Boholano ( ceb, Binol-anon) is a variant of the

Cebuano language Cebuano (Cebuano
on Merriam-Webster.com ), natively called by its generic term Bisaya or Binisaya (bot ...

spoken in the island province of

Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Bohol; tl, Lalawigan ng Bohol), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. ...

in the

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands ( Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, ...

and a major portion of

Southern Leyte Southern Leyte ( ceb, Habagatang Leyte; Kabalian: ''Habagatan nga Leyte''; war, Salatan nga Leyte; tl, Timog Leyte), officially the Province of Southern Leyte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capit ...

, as well as parts of

Mindanao Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...

, particularly in

Northern Mindanao Northern Mindanao ( tl, Hilagang Mindanao; ceb, Amihanang Mindanao; Maranao: ''Pangotaraan Mindanao'') is an administrative region in the Philippines, designated as Region X. It comprises five provinces: Bukidnon, Camiguin, Misamis Occidental, ...

and

Caraga Caraga, officially the Caraga Administrative Region (or simply known as Caraga Region) and designated as Region XIII, is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region in the Philippines occupying the northeastern section of Mindanao. Th ...

. It is sometimes erroneously described as a separate

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

even though Binol-anon originated as a

dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...

of the

Cebuano language Cebuano (Cebuano
on Merriam-Webster.com ), natively called by its generic term Bisaya or Binisaya (bot ...

. Boholano, especially as spoken in central Bohol, can be distinguished from other Cebuano variants by a few

phonetic change A sound change, in historical linguistics, is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chan ...

s: *The semivowel ''y'' is pronounced as is the ''ll'' sound (similar to Spanish

Yeísmo ''Yeísmo'' (; literally "Y-ism") is a distinctive feature of certain dialects of the Spanish language, characterized by the loss of the traditional palatal lateral approximant phoneme (written ) and its merger into the phoneme (written ), ...

): is pronounced ; * is pronounced as ; *Intervocalic ''l'' is occasionally pronounced as when following ''u'' or ''o'': is pronounced as (the same as

Cebu City Cebu City, officially the City of Cebu ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Sugbo; fil, Lungsod ng Cebu; hil, Dakbanwa sang Sugbo), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Central Visayas region of the Philippines and capital of the Cebu Province. Ac ...

dialect).

History

The Bohol dialect developed in the region after the Cebuano language arrived there from

Cebu Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 16 ...

. The

Cebuano language Cebuano (Cebuano
on Merriam-Webster.com ), natively called by its generic term Bisaya or Binisaya (bot ...

, descended from

Proto-Austronesian Proto-Austronesian (commonly abbreviated as PAN or PAn) is a proto-language. It is the reconstructed ancestor of the Austronesian languages, one of the world's major language families. Proto-Austronesian is assumed to have begun to diversify ...

(ca. 6000 years ago), originated in the ''Sugbo'' heartland and then "has spread from its base in Cebu" to

, thus beginning the Bohol Cebuano dialect.

References

External links

The Boholano LanguageBoholano
Cebuano dialects Languages of Bohol {{CPhilippine-lang-stub