Blaan language

Blaan belongs to the Bilic microgroup of the Philippine language subgroup, along with Giangan Manobo, Tiruray, and Tboli.{{Cite journal |last=Blust |first=Robert |date=1991 |title=The Greater Central Philippines Hypothesis |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=73–129 |doi=10.2307/3623084 |jstor=3623084}}

There are two major varieties of Blaan: Koronadal Blaan (Tagalagad) and Sarangani Blaan (Tumanao).

According to the Ethnologue,{{specify|reason=Whhich edition of Ethnologue?|date=June 2024}} Koronadal Blaan is spoken in:

• eastern South Cotabato Province
• Sarangani Province
• Sultan Kudarat Province (Lutayan area)
• Davao Occidental Province

Sarangani Blaan is spoken in:

• almost the entire area of Sarangani Province
• South Cotabato Province (General Santos and north)
• Davao Occidental Province (language area across from Sarangani Province's northern border)

Blaan has fifteen consonant and seven vowel phonemes.{{Cite journal |last=Dean |first=J. |last2=Dean |first2=G. |date=1955 |title=The Phonemes of Bilaan |url=https://philjournalsci.dost.gov.ph/images/pdf_upload/pjs1955/PJS_Vol_84_No3_Sep_1955.pdf#page=38 |journal=Philippine Journal of Science |volume=84 |issue=3 |pages=311–322}} Unlike most other Philippine languages and Austronesian languages in general, Blaan (as its related language Tboli, permits a variety of consonant clusters at the onset of a syllable. This is evident in the name of the language, {{IPA|/bla'an/}}. This contraction of the original schwa sound exists in other Austronesian languages (such as Javanese, a major language of Java in Indonesia), but is rarely seen outside of the Bilic group within the Philippines.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

{{IPA|/i, ɛ/}} are also heard as {{IPA|[ɪ, e]}}. {{IPA|/ə/}} can also be heard as {{IPA|[ɨ, ʌ]}} within syllables.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Blaan uses word order to indicate the thematic roles of nominal elements in the sentence.{{Cite journal |last=McLachlin |first=B. |last2=Blackburn |first2=B. |date=1968 |title=Verbal Clauses of Sarangani Blaan |url=https://asj.upd.edu.ph/mediabox/archive/ASJ-06-01-1968/mclachlin%20and%20blackburn-verbal%20clauses%20of%20sarangani%20bilaan.pdf |journal=Asian Studies |language=en |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=108–128 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210629032634/https://www.asj.upd.edu.ph/mediabox/archive/ASJ-06-01-1968/mclachlin%20and%20blackburn-verbal%20clauses%20of%20sarangani%20bilaan.pdf |archive-date=2021-06-29}}

{{interlinear|lang=bps|indent=3

|Kamfe kuku ungeh.

|AV.catch cat rat

|'The cat catches the rat'}}

Similar to other Philippine-type Austronesian languages, Blaan uses verbal morphology to indicate voice (or focus, as it is usually called in the literature).{{Cite book |last=Dean |first=James C. |title=Studies in Philippine Linguistics by the Summer Institute of Linguistics (Pacific Branch) |date=1958 |publisher=University of Sydney |editor-last=Healey |editor-first=Alan |series=Oceania Linguistic Monographs, No. 3 |location=Sydney |pages=59–64 |chapter=Some Principal Grammatical Relations in Bilaan}} Here are some examples of voice/focus types in Blaan:

Agent voice/focus (-m-)

{{interlinear|lang=bps|indent=3

|Magin nga do.

|AV.accompany child me

|'The child accompanies me.'}}

Patient voice/focus (-n-)

{{interlinear|lang=bps|indent=3

|Nebe libun ale.

|PV.bring girl them

|'The girl brings them.'}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Philippine languages}}

{{Languages of the Philippines}}

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Category:Languages of South Cotabato

Category:Languages of Sarangani

Category:Languages of Davao Occidental

Category:South Mindanao languages

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