Objects & Actions in Siargaonon

11 words and phrases, recorded by a native speaker of Siargaonon (Surigaonon), the language of Siargao Island in the Philippines. Part of Conversations & The Wider World.

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.

Mahal Means Expensive. Only Expensive.

Mahal is the single most dangerous word on this page for anyone arriving from Tagalog. There it means dear or beloved. Here it means expensive, and nothing else.

Say it to a person and you have commented on their price rather than your feelings. Its opposite, Barato, means cheap or affordable, and the pair belongs firmly to the market rather than the heart.

Ka- Turns Good Into Very Good

Lami is delicious. Grabi kalami is so delicious — the emphatic form, built with the same ka- that strengthens words all through the language.

You will hear this one at a table more than anywhere else, and using the emphatic form rather than the plain one is a small thing that lands warmly.

Tungod: A Word for a Place English Has No Word For

Tungod means beneath the house — the space under a raised home, where people keep things, sit out of the sun, and where the chickens go.

English has no single word for it because English houses generally do not have one. Vocabulary follows architecture, and this is one of the words that tells you most about how life is actually arranged here.

A Borrowed Compliment

Guapa / Guapo means beautiful or handsome, and it arrived from Spanish carrying its gender endings with it — guapa for a woman, guapo for a man.

That is unusual here. Siargaonon does not normally mark gender on words at all, as the family page shows. This pair kept the Spanish habit because it came in as a whole expression rather than a root.

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.