BUTUAN CITY (MindaNews / 30 April) – A community effort is underway here to revitalize and preserve the endangered Butuanon language through an immersion camp.
Organized by Butuan Global Forum Inc (BGForum, Inc) and Save Our Languages through Federalism Butuan Chapter, the Butuanon Language Camp was held on April 26-28 where participants lived with households in Barangay Babag, learned the Butuanon language, engaged in their daily routines, and took part in a series of activities, including a tour around the community.
Jorge B. Navarra, Trustee of BGForum, Inc., explained that Babag was chosen as the host community because 95 percent of its residents still converse fluently in Butuanon.
“Babag is the only community where most residents use Butuanon as their lingua franca. There are even instances where the children there cannot understand Cebuano,” Navarra said.
The camp hosted around 40 participants, including employees from the city council, professors from Caraga State University, and students from the Philippine Science High School-Caraga.
Navarra said the camp is privately funded, the amount covering all expenses for selected participants.
Although the language camp began in 2006 and 2007 and later resumed in 2011 and 2012, it faced challenges in sustaining itself due to doubts about its effectiveness and financial constraints.
The camp allotted a budget for a maximum of 50 participants, an increase from the previous years’ 20-30 participants.
Navarra said increasing the number of participants and increasing the frequency of such camps would maintain momentum and can be an effective approach.
Navarra urged the city government to invest in similar activities to revitalize the Butuanon language.
Butuan City Vice Mayor Lawrence Fortun, who is also a participant, said the camp is a critical part of various efforts to preserve the Butuanon language, which he described as in an alarming state with only about five percent of the city’s population speaking it.
“Among that five percent, Butuanon speakers are mostly aged 45 and above, with few younger speakers. If concrete and aggressive action is not taken in the next 10-15 years, the language might become extinct,” Fortun said.
He added that preservation efforts like increasing the five percent who currently speak the language are challenging.
“By participating in the camp, when they return home, they might not immediately start speaking it, but they will embrace the fact that Butuanon is a living language, not a dead one. Babag gives us hope, showing that the language is still alive, and our efforts should aim to keep it that way, expanding from these barangays to others,” he said.
Shella A. Torralba, Director of Sentro sa Wika at Kultura ng Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino of Caraga State University, said they are glad that activities aimed at revitalizing endangered languages like this happened in Butuan.
“Butuanon is among the endangered languages that are at risk of extinction. So, this event is very good, especially for us teachers, because we lack exposure to the community. We also lack knowledge and experience with immersion. Through this, we can also help the community preserve their language,” she said.
The next Butuanon Language Camp is slated for May 3-5, catering to ‘BalikButuanons’— those who are returning home to the city just in time for the Balangay Festival in May. The third camp is planned for June, dedicated to families or clans.
A study by Maridette E. Molina published in University of the Philippines-Diliman Journals Online in 2021 said that with the influx of Cebuano/Bisayan settlers, who constitute the majority of the population, a large number of Butuanons have gradually assimilated into the Cebuano/Bisayan culture and language, with the majority of the new generation today no longer speaking Butuanon as their first language.
The study said, “With the dwindling number of new generation speakers, it is not far-fetched to suggest that the language, as well as the rich cultural heritage of the Butuanons, will perish without the speakers knowing it.”
Butuanon is a South Visayan language spoken in northeastern Mindanao, particularly in the provinces of Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur, the study said.
The same study noted: “Genetically, Butuanon is closely related to Tausug – its one and only sister language. Butuanon was spoken by approximately 24, 566 native inhabitants as of 1990 census (National Commission for Culture and the Arts, n.d.) and since then its number of speakers has depleted. In 2007, there were fewer than 500 younger speakers speaking the language in Butuan alone (Cabuang, 2007).” (Ivy Marie Mangadlao/MindaNews)
