Tausug language

Tausūg (Bahasa Sūg, بَهَسَ سُوْغْ, Filipino: Wikang Bahasa Súg, Malay: Bahasa Suluk, بهاس سولوق, lit.'Language of Sulu/the Tausūg people') is an Austronesian language spoken in the province of Sulu in the Philippines and in the eastern area of the state of Sabah, Malaysia. It is widely spoken in the Sulu Archipelago (Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Basilan), the Zamboanga Peninsula (Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga City), southern Palawan, Malaysia (eastern Sabah), and Indonesia (Tarakan City and Nunukan Regency, province of North Kalimantan).

Tausūg has some lexical similarities or near similarities with Surigaonon language of the provinces Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, and Agusan del Sur and with the Butuanon language of Agusan del Norte; it has also some vocabulary similarities with Sugbuanon, Bicolano, and with other Philippine languages. Many Malay and Arabic words are found in Tausug language.

Nomenclature

In English, the language is primarily known as Tausug (i.e., Tausug language). The local name of the language is bahasa Sūg or Sinūg. The term Tausūg (tau Sūg, meaning "people of Sulu") is derived from two words: tau ("person") and Sūg

Sūg is the modern form of the older term Sulug (meaning "[sea] currents"), which was also the old name of the island of Jolo. It is derived from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *sələg (“flowing water, current”), and is a cognate of Cebuano sulog, Tagalog silig, and Malay suluk (a borrowing).

Classification

Tausūg is an Austronesian language. It is classified by linguists as being a member of the Bisayan languages family, which includes Cebuano and Waray. In particular, it has many similarities with the Surigaonon language of the provinces Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur and Agusan del Sur and with the Butuanon language of Agusan del Norte – both spoken in northeastern Mindanao; hence, Zorc (1977) groups these three languages as part of a "South Bisayan" grouping.

Speakers

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.

Due to migration, the language is also spoken alongside other local languages in the Zamboanga Peninsula (e.g., Cebuano and Chavacano), which includes the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga City. It is also spoken in Southern Palawan, Eastern Sabah, Malaysia and in Tarakan City and Nunukan Regency, North Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Phonology

Vowels

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.

The vowel phonemes have a broad range of allophones:

• /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/, 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/,; the loss of /ə/ is common in many Bisayan and other Philippine languages.

Consonants

The consonant phonemes are:

Allophones:

• /b/: per default [b], but [β] between vowels
• /g/: per default [ɡ], but [ɣ] between vowels
• /h/: per default [h], but [ɦ] between vowels
• /r/: per default [r], but [ɹ] before /m,n,g,k/

Medial gemination (of all non-glottal consonants) is phonemic.

Grammar

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Tausūg has three pronoun sets:

Demonstratives

Case markers

The case markers of Tausūg are:

Non-subject undergoers take the oblique marker when definite or a proper noun, but indefinite common nouns take the genitive marker sin.

• Hi Nasul in kimaun ha mampallam. هِ نَسُلْ اِنْ کِمَؤُنْ هَ مَمْفَلَّمْ.‎ "It was Nasul who ate the mango."
• Nagdakdak sin baju' in manga bujang. نَغْدَكْ۲ سِنْ بَجُ اِنْ مَڠَ بُجَڠْ.‎ "The maidens washed clothes."

Existentials

The positive existential ("there is") is aun, the negative existential ("there is none") is way.

Interrogative words

Verbs

Verbs in Tausūg are inflected for focus and aspect.

Affixes expressing ability:

Numbers

Tausūg numerals:

Writing system

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.

In Sulu, there is no separate letter for [g]. Whereas in Jawi, the sound [g] is represented by the letter غ (which has a pronunciation [ɣ] in Arabic) is reserved for Arabic loanwords, and sometimes the letter ݢ.

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.

Latin

Arabic

Sample Texts

Below some examples of Sulu in both Latin and Arabic scripts:

• Latin script: Wayruun tuhan malayngkan Allāh, hi Muhammad ing (in) rasūl sin Allāh
• Arabic script وَيْرُؤُنْ تُهَنْ مَلَيِڠْکَنْ هَالله، هِمُحَمَّدْ اِڠْ رَسُولْ سِنْ الله‎
• English translation There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah

• Latin script Uu kamu manga bang-sa Islam dii haka-pu'-pu' an Suug, agad tu'ud kamy sing da'akun i-ban sing tagga-hun sing parin-ta.
• Arabic script اُو كَمْ مَڠَ بَڠْ‌سَ اِسْلَامْ دِي هَكَ فُؤْ۲ اَنْ سُوغْ اَغَدْ تُؤُدْ كَمُ سِڠْ دَأَ كُنْ اِ بَنْ سِڠْ تَغَّ هُنْ سِڠْ فَرِنْ تَ.‎
• English translation Oh ye of Islamic race here in the Sulu Archipelago, obey ye fully the orders and prohibitions of the government.

Examples

Loanwords

Many Tausug words derive from the Arabic language.

Some examples of Arabic words in Tausug are

Tausūg words derived from Sanskrit

Notes

See also

• Languages of the Philippines
• Yakan
• Bikol
• Cebuano
• Chavacano
• Hiligaynon
• Kapampangan
• Ilocano
• Pangasinan
• Bisayan languages
• Waray language

Bibliography

• Peneyra, Irma V. (1992). A Grammatical Sketch of the Tausug Language. The Archive, Publication 6. Diliman: University of the Philippines.
• Rubino, Carl R. Galvez (2005). . Dunwoody Press. ISBN 978-1-931546-17-1.
• Tan, Evangeline K. (1967). The Phonology of Tausug: A Descriptive Analysis (Master's thesis). University of British Columbia. doi:.

Further reading

• Sundita, Christopher Allen (2002). In Bahasa Sug: An Introduction to Tausug. Lobel & Tria Partnership, Co. ISBN 971-92226-6-2.
• Cameron, C. R. (1917). . Zamboanga: The Sulu Press – via University of Michigan Library Digital Collections.
• Soderberg, Craig and Ashley, Seymour A. and Olson, Kenneth S. (2012). . Illustrations of the IPA. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 42 (3): 361–364. doi:{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link), with supplementary sound recordings.

External links

• May 28, 2019, at the Wayback Machine. online version accessible from Webonary.org.
• Tausug at Wiktionary
• by Dr. Carl G. Rubino
• March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
• Search for common Tausug Words