Central Visayas, eastern Negros, western parts of Eastern Visayas, and most parts of Mindanao
Ethnicity
Visayans (Cebuano, Boholano, Eskaya, etc.)
Native speakers
20 million (2023 estimate)[1]
Language family
Austronesian
Malayo-Polynesian
Philippine
Greater Central Philippine
Central Philippine
Bisayan
Cebuano
Early form
Spanish Era Cebuano (late 18th century)
Dialects
Standard Cebuano (Cebu Island)
Urban Cebuano (Metro Cebu)
Negros Cebuano
Bohol Cebuano
Leyte Cebuano (Kanâ)
Mindanao Cebuano
Davao Cebuano
Writing system
Latin (Filipino alphabet) Philippine Braille Historically Badlit
Official status
Recognised minority language in
Regional language in the Philippines
Regulated by
Visayan Academy of Arts and Letters
Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino
Language codes
ISO 639-2
ceb
ISO 639-3
ceb
Glottolog
cebu1242
Cebuano-speaking area in the Philippines
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Cebuano (/sɛbˈwɑːnoʊ/se-BWAH-noh)[2][3][4] is an Austronesian language spoken in the southern Philippines. It is natively, though informally, called by its generic term Bisayâ or Binisayâ (both terms are translated into English as Visayan, though this should not be confused with other Bisayan languages, and locally written without the accent marks)[a] and sometimes referred to in English sources as Cebuan (/sɛˈbuːən/seb-OO-ən). It is spoken by the Visayan ethnolinguistic groups native to the islands of Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, the eastern half of Negros, the western half of Leyte, and the northern coastal areas of Northern Mindanao and the eastern part of Zamboanga del Norte due to Spanish settlements during 18th century. In modern times, it has also spread to the Davao Region, Cotabato, Camiguin, parts of the Dinagat Islands, and the lowland regions of Caraga, often displacing native languages in those areas (most of which are closely related to the language).[5][6]
While Tagalog has the largest number of native speakers among the languages of the Philippines today, Cebuano had the largest native-language-speaking population in the Philippines from the 1950s until about the 1980s.[7][failed verification] It is by far the most widely spoken of the Bisayan languages.[8]
Cebuano is the lingua franca of Central Visayas, the western parts of Eastern Visayas, some western parts of Palawan and most parts of Mindanao. The name Cebuano is derived from the island of Cebu, which is the source of Standard Cebuano.[5] Cebuano is also the primary language in Western Leyte—noticeably in Ormoc. Cebuano is assigned the ISO 639-2 three-letter code ceb, but not a ISO 639-1 two-letter code.
The Commission on the Filipino Language, the Philippine government body charged with developing and promoting the national and regional languages of the country, spells the name of the language in Filipino as Sebwano.
^"Population Projection Statistics". psa.gov.ph. 28 March 2021. Archived from the original on 26 December 2023. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
^Cebuano on Merriam-Webster.com
^Cebu on Merriam-Webster.com
^Columbia Encyclopedia
^ abCite error: The named reference Wolff 1972 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Cebuano". Ethnologue. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
^Ammon, Ulrich; Dittmar, Norbert; Mattheier, Klaus J.; Trudgill, Peter (2006). Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society. Vol. 3. Walter de Gruyter. p. 2018. ISBN 9783110184181.
^"Language Specific Peculiarities Document for Cebuano as Spoken in the Philippines" (PDF). Linguistic Data Consortium. 12 January 2020.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
Cebuano (/sɛbˈwɑːnoʊ/ se-BWAH-noh) is an Austronesian language spoken in the southern Philippines. It is natively, though informally, called by its generic...
Cebuano in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Cebuano may refer to: Cebuano people, of Cebu, Philippines Cebuanolanguage, their Austronesian language Cebuano...
The Cebuano people (Cebuano: Mga Sugbuanon) are the largest subgroup of the larger ethnolinguistic group Visayans, who constitute the largest Filipino...
The Cebuano Wikipedia (Cebuano: Wikipedya sa Sinugboanong Binisayâ) is the Cebuano-language edition of Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. Despite...
language; similarly, Cebuanos are known in Leyte as mga Kana and their language as Kana (after the oft-heard word kana, meaning 'that' in the Cebuano...
ᜊᜒᜈᜒᜐᜌ) was a form of the Cebuanolanguage spoken during the Spanish colonial era of the Philippines. It was the primary language spoken in Cebu, Bohol,...
The Cebuano numbers are the system of number names used in Cebuano to express quantities and other information related to numbers. Cebuano has two number...
Cebuano grammar encompasses the rules that define the Cebuanolanguage, the most widely spoken of all the languages in the Visayan Group of languages...
variations are caused by mixed dialect communications such as the Cebuanolanguage in barangays Mangagoy and Pob. Bislig. The towns of Barobo, Hinatuan...
indoˈnesija]) is the official and national language of Indonesia. It is a standardized variety of Malay, an Austronesian language that has been used as a lingua franca...
Boholano (Cebuano: Binol-anon) is a variant of the Cebuanolanguage spoken in the island province of Bohol in the Visayas and a major portion of Southern...
any of the indigenous languages of the Philippines, apart from a very few Cebuano words. Grammatically, however, it is Cebuano. Most of the words were...
Manila. There is also a lively community of Cebuano-language writers based outside the country. Cebuano literature, as much as most literature of the...
official languages and are taught in schools. This, among other reasons, has resulted in a rivalry between the Tagalog and Cebuanolanguage groups. Spanish...
sentences, their translations in English, Cebuano, and Tagalog, and similar words in distant Philippine languages. Maranao: Langon a taw na inimbawata a...
Native speakers refer to the language as Cabalianon or Kinabalianon. This language shares certain characteristics with Cebuano, Boholano, and Surigaonon...
spoken as a second language by Kinaray-a speakers in Antique, Aklanon/Malaynon speakers in Aklan, Capiznon speakers in Capiz, Cebuano speakers in Negros...
*tanəm is tanam ('to plant') in Kapampangan, compared with Tagalog tanim, Cebuano tanom and Ilocano tanem ('grave'). Proto-Philippine *R merged with /j/...
Cebuano theater refers to the theater arts of the Cebuano people and those conducted in the Cebuanolanguage. It also refers to contemporary productions...
newly-designated national language based on Tagalog. It was officially adopted by the then Institute of National Language (Filipino: Surian ng Wikang...
borrowing from Tagalog related to nangkà in Cebuano and in Malay, both from the same Austronesian language family. The jackfruit was domesticated independently...
Cebu City. The Cebuanolanguage is the region's lingua franca. The region is also dominated by the native speakers of four Visayan languages: Bantayanon...
Artificial cranial deformation Artificial cranial deformation or modification, head flattening, or head binding is a form of body alteration in which the...
Yami language (Chinese: 雅美語), also known as Tao language (Chinese: 達悟語), is a Malayo-Polynesian and Philippine language spoken by the Tao people of Orchid...
2020. Retrieved 8 August 2021. Wolff, John U. (1972). A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan. New York: Southeast Asia Program of Cornell University & Linguistic...
of Cebuano settlers to Mindanao, many Tausug people are exposed in the Cebuanolanguage easily enough to be able to speak it as Tausug & Cebuano languages...
Equivalent terms include the Spanish-derived probinsiya ("province") and the Cebuano term bukid ("mountain"). When used generally, the term refers to a mountainous...
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