Blaan language

Blaan
Native to	Philippines
Region	Mindanao
Ethnicity	Blaan
Native speakers	240,000 (2000–2007)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine South Mindanao Blaan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: bpr – Koronadal Blaan (Tagalagad) bps – Sarangani Blaan (Tumanao)
Glottolog	blaa1241

Blaan, also known as Bla'an, is an Austronesian language of the southern Philippines spoken by an indigenous ethnic group of the same name who inhabited many areas of Soccksargen and Davao Occidental.

Classification

Blaan belongs to the Bilic microgroup of the Philippine language subgroup, along with Giangan Manobo, Tiruray, and Tboli.^[2]

Distribution

There are two major varieties of Blaan: Koronadal Blaan (Tagalagad) and Sarangani Blaan (Tumanao).

According to the Ethnologue,^[specify] Koronadal Blaan is spoken in:

• eastern South Cotabato Province
• Sarangani Province
• Sultan Kudarat Province (Lutayan area)
• Davao Occidental Province

Sarangani Blaan is spoken in:

• almost the entire area of Sarangani Province
• South Cotabato Province (General Santos and north)
• Davao Occidental Province (language area across from Sarangani Province's northern border)

Phonology

Blaan has fifteen consonant and seven vowel phonemes.^[3] 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, /bla'an/. This contraction of the original schwa sound exists in other Austronesian languages (such as Javanese, a major language of Java in Indonesia), but is rarely seen outside of the Bilic group within the Philippines.^{[citation needed]}

Blaan Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Plosive	voiceless		t		k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
Fricative		f	s			h
Approximant		w	l	j

Blaan Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	ɛ	ə	ɔ
Low	a		ɑ

/i, ɛ/ are also heard as [ɪ, e]. /ə/ can also be heard as [ɨ, ʌ] within syllables.^{[citation needed]}

Syntax

Blaan uses word order to indicate the thematic roles of nominal elements in the sentence.^[4]

Kamfe

AV.catch

kuku

cat

ungeh.

rat

Kamfe kuku ungeh.

AV.catch cat rat

'The cat catches the rat'

Similar to other Philippine-type Austronesian languages, Blaan uses verbal morphology to indicate voice (or focus, as it is usually called in the literature).^[5] Here are some examples of voice/focus types in Blaan:

Agent voice/focus (-m-)

Magin

AV.accompany

nga

child

do.

me

Magin nga do.

AV.accompany child me

'The child accompanies me.'

Patient voice/focus (-n-)

Nebe

PV.bring

libun

girl

ale.

them

Nebe libun ale.

PV.bring girl them

'The girl brings them.'

Vocabulary

Sample words^[6]

English	Blaan
chicken	anuk
flower	bulek
horse	kura
corn	agul
needle	dalum
basket	been
broom	fune
rat	unge
money	filak
goat	uhe
scissors	gunting
mat	igem
clouds	labun
fish	nalaf
eye	mata
pestle	sung
leaf	doon
bone	tulan
lamp	salo
snake	ulad
crow	wak
foot	bli
mother	ye
father	ma

References

1. Koronadal Blaan (Tagalagad) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Sarangani Blaan (Tumanao) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Blust, Robert (1991). "The Greater Central Philippines Hypothesis". Oceanic Linguistics. 30 (2): 73–129. doi:10.2307/3623084. JSTOR 3623084.
3. Dean, J.; Dean, G. (1955). "The Phonemes of Bilaan" (PDF). Philippine Journal of Science. 84 (3): 311–322.
4. McLachlin, B.; Blackburn, B. (1968). "Verbal Clauses of Sarangani Blaan" (PDF). Asian Studies. 6 (1): 108–128. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 June 2021.
5. Dean, James C. (1958). "Some Principal Grammatical Relations in Bilaan". In Healey, Alan (ed.). Studies in Philippine Linguistics by the Summer Institute of Linguistics (Pacific Branch). Oceania Linguistic Monographs, No. 3. Sydney: University of Sydney. pp. 59–64.
6. "ABKD" (PDF) – via sil.org.^{[better source needed]}