NOT many Filipinos can relate to the Dabawenyos’ unique dialect - the mashing up of Tagalog and Bisaya, sometimes even adding a few English words, to create one thought or idea.
It’s now very popularly known as Davao Conyo, which is often mistakenly related to alta sociedad.
“Saan kayo magkain?”, “Hindi man masarap dito oi!”, “Kaiba ka lagi ba!”, these are just examples of Davao City dialect we often hear, mostly among students.
But what is Davao Conyo and where and how did it begin?
Dr. Josyl Aquilam, associate professor at Language, Literature and Arts department of the Ateneo de Davao University, relates that no one really knows where and when the Davao Conyo has started.
“Kining Davao Conyo nga ginaingon nato nga language, existed na ni siya long before (Davao Conyo have existed long before),” Aquilam said in an interview.
She said this may be attributed to Davao City being a “melting pot” of cultures and traditions, since many visitors, especially coming from Manila, remain and establish their homes here.
With this, the locals who are known to be very accommodating and hospitable tend to copy their visitors’ language just to be able to communicate with them, but with a twist.
“So kita nga makig-istorya sa mga langyaw we try to speak Tagalog, pero naa juy pakapin nga ‘gud’, ‘man’, mga ing-ana gud (When we talk to those outside from Davao, we try to speak Tagalog but we tend to insert 'gud', 'man', among others),” she said.
She added that the term Davao Conyo exploded just five years ago, thanks to the millennials.
One particular person who is attributed to the spread of the word Davao Conyo is Philip T. Hernandez, the creator of Davao Conyo youtube and Facebook page, himself.
According to its Facebook page, Davao Conyo is a content creator from Davao City who aims to provide relief to the online world through humor, focusing on daily Pinoy life quirks.
In an interview, Hernandez said, “Having my content focus much on this type of language, was an accident. I made a video before using the Davao Conyo language and unexpectedly, it made a lot of buzz online not only in Davao but in other parts of the Philippines.”
He also realized that the language is a great attention drawer thus he continued creating even more videos containing Davao Conyo language.
“Speaking the language is something that I accustomed to, but in a marketing perspective, it was a hit. As a content creator, it is important for my work to be relatable. Thus, the Davao Conyo brand,” Hernandez said.
He added, “The constant pushing and pulling between two parties if this is 'culturally appropriate' is a publicity stunt on its own.” That’s why his page has become a hit to the Filipinos in general.
But what is Conyo?
Dr. Aquilam said she had a graduate student who is half Spanish, and since they were discussing about social linguistics at that time, Davao Conyo was tackled. Her half Spanish student relayed to the class that Conyo in Spanish is “Fool”.
When searched on the internet, it revealed that “Coño”, a Spanish word, is vulgar/slang word, like “shit”, “jerk”, and “f-ck.”
Aquilam also said there wasn’t Davao Conyo as a term for Davao language before.
In fact, during this writer’s high school years, this language was referred to before as Tag-saya, a portmanteau of the word Tagalog-Bisaya.
But is naming our language to Davao Conyo a negative or positive thing for us Dabawenyos?
For Hernandez, as long it doesn’t kill anybody then it’s acceptable.
But as for Dr. Aquilam, she just wants to relay to the public that Davao Conyo should not be associated with any social class or status, as that is the real way Dabawenyos speak, whether they are rich or poor, even before time immemorial.