The Mamanwa language is a Central Philippine language spoken by the

Mamanwa The Lumad are a group of Austronesian indigenous people in the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning "native" or "indigenous". The term is short for Katawhang Lumad (Literally: "indigenous people"), the autonym officially adopte ...

people. It is spoken in the provinces of

Agusan del Norte Agusan del Norte, officially the Province of Agusan del Norte ( ceb, Amihanang Agusan; Butuanon: ''Probinsya hong Agusan del Norte''; tl, Hilagang Agusan), is a province in the Caraga region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Cabadba ...

and

Surigao del Norte Surigao del Norte ( Surigaonon: ''Probinsya nan Surigao del Norte''; ceb, Amihanang Surigao; Tagalog: ''Hilagang Surigao''), officially the Province of Surigao del Norte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Caraga region of Mindanao. ...

in the Lake Mainit area 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 ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It had about 5,000 speakers in 1990. Mamanwa is a grammatically conservative language, retaining a three-way deictic distinction in its articles which elsewhere is only preserved in some of the

Batanic languages The Batanic languages (sometimes also called Bashiic or Ivatanic) are a dialect cluster of the Austronesian language family. They are spoken on Babuyan Island, just north of Luzon; three of the Batanes Islands, between the Philippines and Taiwa ...

. Before the arrival of Mamanwa speakers in central

Samar Island Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

, there had been an earlier group of

Negritos The term Negrito () refers to several diverse ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia and the Andaman Islands. Populations often described as Negrito include: the Andamanese peoples (including the Great Andamanese, the On ...

on the island. According to , the Samar Agta may have switched to Waray or Northern Samarenyo, or possibly even Mamanwa. In addition to this, Francisco Combes, a Spanish friar, had observed the presence of Negritos in the

Zamboanga Peninsula Zamboanga Peninsula ( tl, Tangway ng Zamboanga; cbk, Peninsula de Zamboanga; ceb, Lawis sa Zamboanga) is an administrative region in the Philippines, designated as Region IX. It consists of three provinces (Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibu ...

"in the Misamis strip" in 1645, although no linguistic data had ever been collected.

References

General references

* * Mansakan languages Endangered Austronesian languages Aeta languages Languages of Agusan del Norte Languages of Surigao del Norte {{CPhilippine-lang-stub