i grew up with pilipino (tagalog), bisayan (parents are from cebu and bohol) and english languages spoken in the household. it was not until i entered the school systems that i learned that there was a difference between pilipino (tagalog) and bisayan languages. as a young adult english became my primary spoken language although my parents would still speak to their children in their native languages, we would respond back in english as i continue to do to this day with more efforts to speak my version of tag/bis/span-glish. last summer 2012, on my journey back to the bisayan island of bohol in search of bangka builders, i was honored to meet with sir jes b. tirol, ph.d. (we ended up taking a bangka to cabilao island and met with a bangka builder there but then that’s another story and a wonderful adventure).
i purchased his book, kapulongnan binisaya-ininglis (dictionary bisayan-english first edition 2010). he shared the issues of sugboanon bisaya for school teachers. knowledgeable about history and bisayan language, i found out that sir jes tirol is a writer/columnist for the bohol chronicle. my goal for the month of abril 2013 is to share with you bisayan words, my mother tongue, that i am learning related to the bangka, the waters, nature, mother earth in binisaya-english. i will start with the basic letters in the sugboanon bisaya alphabet with the upcoming postings:
Aa, Bb, Kk, Dd, Ee, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Ll, Mm, Nn, Ngng, Oo, Pp, Rr,Ss, Tt, Uu, Ww, Yy
