Bicolano Literary Works and Linguistics

[Mond87]

Wikipedia just cited that Bikol is one of the most diverse language in the world. From town to town to a city, a different dialect is being spoken. If you have just stopped by at Matnog, Sorsogon, the dialect being spoken is mixed Sorsoganon - Waray. Travel north to Sorsogon city and you'll hear pure Sorsoganon. Travel further to reach Daraga, another dialect is spoken there. Just 5 kilometers to the east, in Legazpi city, you'd notice that there's a transition in the people's native tongue. Further north, in Tabaco, people sound somewhat different once again. In southern Camarines Sur, in Iriga city, they have this dialect they call as 'Rinconada.' Further north to Naga city, you'll actually hear the Bikol central dialect. 100 kilometers to the north, in Daet, Camarines Norte, you'd learn that some folks are now speaking in Tagalog. Exit yourself at Sta. Elena, pure Tagalog is now being used w/ some Bikol intonation. Travel back to Bikol, in Masbate, you'd discover that the dialect they use is very close to Bisaya with mixture of Ilonggo and Cebuano. Traverse around the coasts of Sorsogon, Albay and Camarines Sur while visitting Catanduanes would make you hear another Bikol dialect.

To point out the differences in Bikol Daraga and Bikol Legazpi, here is a list of their differences:

English = Bicol Daraga = Bicol Legazpi

one = usad = saro
two = duwa = duwa
three = tulo = tolo
four = upat = apat
five = lima = lima
six = unom = anom
seven = pito = pito
eight = walo = walo
nine = syam = syam
ten = sampolo = sampulo

morning = bwas = aga
noon = mudto = ugto
afternoon = apon = hapon
night = ga'bi = bang-gi
tomorrow = kidamlag = sa aga
later = dyan-dyan or adyan = taod-taod
yesterday morning = kahapon = kasu aga
yesterday afternoon = kahapon = kasu hapon
yesterday night = ka-ga'bi = kasu bang-gi
last week = kang usad na semana = kasu nakaaging semana
day = aldaw? = aldaw

This thread is intended for us Bikolanos to talk about our dialects... I think this will be really fun... heheh... How versed are we? What are the deep Bikolano terms you know of? Let's discuss it here!