Classical Cebuano (Cebuano: Karaang Sinugboanon; Badlit: pre-virama: ᜃᜇᜀ ᜅ ᜊᜒᜈᜒᜐᜌ, post-virama: ᜃᜇᜀᜈ᜴ ᜅ ᜊᜒᜈᜒᜐᜌ) is a form of the Cebuano language spoken during the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines. It was the primary language spoken in Cebu, Bohol, and other parts of Visayas and Mindanao.

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History

The earliest surviving record of Cebuano was from a wordlist collected by Antonio Pigafetta during the Magellan expedition in 1521. The wordlist contains about 160 Cebuano words (some of which are in Malay) written in an Italian-influenced orthography, which is considered problematic due to its inconsistent and unphonetic spelling system. The oldest reliable glimpse of Cebuano's grammar and vocabulary was from Domingo Ezguerra's Arte de la Lengua Bisaya de la Provincia de Leyte, a Waray grammar book written in 1663. The first dedicated grammar book for Cebuano, Francisco Encina's Arte de la Lengua Zebuana, was compiled in 1801 (40 years after his death).[1]

Phonology

Grammar

Case Markers

Classical Cebuano possessed separate plural personal case markers (sa, na, and ka), which are not retained in any dialect of Modern Cebuano.[3]

Pronouns

Classical Cebuano underwent morphological changes throughout the Spanish period. One of the most notable was the change from *s(i)- to *k(i)- as the direct case-marking prefix for Cebuano demonstrative (e.g. sini -> kini) and interrogative (e.g. sinsa -> kinsa) pronouns. Classical Cebuano, especially the one spoken in Bohol, still had plural case markers sa, na, and ka, which are already obsolete in Modern Cebuano. They were also used to form plural demonstratives, which are considered rare among Philippine languages.[3]

Demonstratives

Interrogatives

See also

• Cebuano language
• Cebuano grammar
• Bisayan languages
• Waray language
• Pigafetta's Dictionary

References