Rinconada Bikol: Characteristics of the Dominant Language in Libon

Among the varieties of language in Libon, Rinconada Bikol is the most dominant, having features which are unique to this variety of Bikol language and suit the Libongueños’ way of life.

Libon is a first class municipality in the province of Albay with 47 barangays, where majority of its people, the Libongueños, are farmers and fishermen. Geographically situated at the boundary of Albay and Camarines Sur, the town has a rich and varied culture. It lies within the Rinconada area of CamSur where it shares the Lake Bato, a fishing ground to which Libongueños catch sira or fishes. Fishing has become the most stable form of living to most of the peole, right behind farming, giving the term sira two different meanings in this place: either sira as a (1)fish or as (2)any form of ulam/dish. 

Libon (formerly named Villa Santiago de Libong by Captain Juan de Salcedo in 1573) was once a Spanish Villa, becoming Bicol’s first Spanish Citadel (Gerona, n.d). Hence, up to this time, words that are of Spanish origin are still used in communication, particularly in trade, where Spanish numbers are still in use. For instance, uno, dos, tres, cuatro, sinco, etc. are used by town people in everyday communication. In some cases, however, some sounds and morphemes are changed. For example, setenta y cuatro (74) becomes setentay kuwatro, and trenta y sinco (35) becomes traintay singko and so on.

Moreover, the place is home to many dialects and varieties coming from surrounding areas; (1)Daragueño Bikol or simply Albaynon, spoken by most Albayanos and people from Sorsogon; (2) Oasnon from neighboring town, Oas; and (3) Rinconada Bikol from neigboring province of CamSur. The latter being the most dominant variety in Libon, spoken by almost everyone. What is more interesting to point out is that Libongueños can actually speak and understand these varieties, making them multilingual speakers. For instance, the sentence “You’ve been at the market for a long time.” can be translated into different varieties yet, Libongueños can still understand and even speak using these varieties.

You’ve been at the market for a long time.

Rinconada Bikol Uban ika adto sa saod.

Daragueño Bikol Ulay ka didto sa sawd.

Oasnon/Coastal Bikol Haloy ka duman sa saoran.

(Table 1: Dialectal Variations spoken in Libon, Albay)

Among the varieties present in Libon, Rinconada Bikol, the closest language of Albay Bikol and is mutually intelligible, has the most number of speakers as this variant has a flat intonation and is spoken rapidly. Just like Visayan languages, Rinconada Bikol uses shorten commands. Rinconada speakers, including Libongueños, have distinctive patterns of language use. They’re known for having some unique features: the so-called Angry Speech Register, and the “Inigin” (Baby Talk) which are totally exclusive to Bicol languages as it cannot be found in Philippine or even other Austronesian languages (Lobel, 2010). Often in sarcasm or in anger, Angry Speech Register is used by older speakers to younger ones that hereby, denote power/authority when speaking.

	Normal Register	Angry Register
eye	mata	malsok
clothing	bado	lamakdo
ear	talinga	talingogngog

(Table 2: Common words used in Angry Speech Register)

Meanwhile, Inigin (meaning binabata or bine-baby in Tagalog) or Baby Talk, is described as a language used by elders for them to communicate easily with babies and serves as an introductory language that trains them how to talk. Here, syllables are limited into two and letters such as “r, g, s, j, and h” are absent.

Normal Words (in Bikol) 1.       Inom 2.       Kaon 3.       Tabid/iyi 4.       Oda na

Inigin Words 1.       mamam 2.       papa 3.       wiwi 4.       nana

English Equivalents 1.       drink 2.       eat 3.       urinate 4.       no more

(Table 3: Inigin words and their respective Bikolano and English translations/equivalents)

Conclusion

Sapir is indeed right when he uttered that there are specific places and groups of people who have their own way of interpreting the world. In Libon, the varieties discussed play important roles in the context of its people’s day-to-day living. The peculiar characteristics of these varieties are unique to which only Libongueños can understand and utilize. Indeed, history, geography, and culture contribute to language use and variations. Libon is a melting pot of these dialectal variations, with Libongueños being able to speak different varieties of language.  Rinconada Bikol, being the dominant language has unique features such as Angry Speech Register and Inigin Talk that manifests how people of this place use language to their own way.

Appendix

Daragueño- a native of Daraga Albay; of or pertaining to Daraga or its people

Duman/adto/didto- there, somewhere

Ika/ka- you

Libongueños- people/ native of Libon

Oasnon- of or pertaining to Oas, Albay; people of Oas

Saod/sawd/saoran- market

Sira/isora- 1. Any kind of fish; 2. Any kind of dish or ulam

Rinconada- 1. Of or pertaining to the 5^th District of Camarines Sur, particularly Iriga City, and the municipalities of Bato, Buhi, Nabua, and Balatan; 2. the language spoken by people from these places

Uban/ulay/haloy- too long, long time, matagal

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References:

            Books, LLC. (2011) Central Philippine Languages: Bikol Languages, Tagalog Language,                           Visayan Languages, Tagalog Grammar, Waray-Waray, Filipino Language,                                      Baybayin.

            Brown, Keith and Sarah Ogilvie. (2009) Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World.                           Elsevier Ltd., Oxford , p. 158-160.

                 Devine, Monica. (1993). Baby Talk. Berkeley Books.

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                 Gerona, Danilo Madrid.(n.d.) Villa Santiago de Libon.

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            Toll, Aaron