Central Philippine languages


The Central Philippine languages are the most geographically widespread demonstrated group of languages in the Philippines, being spoken in southern Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and Sulu. They are also the most populous, including Tagalog, Bikol, and the major Visayan languages Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray, Kinaray-a, and Tausug, with some forty languages all together.

Classification

Overview

The languages are generally subdivided thus :
There are in addition several Aeta hill-tribal languages of uncertain affiliation: Ata, Sorsogon Ayta, Tayabas Ayta, Karolanos, Magahat, Sulod, and Umiray [Dumaget languages|Umiray Dumaget].
Most of the Central Philippine languages in fact form a dialect continuum and cannot be sharply distinguished as separate languages. Blust notes that the relatively low diversity found among the Visayan languages is due to recent population expansions.

Zorc (1977)

The expanded tree of the Central Philippine languages below is given in David Zorc's 1977 Ph.D. dissertation. The Visayan subgrouping is Zorc's own work, while the Bikol subgrouping is from McFarland and the Mansakan subgrouping from Gallman.
Individual languages are marked by italics, and primary branches by bold italics.

Gallman (1997)

Andrew Gallman rejects Zorc's classification of the Mansakan languages and Mamanwa as primary branches of the Central Philippine languages coordinate to the Bisayan languages. Instead, he groups Mansakan, Mamanwa and the Southern Bisayan languages together into an "East Mindanao" subgroup, which links up with the remaining Bisayan branches in a "South Central Philippine" subgroup:

Greater Central Philippine (Blust)

Blust notes that the central and southern Philippines has low linguistic diversity. Based on exclusively shared lexical innovations, he posits a Greater Central Philippine subgroup that puts together the Central Philippine branch with South Mangyan, Palawan, Danao, Manobo, Subanon and Gorontalo–Mongondow languages, the latter found in northern Sulawesi.