Bikol languages


The Bikol languages or Bicolano languages are a group of Central Philippine languages spoken mostly in the Bicol Peninsula in the island of Luzon, the neighboring island province of Catanduanes and the island of Burias in Masbate. There is a dialect continuum between the Visayan languages and the Bikol languages; the two together are called the Bisakol languages.

Internal classification

Ethnologue

The languages of Bikol grouped according to Ethnologue are:
Curtis McFarland gives the following classification for the Bikol languages.

Lobel (2000)

While McFarland splits Bikol into 11 dialects, Lobel splits Bikol into 12 different dialects and 4 main branches.
  1. Central Standard – Spoken primarily in Tabaco City, Legazpi City, and Naga City. Also recognized in Daet, Camarines Norte and many other areas of Camarines Sur; San Pascual, Masbate on Burias Island; First District of Albay and other municipalities along the eastern coast of Albay, southwestern coast of Catanduanes, and northeastern Sorsogon.
  2. # Daet area variant
  3. # Naga City area variant
  4. # Catanduanes southern and northern town of San Andres and Caramoran and North Sorsogon
  5. Partido – Spoken in the Camarines Sur municipalities of Ocampo, Goa, Tigaon, Lagonoy, Sagñay, and San Jose. This dialect has a mellow intonation and is heavily influenced by Rinconada Bikol/Riŋkonāda.
  6. South Catanduanes – Spoken in the southern half of Catanduanes.
  7. # Virac area variant
  8. # Bato area variant
  9. # Baras area variant
  10. # San Miguel variant
  1. Rinconada Bikol – Spoken primarily in Iriga City, Baao; Bula; Balatan; Baao; and Nabua, Camarines Sur. Also in Ocampo, Buhi and Pili in Camarines Sur and in parts of Polangui, Albay.
  2. # Lakeside Rinconada dialect
  3. # Highland Rinconada dialect
  4. Buhinon – Spoken in Buhi, Camarines Sur. Contains features from both Bikol of Polangui and Iriga variant of Rinconada Bikol.
  5. Libon – Spoken in Libon, Albay.
  6. West Miraya – Spoken in Ligao City, Polangui, Oas, and Pio Duran, Albay.
  7. East Miraya – Spoken in Guinobatan; Camalig; Daraga; Jovellar, Albay; Donsol and Pilar, Sorsogon.
  8. # Central
  9. # Far East
  10. # Southeast
  1. Pandan Bikol – Spoken by about 80,000 people or the northern half of Catanduanes.
  2. # Bagamanoc area variant
  3. # Caramoran area variant
  4. # Gigmoto area variant
  5. # Pandan area variant
  6. # Panganiban area variant
  7. # Viga area variant
  1. Central Sorsogon – Spoken in Sorsogon City; Castilla; Casiguran; and Juban, Sorsogon.
  2. # Castilla Sorsogon
  3. # Casiguran-Juban variant
  4. Southern Sorsogon also known as Gubat language – Spoken in Gubat; Barcelona; Bulusan; Santa Magdalena; Matnog; Irosin; and Bulan, Sorsogon.
  5. Masbateño – Spoken in Masbate City; Mobo; Uson; Dimasalang; Palanas; Masbate; Aroroy on the island of Masbate, all of Ticao Island, and Claveria on the southern half of Burias Island.
  6. # Standard Masbateño
  7. # Ticao Island variant
Some dialects of Southern Bikol have the close central unrounded vowel /ɨ/ as a reflex of Proto-Austronesian *e. However, Proto-Austronesian *e is realized as /o/ in Libon. Two Bikol dialects have unique additional consonants, namely Southern Catanduanes, which has an interdental lateral consonant /l̟/, and Buhi-non, which has the voiced velar fricative /ɣ/.