Libre: Bisaya language

NO speaking of the dialect or you will be fined. This was the warning we often heard during our elementary school days. It was probably a way for children to develop their proficiency in English rather than belittle the Bisaya language. But then, as far as my young mind could comprehend, the warning meant speaking Bisaya was wrong when inside the school premises.

In a way, it did develop my use of English, both spoken and written, when I became a disc jockey and a journalist.

If not for Bisaya Magasin that my grandfather, Angel Libre, Sr., subscribed to and for the drama over the radio when I stayed in Toledo City during school breaks, maybe I would not have appreciated the beauty and richness of the Bisaya language.

Bisaya is actually more comprehensive that English and Tagalog. For instance, while English uses “wash” when cleaning one’s hand or feet, Bisaya has many variations: “himasa” for washing of feet; “hunaw” for washing of hands; “hilam-os” for washing of face; and “hinawnaw” for sprinkle wash.

For Tagalogs, husband and wife are referred to as “asawa” while in Bisaya, husband is “bana” while wife is “asawa.” Of course, there is that familiar joke, “Samtang ang langgam sa Tagalog naa pa’s yuta, ang sa Bisaya naglupad-lupad na.”

According to the UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, between 1950 and 2010, 230 languages went extinct. The dreadful news is that today, a third of the world’s languages have fewer than 1,000 speakers left. One report claimed that every two weeks a language dies with its last speaker, and that 50 to 90 percent of them are predicted to disappear by the next century.

The Bisaya language though seems to be thriving in these modern times. Thanks to such groups as LUDABI and BATHALAD and institutions like the USC Cebuano Studies Center that have championed in the preservation of the language.

On the other hand, the Bisaya language continues to develop with such publications as Bisaya, Superbalita and Banat and competitions like Cebu Popular Music Festival and Vispop Songwriting Contest.

I know that there are many other initiatives not just in the Philippines, but also other parts of the world where Bisaya-speaking Filipinos live. In New Zealand for instance, we are holding the Adlaw sa Pinulungang Binisaya on October 14 in Cambridge. We will have young musicians as well as bands playing original Bisaya songs. We will hear balakistas. We will hold a Bisaya mass.

It is our contribution to preserve and promote the Bisaya language.

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