Surigaonon is an Austronesian language spoken by

Surigaonon people The Surigaonon people are an ethnolingustic group who inhabited on the eastern coastal plain of Mindanao, particularly the provinces of Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur and Dinagat Islands. They are also present in the provinces of Agusan d ...

. As a regional Philippine language, it is spoken in the province of

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. ...

Dinagat Islands Dinagat Islands (Cebuano language, Cebuano: ''Mga Pulo sa Dinagat''; Surigaonon language, Surigaonon: ''Mga Puyo nan Dinagat''; Kabalian language, Kabalian: ''Mga Puyo san Dinagat''; Waray language, Waray: ''Mga Purô han Dinagat''; Filipino lang ...

Surigao del Sur Surigao del Sur (Surigaonon language, Surigaonon: ''Probinsya nan Surigao del Sur''; ceb, Habagatang Surigao; tl, Timog Surigao), officially the Province of Surigao del Sur, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located ...

, and some portions 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 ...

, especially the towns near the

Mainit Lake Lake Mainit is the fourth largest lake in the Philippines, having a surface area of . The lake is also the deepest lake in the country with maximum depth reaching . It is located in the northeastern section of Mindanao and shared between the p ...

Agusan del Sur Agusan del Sur, officially the Province of Agusan del Sur ( ceb, Habagatang Agusan; Butuanon: ''Probinsya hong Agusan del Sur''; tl, Timog Agusan), is a province in Caraga region, Mindanao, Philippines. Its capital is the municipality of Prosp ...

and

Davao Oriental Davao Oriental ( Cebuano: ''Sidlakang Dabaw''; tl, Silangang Davao), officially the Province of Davao Oriental, is a province in the Philippines located in the Davao Region in Mindanao. Its capital is city of Mati, and it borders the province o ...

External relationships

Surigaonon is a member of the

Bisayan languages The Bisayan languages or Visayan languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages spoken in the Philippines. They are most closely related to Tagalog and the Bikol languages, all of which are part of the Central Philippine languages. Mo ...

. It has been heavily influenced by Cebuano due to the influx of many

Cebuanos The Cebuano people ( ceb, Mga Sugbuanon) are the largest subgroup of the larger Ethnic groups in the Philippines, ethnolingustic group Visayans, who constitute the largest Ethnic groups in the Philippines, Filipino ethnolinguistic group in the ...

in the region. However, most Cebuano speakers can hardly understand Surigaonon speakers, except for

who have been living in the region for years. Surigaonon is very closely related to the

Tausug language Tausug (; Jawi: ; ms, Bahasa Suluk) is an Austronesian language spoken in the province of Sulu in the Philippines and in the eastern area of the state of Sabah, Malaysia, by the Tausūg people. It is widely spoken in the Sulu Archipelago ( ...

Sulu Sulu (), officially the Province of Sulu (Tausug language, Tausūg: ''Wilāya sin Lupa' Sūg''; tl, Lalawigan ng Sulu), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines in the Sulu Archipelago and part of the Bangsamoro, Bangsamor ...

and the

Butuanon language Butuanon is an Austronesian regional language spoken by the Butuanon people in Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur, with some native speakers in Misamis Oriental and Surigao del Norte. It is a part of the Bisayan language family and is closely ...

Butuan Butuan (pronounced ), officially the City of Butuan ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Butuan; Butuanon: ''Dakbayan hong Butuan''; fil, Lungsod ng Butuan), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the region of Caraga, Philippines. It is the ''de facto'' ca ...

Varieties

Tandaganon

Tandaganon (also called Tinandag, Naturalis, Tagon-on) is a closely related variety spoken in

Tandag Tandag, officially the City of Tandag ( Tandaganon/ Surigaonon: ''Siyudad nan Tandag''; Cebuano: ''Dakbayan sa Tandag''; fil, Lungsod ng Tandag), is a 5th class component city and capital of the province of Surigao del Sur, Philippines. Accor ...

and central

municipalities of San Miguel, Tago, Bayabas,

Cagwait Cagwait, officially the Municipality of Cagwait ( Surigaonon: ''Lungsod nan Cagwait''; tl, Bayan ng Cagwait), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Surigao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 21,747 ...

Marihatag Marihatag, officially the Municipality of Marihatag ( Surigaonon: ''Lungsod nan Marihatag''; tl, Bayan ng Marihatag); ( Indonesian: Kotamadya Marihatag) , is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Surigao del Sur, Philippines. According to ...

, San Agustin, and most of

Lianga Lianga, officially the Municipality of Lianga ( Surigaonon: ''Lungsod nan Lianga''; tl, Bayan ng Lianga), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Surigao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 33,869 p ...

. It can be classified as a separate language or alternatively as a southern variety of Surigaonon. There are about 100,000 speakers. Surigaonon (also called Jaun-Jaun, Waya-Waya) itself on the other hand is the northern (

) variety, with about 400,000 speakers. Surigaonon speakers are distributed throughout

, northern

, and northern

. Surigaonon and Tandaganon speakers can understand each other well, even if they use their own languages in conversation (similar to the mutual intelligibility between the

Boholano dialect Boholano ( ceb, Binol-anon) is a variant of the Cebuano language spoken in the island province of Bohol in the Visayas and a major portion of Southern Leyte, as well as parts of Mindanao, particularly in Northern Mindanao and Caraga. It is somet ...

and the general Cebuano dialect). Together, Surigaonon and Tandaganon are spoken in

and most parts of

, except in the City of

Bislig Bislig, officially the City of Bislig ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Bislig; fil, Lungsod ng Bislig), is a 3rd class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city in the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Surigao del Sur, Philippines ...

, municipalities of

Barobo Barobo, officially the Municipality of Barobo ( Surigaonon: ''Lungsod nan Barobo''; tl, Bayan ng Barobo), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Surigao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 53,146 peo ...

Hinatuan Hinatuan is a second class Philippine municipality, municipality in the Philippine province, province of Surigao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 43,841 people. Hinatuan is approximately 44 kilometers (27 ...

Lingig Lingig, officially the Municipality of Lingig, is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Surigao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 35,142 people. The municipality is around one and a half hour away f ...

, and

Tagbina Tagbina, officially the Municipality of Tagbina, is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Surigao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 41,051 people. It is one of the only two landlocked municipalitie ...

. In the non-Surigaonon-speaking areas of Surigao, most of the inhabitants are descended from Cebuano-speaking migrants, and the rest are natives who speak

Kamayo Kamayo (Kinamayo or alternatively spelled Camayo), also called Kadi, Kinadi, or Mandaya, is a minor Austronesian language of the central eastern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines. Distribution Spoken in some areas of Surigao del Sur (the cit ...

, a Mansakan language.

Phonology

According to Dumanig (2015), Surigaonon has a similar phonological inventory as its sister

, Cebuano and Boholano.

Vowels

Below is the vowel system of Surigaonon.

Consonants

Below is a chart of Surigaonon consonants. Note: is spelled ''y'', is spelled ''j'' and is spelled ''ng''.

Clusters

Surigaonon has 25 consonant clusters (br, bl, bw, by, dr, dy, dw, gr, gw, kr, kl, kw, mw, my, nw, pr, pl, pw, py, sw, sy, tr, tw, ty, hw) and 4 diphthongs (aw, ay, iw, uy), which is similar to Cebuano.