Waray: a Major Language in Philippines I. Introduction Wáray-Wáray or Waráy is commonly spelled as Waray; which is also referred to as Winaray or Lineyte-Samarnon. It is a language spoken in the provinces of Samar, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte (eastern portion), and Biliran in the Philippines. The Waraynon 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 closely related to the Central Visayan languages: Sorsogon, Bikol, Hiligaynon, and Romblomanon. Other closely related Visayan languages include Tausug, Cebuano, Banton, Aklanon, Kinaray-a, and Kuyonon. The language is largely spoken in Leyte and Samar. There are several dialects of Waray Waray, often referred to by their place name. For example, towns in Leyte like Barugo, Carigara, Jaro and their capital city; Tacloban. People from Barugo have some differences in intonation and accents compared to those from Carigara. And people from
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Waray: a Major Language in Philippines
I. Introduction
Wáray-Wáray or Waráy is commonly spelled as Waray; which is also referred to
as Winaray or Lineyte-Samarnon. It is a language spoken in the provinces of Samar,
Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte (eastern portion), and Biliran in the Philippines.
The Waraynon 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 closely related to the Central
Visayan languages: Sorsogon, Bikol, Hiligaynon, and Romblomanon. Other closely
related Visayan languages include Tausug, Cebuano, Banton, Aklanon, Kinaray-a, and
Kuyonon. The language is largely spoken in Leyte and Samar.
There are several dialects of Waray Waray, often referred to by their place name.
For example, towns in Leyte like Barugo, Carigara, Jaro and their capital city;
Tacloban. People from Barugo have some differences in intonation and accents
compared to those from Carigara. And people from those two towns can easily
determine those from Jaro, which is known in their place to have softer intonation and a
substitution of schwa [ə] sound on the usual sound of [ɔ] and [u] in most “o” and “u”
vowels in their words. And people from those three towns may know that whom they are
talking to is from Tacloban since people from Tacloban have an intonation that is more
similar to those from Samar Regions. The dialects of Northern Samar are the most
conservative. They maintain [s] in their common word marker while other dialects have
innovated [h]. Vowel-length in the verb prefix paradigm for the Northern Samar dialect is
absent except in the active potentate form náka-. Zorc (1975) identifies the following
three major dialects: Samar-Leyte spoken in Central Samar and the northern half of
Leyte, Waray spoken in southern and eastern Samar, and the Northern Samar dialect. But
as of now, there are two main dialects that are being considered: the “S-Waray” and “H-
Waray”. S-Waray is mainly spoken in the Northern and Eastern parts of Samar and
Biliran, while H-Waray is spoken in the remaining areas. The reason for the names is the
differences in the word markers: H-Waray using “ha” and S-Waray using “sa”.
There are about 3 million people that speak Waray-waray, but as of present time,
there is no official orthography commonly accepted; there exists two different spellings
of many words. Waray-waray is a harsh sounding language, but because there are many
different types of tones across the Waray-waray dialects, some sounds sweeter than the
others. The literal meaning of Waray is “nothing” or “none”.
In history, the Westerners’ first contact with Waray peoples was on March 31,
1521, when Magellan found the Leyte gateway. Very little is known about pre-Hispanic
Waray history, but linguistic, ethnographic, and archeological evidence help to classify
the Warays as the easternmost extension of the Visayan peoples, a relatively
homogeneous group inhabiting the central Philippine Islands named after the great
Sumatran empire of Sri Vijaya. Warays today are predominantly Roman Catholic, many
practicing with a blend of pre-Hispanic animistic elements. They are the most culturally
conservative of the Visayans.
Tracing its language family, Waray-waray is a Central Bisayan branch of the
Bisayan subgroup. Bisayan is a subgroup of Central Philippine which is a subgroup of the
Meso Philippine group. Meso Philippine group then, is a subgroup of the Western
Malayo-Polynesian branch. Western Malayo-Polynesian branch which is a subgroup of
the Malayo-Polynesian subfamily belongs to the Austronesian language family.
There are no much efforts to preserve, promote and protect the Language.
Although Waray Waray ranks among the top eight languages of the Philippines, there has
been very little done in the way of propagating the language through literature or the
media. No works of literature have been produced prior to the 1900s during the early
American period of occupation and nothing substantial is being produced in Waray to
this day. Norberto Romualdez was the first accomplished writer in Waray, staging his
first play, An Pagtabang ni San Miguel (The Assistance of St. Michael), in 1899 at the
age of 24. In 1908 he produced a Bisayan Grammar and organized the Sanghiran san
Binisaya or “Bisayan Language Academy” the following year but the academy is no
longer active.
II. Review of Related Literature
There are some related studies in this research like the one anonymously
conducted and posted in the internet entitled Waray-Waray Explained. A paragraph there
says: Waray-waray is a language that has been around for a long time, and has change a
lot over the last couple hundred of years, because of the Spanish and English influences.
You may notice a lot of Spanish and English words are now used in Waray-waray.
Waray-waray isn’t an easy language to learn for English speakers as many of its concepts
are different to those we’re used to in English. It has being said that Waray-waray is rated
4 out of 5 (5 being the hardest) for hardness to learn. But there were some noticeable
mistakes in the study, especially in the given examples and the instruction of how words
are to be pronounced in Waray way. An in-depth verification of existing documentation
was carried out in order to avoid the errors committed in previous research.
Christopher Sundita's Salita Blog claims too that: Waray-Waray not only has a
definite and indefinite distinction, but also a temporal one! This means a distinction
between past and the non-past. He was able to use examples too where he explained:
“The genitive forms are simply the addition of h or s, depending on the dialect. I will use
h since that is used in Tacloban.” Such explanation by him before citing examples,
remind readers again of the considered 2 major dialects of Waray language, the “S” and
“H”.
Siting some examples, he said that in Tagalog, to express "a man called" one
could say may tumawag na lalaki or tumawag ang isang lalaki; and yes, tumawag ang
lalaki is also possible. In Waray-Waray, the indefinite article gets rid of the ambiguity,
it'd be tinmawag in lalaki. May-ada tinmawag nga lalaki is also possible.
If it's definite, you say tinmawag an lalaki (The man called).
Other translations.
Natawag an lalaki = The man was calling. (note an, past definite)
Natawag it lalaki = The man is calling. (note it, non-past definite)
Matawag it lalaki = The man will call.
Matawag an lalaki is also possible and it could imply that the person being spoken
to knows the man.
A substantial info about Waray copula is explained by Wikipedia, one of the
popular reference website in the Internet. Here is what they have:
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 same
phrase may be spoken as Maganda siya, which has the same meaning. 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 magin estudyante. ([It's] hard to be a student.)
Ako it magigin presidente! (I will be the president!)
Ako an nagin presidente. (I became the president.)
III. Results & Discussion
One of the respondents: “Bunny”, is the most knowledgeable of the language, as
the fact that it is not yet that long since he left their hometown Barugo, Leyte. He also has
a Waray wife too with him here in Davao, so he is able to use the language everyday. He
was able to elaborate more about their Language. As for the second one: “Billy”, he left
his hometown some 9 years ago, and he seldom converse using the language, as it is not
everyday that he meets people speaking Waray. That makes him not fluent in speaking
the language anymore.
The information that the researchers researched from the internet have been
printed, analyzed and some were shown to the respondents too for confirmation and
comparison.
Here are the Waray Language grammatical components:
Pronunciation and Alphabet
The pure Waray-waray alphabet had 18 letters which are:
A B K D E G H I L M N NG O P R S T U W Y
These days there are 28 letters in the alphabet, in order to accommodate words of
Spanish and English origin. The letters include:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N Ñ O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
The syllable structure is relatively simple. Each syllable normally contains a
consonant and a vowel plotted in a pattern called clustering, where vowels come in
between consonants. Stress is placed on the second-to-the-last syllable of a word.
However, sometimes the stress is moved to change the meaning of a word.
Examples:
Salâ = sin Sâla = living room
Bâsa = wet Basâ = read
(â = where the stress should be placed)
Waray-waray is a harsh sounding language that somebody from other culture
hearing the native speaker of Waray-waray speaking would mistook him/her being angry.
There are three main vowels: [a], [ɛ]/[i], and [ɔ]/[u]. [i]/[ɛ] and [ɔ]/[u] sound the same,
but [ɔ] is still an allophone of [u] in final syllables. In some other areas especially those
uptowns, though they have same lexicons of their dialects, the [ɔ] or [u] sound in some
Some verbs in Waray usually use the mag- prefix, while other verbs usually use
the ma- prefix. However, some verbs use either of the two prefixes depending on the
intended meaning. The ma- verbs usually intend to show action that is of short duration.
Many times, these are related to motion or movement. For example: matindog,
malingkod, madagan, or malakat. The mag-verbs, on the other hand, usually intend to
show action that is being done over a longer period of time.
The word order for Mag – Actor Focus sentence is the same as the Ma –Actor
Focus.
Mag – Verb + I Cl Actor + II Cl Object + III Cl L/D/B
Examples (mag – Actor Focus Sentence)
1. Nagdara liwat an abugado hin mangga para ha iya pamilya.
The lawyer brought mango again for his family.
2. Mgbantay pa hiya ha balay nira ni Rhoda ngan Romulo.
He will still guard Rhoda and Romulo’s house.
3. Pagtrabaho na ha uma ni Tacio didto ha bukid.
Work now on Tacio’s farm there (far) in the mountain.
4. Nagmamando hi Jesus ha iya mga tinun-an.
Jesus is commanding his disciples.
5. Mag-aram pa ba hira hin Tagalog ha Manila?
Will they still learn Tagalog in Manila?
Verbalizing Nouns
Filipinos are fond of verbalizing nouns with nag-/mag-prefixes. That is, a noun is
made into a verb by prefixing it with nag-, mag-, or pag-. English nouns are often also
verbalized, especially when there is no common Waray word. Verbalized nouns are often
used as a short-cut.
For example: (verbalized nouns)
Mag-computer ako. I will use the computer.
Nag-TV kami. We (excl) are watching TV.
Mag-guitar hi Josh. Josh will play the guitar.
Nag-CR an mga bata. The children used the CR.
Pagpiano! Play the piano!
Nagbabado hi Erin. Erin is wearing a dress.
Magkape kita. We (incl) will drink coffee.
Pagbus paingon ha Makati. Ride the bus going to Makati.
Nagdyaket an maestra. The teacher wore a jacket.
Nag-aadobo hi Gener. Gener is cooking adobo.
SPECIAL VERBS
Karuyag, Buot, Kinahangla, Pwede, Mahimo
Karuyag, Buot, Kinahangla, Pwede, Mahimo are called special verbs, or pseudo-verbs.
These special verbs have many functions as verbs themselves.
For example:
Karuyag ko hin tubig. I would like some water.
Karuyag nimo? Do you (sing.) want to?
Nakaruyag hiya kan Inday. He likes Inday.
Ako la an magbuot hiton. I will be the one to decide that.
Nagkinahanglan ako hin bulig. I need help.
Pwede bw kamo? Can you (pl)?
Mahimo ba? Is it possible? [or] Can it be?
However, these special verbs are most often linked to other verbs in a sentence as an
“auxiliary” to the man verb of the sentence. Used in this way, these special verbs have the
following meanings:
Special Verbs
KARUYAG/BUOT “like to, want to, or wish to (do something)”
KINAHANGLAN “need to, have to, must (do something)”
PWEDE/MAHIMO “can, may, able to, it is possible to (do something)”
In the following examples these special verbs are linked to another main verb of the
sentence.
Examples:
1. Karuyag hiya magpalit hin sapatos.
He wants to buy shoes.
2. Buot magmulay an mga bata.
The children wish to play.
3. Kinahanglan kita magtrabaho.
We (incl) must work.
We (incl) need to work.
4. Pwede magkadto hi Felix ha iyo.
Felix can go to your (house).
Felix will be able to go to your house.
5. Mahimo kami magtrabaho buwas.
We (excl) will be able to work tomorrow.
What is noticeable in the example above is that the special verbs are used with
another main verb. All the main verbs are future tense there is no reduplication of the first
syllable of the root.The main verbs are translated in English like infinitives most of the
time. (to buy, to play, to work, to go). The sentences begin with the special verbs.
WORD ORDER
The formulas below will show the word order for sentences using special verbs.
there are two common ways of arranging the words – the subject before the main verb, or
the subject after the main verb. Either way is acceptable though Waray often prefer one
or the other.
BSUBJECT BEFORE MAIN VERB.
Special verb + I Cl Subject + Future Verb (no redup.of the 1st syll.of the root +
rest…
ECEPTION W/ KINAHANGLAN, PWEDE, MAHIMO
Special verb + I Cl Marker + Future verb (no redup.) + rest…
I CL Gen Pro
OR
SUBJECT AFTER MAIN VERB
Special verb + Future verb (no redup.) + I Cl Subject + rest…
Note: Examples will be given using both formulas, or word orders above. Both are used
depending upon location and personal preferences.
KARUYAG/BUOT “likes to, want to, wish to, will to (do something)”
Karuyag and buot mean same thing and may be used in the same way. The more
common usage is karuyag, but buot is also used.
Examples (karuyag and buot)
1. Karuyag ko magpalit hin karne ha merkado. [or]
Karuyag magpalit ako hin karne ha merkado.
I want to buy meat at the market.
2. Buot hiya maglakat ha siyudad. [or]
Buot maglakat hiya ha siyudad.
She wants to go to the city.
3. Karuyag hi Debbie magbisita ha iya tiya. [or]
Karuyag magbisita hi Debbie ha iya tiya.
Debbie wishes to visit her aunt.
4. Buot an mga bata magkaon hin sorbeti. [or]
Buot magkaon an mga bata makaon hin sorbeti.
The children would like to eat ice cream.
5. Karuyag iton nga tawo mag-alagad ha Dios. [or]
Karuyag mag-alagad iton ng tawo ha Dios.
That man wishes to serve God.
KINAHANGLAN “need to, have to, must (do something)”
Examples (kinahanglan)
1. Kinahanglan ako magtrabaho. [or]
Kinahanglan magtrabaho ako.
I must work.
2. Kinahanglan ka magluto hin manok. [or]
Kinahanglan magluto ka hin manok.
You (sing) need to cook a chicken.
3. Kinahanglan nga hi Jose magsimba. [or]
Kinahanglan magsimba hi Jose.
Jose needs to go to church.
4. Kinahanglan ini nga mga bata mag-eskwela. [or]
Kinahanglan mag-eskwela ini nga mga bata.
These children must go to school.
PWEDE/MAHIMO “can, may, able to, it is possible to (do something)”
Pwede and mahimo mean the same thing, and may be used in the same way.
Pwede is actually Spanish word that is commonly used by Waray. It is the more
ommon of these two in most places.
Examples (pwede an mahimo)
1. Pwede hira magbantay ha iyo balay. [or]
Pwede magbantay hira ha iyo balay.
They can watch your (pl) house.
2. Mahimo ba kamo maghulat ha amon? [or]
Mahimo ba maghulat kamo ha amon?
Would it be possible for you (pl) to wait for us (excl)?
3. Pwede kaba magdara hin asukar? [or]
Pwede ba magdara ka hin asukar?
Would you be able to bring sugar?
4. Mahino hi Felix magtukar hin sista. [or]
Mahimo magtukar hi Felix hin sista.
Felix may play the guitar.
5. Pwede adto nga panday magbuhat hin bodega. [or]
Pwede magbuhat adto nga pantay hin bodega.
That carpenter “over there” can make a warehouse.
Question/Interrogative Words
Question Words
HIN-O? WHO?
NGAIN? WHERE?
HAIN? WHERE? /WHICH?
DIIN? WHERE?
TAGPIRA? HOW MUCH?
PIRA? HOW MANY?
SAN-O, KAKAN-ON? WHEN?
KAY ANO? WHY?
UNAN-O? HOW?
ANO? WHAT?
How to use the question words: ANO and HIN-O.
ANO?
Ano + I Class words
Examples:
Ano an imo ngaran? What is your name?
Ano man ini ha Waray? What is this in Waray?
Ano an “pencil” ha Waray? What is “pencil” in Waray?
Ano an imo rabaho? What is your work?
Notice in the examples above that the I Class Markers an is used, and also the I Class
general Ponoun ini. The ano question word always is followed by a I Class word:
I Class Personal Pronoun (ako, ikaw, hiya, etc.)
I Class General Pronoun (ini, iton, adto)
I Class Markers (an, hi)
Man is a particle commonly used with the question words. It has no direct
translation. It sometimes gives emphasis to the question; at other times, it somewhat
softens the question (makes it more polite). Thus, you may say:
Ano man ini ha Waray?
[or]
Ano ini ha Waray?
What is this in Waray?
Either way is acceptable, but it doesn’t hurt to add the man of the time. The ano b
question word asks what something is. The response, then, should be an identification of
what a thing or person is. Responses to ano questions do not have to begin with a I class
word. Hin-o responses, on the other hand, begin with a I Class word. The first word of
the response is usually the object or person which answers the ano question.
Examples (ano with responses)
1. Q: Ano man ini? What is this?
R: Kamatis ini. This is tomato.
2. Q: Ano man iton/? What is that?
R: kasilyas iton. That is a restroom (CR).
3. Q: Ano it imo ngaran? What is your (sing) name?
R: Ako hi Bebbie. [or] I am Bebbie.
R: Bebbie an akon ngaran. Bebbie is my name. Bebie is my name.
4. Q: Ano ngaran an imo maestra? What is your teachers name?
R: Willim. [or] William.
R: Willim an iya ngaran. William is his name.
5. Q: Ano man ini ha Waray? What is this in Waray?
R: Libro ini. [or] This is a book.
R: Ini an libro. This is a book.
Responses to ano questions do not require a hi or an marker. Occasionally, ano is
used as a special verb also.
In actor focus, it may be prefixed by mag- or nag-
Mag ano man kamo didto?
(What will you do there?
Nag-ano man ka?
(What have you been doing?
HIN-O?
The question word ano asks “what something is,” while the question word hin-o
hin-o asks “who someone is”. It is used in askng names or identifies of people.
For Example:
Hin-o hiya? Who is he?
Hin-o man hi Edgar? Who is Edgar?
Hin-o an imo agaron? Who is your (sing) boss?
Hin-o an iyo lider? Who is your (pl.) leader.
Hin-o man iton? Who is that?
Hin-o liwat ka? Who are you (sing) also.
Hin-o + Class words
Notice in the examples above that hin-o also requires I a Class word. (I Class
Personal Pronoun, I Class General Pronoun, or I Class Marker).
Notice too, that the particle man is also used with ano. Other particles are placed in the
same order as before.
Examples (hin-o with responses)
1. Q: Hin-o hiya? Who is she?
R: Hi Cindy Hiya. She is Cindy.
2. Q: Hin-o man hi Pastor Tabay? Who is Pastor Tabay?
R: An pastor ha amon simbahan. [or] The pastor of our (exl) church.
R: Hiya an amon pastor. He is our (excl) pastor.
3. Q: Hin-o man an iyo mga kabulig? Who are your (pl) helpers?
R: Hira Ging-ging ngan Gener. Ging-ging and Gener.
4. Q: Hin-o an iyo diyakono dinhi? Who is your (pl) deacon here?
R: An bugto Palomar an amon nga Brother Palomar is our deacon here.
diyakono dinhi.
5. Q: Hin-o man adto? Who is that “over there.”
R: An sangkay nakon adto. [or] That’s my friend “over there.”
R: Hiya an akon sangkay. He is my friend.
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
Grammar
Waray language has no exact equivalent to the English Phrase structure. That’s
why explaining the Waray Language Phrase Structure would be difficult as there are
some irregularities especially in word inflection. Fortunately, a general pattern of saying
sentence is noticeable in them, though it doesn’t apply in general. Such pattern can be
considered their basic. Like for example: “I threw the ball to Bob”; an English sentence
that if transcribed to its phrase structure would look like:
S
N
NP Aux. VP NP PP Pron. T V det. N prep. NP
past N
I throw the ball to Bob
If translated to Waray, the word distribution in the sentences won’t be at the same
plotting, and so the Phrase Structure would be different. To show it in a less confusing
way, we illustrate the sentence pattern to: “A O V L/R” where V=Verb, A=Actor,
O=Object, L/R=Location/Receiver. English is normally spoken in “A O V L/R” format.
On the other hand Waray is generally spoken in the following format: “V A O L/R”.
Examples:
English – I threw the ball to Bob. A V O L/R
Waray – threw I the ball to Bob. Ginlabay ko an bola kan Bob. V A O L/R
English – The students read books in the library. A V O L/R
Waray – Nagbasa an mga estudyante hin libro ha librari. V A O L/R
English – The technician repaired the broken computer in the shop. A V O L/RWaray – Gin-ayad ha teknisyan an ruba nga kompyuter ha shop. V A O L/R