Subanen languages


The Subanen languages are a group of closely related Austronesian languages belonging to the Greater Central Philippine subgroup. Subanen languages are spoken in various areas of Zamboanga Peninsula, namely the provinces of Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur, and in Misamis Occidental of Northern Mindanao. There is also a sizeable Subanen community in Misamis Oriental and Lanao del Norte. Most speakers of Subanen languages go by the name of Subanen, Subanon or Subanun, while those who adhere to Islam refer to themselves as Kolibugan, Kalibugan, Tewlet or Telet.

Internal classification

Jason Lobel classifies the Subanen varieties as follows.
  • Subanen
  • *Western
  • **Western Subanon
  • **Western Kolibugan
  • *Nuclear
  • **West Nuclear
  • ***Tawlet-Kalibugan Subanen
  • ***Salug-Godod Subanen
  • **East Nuclear
  • ***Southern Subanen
  • ***Central Subanen
  • ***Northern Subanen
  • ***Eastern Subanen
Lobel lists the following innovations or retentions among each of the following subgroups.
  • Nuclear Subanen: *k > Ø
  • Western Subanen: *k > /k/
  • East Nuclear Subanen: *r > /l/
  • West Nuclear Subanen: *r > /r/
  • Western Subanen: *r > /l/

    Proto-Subanen

The following phoneme inventory can be reconstructed for Proto-Subanen:
FrontCentralBack
Close*i*u
Mid*ə
Open*a

According to Jason Lobel, the innovations defining Proto-Subanen from Proto-Greater Central Philippine are:
1. *h was lost in all positions in Proto-Subanen.
2. *ʔ was lost word-initially and word-medially, only being retained in word-final position.
3. Reduction of *a to *ə in prepenultimate syllables, as well as in closed penultimate syllables.
4. Addition of a word-initial *g- to all vowel-initlal words following the operation of the previous innovations.
5. Assimilation of consonant clusters into a sequence of either *kC, *gC, or a nasal cluster.