The Inabaknon language, also known as Abaknon, Abaknon Sama, Capuleño, Kapul, or Capul Sinama, is an

Austronesian language The Austronesian languages ( ) are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). They are spoken b ...

primarily spoken in the Island Municipality of

Capul Capul, officially the Municipality of Capul (; ), is an island municipality in the province of Northern Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 12,323 people. The natives of Capul are known as the Abaknon or the ...

Northern Samar Northern Samar (; ), officially the Province of Northern Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Catarman, the most populous town in the province and is located at the northern portion of ...

, in the

Eastern Visayas Eastern Visayas (; ; ; ) is an administrative region in the Philippines, designated as Region VIII. It consists of three main islands: Samar, Leyte, and Biliran. The region has six provinces: Biliran, Leyte, Northern Samar, Samar, Easte ...

Region of the Philippines. Unlike the other indigenous languages of the

, namely Waray, Cebuano and Boholano, Inabaknon is not classified as part of the Visayan language family, but is rather grouped with the

Sama–Bajaw languages The Sama–Bajaw languages are a well-established group of languages spoken by the Sama-Bajau peoples (''A'a sama'') of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Languages Grimes (2003) identifies nine Sama–Bajaw languages. #Balangingi (Ba ...

Background

Inabaknon is spoken on the island of Capul in the province of Northern Samar. According to oral folk history, due to their not liking the religion of the Moros who ruled over them, a group of people and their leader Abak fled Balabac. They sailed until reaching the island. The language is notable as being the only Sama language to not have had major Arabic influence via Islam.

Phonology

* The consonants in parentheses are only used in loanwords. * The mid vowels /e o/ are only found in loanwords.

References

Citations

Sources

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External links

Literature and articles in
Literature and articles in Abaknon. Sama–Bajaw languages Languages of Northern Samar {{Au-lang-stub