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 Visayan language family and is closely related to other Philippine languages. Its speakers are shifting to Tagalog, and it is nearly extinct.

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

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" 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 Cuyonons, both being a form of "Balagtasan". Ratagnon also have terms specific to their 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 would include:

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

Usage of the "k" sound over the "g" sound:

The aforementioned dropping off the schwa for the "u" sound present in:

The preference to the "l" over the "r" sound

There are some words that have differed in meaning from Cuyonon to Ratagnon, this is most observed at the terms specific to their respective surroundings, these have created false friends that have almost the same meaning but still differ.

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 (1977)^[3] lists the following locations.

• lower Caguray River near Santa Teresa, Magsaysay, Occidental Mindoro
• San Nicolas, Magsaysay, Occidental Mindoro
• Bamban, Magsaysay, Occidental Mindoro

Classification

Ratagnon may be closely related to the Cuyonon language, a Visayan language spoken in the Cuyo Archipelago just to the south of Mindoro.^[4] 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 differences.

References

• Barbian, Karl-Josef. 1977. The Mangyan languages of Mindoro. Cebu City: University of San Carlos.