Kinaray-a language

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Kinaray-a
Spoken in:	Philippines
Region:	Iloilo and Antique provinces, western Panay
Total speakers:	1,051,968
Language family:	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Borneo-Philippines Central Philippine Visayan Western Visayan Kinaray-a
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	`phi`
ISO/FDIS 639-3:	`krj`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

Kinaray-a is an Austronesian language spoken mainly in Antique Province in the Philippines. It is also spoken in several parts of Iloilo together with Hiligaynon. Due to regional proximity, media and television stations, Kinaray-a speakers can understand Hiligaynon speakers. However, only Hiligaynon speakers who reside in Kinaray-a speaking areas can understand the language. Those who come from other areas, like Negros, have difficulty in understanding the language, if they can at all.

It is a misconception among some Hiligaynon speakers that Kinaray-a is a variation of Hiligaynon; the reality is that the two belong to two different, but related, language subgroups.

It belongs to the Visayan language family.

1 Dialects
2 Grammar
- 2.1 Pronouns
3 See also
4 External link

[edit] Dialects

There has not been any actual study on the dialects of Kinaray-a. Speakers both of Kinaray-a and Hiligaynon would however admit to hearing the differences in the ways by which Kinaray-a speakers from different towns speak. Differences in vocabulary can also observed between and among the dialects.

The differences and the degrees by which the dialects differ from each other depend largely on the area's proximity to another different language-speaking area. Thus, in Antique, there are, on the northern parts, varieties that are similar to Aklanon, the language of Aklan, its neighbor in the north. On the south, on the other hand, the dialects become more and more similar to those spoken in San Joaquin and Miagao towns of Iloilo.

[edit] Grammar

[edit] Pronouns

	Absolutive₁ (emphatic)	Absolutive₂ (non-emphatic)	Ergative₁ (postposed)	Ergative₂ (preposed)	Oblique
1st person singular	ako	taken	naken, ko	aken	kanaken
2nd person singular	ikaw, kaw	timo	nimo, mo	imo	kanimo
3rd person singular	-	tana	nana, na	ana	kanana, kana
1st person plural inclusive	kita	taten	naten, ta	aten	kanaten
1st person plural exclusive	kami	tamen	namen	amen	kanamen
2nd person plural	kamo	tinyo	ninyo, nyo	inyo	kaninyo
3rd person plural	sanda	tanda	nanda	anda	kananda