This work is a dictionary of Cebuano Visayan, here called Cebuano for
short. Cebuano is spoken in the central portions of the Philippines: on
the islands of Cebu and Bohol, on the eastern half of Negros, western
half of Leyte, along the northern coasts of Mindanao, and on smaller
islands in the vicinity of these areas. A large portion of the urban
population of Zamboanga, Davao, and Cotabato is Cebuano speaking.
Cebuano is also widely spoken throughout the lowland areas of the
entire eastern third of Mindanao, where it is spreading at the expense
of the native languages (most of which are closely related to Cebuano).
Cebuano is the trade language in most places in Mindanao where
Cebuano-speaking populations and populations speaking other languages
are in contact.
Cebuano is also called Sugbuanon and is one of more than a dozen
languages or dialects which are given the name Bisayan or Visayan.
Other types of Visayan are spoken in areas surrounding the
Cebuano-speaking area on the north, east, west, and southeast. This
dictionary is confined to Cebuano forms and does not include forms
which are not Cebuano from other languages called Visayan spoken
outside of the area we have delineated.
In the areas where Cebuano is native and, to a large extent, also in
areas where Cebuano is a trade language, it is used for almost every
aspect of daily life and for most formal occasions: radio-TV, social
life, religious life, business, and the first two grades of school.
Cebuano is also largely used in the later grades, although English is
supposed to be the medium of instruction. In these areas Cebuano
language publications enjoy a wide readership.
Somewhere between one-quarter and one-third of the population of the
Philippines speaks Cebuano natively. [1] But despite its numerical
importance and wide use Cebuano lags far behind Tagalog (Pilipino) in
prestige and development as a means of literary and scientific
expression. In the schools the emphasis is almost entirely English:
Cebuano composition is not a school subject, and students read nothing
in Cebuano after the first two grades. In prestige Cebuano is losing
ground: for the upper and middle class elite, with isolated
praiseworthy exceptions, eloquence in Cebuano is not admired. In fact
it is almost a matter of pride not to know Cebuano well. Thus, despite
a phenomenal increase in literacy and in the total number of potential
contributors and participants in Cebuano literature, output has
declined in quantity and quality at an ever increasing rate over the
past two generations. The cultivation and development of Cebuano is
left to the least influential segments of the population, to whom
English education and exposure to English publications are minimally
available. These people still compose the vast majority of the
population, but the influential classes that have grown up knowing only
a dilute and inarticulate Cebuano are ever increasing in number,
proportion, and prestige.