One inspiring advocate of the local language is Fred Block who is based in Dauin. This American from the fishing village of Maayong Tubig can explain to you the etymology of the name of the place with so much passion, using pure words in Binisaya.
He learned our local language by using Binisaya words in complete sentences in everyday conversation. These words were gathered from his talks with people, and from reading materials on the language. Every now and then, Fred would ask me to coach him on the pronunciations of words, or to confirm with me as to when to use a word for a particular situation.
Fred’s manner of communicating in Binisaya demonstrates a feeling of love for the island dwellers of Negros. What’s even amazing is his thoroughness in always wanting to write the local words in their correct spelling. I now get embarrassed when many of my Filipino friends send me text messages in the local language with very awful spellings, particularly on the vowels. Two recent big events misspelled important Visayan words: The word gahom was misspelled as gahum as theme of a national conference; and a TV show in Hawaii showcasing the Visayan culture had spelling problems in their teasers.
There are rules to follow in spelling. We care so much about spelling when it comes to English words, but unfortunately, we take our own language for granted. Let’s be sincere with our love for Binisayang Binuglas by learning the following:
* The word for power is gahom. “O” is used in the last syllable of a word, and “u” is used in previous syllables to express formality in writing.
* To some extent, there is no difference in pronunciation between o and u but in the purest expression of Binisayang Binuglas, there actually is. It’s easy to express the u sound as it is the usual hard Visayan tone.
* But please do not directly apply the rules in Tagalog and English in the pronunciation of “o” in Binisaya because it’s not exactly rounded like the “o” in Spanish, but slightly harder. “O” is pronounced like the vowel in the English word boat if it’s in consonant-vowel syllables like in the syllable –ko. But in the vowel-consonant syllables like in the word for vegetable, otan, it will sound harder like the u in the English word pure.
* The other vowel in Binisayang Binuglas is pronounced the same way all the time like the vowel a is always pronounced like in the English word father. When two vowels are adjacent, diphthong is never applied. Each vowel has to be pronounced separately.
* The letters “I” and “E” have no difference in pronunciation but i is often used than e in spelling. Let me make this appeal to you: If the word is introduced to us by a foreign culture like the word bra, there is really no need to translate it to Binisaya like putos sa suso because everyone understands the English word anyway. But if we have it in our culture like the word for talad for table, it will do us well to keep the use of talad alive. It’s talad kalan-anan for dining table, talad disdisanan for operating table, and talad tulon-anan for study table. It’s the word gimbalay for structure.
The wisdom of Fred Block could be an echo of William Butler Yeats’, “Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people. “
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Author’s email: [email protected]
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