one of the Visayan languages, mainly along with Aklanon/Malaynon, Capiznon and Hiligaynon.

Name

The word karay-a comes from the word iraya "mountain dwellers", from Sanskrit laya "abode" (as in Himalaya). Other native names for the language are Hamtikanon, Hiniraya, Binisaya nga Karay-a and Bisaya nga Kinaray-a.

Location

Kinaray-a is spoken mainly in Antique. It is also spoken in Iloilo province mainly in the city of Passi, in the municipalities of Alimodian, San Joaquin, Lambunao, Calinog, Leon, Miag-ao, Pavia, Badiangan, San Miguel, Guimbal, San Enrique, Tigbauan, Igbaras, Leganes, Pototan, Bingawan, San Rafael, Mina, Zarraga, Oton, Santa Barbara, Cabatuan, Janiuay, Maasin, New Lucena, Dueñas, Dingle, and Tubungan, the south of Capiz such as Tapaz, Jamindan, Dumalag, and Dumarao, certain villages in Mindanao, especially in SOCCSKSARGEN region that trace their roots to Antique or to Kinaray-a-speaking areas of inland Iloilo and Capiz. Inhabitants of most towns across the latter areas speak Kinaray-a while Hiligaynon is predominant around coastal areas particularly in Iloilo. It is also spoken in Iloilo City by a minority and parts of Aklan province, as well as Guimaras.

Intelligibility with Hiligaynon

Due to geographic proximity and mass media Kinaray-a-speakers can understand Hiligaynon (also known as Ilonggo) speakers. However, only Hiligaynon speakers who reside in Kinaray-a-speaking areas can understand the language. Those who come from other areas, like Negros, have difficulty in understanding the language, only if they can at all.

It is a misconception among some Hiligaynon speakers that Kinaray-a is a dialect of Hiligaynon; the reality is that the two belong to two different, but related, language subgroups (Visayan). However, some Karay-a have also Hiligaynon as their second language. To some extent, there is an intermediate dialect of Hiligaynon and Kinaray-a being spoken in Mindanao, mainly in Sultan Kudarat province.

Dialects

There has not been any actual linguistic study on the dialects of Kinaray-a. Speakers both of Kinaray-a and Hiligaynon would however admit to hearing the differences in the ways by which Kinaray-a speakers from different towns speak. Differences in vocabulary can also observed between and among the dialects.

The differences and the degrees by which the dialects differ from each other depend largely on the area's proximity to another different language-speaking area. Thus, in Antique, there are, on the northern parts, varieties that are similar to Aklanon, the language of Aklan, its neighbor on the north. On the south, in Iloilo towns on the other hand, the dialects closely resemble that of the standard Kinaray-a spoken in San Jose de Buenavista, lowland Sibalom and Hamtic. A distinct dialect of Kinaray-a is spoken in central Iloilo where a lot of Hiligaynon loanwords are used and some Kinaray-a words are pronounced harder as in "rigya" or "ja" (here) of southern Iloilo and San Jose de Buenavista area as compared to "giya" of Janiuay, Santa Barbara, and nearby towns. Two highly accented dialects of Kinaray-a can be heard in Anini-y and Dao in Antique and San Joaquin, Leon, and Tubungan in Iloilo.

Differences

Some dialects differ only on consonant preference like y vs h. e.g. bayi/bahi (girl) or l vs r e.g. wala/wara. Some have distinct differences like sayëd/kadë (ugly) and rangga/gëba (defective).

Alphabet^[3]

With "ə" as a vowel and the vowels "e" and "u" introduced by the Spaniards to "enrich" the indigenous Philippine languages, the following are the Kinaray-a letters in their suggested alphabetical order: Aa, Bb, Kk, Dd, Ee, Gg, Hh, Ii, Ll, Mm, Nn, NG ng, Oo, Əə, Pp, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Ww, and Yy. The Spaniards placed "ə" after letter "o" because when ә was not yet in use, writers used the letter "o" in place of "ə". This results to a wrong translation and interpretation of the word especially if there are words with the same spelling and words that are cognates. The suggested alphabetical order follows that of the Roman alphabet. Philippine indigenous scripts presumably including Kinaray-a are syllabic. There is no record on the order of precedence of the syllables. Even the Tagalog Baybayin that the Spaniards used in writing the first book published in the Philippines, did not define the order of precedence of the syllabic script. It was only when the alphabet was Romanized that the alphabetical order was established.

With the release of the Ortograpíyang Pambansâ (National Orthography) in 2014, the schwa sound in Karay-a and other Philippine Languages including Mëranaw, uses the Patuldók na E (umlaut e), Ëë.

Vowels

The following are the Kinaray-a vowels: Aa, Ee, Ëë, Ii, Oo, and Uu. As a rule, there are as many syllables as there are vowels. Except for the vowel ë, all other vowels are pronounced like any Filipino vowel letters are pronounced. Vowel letters when combined do not create a different vowel sound. Each vowel indicates a separate syllable. There are as many vowels as there are syllables. It is a common error to equate the vowel "i" with the consonant "y" and vice versa. For example, the word "balunggay" is spelled by some as "balunggai" or "kambyo" as "kambio". Also an error is equating "o" with "w" especially if it comes after letter "a". "lanaw" becomes lanao or tuáw become tuao. On the other hand, letter "w" is equated with letter "u" as in rweda written as rueda or pwede written as puede. They are erroneous since they violate the basic rule that Kinaray-a vowels do not combine with another vowel to form a new sound. The vowels "e" and "u" introduced by the Spaniards are interchangeable with the vowels "i" and "o", respectively. The Karay-as call the vowel "ë" as "malëm-ëk" nga "i" (the soft "i"). The vowel "e" is also used mostly on appropriated foreign words written in Kinaray-a with Kinaray-a affixes. The vowel "u" is called matig-a nga "o" (the hard "o"). Hence, when a syllable with a vowel is pronounced lightly, the vowel "i" is substituted with the vowel "e". The opposite rule applies to the vowel "u". The practice however, is not the norm. What is more controlling for using either the vowels "i" and "o" or the introduced vowels "e" and "u" is what appears to the Karay-as pleasing to their eyes and ears. When in doubt on what vowel to use, it is always safe to use the indigenous vowels. The introduced "ë" vowel has no substitute. It will always be used since many Kinaray-a words have a schwa vowel sound.

Schwa

In the book, "Karay-a Rice Tradition Revisited", it introduced "ə", the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol for the schwa, to represent the Kinaray-a vowel with a schwa sound. The Kinaray-a schwa could be stressed or unstressed. It has a toneless neutral vowel sound. It is not necessarily a mid-central vowel. It maybe found in the beginning of a word or at the end. Its quality depends on the adjacent consonants. With "ë", any word with a schwa vowel sound can be written as pronounced. This holds true for any Philippine indigenous languages with schwa vowel sound in it.

Consonants

There are 15 consonants in the Kinaray-a language. They are Bb, Kk, Dd, Gg, Hh, Ll, Mm, Nn, NG ng, Pp, Rr, Ss, Tt, Ww, and Yy. They are pronounced the same way as in English but a little bit lighter than their English equivalents. An exception is the letter "r" which is prevalent in Kinaray-a. It is sounded by flicking the tip of the tongue against the back of the upper front teeth and rolled a bit. Likewise the letters g, w, and y are also pronounced a bit harder as a terminal letter of a word with a grave accent mark. Except for foreign loan words, the consonants c, f, j, q, x, and z don’t appear in Kinaray-a words. If foreign words are without Kinaray-a equivalent, they are either written as is, or written as pronounced using the Kinaray-a alphabet. A Kinaray-a consonant does not transform itself into a vowel. It is not right to substitute letters "e" or "i", for the consonant "y" nor to substitute the letters "o" or "u" for the consonant "w". It must be borne in mind that there are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels. Transforming the consonants "w" and "y" into a vowel creates an additional syllable.

The consonant ng

The consonant "ng" is a single letter in Karay-a and in all other indigenous Philippine languages. In the old Romanized Karay-a cursive, a line is placed above both letters of "ng" with one long wavy stroke ("n͠g") to denote that it is a single letter, distinct from "n"+"g". Older speakers today still use the long tilde but the younger generation don't bother with it. Besides, for those unfamiliar with the language, they mistake it for the Spanish "ñ". The "ng" sound is familiar to the English speaker. It can be found in words such as: clang, bring, throng, rung, and singer, etc. The technique is not to pronounce the word with a hard "g", such as the English word "finger" has. As a letter in Karay-a, it is pronounced "nga", with the same "ng" sound that the English word "singer" has.

Phonology

Vowels

/a/
/e/ (uncommon - mostly "I" below)
/i/
/o/ (uncommon - mostly "U" below)
/u/
/ə/ written as "ë" in Filipino Orthography

The vowels /e/ and /o/ are used mostly in non-Kinaray-a words. Both aforementioned sounds from the same words in other (mostly non-Visayan) Filipino languages are often pronounced as /i/ and /u/, respectively. /u/ is sometimes interchanged with /ə/ where some speakers say suba (river) while others say sëba.

For example:

Grammar

Nouns

Pronouns

Numbers

Common expressions

Saying "Diin kaw maagto?" (Literally, Where are you going?) is common way to greet people. You don't need to answer the question directly. The usual answer is an action like "Maninda." (Literally, To buy something on the market.) instead of "Sa tinda." (Literally, To the market.)

• Are you eating well? - Mayad man pangaën mo?
• Good. - Mayad.
• How are you feeling? - Musta bay pamatyagan mo? or: Ano bay pamatyag mo? (What do you feel?)
• I don't know. - Wara takën kamaan./ Waay takën kamaan (Or simply: Maan a./ Ambay a./ Ilam a. -informal, usually an annoyed expression)
• Let's go! - Panaw/Halin ta rën!/Dali rën! (usually for hurrying up companions)
• Come together. - Iririmaw kita./ imaw kita./ Iribhanay kita./ Iririmaw tatən
• Why? - Manhaw/Wanhaw? (or: Andët haw/aw?)/ Insa haw?/ Insaw?(informal)
• I love you. -Ginagugma ta (i)kaw./ palangga ta (i)kaw.
• My love/sweetheart. -Palangga ko.
• What is your name? - Ano ngaran mo?
• Good morning! - Mayad nga aga!
• Good afternoon! - Mayad nga hapon!
• Good evening! - Mayad nga gabiʔi!
• That one. - Amo kara. (Or simply: Ra/Ra ay.)(or: Amo ran)/ Amo ka di-a.
• How much? - Tag pira?
• Yes. - hə-əd.(Ho-ud)/ (h)ə-əd
• No. - Bukut./Bëkët.(Bëkën)/Indi
• Because. - Bangëd.
• Because of you. - Bangëd kanimo or Tëngëd kanimo.
• About you. - Nahanungëd kanimo or Parti kanimo.
• Birat ka ayam
• You know. - Man-an mo. (or: Man-an mo man.)
• Hurry! - Dasiga!(lit. Fast!) or Dali-a! (lit. Hurry!)
• Again. - Liwan/Liwat/Riwan/Liwan. (or: Uman (Again) / Umana (Command to repeat).)
• Do you speak English? - Kamaan kaw maghambal kang Inglis? or Kama-an kaw mag-Inglis?
• It is fun to live. - Sadya mabuhi/Sadya ang mabuhi.

See also

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

References

External links

Karay-a language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

• Bansa.org Kinaray-a Dictionary
• Kinaray-a
• Kinaray-a Dictionary: Preserving the Kinaray-a Language