Rinconada Bikol language

(Strong accent, flat intonation only, and with /ə/)

• Agta variant
• Iriga variant (de facto standard)

(Soft accent with different types of intonation, and without /ə/)

• Nabua – Balatan variant
• Baao variant
• Bula – Pili variant
• Bato variant

Notes:

• ɲ, tʃ, dʒ, and ʃ are only found in loanwords, especially from Spanish.

Notes:

• e and o are only found in loanwords, especially from Spanish.
• ɨ is only found in the highland dialect of Iriga city. Related Inland Bikol languages also have the same vowel.

Rinconada Bikol has several diphthongs or gliding vowels.

Rinconada uses a variation of the Latin alphabet modeled on the Tagalog alphabet. But unlike the modern Tagalog–Filipino, Rinconada retains and uses diacritics (kul-it in Rinconada Bikol and kudlit in Tagalog). This is to highlight the meaning of the words and to differentiate homonyms. In return, the diacritics provide Rinconada Bikol with a unique orthography among Philippine languages. Diacritics for this language are limited to the macron and circumflex which is unlike other languages, for example Vietnamese which has several. However, due to technical difficulties and a scarcity of resources, diacritics are sometimes not available. Thus, two Rinconada alphabets were created to meet the needs of the speakers: the native and the simplified. Both can be used at the same time depending on the situation, purpose and availability of resources.

The Rinconada name for the letter which represents the glottal stop is rəgsad. This can only be found in the native form of alphabet, and it is limited to final vowels or vowels at the end of a word. Rəgsad is represented by the circumflex ( ˆ ).

For examples of the glottal stop, consider the Rinconada words salâ ('wrong') and turô ('drop of water/fluid'), often simply sala and turo in the simplified alphabet and in Filipino and English orthographies.

• With rəgsad and kul-it, the translation of the phrase I love you in Rinconada is Payabâ ko ikā ('love me you' in word-for-word translation).

The Rinconada native alphabet has six short vowels, six long vowels, and seventeen consonants, a total of twenty-nine letters representing all phonemes in Rinconada Bikol. A long or stressed vowel is written with a macron (a diacritic placed above a vowel). It also includes the velar nasal special character /ŋ/ that represents "ng". The native alphabet contains phonemes that are native to Rinconada, thus making it the standard Rinconada Bikol alphabet.

Example of a Filipino proverb written in the Rinconada native alphabet:

A dirî tattaoŋ maglīlî sa pinaŋgalinan, dirî makaaābot sa pig-iyānan. (Tagalog: Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan.)

Notes:

• Exceptions to the rules of the native alphabet are formal names like Juan Dela Cruz and placenames such as Laguna, Cebu and Manila. Those names must retain their official and simplified spelling instead of their native spellings Huwan Delā Krus, Lagūna, Sebū and Manīla. With the exception of names and places, all words in the native alphabet must be written with their respective spellings with their designated diacritics.

The Rinconada Simplified alphabet is just the same as the Philippine alphabet. It has 28 letters:

The letters F, V and Z are included because they are native to other Philippine languages like Itawis and Ibanag. The letters C, Ñ, and Q are also included, but their usages are limited to foreign names, Filipinized words of foreign origins or loans, especially from Spanish, English and Arabic.

The simplified alphabet does not use diacritics like the macron ⟨◌̄⟩ for stressed and long vowels, the circumflex ⟨◌̂⟩ for glottal stop, or the letters for velar nasal ⟨ŋ⟩, schwa ⟨ə⟩, or velar fricative ⟨ɣ⟩, as they do not appear on a standard QWERTY keyboard. The velar nasal ⟨ŋ⟩ is replaced by the digraph ⟨ng⟩, and the two latter sounds can be replaced by ⟨o⟩ and ⟨h⟩, ⟨w⟩, and ⟨y⟩ respectively. Even with the absence of diacritics in the modern and simplified alphabet, pronunciations in the spoken language are not altered. Moreover, the long vowel sound in a word should not be omitted. One example is bə̄ət ('kind') and bəət ('want, like'). The word bə̄ət in the native alphabet is written as bəət in the simplified alphabet, making the two words the same in spelling albeit with different meanings. In this case, the pronunciation of the words depends on their place and usage in a sentence. To avoid confusion and aid in ease of reading, it is strongly recommended to use the native alphabet in writing Rinconada Bikol.

• What is your name? – Onō a ŋaran mo?
• My name is Joseph. – Usē a ŋaran ko. (Usē is a rinconadised form of Spanish José)
• Where do you come from? – Tagasārî ikā?
• I'm from Pili, Camarines Sur. – Taga-Pili, Camarines Sur akō.
• I love you so much. – Payabâ takā sa igô./Payabâ ko ikā sa igô.
• Do you like me? – Bəət mo 'kō?
• What are you doing? – Onō a ginigībo mo?
• I will go home. – Migpaulî na 'kō.
• John is my brother – Ŋod ko si Uwan. (Uwan is a rinconadised form of Spanish Juan)
• Do you want to eat breakfast? – Bəət mo na'ŋ mamaɣəw?
• I'm already eating – Nagkākaən na 'kō.
• What time is it?/May I know what time it is? – Onōŋ ōras na?/Onōŋ ōras na tābî?
• I will go out – Migluwas akō.
• I can't sleep. – Dirî akō makatorog.
• Are you afraid of the dark? – Nakatātakot ikā sa maŋitŋit?
• He said he will pick me up/fetch me. – Sabi niyā susuŋkātən konō 'kō.
• How old are you? – Gaamnō na ikā (naykā) kaguraŋ?
• When will you be back? – Kūnu ikā migbalik?

• Amâ – father
• Inâ – mother
• Itay – dad
• Inay – mom
• Mānoy – older brother
• Mānay – older sister
• Tāta – uncle
• Nāna – aunt

Onō – what

Isay – who

Kūnu – when

Ŋātâ – why

Sārî – where

Paōno – how

Arî – which

Pirā – how many

Mamirā – how much

Gaamnō – indefinite question, used to describe the degree or extent to which something is covered such as period or age, vastness or immensity, etc.

General greetings:

• Maray na aldəw – Good day (from sunrise to sunset)
• Maray na gab-ī – Good evening (from sunset to sunrise)

The spoken greetings can be shortened to Aldəw and Gab-ī as they are similar to the two-syllable words bonjour and bonsoir of the French language.

Specific greetings:

• Maray na ramrag – Good morning (from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.)
• Maray na mudtū – Good noon (from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.)
• Maray na apon – Good afternoon (from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.)
• Maray na gab-ī – Good evening (from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.)
• Maray na lawəd – Good midnight (from 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.)
• Maray na mararamrāgən – Good dawn (from 1:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.)

People of Rinconada classify dim or dark hours as nighttime and light hours as daytime. As such, even with the introduction of modern standard time, they consider the hours of 12 midnight until 6 o'clock in the morning nighttime. Therefore, the general greeting from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. is Maray na aldəw, and Maray na gab-ī for the hours that start from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., e.g. Maray na mudtū tabî kaninyō ŋāmin!

Occasional greetings:

• Mamə̄yaŋ Pagkaməndag! – Happy birthday!
• Mamə̄yaŋ Bāgoŋ Taon! – Happy New Year!
• Mamə̄yaŋ Anibersāryo! – Happy anniversary!

The letter ⟨e⟩ in Rinconada is not the typical pronunciation of the vowel /e/ in other languages - such as the word beg and bell in English, or the word metung in Kapampangan meaning 'one' - [ɛ] in IPA (open- or low-mid front unrounded vowel). The letter ⟨e⟩ in Rinconada is pronounced similar to the letter sequence ⟨ee⟩ in English, or the letter ⟨i⟩ of most languages, but the mouth is more open and the tongue is a bit relaxed. In IPA it is [e], a close- or high-mid front unrounded vowel. So its pronunciation lies in between that of leed's [i] and led's [ɛ].

The difference between the letters ⟨e⟩ and ⟨ē⟩ is that the latter pronounced longer or prolonged.

Example: mutēte (IPA: /muteːte/) - 'chide, scold'.

Unlike other letters in the Rinconada native alphabet, the letter /j/ is always accompanied by /d/ if it is in the middle of a word. Otherwise, single /j/ is used. Moreover, it is the only non-gliding consonant that cannot be found at the end of a word in native Rinconada vocabulary.

Some words in native Rinconada and Rinconadized words of foreign origin with /j/:

• jamantē – 'diamond' (from Spanish diamante)
• jāday – 'again, always'
• jāryo – 'newspaper' (from Spanish diario)
• jōlen – 'marble (toy)'
• pastidjō – 'nuisance' (from Spanish fastidio)
• idjəw – a large and non-venomous snake
• oodjon – no counterpart in English and Filipino (nearest meaning: 'jealous' or 'envious')
• sudjâ – 'prompted, investigated, an action for questioning'
• kadjapā – a thorny plant abundant in Bicol region, kulitis in Tagalog (scientific name Amaranthus spinosus)
• padjak – a bicycle converted into a tricycle, powered by human force (a mode of transportation known in Metro Manila as kuliglig)
• sodjaŋ – 'a sliver of wood, metal or bamboo in the skin'
• lokadjô – a word used to address a disliked person discussed in conversation; it is a word included in Bikol Angry Speech Register
• paŋadjî – 'prayer'

Through language evolution, Rinconada Bikol almost lost the phoneme /h/, hence it is rare. It is often absent in most Rinconada words that are usually present in other Philippine languages.

There is no real /h/ sound in Rinconada. It is either silent or glided and sounds like a long tonal vowel, or vowel lengthening. The letter /h/ is omitted since it is silent; on the other hand, it is glided when in between vowels. The Tagalog words such as hangin, higop and hanggan are almost the same as the Rinconada words, but the letter [h] is eliminated since it is not pronounced. The corresponding equivalents are aŋin, igop and aŋgan; the same is the case with other Bikol words like harani, harayo, and habo, which are arāni, arayô, and abə in Rinconada, while the glided /h/ sound can be found in between the same vowels as in baha, saha, kohol, and mohon.

The disappearance of the phoneme [h] is an occurrence comparable (though not to the same degree) to that in the Kapampangan language. Nevertheless, Rinconada Bikol speakers can pronounce it with clarity and emphasis whenever they speak other languages where it is present.

The number words for 1 to 10 and 100 are all native Rinconada while numbers 11 to 99 are all reconstructed. However, the reconstructed numbers are based on the original structure. Sampōlô (number ten) or sampu in Tagalog is the only two-digit number that has a native word with a perfect indigenous structural form. The evolution of the word sampōlô from əsadnapōlô follows the orthography of Rinconada and developed naturally over the years. Being said, it is imperative that all reconstructed numbers must follow the same format of the number 10.

The word sampōlô is derived from a portmanteau of the words əsad + na + pōlô (əsadnapōlô) which is the based tenth of one. In the evolution of this number, the schwa letter ⟨ə⟩ of əsadnapōlô became silent and so the word became sadnapōlô. As with other Philippine languages, /na/ became /ŋ/, replacing the last consonant of the first word (which is /d/), and became the connector to the second word (which is pōlô) – thus, /d/ was omitted and the word became saŋ. The connector /ŋ/ becomes /m/ naturally if the next letter is /p/ or /b/, which is also the case in other Philippine languages. The word thus became sampōlô.

Structure of sampōlô (10):

1. əsad + na + pōlô = əsadnapōlô
2. əsadnapōlô – /ə/ = sadnapōlô
3. sadnapōlô – /d/ = sanapōlô
4. /na/ replaced by /ŋ/ = saŋpōlô
5. /ŋ/ replaced by /m/ before /p/ = sampōlô.

From sampōlô, all two-digit numbers were given a name that was copied from it. The numbers 40 (pampōlô) and 60 (nəmpōlô) follow the same pattern as sampōlô. The exception to the naming system of numbers is the number zero (0). Though zero (0) is a single digit, there is no native word for it. Since sampōlô (10) is a combination of 1 and 0, the word pōlô was taken from it to represent zero (0) rather than using sīro or sēro. As a result, Rinconada has a complete basic set of numbers without using foreign words.

The number referenced in Php 356,817,142,590 can be translated into Rinconada Bikol as:

Toloŋgatos limamnəm na bilyon, waloŋgatos sampitoŋ milyon, saŋgatos pamdarwaŋ rībo ag limaŋgatos yampōloŋ pīso.

In English it is:

'Three hundred fifty six billion, eight hundred seventeen million, one-hundred forty two thousand and five hundred ninety pesos'.

In Filipino it is:

Tatlong daan limampu't anim na bilyon, walong daan at labing pitong milyon, sandaan at apatnapu't dalawang libo at limang raan siyamnapung piso.

• Rinconada numbers in words are very simple in structure. Translations are shorter than both Filipino and English languages.

The only dictionary written for the language is Rinconada: Bikol-Filipino-English Phrasebook: with Mini-dictionary (2001) of Jason Lobel and Grace Bucad of Nabua, Camarines Sur. Several books were successfully written and published by native speakers and non-speakers alike. Some were published by Frank Peñones, Jason Chancoco, Rizaldy Manrique, Jonher Cañeba and Kristian Cordero of Iriga City. In 2004, Ragang Rinaranga: mga rawitdawit, published by Frank Peñones, was the first anthology written in Rinconada Bikol.

On June 25, 2013, the Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges (CSPC), a state college in Nabua, Camarines Sur, established the Center for Rinconada Studies to serve as the research center for the Rinconada Bikol language and heritage.[5]