Magahat, also called Southern Binukidnon or Buglas Bukidnon, is a Central Philippine language of the mountains of

Negros Negros (, , ) is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . The coastal zone of the southern part of Negros is identified as a site of highest marine biodiversity importance in the Coral Tr ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

that has been strongly influenced by Cebuano and Hiligaynon. It is similar to Karolanos; Lobel (2013) suggests that it is a Bisayan language.

Demographics

Oracion (1974) reported a Magahat population of just under 400 people in Basay, Negros Oriental. Dantes (2015)Dantes, Edmundo. 2015
Anthropology Development in Negros Oriental
reported a Magahat population of 2,478 individuals. According to 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 ...

'', Magahat is spoken in the Mount Arniyo area near Bayawan, upper Tayaban, Tanjay, Santa Catalina, and Siaton municipalities in southern Negros Oriental Province, located just west of

Dumaguete Dumaguete, officially the City of Dumaguete (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it h ...

Sound changes

Lobel (2013: 39, 249, 273)Lobel, Jason William. 2013
''Philippine and North Bornean languages: issues in description, subgrouping, and reconstruction''
Ph.D. dissertation. Manoa: University of Hawai'i at Manoa. reports that Southern Binukidnon is a Bisayan language that has some uncommon phonological features, including the preservation of

Proto-Malayo-Polynesian Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, which is by far the largest branch (by current speakers) of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Malayo-Polynesian is ancestral to all Austronesia ...

*-h in coda positions.

References

Central Philippine languages Aeta languages Languages of Negros Oriental {{CPhilippine-lang-stub