In the Philippines, community works to save Butuanon language from fading into silence
Butuan in the northeastern part of the country has a unique linguistic heritage, but less than 5% of the city’s population speaks it now.
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The catchphrase “Ato ini, kadyawon ta!” can be seen on tricycles in Butuan. It means “This is ours, let’s take care of it!” and is distinctly Butuanon.
Butuan, a city in the northeastern Philippines, has its unique linguistic heritage, but concerns loom over the gradual decline of its cherished lingua franca.
The distinct Butuanon vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation once echoed through the streets of the regional center of the Caraga region. This city has remained a bastion of cultural richness within the area.
However, amid its bustling urban landscape, officials and conservationists sounded the alarm as the once-flourishing language faces the threat of extinction, raising fears of a future where the echoes of Butuan’s linguistic legacy may fade into silence.
According to a journal published in the University of the Philippines-Diliman Journals Online, Butuanon is a South Visayan language spoken in northeastern Mindanao, particularly in the provinces of Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur. It is classified as one of the Visayan languages, part of the larger Austronesian language family. Today, Babag stands out as the only one of Butuan’s 86 barangays (boroughs) where most residents still speak Butuanon fluently.
Jorge Navarra, a trustee at the Butuan Global Forum Incorporated, said Babag is the only community in Butuan where most villagers...
