Aklanon (Akeanon), also known as Bisaya/Binisaya nga Aklanon/Inaklanon or simply Aklan, is an Austronesian language of the Bisayan subgroup spoken by the Aklanon people in the province of Aklan on the island of Panay in the Philippines. Its unique feature among other Bisayan languages is the close-mid back unrounded vowel [ɤ] occurring as part of diphthongs and traditionally written with the letter ⟨Ee⟩ such as in the autonyms Akean and Akeanon. However, this phoneme is also present in other but geographically scattered and distant Philippine languages, namely Itbayat, Isneg, Manobo, Samal and Sagada.[3]

Aklanon
Aklan
Akeanon Binisaya nga Akeanon Inakeanon
Native to	Philippines
Region	Aklan, northwestern Capiz, northern Antique, and southern Romblon
Ethnicity	Aklanon
Native speakers	560,000 (2010)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Central Philippine Bisayan Western Bisayan Aklanon
Dialects	Aklanon, Malaynon
Writing system	Latin; Historically Baybayin
Official status
Official language in	Regional language in the Philippines
Regulated by	Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: akl – Aklanon [2] mlz – Malaynon
Glottolog	akla1240  Aklanon
Area where Aklanon is spoken

The Malaynon dialect is 93% lexically similar to Aklanon and retained the "l" sounds, which elsewhere are often pronounced as "r".[4]

Ibayjanon (Ibajaynon) dialect has shortened versions of Aklanon words.^{[citation needed]}

Phonology

Aklanon has 21 phonemes. There are 17 consonants: p, t, k, b, d, g, m, n, ng, s, h, l, r, w, y, the glottal stop ʔ, and a distinct phoneme argued by Zorc (2005) to be a close-mid back unrounded vowel [ɤ]. There are five vowels, with the three native i, a, and u, which is a typical for a Bisayan vowel inventory, and the additional e and o for loanwords and common nouns.[3]

Vowels

Consonants

/t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ/ from loanwords can also be heard as palatal stops [c, ɟ]. /l/ can also be heard as [ɫ] and can also alternate with [d].

Common phrases

[5]

Philippine national proverb

• Tagalog: Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan.
• Akeanon: Ro uwa' gatan-aw sa anang ginhalinan hay indi makaabut sa anang ginapaeangpan. (Akeanon)
• Malaynon: Ang indi kausoy magbalikid sa anang hinalinan hay indi makaabut sa anang paayanan. (Malaynon)
• Hiligaynon: Ang indi makahibalo magbalikid sang iya ginhalinan, indi makaabot sa iya padulungan. (Hiligaynon)
• English: He who does not look back where he came from, will never reach his destination. (English)

Numbers

Literature

Note: All these poems were written by Melchor F. Cichon, an Aklanon poet.

• Ambeth. Philippine Panorama, August 14, 1994.
• Emergency Room. The Aklan Reporter, December 7, 1994, p. 10
• Eva, Si Adan! (Finalist Sa Unang Premyo Openiano A. Italia Competition, January 1993, Duenas, Iloilo)
• Ham-at Madueom Ro Gabii Inay? Philippine Panorama, March 27, 1994, p. 29. (First Aklanon poem published in the Phil. Pan.) Also in The Aklan Reporter, April 6, 1994, p. 8.
• Hin-uno Pa. The Aklan Reporter, February 23, 1994, p. 8. Also in Ani December 1993, p. 44
• Inay. Philippine Collegian, October 4, 1973, p. 3 (First Aklanon poem in the Philippine Collegian)
• Limog sa Idaeom. Ani December 1993, p. 48
• Mamunit Ako Inay. The Aklan Reporter, December 28, 1994, p. 10
• Manog-Uling. The Aklan Reporter July 29, 1992, p. 9. Also in Ani December 1993, p. 50
• Owa't Kaso, Saeamat. Mantala 3:97 2000
• Ro Bantay. The Aklan Reporter, September 6, 1995, p. 7
• Competition, March 13, 1998, UPV Auditorium, Iloilo City
• Sa Pilapil It Tangke. Ani December 1994, p. 46
• Toto, Pumailaya Ka. Pagbutlak (First Aklanon in Pagbutlak)
• Welga. Mantala 3:99 2000

Learning resources

• "Five-language Dictionary (Panay Island)" ISBN 971-9023-25-2, 2003 Roman dela Cruz Kalibo, Aklan
• "A grammar of Aklan". 1971. Chai, Nemia Melgarejo. Ann Arbor: UMI. (Doctoral dissertation, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania; xiv+229pp.)
• "Aklanon". 1995. Zorc, R. David. In Darrell T. Tryon (ed.), Comparative Austronesian dictionary: an introduction to Austronesian studies: Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 359–362.
• "A study of the Aklanon dialect" / Authors: Beato A. de la Cruz, R. David Paul Zorc, Vicente Salas Reyes, & Nicolas L. Prado; Public Domain 1968-1969; Kalibo, Aklan
  • "Vol.I Grammar" Smithsonian Institution Libraries call# 39088000201871 (Full text on ERIC)
  • 'Vol.II A Dictionary (of root words and derivations) Aklanon to English" Smithsonian Institution Libraries call# 39088000201889 (Full text on ERIC)
• "The functions of ‘hay’ in Aklanon narrative discourse". 1990. Brainard, Sherri and Poul Jensen.
• "A preliminary study of demonstratives in Aklanon narratives". 1992. Jensen, Kristine and Rodolfo R. Barlaan.

References

External links

Wikivoyage has a phrasebook for Akeanon.

Aklanon language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

For a list of words relating to Aklanon language, see the Aklanon language category of words in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Learning Aklanon
• Aklanon Wordlist at the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
• Aklanon proverbs