Blaan, also known as Bilaan, is an Austronesian language of the southern Philippines.

Classification

Blaan belongs to the Bilic microgroup of the Philippine language subgroup, along with Giangan

Manobo The Lumad are a group of Austronesian indigenous people in the southern Philippines. It is a Cebuano term meaning "native" or "indigenous". The term is short for Katawhang Lumad (Literally: "indigenous people"), the autonym officially adopte ...

, Tiruray, and Tboli.

Distribution

There are two major varieties of Blaan: Koronadal Blaan (Tagalagad) and Sarangani Blaan (Tumanao). According to the '' Ethnologue'', Koronadal Blaan is spoken in: *eastern South Cotabato Province * Sarangani Province * Sultan Kudarat Province (

Lutayan Lutayan, officially the Municipality of Lutayan ( hil, Banwa sang Lutayan; tl, Bayan ng Lutayan; mdh, Inged nu Lutayan, Jawi: ايڠايد نو لوتين), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Sultan Kudarat, Philippines. According ...

area) *

Davao Occidental Province Davao Occidental ( Cebuano: ''Kasadpang Dabaw''; Filipino: ''Kanlurang Davao''), officially the Province of Davao Occidental, is a province in the Philippines located in the Davao Region in Mindanao. Its capital is the municipality of Malita. To t ...

Sarangani Blaan is spoken in: *almost the entire area of Sarangani Province * South Cotabato Province (

General Santos General Santos, officially the City of General Santos,; hil, Dakbanwa sang Heneral Santos; Maguindanao: ''Ingud nu Heneral Santos''; Blaan: ''Banwe Dadiangas''; Tboli: ''Benwu Dadiangas''; Filipino: ''Lungsod ng Heneral Santos'' and abbre ...

and north) *

(language area across from Sarangani Province's northern border)

Phonology

Blaan has fifteen consonant and seven vowel phonemes. Unlike most other Philippine languages and Austronesian languages in general, Blaan (as its related language Tboli, permits a variety of consonant clusters at the onset of a syllable. This is evident in the name of the language, . This contraction of the original schwa sound exists in other Austronesian languages (such as Javanese, a major language of

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

), but is rarely seen outside of the Bilic group within the Philippines. are also heard as . can also be heard as within syllables.

Syntax

Blaan uses word order to indicate the thematic roles of nominal elements in the sentence. Similar to other Philippine-type Austronesian languages, Blaan uses verbal morphology to indicate voice (or focus, as it is usually called in the literature). Here are some examples of voice/focus types in Blaan: Agent voice/focus (-m-) Patient voice/focus (-n-)

Vocabulary

References

Languages of South Cotabato Languages of Sarangani Languages of Davao Occidental South Mindanao languages {{philippine-lang-stub