Bisakol (

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of ''Bisaya'' and ''Bikol'') is an informal term for the three

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 ...

spoken in the

Bicol Region The Bicol Region, designated as Region V, is an administrative region of the Philippines. It comprises six Provinces of the Philippines, provinces, four on the Bicol Peninsula (the luzon#Southeastern Luzon, southeastern end of Luzon): Albay, Ca ...

. These languages include Sorsoganon, a group of Warayan speech varieties of

Sorsogon Sorsogon, officially the Province of Sorsogon ( Bikol: ''Probinsya kan Sorsogon''; Waray: ''Probinsya han Sorsogon''; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region. It is the southernmost province in the island of Luzon and ...

, namely Central Sorsogon (''Masbate Sorsogon'') and Southern Sorsogon (''Waray Sorsogon''). The latter is spoken in seven municipalities in Southern Sorsogon, viz.

Matnog Matnog, officially the Municipality of Matnog ( Waray Sorsogon: ''Bungto san Matnog''; , ), is a municipality in the province of Sorsogon, Philippines and is the southernmost part of Luzon. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 41 ...

, Gubat, Bulan,

Irosin Irosin, officially the Municipality of Irosin (; , ), is a municipality in the province of Sorsogon, Philippines. History Irosin frequently experienced erosion due to river inundations. On December 24, 1933, massive flooding caused numerous fat ...

, Sta. Magdalena, Barcelona and

Bulusan Mount Bulusan, also known as Bulusan Volcano, is a stratovolcano on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Located in the province of Sorsogon in the Bicol Region, it is southeast of Mayon Volcano and approximately southeast of Manila. Bulus ...

. Southern Sorsogon is closely related to the Waray spoken in

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 ...

. Masbateño of

Masbate Masbate, officially the Province of Masbate (Masbateño language, Masbateño: ''Probinsya san Masbate''; ), is an island Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located near the midsection of the nation's archipelago. Its provi ...

is closer to the languages of

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and a total population of 4,542,926, as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City of Il ...

, Capiznon and Hiligaynon. It retains Bicolano influence from its inclusion in the Bicol Region, both politically and geographically. Despite its name, Masbate Sorsogon is closer to Waray than to Masbatenyo, but this coast of Sorsogon Bay where Masbate Sorsogon is spoken has had a lot of contact with

Masbate Island Masbate Island is the largest of three major islands of Masbate Province in the Philippines. The other two major islands are Ticao Island and Burias Island. It is the 11th-largest island in both area and population in the Philippines and the w ...

. On the ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

'' map of the region, Masbate Sorsogon is 82, Masbatenyo is 85 and Waray Sorsogon is 83.

Classification

According to Zorc, the Bisakol languages all classify under the Central Bisayan group.

Vocabulary

The following examples are taken from McFarland, in comparison with other Bikol area dialects as well as some Bisayan languages from Zorc.

Pronouns

References

Visayan languages Language contact Languages of Sorsogon {{CPhilippine-lang-stub