In English, the language is primarily known as Tausug (i.e., Tausug language "language of the Tausug people"). The local name of the language is bahasa Sūg (Sulu language). The term Tausūg (tau Sūg, meaning "people of Sulu") is derived from two words: tau ("person") and Sūg[4] (The transformation of "Sūk", itself the contraction of Sūlūk[5]). Thus, in Tausug, Tausug refers to people while Bahasa Sūg refers to the language. Several scholars postulate that "Sūlūk" derives from "Ahl ul-Sūlūk", or "people of the path (to Allah)," in reference to the Islamic missionaries who arrived to spread the religion of Islam.[6] Meanwhile, a similar sounding word "sug", which means "water-current", has been given by a number of writers as the etymologic source of the term; the two words, even if similarly pronounced, are not related.[2] In the past, the language has also been simply referred to using the generic term "Moro".[7]
Classification
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2021)
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2021)
Tausūg is primarily spoken in the Sulu Archipelago, which aside from the island of Sulu, also includes the Tawi-Tawi chain of islands and the island of Basilan. It is a lingua franca spoken in different areas/islands of the archipelago.[9]
Tausūg has three vowel phonemes: /a/, /i/, /u/, with phonemic length (e.g. īpun, "shrimp" vs. ipun, "tooth"). Stress is not phonemic and usually occurs on the final syllable.[10]
The vowel phonemes have a broad range of allophones:[11]
/a/: [a,ɐ,ɑ]
/i/: [i,ɪ]
/u/: [u,ʊ,ɤ,ʌ,ə]
Tausūg has expectedly developed some variations in accent and vocabulary from one area to another, but there are two basic dialects characterized by differences with regard to vowel sounds. The "Gimbahanun" (literally means people from the farm) speakers, the residents of the out-of-town rural areas, use four vowels: /a/, /i/, /u/ and /ə/,[12] the last vowel representing schwa sound or "obscure u", a retention from Proto-Philippine and Proto-Bisayan. The "Parianun", the residents of the urban areas, use only three vowel phonemes: /a/, /i/, /u/,;[13] the loss of /ə/ is common in many Bisayan and other Philippine languages.
Tausūg is today primarily written using the Latin alphabet. Historically, it had previously been written using the Arabic alphabet. The script used was derived from Jawi used in writing the Malay language. The script is referred to as Sulat Sug
The Arabic script used to write Tausūg differs in some aspects from the script used for Arabic and in the Jawi script used for Malay.[16]
In Sulu, there is no separate letter for [g]. Whereas in Jawi, the sound [g] is represented with the letter ݢ, and the letter غ (which has a pronunciation [ɣ] in Arabic) is reserved for Arabic loanwords, in Sulu the letter غ is used for the sound [g].
In Sulu, there is no differentiation between [f] and [p]. Whereas in Jawi, the letters ف and ڤ are used respectively, in Sulu the letter ف is used in all instances.
For the sound [ɲ] in the final position, in Sulu, the letter پ is used whereas in Malay Jawi, the letter ڽ is instead used. The letter پ is associated with the sound [p] in Persian and other scripts derived from Persian. In both Malay Jawi and Sulu the letter پـ/ڽـ is used in all other positions.
For the sound [k] in the final position, in Malay Jawi, the letter ک is used, having the same form as when in initial or medial positions. In Sulu, similar to Arabic, it is customary to use ك.
^"Unu in ngān mu?" is a literal translation of Tagalog question "Ano ang pangalan mo?" (or "What is your name?" in English) but is not used by autochthonous Tausūg in day-to-day conversations. To use "Unu in ngān mu" is a glaring sign that the speaker is not a Tausug. "Siyu (or Hisiyu) in ngān mu?" is used for knowing the given or personal name, but to know other callings that are not personal, "Unu" is used, as in: "Unu in pagtawag kaymu ha bāy?" (What is your calling in the house?... "In pagtawag kāku' Bungsu, sabab aku in kabungsuhan." (My calling is Bungsu because I am the youngest); "Unu in ama' mu? Siyu in ngān niya?" (What is your father? What is his name?)..."In ama' ku mangingista'. In ngān niya hi Abdulla." (My father is a fisherman. His name is Abdulla); [citation needed]
^Philippine Commission (1901). Report of the Philippine Commission to the President (Report). Washington: Government Printing Office. Nevertheless, anyone who knows Visaya will note the moment that he studies the Moro language of Sulu that...
Soderberg, Craig and Ashley, Seymour A. and Olson, Kenneth S. (2012). "Tausug (Suluk)". Illustrations of the IPA. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 42 (3): 361–364. doi:10.1017/S0025100312000230{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link), with supplementary sound recordings.
![[icon]](File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small}
