Molbog language

{{Short description|Austronesian language}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Molbog

| ethnicity = Molbog

| region = Palawan: Bataraza & Balabac; Sabah: Pulau Banggi

| states = Philippines, Malaysia

| speakers = {{sigfig|6680|2}} in the Philippines

| date = 1990

| ref = e18

| familycolor = Austronesian

| fam2 = Malayo-Polynesian

| fam3 = Philippine

| fam4 = Greater Central Philippine

| fam5 = Palawanic (?)

| iso3 = pwm

| glotto = molb1237

| glottorefname = Molbog

}}

Molbog is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines and Sabah, Malaysia. The majority of speakers are concentrated at the southernmost tip of the Philippine province of Palawan, specifically the municipalities of Bataraza and Balabac. Both municipalities are considered as bastions for environmental conservation in the province. The majority of Molbog speakers are Muslims.

The classification of Molbog is controversial.{{cite journal |last=Blust |first=Robert |date=2010 |title=The Greater North Borneo Hypothesis |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=44–118 |jstor=40783586 |doi=10.1353/ol.0.0060 |s2cid=145459318 }} Thiessen (1981) groups Molbog with the Palawanic languages, based on shared phonological and lexical innovations.Thiessen, Henry Arnold (1981). Phonological reconstruction of Proto Palawan. Anthropological Papers, no. 10. Manila: National Museum of the Philippines. This classification is supported by Smith (2017).{{Cite thesis |last=Smith |first=Alexander |title=The Languages of Borneo: A Comprehensive Classification |date=2017 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa |url=http://ling.hawaii.edu/wp-content/uploads/SMITH_Alexander_Final_Dissertation.pdf}} An alternative view is taken by Lobel (2013), who puts Molbog together with Bonggi in a Molbog-Bonggi subgroup.{{cite journal |last=Lobel |first=Jason William |date=2013 |title=Southwest Sabah Revisited |journal=Oceanic Linguistics |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=36–68 |jstor=43286760 |doi=10.1353/ol.2013.0013 |s2cid=142990330 }} Ethnically, the Molbog was previously a sub-group of the larger Palaw'an people, and later became as it is due to Islamic influences from the Tausug and Sama-Bajau peoples.{{cite web | url=https://icca.ph/view-icca-site/?id=14 | title=View ICCA Site | date=5 May 2021 }}