TAUSUG
3
egids
Tausug, also called Tausog, Taw sug, Jolohano, or Sulu, is a language mainly located in the Philippines, under the Bisayan subgroup in Greater Central Philippines. Tausug bears 900,000 speakers according to the Summer Institute of Linguistics (2000), and a total of 1,062,000 speakers in all countries, with 250,000 monolinguals. While most Tausug speakers are found in Mindanao, there are also speakers outside the Philippines, such as in Sabah Malaysia and in North Kalimantan, Indonesia.
The number of speakers of Tausug is still increasing, with its language status being 3 (used for wider communication). Aside from Sulu and Tawi-tawi, Tausug is also spoken in Basilan, Zamboanga City, and even in Palawan. Interestingly, Tausug remains vigorous with positive attitudes as it is actively being taught in primary schools especially in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, which are also the provinces with Tausug as the de facto language of provincial identity in those areas. It is also actively being used in literature, radio, videos and text, and dictionaries have been made for the language (Ethnologue, 2017). Being spoken in Muslim communities, Tausug used to be actively written in Arabic script, but has already adapted to the Latin script in the Philippines.
Aside from that, several linguistic studies have been conducted on Tausug, such as in phonology, phrase constructions, orthography, and more. Linguistic research on Tausug also include a descriptive approach (Ashley, 1964).
SOUNDS OF TAUSUG
The table above shows the phonetic inventory of the Tausug language. The consonant phonemes of Tausug are /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /s/, /r/ (flap), /l/, /j/, /w/, /dʒ/, / ʝ/, /k/, /g/, / ɣ /, /n/, /m/, /ŋ/, /Ɂ/, and /h/. One interesting feature of this language is the presence of the uvular fricative / ɣ/ and alveopalatal fricative / ʝ/. Elicited data shows the fricativization of some plosive consonants when occurring in intervocalic position, as seen in the case of the voiceless bilabial stop /b/ and its fricative counterpart, /v/; and between the voiceless velar stop /g/, and the velar fricative/ ɣ /. Tausug is shown to be an l-language.
On the other hand, their vowel phonemes are: /a/, /i/, /ᴈ/, /ᴐ/, /u/. Based on elicitation, while /ᴈ/ and /ᴐ/ are phonemic, they can be also be pronounced in free variation with /u/ and /i/.
SOME TAUSUG WORDS
A TAUSUG STORY
aMER HAMJA
Awn ya’un magpangtungud minsan. In manga bata’ ya’un
bayah’ hamtang nagkabayah’. In hawpu’ niya nagdakup sila. Sakali, hambu’uk adlaw nag-isun sila magpaguy pa hulah hambu’uk. Sakali, ya’un sabab sin janji nila yattu nagda na babai ya’un sin tamungun niya harap niya pa pu’un kahuy, sabab du’un sila magbak iban sin usug ya’un. Pagkaun niya pa pu’un kahuy wala’ nakaka’un in usug nagtagad na sadja in babai ya’un. Mansari walah’ da mawgay in babai ya’un pagka naglilingkud siya ha pu’un kahuy na kutkut siya sin Has dakulah. Pagkutkut sin Has natun natu’ud in babai ya’un. Sakali, in manga ma’as sin babai ya’un naglawag na sila sabab walah’ na nakaguwah’in anak nila. Nagdum nag-adlaw na in pag-lawag nila.
Sakali, ya’un pagkat’tu nila pa pu’un kahuy amu in bakas
kiyat’tuan sin babai yaun awn Has dakulah’ nabibitad in tiyan niya. Iban in pamutus sinbabai ya’un du’un ha pu’un kahuy. Kitah, na sin usug in pamutus iban siyag’gaw nila na in Has ya’un. Pagsaggaw nila, ampa nila tirak tirak in tiyan niya. Pagtirak nila ya’un du’un in babai halaum sin tiyan Has. Ampa in usug ya’un du’un magtaymanghud in Inah’ niya iban sin amah’ sin babai/ Laung sin usug amu in tuning sin babai ya’un, “Ayaw niyu na kubula in babai yan sabab siya miyatay pasalan ku, sah’ hinangi niyu nakami lutuh, paanura niyu kami palaud.
Ubus mayan ampana sila hinangan bangka biya lag’gu’
unu. Hinangan na sila lutuh iban sin manga kaibanan pa hipara kanila. Pagkat’tu nila palaud walah’ na in usug ya’un kima’unsah’ unu in hinangi niya magsambahayang sadja. Ubus ubus niya mag-sambahayang gibahun niya sadja in babai magbalik. In agi sin usug ya’un bang ma’abut kah’patan tahun in umur ku mahabah’ na in pungut ku ini, iban sin buhuk ku amura isab. Sakali, ya’un awn na tu’udparman sin Allahutala, diyungug niya, Ampa in ngan sin usug ya’un hi Amir Hamja in ngan niya. In agi sin parman ya’un “Amir Hamja bang kaw maglillah’ na in umur mu kawlau’wan tahun bahagi’un na magduwa in kah’patan tahun kaymu. Laung hi Amir Hamja, “Ayaw ka pa tunga’un mu, minsan pa di’ aku in patayun maglilah’ da sabab danan siya nabiyah’ayan pasalan ku. Sakali, amuna yat’tu in piyagjanji’an nila. Laung sin parman dupun-dupuni sadja in pusud sin tuning mu. Pagdupun niya mayan sin pusud sin tuning niya mag-tuwi siya naka panyabut. Laung niya La-ilaha-lallallah. Miya ay hati aku ini.
Laung sin bana niya yaun, bakas sakaw miyatay sah’ in umur ku kawaluwan tahun sah’ na biyahagi kaymu in kah’patan tahun kakuh’in kah’patan tahun, tunga-tunga na sila. Manjari ampa sila nagbangka-bangka palaud.
AMER HAMJA
There were two cousins who fell in
love with each other. Because of their feeling, they decided to elope. The girl gathered her clothes in a basket and ran away from home. She had agreed to meet her lover under a tree. When the girl arrived, she found that her lover was not yet there. She sat down under the tree and waited. In no time at all a large snake on the tree had swallowed her. Shortly afterwards, her sweetheart came and found only her basket of clothes. Then her parents arrived, looking for her. Looking up at the tree, they saw that the there was a large snake there, coiled on a branch. Its belly was bloated. The boy and the girl’s parents killed it, cut its stomach open and found the dead body of the girl inside. The parents decided to bury it in a grave, but the sweetheart begged them not to do so. He said, “She died because of me. Please prepare for us some food and abandon us on a vinta in the middle of the sea.” The relatives of the girl did as the man asked.
Alone with the girl’s body on board
the vinta, the man did not eat but prayed to Allah. After praying, he placed the girl’s body on his lap, “If I continue to hold her like this, I can expect my beard to grow longer by the time I am forty years old.” Consequently, he had a revelation from God. Allah said to him, “Amer Hamja, since you will reach eighty years, you may, if you wish, give half of your lifetime to your sweetheart, and she will live again.” Amer Hamja replied, “Even if I will die now, it will be all right with me, as long as she can be alive again. It was my fault that she died.” Allah commanded him to touch the girl’s navel and he did so. Immediately, the girl began to move and utter the words “Lailaha illah” (There is no God but Allah).
Amer Hamja said to her, “You have
been dead, but now you are alive again, on condition that my expected lifetime of eighty years is cut in half and the other half is given to you.”
WORKS ON TAUSUG
Abubakar, N. (1969). The segmental phonemes of Tausug and English: A contrastive study
(Unpublished MA thesis). Dumaguete City: Silliman University.
Armour, M. (1984). A comparison of narrative and hortatory discourse in Tausug
(Unpublished MA thesis). Arlington: University of Texas
Ashley, L. (1963). Tausug substantive phrases. Manila: SIL.
Ashley, S. (1964). A descriptive analysis of Tausug. Manila: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
--. (1973a). A case classification of Tausug verbs. In Sulu Studies 2: 70-85. Jolo, Sulu: Notre Dame of
Jolo College.
--. (1973b). Notes on Tausug orthography. In Sulu Studies 2: 86-94. Jolo, Sulu: Notre Dame of Jolo
College.
Ashley, S. & Ashley, L. (1963) The phonemes of Tausug. In Papers on Philippine Languages 1, 7-17.
E. Wolfenden (Ed.). Manila: ILT and SIL.
--. (1963). The relationship of dramatis personae to voice and focus categories of verbal inflection in
Tausug. Manila: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
--. (1971). Outline of sentence types of Tausug. In Philippine journal of linguistics 2 (1), 44-
91. Manila: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Bureau of Education (1956a). Biyadiin. Manila: Bureau of Printing.
--. (1956b). “In haati sin Austerity.” Manila: Bureau of Printing.
Constantino, E. (1980). A Tausug-English dictionary. Quezon City: University of the Philippines.
Copet, Rene. (1957). Tausug dictionary. Jolo, Sulu: Notre Dame of Jolo Press.
Cowie, A. (1893). English-Sulu-Malay vocabulary. London: British North Borneo Co.
Dalrymple. A. (1849). Essay towards an account of Sulu. In Journal of the Indian Archipelago and
Eastern Asia 3: 512-567.
Garvan, J.M. (1955). Sulu proverbs. In JEAS 4(3):443-446.
Ewing, J. F. (1955). Notes on the Tausug of Siasi in particular and the Moros of the Southern
Philippines in general. In Mindanao Conference, 78-79. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Hassan, I.; Halud, N.; Ashley, S.; and Ashley, L. (1975). Tausug-English dictionary (Kabtangan
iban Maana). Quezon City: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
Haynes, T. (1885-1886). English, Sulu, and Malay vocabulary. In JSBRAS 16: 321-384; 18: 193-239.
Julpatta, M. and Armour, M. (1978) “Tausug: Text 1 (folktale texts).” In SIPL 2(2):180-92
McCutchen, R. (1918). Practical English-Sulu Vocabulary and Conversation. Zamboanga: Sulu Press.
Muyargas, W. (1962). Comparison of some Cebuano, Tawsug and Pangasinan nominals and
substitutes. Ateneo de Manila Graduate School.
Ngo, A. (1963). Tau-sug phonology. Manila: Ateneo de Manila Graduate School. Simons, G.F. and
Fennig, C.D. (Eds.). (2017). Tausug. In Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Twentieth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Retrieved from https://www.ethnologue.com/language/tsg
Tawasili, S., Ashley, S and Ashley, L. (1978). Tausug: Text 2 (folktale texts). In SIPL 2 (2): 192-201.
Yamashita, M. and Zayas, C. Tausugu-go Kaiwa Renshuuchou [Pag-anad sin Pagbissara sin Bahasa
Tau-sug/ A Drill Book for Tausug Conversation]. Tokyo: Daigakushorin.
