Cuyonon is a

regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

Bisayan language spoken on the coast of

Palawan Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in t ...

and the

Cuyo Islands The Cuyo Archipelago or Cuyo Islands, is a group of about 45 islands lying to the northeast of the Philippine island of Palawan.''Traveler's Companion Philippines 1998'' p.214 Kirsten Ellis, Globe Pequot Press Globe Pequot, 1998 It lies south of ...

in the

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 ...

.Palawan Tourism Council
Accessed August 28, 2008. Cuyonon had been the lingua franca (language used for communication) of the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Palawan until recently when migration flow into the region rapidly increased. 43% of the total population of Palawan during the late 1980s spoke and used Cuyonon as a language. Later studies showed a significant decrease in the number of speakers due to an increase of Tagalog-speaking immigrants from Luzon. The Cuyonon language is classified by the Summer Institute of Linguistics as belonging to the Central Philippine, Western Bisayan, Kuyan subgroup. The largest number of speakers lives in the Cuyo Group of Islands, which is located between Northern Palawan and Panay Island.

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Unlike most Philippine languages, it only consists of one close vowel. The close vowel only occurs in loanwords from Spanish, either directly or through Tagalog.

Simple greetings

*Good afternoon – *Good evening/night – *How are you? – *I'm fine/good and you? – *I'm just fine, by the grace of God – *Thank you – *Where are you going? – *What are you doing? – *Oh, nothing in particular. – *Please come in. – *Long time no see. –

Common expressions

Parts of the body

References

External links

Cuyonon Language and Culture Project
cuyonon.org
Linguistic map of the PhilippinesLinguistic map of the Philippines
Languages of Palawan Visayan languages {{CPhilippine-lang-stub