Ratagnon

language

Ratagnon (also translated as Latagnon or Datagnon, and Aradigi) is

a regional language spoken by the Ratagnon people, an indigenous
group from Occidental Mindoro. It is a part of the Bisayan language
family and is closely related to other Philippine languages. Its
speakers are shifting to Tagalog. In 2000, there were only two to five
speakers of the language. However, in 2010 Ethnologue had reported
there were 310 new speakers.[2]

Ratagnon
Latagnon, Datagnon
Native to Philippines
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 Native to Philippines

Region Southern tip of

Mindoro
Ethnicity 2,000 (1997)[1]
[1]
Native speakers 310 (2010)
Language Austronesian
family Malayo-
Polynesian
Philippine
Central
Philippine
Bisayan
Western
Bisayan
Kuyan
Ratagnon
Dialects Santa Teresa

Language codes

ISO 639-3 btn

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 ISO 639-3 btn

Glottolog rata1245 (h
ttps://glott
olog.org/res
ource/languo
id/id/rata12
45)
ELP Ratagnon (http://
www.endangere
dlanguages.com/
lang/2850)

Classification
Ratagnon is closely related to the Cuyonon language, a Bisayan
language spoken in the Cuyo Archipelago just to the south of
Mindoro.[3]

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 This may be brought about by migrations of Cuyonons to the southern
tip of Mindoro, akin to their migrations to mainland Palawan, a very
much gradual process. It could be inferred that these migrations
happened at an earlier date before the migrations to mainland
Palawan started (around the mid- to late 19th century) due to its
diversion from the Cuyonon language (Given that Ratagnon
descended from an older language spoken in the general area West of
Panay, Ratagnon and Cuyonon are classified under Kuyan), whereas
the Cuyonon of mainland Palawan, Calamian and that of the Cuyo
itself remain the same language with relatively little dialectal
difference.

Distribution
According to the Ethnologue, Ratagnon is spoken in the southernmost
extreme tip of Mindoro islands, including the municipalities of
Magsaysay and Bulalacao.

Magsaysay, Occidental Mindoro

Bulalacao, Oriental Mindoro
Barbian (1977a) lists the following locations.

lower Caguray River near Santa

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 Teresa, Magsaysay, Occidental
Mindoro
San Nicolas, Magsaysay,
Occidental Mindoro
Bamban, Magsaysay, Occidental
Mindoro

Vocabulary
Barbian (1977) provides lexical and phonological data for Ratagnon.

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 Numerals

English Ratagnon Cuyonon Kinaray-a

One Isara Isara Sara

Two Daruwa Darwa Darwa

Three Tatlo Tatlo Tatlo

Four Apat Apat Apat

Five Lima Lima Lima

Six Anum Anem Anem

Seven Pito Pito Pito

Eight Walo Walo Walo

Nine Siyam Siyam Siyam

Ten Napulo Sampulo Pulo

In contrast to Cuyonon, Ratagnon dropped the schwa /ë/ sound,

instead opting for a u/o sound. It too borrowed lexical terms from the
languages of its Mangyan neighbors and to a lesser extent Spanish It
is notable in Barbian's Mangyan – English Vocabulary, 1977 that by
that time, Ratagnon might have already experienced heavy
Tagalization, present in words such as 'heart', tagiposon in Cuyonon,
albeit puso in Ratagnon, same with Tagalog's puso. The word 'why',
ayamo in Cuyonon, is noted as bakit and basi in Ratagnon, bakit
(bakin + at) being a loan from Tagalog, and basi, a Hanunuo Ambahan
term (hayga being non-Ambahan), perhaps inferring that basi is a loan
from Ratagnon, as Ambahans have been known to use archaic
Hanunuo terms and loans from various languages, one being
Ratagnon. This phenomenon is also observed in the Hanunuo
traditions of Urukay, perhaps closely related to the Erekay of the

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 Cuyonons, both being a form of Balagtasan. Ratagnon also has terms
specific to the lowland river surroundings which are not present in
modern Cuyonon, most of which are borrowings from Hanunuo and
Buhid, whereas a few are either archaic Cuyonon terms or innovations
made within the Ratagnon language. Aside from the aforementioned
differences from the Cuyonon language, the two languages are still
very much mutually intelligible.

Differences from Cuyonon include:

The usage of the t sound over the d sound, present in:

t and d

English Ratagnon Cuyonon

fear atlok adlek

Usage of the k sound over the g sound:

k and g

English Ratagnon Cuyonon

land lukta logta

The aforementioned dropping of the schwa for the u sound present in:

u and ë

English Ratagnon Cuyonon

ours (pronoun) kanamun kanamen

mine (pronoun) akun aken

straight matadlong matadleng

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 The preference for the l over the r sound:

l and r

English Ratagnon Cuyonon

pointed malawis marawis

There are some words that differ in meaning between Cuyonon and
Ratagnon; this is most notable in terms specific to their respective
surroundings, which has created false friends with almost the same,
yet different, meanings.

False Friends

English Ratagnon Cuyonon

to cross tabók (one side of the tabók (to cross from a bigger island to
from: river to another) a smaller one, ant. of lekas)

tabók (general
cross lagted
crossing)

Influences of Tagalog on Ratagnon

English Ratagnon Cuyonon Tagalog

why bakit ayamo bakit

there duonon doto, dogto (archaic) doon

heart puso tagiposon puso

Comparison Chart

English Ratagnon Cuyonon Hanunuo Buhid Tagalog

house balabag balay labag labagan bahay

dog ayam tio idu idu aso

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 magnaw,
cold maramig maramig maramig malamig
matiís

plain/flatland ratag/latag/datag latagan/datagan ratag datag patag

body hair bulbol bolbol bulbol ulad balahibo

wala,
left wala wala agwala kaliwa
wal'an

right tô tô kanan

nothing ara ara wala

matul'id, matadlong,
straight matadlong matadleng tuwid
malawis malawis

adug,
ouch aroy aroy adoy aray
adoy

dito/diné
(Southern
here digé digi/dagi
Tagalog
dialects)

ito/aré
dia/dagi/daya (Southern
this digé
(archaic) Tagalog
dialects)

get buul bel kuha

put butang betang lagay

sand baras baras buhangin

town banwa banwa bayan

sing arukay kanta kanta/awit

love song ambalan balitaw harana

cradle song sandaw sandaw oyayi/hele

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 wilderness talon talonan/talon kagubatan

year dagon dagon taon

happen atabo n/atabo nangyari

Notes

1. "Ratagnon" (https://www.ethnol
ogue.com/language/btn) .
2. Ratagnon at Ethnologue.
3. Zorc 1977.

References

Barbian, Karl-Josef (1977a).

English-Mangyan Vocabulary. Cebu
City: University of San Carlos.

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 Barbian, Karl-Josef (1977b). The
Mangyan Languages of Mindoro.
Cebu City: University of San Carlos.
Zorc, David Paul (1977). The
Bisayan Dialects of the Philippines:
Subgrouping and Reconstruction (
https://archive.org/details/bisayandi
alectso0044zorc) . Canberra,
Australia: Dept. of Linguistics,
Research School of Pacific Studies,
Australian National University.
doi:10.15144/PL-C44 (https://doi.or
g/10.15144%2FPL-C44) .
ISBN 0858831570.

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 Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Ratagnon_language&oldid=112395
5790"

This page was last edited on 26

November 2022, at 16:35 (UTC). •
Content is available under CC BY-SA
4.0 unless otherwise noted.

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