Directions in Siargaonon

13 words and phrases, recorded by a native speaker of Siargaonon (Surigaonon), the language of Siargao Island in the Philippines. Part of Getting Around.

Hearing it spoken

Written Siargaonon can only take you so far — the sounds are what give a speaker away. Two rules matter more than any other: the letter J is always hard, as in the English "jump" (never softened to a "y"), and many words that use an L in neighbouring languages use a Y here — ulo becomes uyo, balay becomes bayay. The pronunciation guide covers both in detail.

Every phrase on this page can be heard aloud, drilled with flashcards and quizzes, and scheduled for review in the free app.

Asking Where Something Is

Haman ang ___? is the frame you will use most. Drop the name of what you are looking for into the gap and you have a working question.

Two more are worth memorising together: Suod ra? for is it near, and Lajo? for is it far. Between them they answer the thing you actually want to know once you have been pointed down a road.

Waya Means Two Different Things

Waya is left. Waya is also none, or nothing. Same word, two meanings, and only the situation tells you which is meant.

If you ask whether there is any rice left and someone says Waya, they are not giving you directions. If you ask which way to turn, they are. Context does all the work here, and it is one of those places where listening to how a word sits in a sentence matters more than knowing its translation.

The Frame for In Front and Behind

Sa atubangan sa ___ is in front of something, and Sa lujo sa ___ is behind it. Both use the same shape: sa, then the position word, then sa again, then the landmark.

That repeated sa is the preposition doing two jobs in one sentence — it marks the location and then attaches it to the thing being located. It looks redundant to an English speaker and it is not. Learn the frame as a whole and slot landmarks into it.

Up, Down and Across

Ibabaw is above or upstairs, Ubos is below or downstairs, and Tabok is across or cross over. On an island where a great deal of travel happens by boat and by habal-habal, Tabok earns its keep — it is as likely to mean crossing water as crossing a street.

Kanto is the corner, and it is a borrowed word doing everyday work: street corners are a Spanish-era idea of a town, and the word came in with the layout.

Keep exploring

Is a word missing, or is something here wrong? This record is incomplete by definition — a living language is bigger than any one speaker. Tell us and it will be reviewed and added.