The Ilonggo and The Hiligaynon

The Ilonggo and The Hiligaynon

(By DinggolAranetaDivinagracia - IlonggoNationMovement)

Prologue: "In my opinion, Hiligaynon refers to a Language spoken, while Ilonggo refers to both the Language and a People." --dinggol.d~~~

The Lingua Franca of Western Visayas is Hiligaynon, spoken in Iloilo City, and along with the coastal towns to the northeast; also, in all of Guimaras island Province and in the City of Bacolod.

Likewise, in almost all the cities and all the towns in the Province of Negros Occidental. Its variant form is spoken in Roxas City and in most towns of Capiz Province. Also, in some parts of the Masbate island province in the Bicol Region.

However, the northern part of Negros Occidental and the whole of Negros Oriental speaks mostly in Cebuano due to its proximity to the island of Cebu.

Hiligaynon or the Ilonggo (language) is also spoken in most of the areas in Central Mindanao; in South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, and North Cotabato in Soccsksargen where almost all the early settlers come from Western Visayas.

The mother language of Western Visayas is "Kinaray-a" or "Karay-a" which evolved from "Hiraya" or "Hiniraya" --many believed to be the language spoken by the early ten Bornean Datus and their tribes who settled in "Aninipay" -the ancient Island of Panay during the 13th century.

Kinaray-a, in its many variants is spoken in the Province of Antique and along with coastal towns south of Iloilo City going to the last town of San Joaquin.

Likewise, all central towns of Iloilo speak Kinaray-a. Parts of Romblon, Palawan especially Cuyo Island and Cagayancillo also speak variants of Kinaray-a.

Akeanon, Aklanon, or Malaynon also in its various versions is spoken in the Province of Aklan and its’ nearby islets.

The child language "Hiligaynon" was developed by the elite Chinese and Spanish Mestizos who lorded over the affluent communities of the area during the Spanish regime. Most especially in Parian (Molo) and Salog (Jaro); including the adventurous scions of the old rich Ilonggo, who together with their families, households and subordinates sailed across the Visayan sea to clear the heavily forested area and developed the fertile volcanic “Isla de Buglas" named Negros Island with its majestic Mount Kanlaon, and now known as "Sugarlandia".

Hiligaynon has many words that derive from the Spanish words including nouns (e.g., santo from santo, or saint), adjectives (e.g., berde from verde, or green), prepositions (e.g., antes from antes, or before), and conjunctions (e.g., pero from pero, or but).

Moreover, Spanish words provides the Hiligaynon base for items introduced by Spain, e.g., barko (barco, or ship), sapatos (zapatos, or shoes), kutsilyo (cuchillo, or knife), kutsara (cuchara, or spoon), tenedor (or fork), plato (or plate), kamiseta (camiseta, or shirt), and kambiyo (cambio, or change).

The Spanish verbs used in Hiligaynon most often remain as unconjugated (have the verb endings -ar, -er or -ir) which in Filipino would almost always be conjugated in the 'vos' form (as in voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van,) e.g., komparar, pasar, mandar, tener, disponer, mantener, and asistir. 

The Hiligaynon language, also often referred to by most of its speakers simply as Ilonggo, is an Austronesian regional language spoken in and out of the Philippines by about 9.3 million people who are native speakers of Hiligaynon and an additional 5,000,000 capable of speaking it with a substantial degree of proficiency.

Until today, all the aboriginal "Ati's" and other indigenous minorities in the mountains of Panay, Negros and Guimaras have retained and still speak with their very own ethnic languages and refer to their brown brothers in the lowlands as "Ang mga Bisaya". 

This is a clear manifestation of the veracity of the early migration to the land of Marikudo by our ancient sea-faring Shri-Visayan forebears.

Epilogue: "Be that as it may, whether these people speak Hiligaynon or Ilonggo; Kinaray-a or Karay-a; Akeanon, Aklanon, or Malayanon; Hinambal et Ati, or taga bukid - Sulodnon-Bukidnon ligbok, etc. they are all considered by many as “Ilonggos" and are collectively called "BISAYA"." --dinggol.d~~~

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