Abaknon language

The Inabaknon language, also known as Abaknon, Abaknon Sama, Capuleño, Kapul, or Capul Sinama, is an Austronesian language primarily spoken in the Island Municipality of Capul of Northern Samar, in the Eastern Visayas Region of the Philippines.

Abaknon
Capul Sinama
Inabaknon
Region	Capul, Northern Samar, Eastern Visayas
Native speakers	26,000 (2010)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Sama–Bajaw Abaknon
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	abx
Glottolog	inab1237

Unlike the other indigenous languages of the Eastern Visayas, namely Waray, Cebuano and Boholano, Inabaknon is not classified as part of the Visayan language family, but is rather grouped with the Sama–Bajaw languages.

Background

Inabaknon is spoken on the island of Capul in the province of Northern Samar. According to oral folk history, due to their not liking the religion of the Moros who ruled over them, a group of people and their leader Abak fled Balabac. They sailed until reaching the island. The language is notable as being the only Sama language to not have had major Arabic influence via Islam.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/Affricate	p b	t d	(tʃ) dʒ	k g	ʔ
Fricative		s	(ʃ)		h
Nasal	m	n	(ɲ)	ŋ
Approximant	w	l, r	j

• The consonants in parentheses are only used in loanwords.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	(e)		(o)
Low		a

• The mid vowels /e o/ are only found in loanwords.

References

Sources

• I Capul, siray patiʼ inaʼanto / Capul, noon at ngayon: Ang kasaysayan ng palo ng Capul / Capul, before and now: a history of Capul Island. Manila: Summer Institute of Linguistics. 1983.
• Jacobson, Marc R.; Jacobson, Suzanne M. (1980). "Sama Abaknon phonology". Philippine Journal of Linguistics. 11 (1): 32–44.

External links

• Literature and articles in Literature and articles in Abaknon.