AN SATUYANG TARAMON - I

While gathering my materials (in my files) about radio broadcasting in the province of Albay which I intend to write into a book, I found this photo copied treasure. I clearly see that there are young Bikolanos who are very enthusiastic to learn more about our language. Thus, I decided to share this work by an eminent lover of everything Bikol, the historian Mariano Goyena del Prado. This becomes more special as the study of the mother tongue has been reintroduced in the elementary curriculum of the Department of Education. Besides, August is BUWAN NG WIKA.

I am apprehensive that this material has not been published anywhere else. This article was on page 19 of the Legazpi College, Legazpi City, RESEARCH JOURNAL, VOL. I No.1, January-February 1964. The Journal was edited by Merito B. Espinas.

“Don Mariano Goyena del Prado (was) an outstanding Bikol historian. Author of IBALON, the foremost work on Bikol folklore and history, grammar and literature. Member of  the Philippine Historical Association and of the International Association of Historians of Asia.” ―Espinas, Research Journal.

A BRIEF SURVEY OF BIKOL  

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

MARIANO GOYENA DEL PRADO

To endure, all nations 
must have faith in many 
things. One of these, 
is always faith in its
written word, its legend,
its folklore.

―From: Current Events

DON MARIANO GOYENA DEL PRADO

The Bikol language is one of the Indonesian division of the Austronesian family of languages, mother tongue of all the Pacific dialects. It has the peculiar sound of h like that of English and the peculiar initial sound of NGA and NGI and the ligature sound of ANG, ONG which is also found in French like GARSON―pronounced GAR SONG (child); COCHON―pronounced COSIONG (pig); POISON―pronouced POISONG (fish); MAISSON―pronounced MAISONG (builing, house).

It has no formal distinction of gender except, perhaps, LIBAY the female of USA (deer); PAKAY the female of KABAYO (horse) a corruption of the Spanish name calballo; MANGANAK the female of DAMULAG; and DÙ-LAG the female of BUTAKAL (boar).

Like any other Filipino language Bikol is agluttinatived and it is an admixture of dialects spoken in the areas of Oceania, Malaysia, Polinesia, and Micronesia. About 10% of Bikol words can be traced to the Sanskrit, the sacred language of the Hindus. “There is no tribe in the Philippines,” wrote Dr. Alfred L. Kroeber in his book People of the Philippines (New York: 1928, p. 11 et seg.) ― “no matter how remote and primitive, in which elements of Indian origin cannot be traced.” Sanskrit words in Filipino languages, according to Dr. Pardo de Tavera signify intellectual acts, moral precepts, emotions, titles and signatories. (El Sancrito en la lengua Tagalog, Manila: 1901, passim) Bikol is fairly mixed with Tagalog and Bisaya, as also Pampango.

THE ALPHABET

An alphabet of seventeen characters, three vowels and fourteen consonants, was in use by the ancient Bikols. This alphabet, however, was wholly superseded by the Latin alphabet of 28 letters brought and introduced by the Spaniards which is, in fact, more adaptable to our modern linguistic requirements by our studies of English, Spanish, and other foreign languages. The Academyang Bikol, the official Bikol institution, adopted this alphabet, which differs slightly from the adopted alphabet of the Tagalog Surian Pambansa.

Strictly speaking, there are only three vowels (tiyaw) sounds in Bikol. A word with an e or i, or with o or u, may be pronounced with e or i or o or u sound without any change in its meaning, because Bikol is not a flexible language, hence the inflexion does not change the meaning of the word as in Latin where lego (read) is different from ligo (join or tie), in Spanish where feo (ugly) is different from fio (trust), in English where beg is different from big.

For one thing, Bikol is of the onomatopeid type of language; that is, it suggests, by rhetorical effort, the meaning of its passage in its sound. Furthermore, Bikol terms for weak objects and slow motion are spoken slowly and gently, while terms for strong objects and violent motion are usually, spoken with a greater force, e.g., LUWAY (slow) is pronounced softly, but BAGSIK (fast) is pronounced with a strong stress on the final syllable SIK.

In Bikol as in any other Filipino dialect, any word no matter what part of speech, can be verbalized and constructed by the addition of affixes, prefixes, infixes, and suffixes. The word base does not disappear in its main forms, e.g., SURAT (letter), or to write NAGSURAT, NAGSUSURAT, MAGSURAT, ISINURAT, PINASURAT, IPASUSURAT, IPAPASURAT, PASURATSURAT, PASURATSURATAN, NAGSUSURAT, etc. the root base SURAT is always present up to about 52 derivatives.

SURAT is NAGSURAT in the present tense, ISINURAT in the past tense, ISURAT in the future tense, SURAT in the imperative.

The LEGAZPI JOURNAL was apparently mimeographed. This is a 

photograph of my file copy.

LOAN WORDS

The Institute of National Language lists 1,500 Bikol loan words from the Spanish.

Loan words have a tendency to become assimilated and are pronounced according to the sound system or phonology of the borrowing language which, in this case, is Bikol. For instance, the Spanish ALMIDON (starch) which is ATOLI in Bikol is pronounced as adopted in Bikol as ARMIDOL and is ARMIROL in Tagalog. It is to be noted that the Spanish letter L of the first syllable AL and the N of the last syllable DON become R and L, respectively. It is apparent then, that there  are some phonological differences between the original borrowed word in the Bikol system. This is more apparent in Tagalog where the R and the D become R: AR MI DON to AR MI ROL.

A cursory study of Bisayan, Tagalog, Pampango and Malay conveys that idea that these languages are closely related. Fr. Pedro Chirino attested as early as 1578 that by knowing one Filipino dialect is to know all the other dialects because of their similarities.

STRESS AND ACCENTUATION

Stress and accentuation are of primary importance in Bikol. There are many Bikol words which have the same spelling but have two or more ways of pronunciation, hence have two or more different meanings which are liable to be misunderstood if to distinguish them, symbols are not used.

In Bikol, as in Tagalog, are two kinds of stress: (1) the slow or soft stress and (2) the forceful or strong stress. The former includes the level and the level glottal; the latter the acute and the acute glottal. Examples:
Level               – baga (ember)
Level glottal   – bagà  (swelling)
Acute              – bagá (that is, is it not?)
Acute glottal – bagâ (lung)

The level glottal, called “malomok” or “mayomok” in Bikol, is represented by the symbol (  ̀ ); the acute—“matagas” or “palontok” in Bikol—by the symbol (  ́ ); and the acute glottal—“pa ogsak” or panaklong in Bikol—by the symbol ( ̂ ), which is the combined symbols for the level glottal and the acute.

A PARTIAL LIST OF BIKOL LITERATURE

Fr. Andres de San Agustin
ARTE DE LA LENGUA BIKOL—para la ensenanza de esta lengua en las provincias del Bicol. Dispuesto y ordenado por  Ntro. Hermano, Fr. Andres de San Agustin, Predicador, Guard del Convento de San Felipe y Santiago del pueblo de Minalabag de Camarines y Comisario Provincial que fue de dicha provincia.
1a. edicion, Madrid 1647
2a.   do      , Manila 1739    Convento de Ntra. Sra. De Loreto, Sampaloc
3a.   do      , Manila 1795    idem.
4a.   do      , Manila 1879    Corregido y aumenrado por Fr. Manuel Crespo. Imprenta
                                                    Ramirez Y   Giraudier.

Fr. Marcos de Lisboa
DICCIONARIO BICOL-ESPAÑOL Y VOCABULARIO ESPAÑOL-BICOL, 2a. Edicion, Manila 1775 Imprenta de Ntra. Sra. De Loreto, Sampaloc.

Andres de San Agustin
DOCTRINA CRISTIANA DEL CARDENAL BELARMINO EN BIKOL.

Domingo Martinez, OFM
DOCTRINA CRISTIANA CON VARIOUS OPUSCULOS EN BICOL 
1a. edicion ,   Madrid 1706.
2a.      id.       Manila, Chofre y Cia, 1730.
3a.      id.       Imprenta Amigos del Pais, 1739.
4a.      id.       Imprenta Sayoc, Manila, 1905.
5a.      id.       Aklatan Bayan, Manila, 1947.

Fr. Mateo de San Jose
MAGNA PAGNADIEON SA INANG SANTA MARIA.

Fr. Jose de la Virgen
CANTO GREGORIANO EN BICOL PARA USO DE LAS MISIONES DEL BICOL Y CAMARINES. (See Franciscan Convent, Santa Ana, Manila)

Mons. Antonio Maria Claret, Arzobispo de Trajanopolis.
CAGALANGAN SA MAGNA SIMBAHAN. (See Bureau of Public Libraries)

Fr. Juan del Espiritu Santo
TRATADO DE COMUNION Y CONFESION EN BICOL (Retana collection)

Fr. Diego de Avila
DALAN PALAGNIT O CAMINO DEL CIELO   )
SERMONES MORALES EN BICOL               )    Tabacalera Collection
SERMONES SANEGIRICOS EN BICOL        )

Fr. Francisco de San Camarena
EXPLICACION DE LOS MISTERIOS DE LA MISA EN BICOL (Tabacalera Collection)

Fr. Jose Guayacao
MANUAL DE CONVERSACION EN HISPANO-BICOL Y VICEVERSA
5a. Edicion – Imprenta Amigos del Pais, Manila, 1881 (Tabacalera Collection)

Anonimo
VOCABULARIO DE LA LENGUA CAMARINA O BICOL COMPUESTO POR UN PADRE FRANCISCANO (Ronquillo Collection)

Anonimo
DECENARIO NIN SAQUIT NI JESUS SA TATARAMON NA BICOL. CALAQUIP IDTONG EXCELENCIAS NA PINAPAGNADIE NIN MANGA COFRADES NI NTRA. SRA. DEL CARMEN. Manila, 1884, Imprenta de Valdezo y Cia.

Fr. Carlos Cabido
MANUAL SERAFICO PARA USO DE LOS HERMANOS TERCEROS DE NTRO. P. SAN FRANCISCO EN BICOL. Chofre y Cia, 1881

Fr. Juan de San Antonio
VOCABULARIO DE LA LENGUA BICOL. Manila, 1829 (see Tabacalera Collection)

Fr. Bernardino de Melendreras
YBAL – COSTUMBRES PREHISTORICAS DE LOS INDIONS DEL BICOL. Verso de 400 folios.
IBALON o HIBAL-ONG VERSION EN BICOL TRADUCIDO AL ESPAÑOL. See Jose Castaño, Breve Noticia del Bicol in Archivo de Retana, Vol. 1.

Juan Oliver, OFM
EXPLICACION DE LAS VIRTUDES E INDULGENSIAS EN BICOL. Madrid, 1665, Retana Collection.

Antonio de San Gregorio, OFM
USOS Y COSTUMBRES DE LOS INDIOS DE CAMARINES. Madrid, 1792. See Tabacalera Collection.

Fr. Angel Malumbres
NOVENA SA MAMURAUAYON NA SANTA ELENA NA IGUIGALANG, SA BANUAAN NA BUHI, CAMARINES. Imprenta Chofre y Cia.

NOVENA SA BICOL SA MAMURAUAYON NA SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA. Chofre, 1890.

Bernardo de la Concepcion, OFM
NOVENA QUI SEÑOR SAN ROQUE SA PAGLICAY SA ARIN MAN NA DAMAT ASIN MAGNA HELANG NA NAGNOGNOLAKIT. Manila Imprenta Chofre y Cia, 1891.

Fr. Bartolome de Aguirre
DEVOCIONARIO BICOL. Manila, 1636.

Fr. Santos Herrejon
GRAMATICA HISPANO-BICOL PARA USO DE LAS ESCUELAS DE LA REGION BICOLANA. Manila, Chofre y Cia, 1882.

Fr. Roman de Vera, Capuchino
GRAMATICA BICOL SEGUN EL METODO OLLENDORF. See Capuchin Convent, Singalong, Manila.

Rev. P. Fruto del Prado
PAGPASINURURATSURATAN NI URBANA ASIN NI FELISA. Imprenta Tambobong, Manila, 1867. (Don Mariano Goyena del Prado noted that “I have a copy.”)

Anonimo
MANGA INAGRANGAY NIN MANGA CALAG SA PURGATORIO. Ipinabicol asin Ipinahayag ni Exmo, Señor Francisco Gainza, Obispo sa Nueva Caceres. Manila, Chofre y Cia, 1892.

Mariano Perfecto
FRASES FAMILIARES EN ESPAÑOL Y BICOL Y GUIA DE CONVERSACION EN BICOL-ESPAÑOL. Imprenta Sagrada Familia, Nueva Caceres. Contact Imprenta la Panayana of Mrs. Casimiro Perfecto, Manduriao, Iloilo.

P. Santiago Ojeda
LIBRITO SA PAGSIMBA ASIN PAGHOROPHOROP CAN MAHAL NA ATANG NIN SANTA MISA. May calaquip man na laen-laen pamibi na guinono sa laen-laen na librong castile. Manila, 1892.

Anonimo
DUWANG TATARAMON SA MANGA NAGTITIOS. (See Retana)

Tranquilino Hernandez – capitan municipal sa Polangui, Albay.
CASAYSAYAN CAN MAHAL NA PASION NI JESUCRISTO CAGURANGNAN TA NA SUCAT IPAGLAAD NIN PUSO NIN SISAYMAN NA MAGBASA. Several editions. Imprenta Santo Tomas, Manila.

Anonimo
EJERCICIOS ESPIRITUALES SA TATARAMON NA BICOL. Contact Imprenta Cecilio, Naga City.

Anonimo
HATOL SA EVANGELIO SA TATARAMON NA  BICOL. Imprenta Gonzaga Hermanos, Manila, 1889. (See Bureau of Public Libraries)

Anonimo
PASION CANDABA SA BICOL.
PINTO NIN LAGNIT.
VISITA SA SANTISIMO SACRAMENTO.
ARTE SA PAGBOLONG.

GUINICANAN NIN DAMAT. Imp. La Panayana de Casimiro Perfecto. Manduriao, Iloilo, 1910.

NOVENAS EN BICOL. (Contact Imprenta Cecilio, Naga City and Imprenta La Panayana, Manduriao, Iloilo)

Rev. Remigio Rey
TEOLOGIA NIN BANUAAN . EL HERALDO BICOL, Legazpi, Albay, 1915.

Antonio B. Salazar
1001 HAPOT ASIN SIMBAG.  Cecilio Press, Naga, Camafrines Sur, 1953.