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ORTHOGRAPHY, SYNTAX, AND MORPHEMES IN CEBUANO VISAYAN NEWS
EDITORIAL: A LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS
Shangrela V. Genon-Sieras
Department of English, College of Social Sciences and Humanities
Mindanao State University, Marawi City, Philippines
ABSTRACT: This study analyzes the inaccuracies of the Cebuano Visayan language in the
SunStar News Editorial Dalaygon ang Kausaban. It aims to idealize the inaccurate
orthography, syntactic system and morphemic structures of content words found in the
textuality. Findings of the study reveal fifty-seven misspelled words which involve the use of
inaccurate vowels, the absence of hyphens for glottal stops, and the lack of apostrophe in
contracted words. Moreover, there are three inaccurate sentence constructions with a subject-
predicate sequence instead of the predicate-subject system of the Cebuano Visayan language.
Meanwhile, the morphemic structure of content words reveal that majority of the Cebuano
words are formed by affixations that affect the grammaticalization of ideas and concepts. The
study concludes that the Cebuano Visayan editorial of SunStar News reveals a textuality of
inaccurate orthography, syntax, and morphemes. The study recommends the use of one
common standard form of the language in mass media and in Cebuano Visayan language
classes for linguistic accuracy.
KEYWORDS: Cebuano Visayan, linguistic accuracy, linguistic analysis, pedagogic grammar
INTRODUCTION
Cebuano-Visayan is one of the major languages in the Philippines (Caturza, 2012 ; Dita, 2010
; Linguistic Data Consortium, 2020 ; Pesirla, 2019). As a Malayo-Polynesian language,
Cebuano Visayan is part of the Austronesian language family (Bell, 1976 ; Eberhard, Simons,
& Fennig, 2020). Also known as Sugbuanon, Bisayan or Visayan (Wolff, 1972), Binisaya or
Bisaya (Eberhard, Simons, & Fennig, 2020) , Cebuano Visayan is a language spoken by two-
thirds of the Philippine population (Pesirla, 2019, p. 1), making it a lingua franca in Central
and Southern Philippines (Abastillas, 2015, p. 2) with more than 20, 000,000 speakers of the
language not only in Cebu, Bohol, some areas in Samar but also in the regions of Mindanao
(Cebuano Phonetics and Orthography, 2020). In Mindanao, where a large portion of the urban
population in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, Zamboanga and Cotabato are Cebuano Visayan
speaking, Cebuano Visayan is also used as the trade language (Wolff, 1972) where Cebuano-
speaking populations and populations speaking other languages are in contact.
Despite the numerical majority of speakers of the Cebuano Visayan language, there have been
many inaccuracies in terms of its spelling and syntactic structure especially on how the
language is used in mass media. It is in this light that this linguistic analysis of the news
editorial Dalaygon ang Kausaban (Dalaygon ang Kausaban, 2019) is made. This study
analyzes the inaccuracies in orthography, syntax and morphemes in the editorial Dalaygon ang
International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research
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35
Kausaban of SunStar News for linguistic idealization. Specifically, it focuses on the phoneme-
grapheme correspondence, syntactic system and the morphemic structures of content words.
Theoretical Background
This paper argues that the Cebuano Visayan editorial, Dalaygon ang Kausaban of SunStar
News (Dalaygon ang Kausaban, 2019) reveals a textuality of inaccurate orthography, syntax
and morphemes. This argument is supported by the theory of pedagogic grammar. Pedagogic
grammar deals with how grammatical items of a language can be made more learnable or
teachable (Pesirla, 2010) as it describes the criteria for language education and rules of
language use (Almazloum, 2018). It presents rules of a foreign language with the aim of
promoting and guiding the learning processes in the teaching or learning of the language or for
developing one’s awareness of the mother tongue (Crystal, 2008). Richards & Rippen (2014)
claim that grammar can be viewed both as knowledge and as ability. When grammar is viewed
as knowledge, it focuses on the rules for sentence formation, while when it is viewed as an
ability, it focuses on how grammar can be used as a resource in the creation of spoken and
written texts. In this study, grammar is viewed both as knowledge and as ability. The concept
of pedagogic grammar is used in this study as the researcher aims to uphold the importance of
teaching the standard form of the Cebuano Visayan language by idealizing the inaccuracies of
the Cebuano Visayan language in the news editorial Dalaygon ang Kausaban.
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The Philippines is home to 186 languages of which 184 are living while 2 are extinct (Eberhard,
Simons, & Fennig, 2020). Out of the 184 living languages, Cebuano Visayan is considered as
one of the major languages in the Philippines (Caturza, 2012; Dita, 2010; Pesirla, 2019)) which
traced back its roots to the Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian language family (Bell, 1976;
Caturza, 2012; Eberhard, Simons, & Fennig, 2020; Endriga, 2010; Pesirla, 2019).
Cebuano Visayan is a phonetic language that has only three vowels and fifteen consonants
(Cebuano Phonetics and Orthography, 2020; Pesirla, 2019). The vowels are a, i, and u while
the consonants are p, t, k, b, d, g, m, n, ng, s, h, w, l, r and y. Pesirla (2019) in Pagpalambu sa
Pinulungan'g Sugbu-anun'g Binisaya, points out that the Cebuano Visayan language maintains
a phoneme-grapheme correspondence in which all words are spelled as sounded. Hence all
three vowels and fifteen consonants are spelled as pronounced. A glottal stop, also called as a
sound stop (Endriga, 2010) is written as a hyphen, while contractions use an apostrophe
(Pesirla, 2019). The glottal stop /?/ appears in between two vowels (Pesirla, 2019; Endriga,
2010), but can also occur in all positions (Endriga, 2010).
In terms of sentence structure, “a Cebuano Visayan sentence is made up of at least two
grammatical constituents, the topic and the predicate, both of which can be expanded” (Bunye
& Yap, 1971). Generally, Cebuano Visayan is a predicate-construct language (Bell, 1976 ;
Pesirla, 2019). This means that sentences in Cebuano Visayan start with the predicate and end
with the subject. These predicates can be noun predicates, adjective predicates, adverb
predicates, prepositional phrase predicates, intransitive verb predicates or transitive verb
predicates (Bunye & Yap, 1971; Cubar & Cubar, 1994). Bell in Cebuano Subjects in Two
Frameworks describes Cebuano as a verb-initial language of which “a sentence consists
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basically of a verb followed by a string of noun phrases” (1976). This structure can be observed
in the sentence Magkuha ang bata nga babayi sa iyahang lapis (The young girl will get her
pencil) where the verb “magkuha” precedes the noun phrase “ang bata nga babayi sa iyahang
lapis”. However, according to Bunye & Yap (1971), when emphasis is placed on the topic, the
order of the Cebuano sentence is reversed.
Like any other language, a Cebuano Visayan word is made up of morphemes. The morpheme
can be a whole word such as kuha (get), or an affix to be added to a base such as the prefix gi-
(gi + kuha), or a suffix –an (kuha + an). An affix is an addition to the base form of the word to
create a new meaning or a new word (Borello, 2018). In Cebuano Visayan language, affixation
occurs with nouns, adjectives and verbs (Bunye & Yap, 1971). Hence, it is a morphosyntactic
language; its morphology is complex and is highly involved in the grammaticalization of ideas
and concepts. Bodily and Lonsdale (2014) in Morphologically Parsing the Cebuano Lexicon
cited the grammaticalization of the word humility as an example. Humility in Cebuano-Visayan
is pagkamapa-inubsanun. This word consists of a root word, ubus (under), and seven nominal
affixes, each of which mold the meaning of ubus into the concept of humility.
The morphemic structure of a Cebuano verb generally consists of a stem plus affixes which
show tense, aspect and voice (Bell, 1976; Bunye & Yap, 1971). To show tense, inflectional
affixes are added to verbs to indicate future, past, and subjunctive actions. According to Wolff,
verb tense can be real or unreal. Real tense is used for present and past action, while the unreal
tense is used for habitual actions, negated past actions, and imperatives (Wolff, 1966 in Bell,
1976). Wolff (1972) in A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan has presented a table of verb affixes
as reference. The affixes mark with asterisks are forms that are not normally used in colloquial
speech
Table 1. Verb Affixes
Future
Past
Subjunctive
Active
Punctual
Durative
Potential
Mu-
Mag-, maga-
Maka-, ka-
mi-,ni-,ning-
,
ming-
nag-,naga-,
ga-
naka-, ka-
Direct
Passive
Punctual
Durative
Potential
-un
Paga-un*
Ma-
Gi-
Gina-*
Na-
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Local
Passive
Punctual
Durative
Potential
-an
Paga-an*
Ma-an, ka-
an
Gi-an
Gina-an*
Na-an
Source: Wolff, J. (1972). A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan.
Aspect refers to the condition or state of an action. (Bunye & Yap, 1971) enumerated two types
of aspects in Cebuano Visayan. These are the non-causative and the causative aspects. The
former involves actions that are momentary, one that lasts over a period of time, one that
indicates ability and possibility, and actions that signify plurality of actor, object and action.
The latter, on the other hand, involves actions that indicate a causative actor or cause of the
action.
For voice, the verb can be in the active, objective, locative and instrumental voice (Bell, 1976),
but according to Berg (1958) in McKaughan (1960), the verb system of Cebuano Visayan is
divided into two voices, the eventive and the non-eventive.
"Eventive means: something happens to a substance,
something befalls the substance" (p. 5). Hence in the
eventive voice the subject does not initiate the action. In
a non-eventive process "the initiative proceeds from the
agent" and therefore the subject and agent are the same.
Further "in the eventive three categories are found" (p.
77). These three categories are (a) a process "entirely
pertaining" to the subject only, (b) a process entirely
pertaining to the subject but also pertaining to something
else, and (c) a process not entirely pertaining to the
subject. Verb affixes characterizing these categories are
ka- and zero, i-, and -an, respectively.
Cebuano verbs also contain affixes to indicate mood (Bunye & Yap, 1971). In Cebuano
Grammar Notes, Bunye & Yap present three types of mood in Cebuano Visayan:
Factual An action that has already been begun or started.
Non-factual An action that has not been started or begun yet.
Afactual An action that is either a request or a command.
The forms used with the negatives wala and dili are
also classified as afactual (1971).
Borello (2018) in English Cebuano Visayan Grammar has enumerated a list of affixes that can
be added to the base to form the Cebuano adjectives. These affixes can be a prefix, a suffix, a
circumfix or an infix, such as the following:
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(a) Affix ma- to mean very (so and so), like in maalam
(wise);
(b) Circumfix ma- -un is added to form an adjective
which means having the characteristic of doing or
becoming, like in malipayon (happy);
(c) Affix on, hon, an, han are added to form adjective
indicating moral and physical qualities, like in tabian
(talkative);
(d) Prefix ha- is added at the root to form adjective of
distance or degree, like in hata-as;
(e) Prefix hi- is added for pointing out frequency, like in
hinga-on;
(f) Infix -g- is added after the vowel of the first syllable
to an adjective referring to measurements to pluralize
referring to more than one thing, like in lagyo (far);
(g) Prefix maka- and the first syllable of the root is
duplicated, like in makahihilu;
(h) Prefix ma-, with the insertion of infix -in- between
the first two syllables, and -on- to the last, creates
adjective of quality, like in matinahuron;
(i) Infix -pa- between ma and the first syllable of the
root, and adding on to the last create adjectives of
quality, like in palabilabihon;
(j) Prefix paki- is added to form adjectives denoting
“very fond of (such and such)”.
METHODOLOGY
This study is a qualitative research utilizing content analysis. The source of data is SunStar
Superbalita News Editorial, Dalaygon ang Kausaban (Dalaygon ang Kausaban, 2019). SunStar
is a network of community newspapers in the Philippines which originate in Cebu City. In
generating the research data, three phases are involved. Phase 1 focuses on the Phoneme-
grapheme Correspondence: Phonetic Alphabetic Orthography. All the misspelled words in
Cebuano Visayan were identified from the textuality of the editorial Dalaygon ang Kausaban
of SunStar Superbalita News. The misspelled Cebuano Visayan words are idealized for
linguistic accuracy based on the alphabetic-phonetic system of the Cebuano Visayan language
observing the phoneme-grapheme correspondence with only three vowels, the –a, -i, and –u
and fifteen consonants. Hyphens and apostrophes are also added in words with glottal stops
and contractions, respectively. An English translation for each Cebuano Visayan word is also
provided. The translation is based on the Cebuano Visayan dictionary of John Wolff (1972).
Phase 2 focuses on the Syntactic System: Predicate Constructs. The inaccurate sentence
structures in the textuality are identified and recorded for idealization as shown in Table 3. The
idealization of each inaccurate sentence construct is based on the predicate-subject order of
Cebuano Visayan sentences. In this phase, sentences that have the subject-predicate order are
idealized following the predicate-subject system of sentences in the Cebuano Visayan
language.
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Phase 3 focuses on the Morpheme Structure of Content Words: Free Bound Morphemic
Affixations. In this phase, all content words in the editorial textuality are identified and
analyzed in terms of affixations. All nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs were tallied and each
of these are analyzed based on their morphemic structure. In terms of form, the content words
are classified as either simple or complex. Simple words are those that consist of free
morphemes only, while complex words are those which have affixes added to the base form.
Affixes are classified as prefix, suffix, infix and circumfix.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Orthographic Idealization
The textuality of the editorial Dalaygon ang Kausaban of SunStar Superbalita News has fifty-
seven misspelled words as shown in Table 2. Majority of the misspelled Cebuano Visayan
words use the vowel “o” instead of “u” in their spelling such as the words panahon (time),
tawo (man), administrasyon (administration), alternatibo (alternative) ug aron (in order to).
Other misspelled words use the vowel “e” instead of “i” like in ehemplo (example),
kumportable (comfortable), pagdayeg (to praise), problema (problem) and reklamo
(complaint). Other misspellings are found in words that do not have hyphens for glottal stops
in words with two consecutive vowels such as Pahiuyon (in accordance with), maluagan,(will
widen), lain (different), hinuon (rather) and niini (this). Meanwhile, there are contracted words
that do not have apostrophes like in the word dihang, a contracted form of “Diha nga” (there)
and karung, a contracted form of “karun nga” (this time now). The particle nga which can
function as a conjunction, a relative pronoun, or an adjective is contracted as ng when the
preceding word ends with a vowel. In words that end in /n/, the linker g is used (Borello, 2018)
like in the word karun’g. The misspelled words are idealized based on the alphabetic-phonetic
system of the Cebuano Visayan language observing the phoneme-grapheme correspondence
with only three vowels, the –a, -i, and –u (Pesirla, 2019; Wolff, 1972). Hyphens and
apostrophes are also added in words with glottal stops and contractions, respectively based on
Endriga (2010) and Pesirla (2019). The idealized words are presented in Table 2.
Table 2. Orthographic Idealization
Misspelled words
Accurate
Orthography
English Translation
1. Administrasyon
Administrasyun
Administration
2. Alternatibo
Altirnatibu
Alternative
3. Aron
Arun
In order to
4. Balido
Balidu
Valid
5. Dalaygon
Dalaygun
Admirable
6. Dihang
Diha’ng
there
7. Ehemplo
Ihimplu
Example, model
8. Gihapon
Gihapun
Still, as before
9. Gihimong
Gihimu’ng
Was made
10. Gikonsiderar
Gikunsidirar
Was considered
11. Gipalambo
Gipalambu
been improved
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12. Gipatutokan
Gipatutukan
been monitored
13. Gitumong
Gitumung
Was aimed
14. Giuyonan
Gi-uyunan
Was agreed
15. Gobernador
Gubirnadur
Governor
16. Hinuon
Hinu-un
Rather, instead
17. Karong
Karun’g
This time now
18. Kausaban
Ka-usaban
Changes that have taken
place
19. Komportable
Kumpurtabli
Comfortable
20. Kon
Kun
If
21. Laing
La-in’g
Different
22. Magpadayon
Magpadayun
Going to continue
23. Mahimong
Mahimu’ng
Will become
24. Makanunayong
Makanunayun’ng
Will constantly
25. Makasulod
Makasulud
Can enter
26. Maluagan
Malu-agan
will widen
27. Molukat
Mulukat
Will pay
28. Naandang
Na-andan’ng
Accustomed to
29. Nato
Natu
Us
30. Niadtong
Ni-adtu’ng
Since way back
31. Niini
Ni-ini
This
32. Og
Ug
And
33. Opisyal
Upisyal
Official
34. Padayong
Padayun’g
Continue to
35. Pagdayeg
Pagdayig
To praise
36. Pagkonrolar
Pagkuntrular
To control
37. Pagpunsisok
Pagpunsisuk
Crowding of
38. Pahiuyon
Pahi-uyun
In accordance with
39. Pamaagi
Pama-agi
means
40. Panahon
Panahun
Time, weather
41. Pasahero
Pasahiru
Passenger
42. Pinaagi
Pina-agi
Through, means
43. Posisyon
Pusisyun
Position
44. Problema
Prublima
Problem
45. Pwesto
Pwistu
Place, position
46. Reklamo
Riklamu
Complaint
47. Sistema
Sistima
System
48. Solusyon
Sulusyun
Solution
49. Sugbo
Sugbu
Cebu
50. Sugyot
Sugyut
Suggestion
51. Suportahan
Supurtahan
To support
52. Takos (worthy)
Takus
Worthy
53. Tarong
Tarung
Right and proper
54. Tawo
Tawu
Man, person
55. Tiket
Tikit
Ticket
56. Tungod
Tungud
Because
57. Unang
Una’ng
first
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Syntactic Idealization
The study found three inaccurate sentence constructs in the textuality. The syntactic structure
of the three sentences in Table 3 follows the subject-verb-object system instead of the
predicate-subject system of the Cebuano Visayan language (Bell, 1976; Pesirla, 2019). For
example, the compound sentence “Ang waiting area sa terminal gihimong airconditioned ug
ang paging system gipalambo” (The waiting area in the terminal has been air-conditioned)
begins with the subject “Ang waiting area sa terminal (The waiting area in the terminal)” and
is succeeded by the predicate “gihimong airconditioned (has been airconditioned)” in the first
clause; the subject “ang paging system (The paging system)” is followed by the predicate
“gipalambo (has been improved)”in the second clause. To idealize this sentence in Cebuano
Visayan, the sentence is written as “Gihimu’ng airconditioned ang waiting area sa terminal
ug gipalambu ang paging system.” In this way, the sentence is constructed following the
predicate- subject syntactic structure of the Cebuano Visayan language. Meanwhile, the second
sentence Ang luwas ug kumpurtabli nga CSBT iyang gipatutukan pagbalik (The safety and
comfort of the CSBT have been monitored.) is idealized by rearranging the words into
Gipatutukan niya pagbalik ang luwas ug kumpurtabli nga CSBT. The same process is applied
to idealize the inaccuracy in the third sentence, Dili pa lang dugay, laing lakang ang gipatuman
aron pagkonrolar sa mga tawo sa terminal (Not long ago, another measure was implemented
to control the crowd of people in the terminal). The idealized version starts with the predicate
and reads Dili pa lang dugay, gipatuman ang la-in’g lakang arun pagkuntrular sa mga tawu
sa terminal.
Table 3. Syntactic Idealization
Inaccurate Sentence Construct
Idealized Sentence Construct
1. Ang waiting area sa terminal
gihimong airconditioned ug ang
paging system gipalambo.
Gihimu’ng air-conditioned
ang waiting area sa terminal
ug gipalambu ang paging
system.
2. Ang luwas ug komportable nga
CSBT iyang gipatutokan pagbalik.
Gipatutukan niya pagbalik
ang luwas ug kumpurtabli
nga CSBT.
3. Dili pa lang dugay, laing lakang ang
gipatuman aron pagkonrolar sa mga
tawo sa terminal.
Dili pa lang
dugay,gipatuman ang la-in’g
lakang arun pagkuntrular sa
mga tawu sa terminal.
Morphemic Structures of Content Words
Table 4 shows the morphemic structures of content words which are presented alphabetically
based on their word classes: nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. In terms of form, majority
of the nouns in the textuality are simple; they consist of free morphemes only. In nouns with
complex forms, bound morphemes such as ka- in kausaban (changes that have taken place),
pag- in pagpunsisuk (crowding of) and pama- in pama-agi (means) are used as prefixes while
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bound morphemes such as –an in ka-usaban, -yal in upisyal (official) are used as suffixes.
From among the complex nouns, the word ka-usaban appears to be the only noun in the
textuality that has a circumfix ka- –an added to the root word usab. The affixation of the
circumfix ka- -an to the root word usab (change) denotes collectivity of units, thus kausaban
(ka-+ usab + -an) means changes that have taken place (Wolff, 1972).
Circumfixes are common to the morphological structures of many Cebuano Visayan words.
This can be exemplified further by the morphemic structures of sixteen complex verbs in Table
4. The verbs gihimung (gi+ himu + ng), gikunsidirar (gi +kunsidir + ar), malu-agan (ma+ lu-
ag + an), gipatutukan (gi + pa + tutuk + an) and makanunayun (ma + kanunay + un).
The prefix gipa- which indicates actions in the perfect tense is used in the words gipalambu
(been improved) and gipatutukan (been monitored). Other prefixes in verbs are mag- + pa- in
magpadayun (going to continue) which indicate progressive tense in a non-factual mood, ma-
in malu-agan (will widen) to indicate future tense in a non-factual mood, mu- on mulukat (to
pay) to indicate a future action in subjunctive mood, and pag- in pagkuntrular.
The suffix –un is added to the root dalayig to form the adjective dalaygun (admirable) which
indicates a moral quality. Makanunayun’g (constant) has the circumfix ma- -un affixed to the
root kanunay to indicate frequency. Makanunayun’g is a contracted form of the adjective
makanunayun and the particle nga. Another contracted form is the word na-andan’g from the
adjective na-andan and the particle nga. The prefix na- is added to the base anad (accustomed
to). Other adjectives found in the textuality are having free morphemes only such as altirnatibu,
balidu, kumpurtabli and tarung.
Adverbs in the textuality are diha’ng, gihapun and karun’g. The words are simple in forms.
They have free morphemes only. Diha’ng and karun’g are contracted forms of diha nga and
karun nga, respectively.
Table 4. Morphemic Structure of Content Words: Free Bound Morphemic Affixations
Content Words
Morphemes
Form
Free
(Roots)
Bound
(Affixes)
Nouns
1. Administrasiyun
(administration)
Administrar
-siyun (suffix)
complex
2. Ihimplu
(example)
ihimplu
Simple
3. Gubirnadur
(governor)
Gubirnu
-adur(suffix)
complex
4. Ka-usaban
(changes that
have taken
place)
usab
Ka- ; -an
(circumfix)
complex
5. Upisyal
(official)
Upis
-yal (suffix)
complex
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6. Pagpunsisuk
(crowding of)
-punsisuk
Pag- (prefix)
complex
7. Pama-agi
(means)
agi
pama- (prefix)
complex
8. Panahun
(time,weather)
panahun
simple
9. Pasahiru
(passenger)
Pasahiru
simple
10. Pusisyun
(position)
Pusisyun
simple
11. Prublima
(problem)
Prublima
simple
12. Pwistu
(place,position)
Pwistu
simple
13. Riklamu
(complaint)
Riklamu
simple
14. Sistima
(system)
Sistima
simple
15. Sulusyun
(solution)
Sulusyun
simple
16. Sugbu
(Cebu)
Sugbu
simple
17. Sugyut
(suggestion)
Sugyut
simple
18. Tawu
(man, person)
tawu
simple
19. Tikit
(ticket)
Tikit
simple
ADJECTIVES
1. Altirnatibu
(alternative)
Alternatibu
simple
2. Balidu
(valid)
Balidu
simple
3. Dalaygun
(admirable)
Dalayig
-un (suffix)
Complex
4. Kumpurtabli
(comfortable)
Kumpurtabli
Simple
5. Makanunayun’g
(constant)
Kanunay
Ma- -un
(circumfix)
Complex
6. Na-andan’g
(usual)
Andan
Na- (prefix)
complex
7. Takus
(worthy)
takus
Simple
8. Tarung
(right and
proper)
Tarung
Simple
International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research
Vol.8, No 3, pp. 34-46, May 2020
Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: ISSN 2053-6305(Print), Online ISSN: ISSN 2053-6313(online)
44
VERBS
1. Gihimung
(was made)
-himu
Gi- (prefix)
-ng (suffix)
Complex
2. Gikunsidirar
(was
considered)
-kunsidirar
Gi- (prefix)
Complex
3. Gipalambu
(been improved)
-lambu
Gipa- (prefix)
Complex
4. Gipatutukan
(been
monitored)
-tutuk
Gipa- (prefix)
-an (suffix)
Complex
5. Gitumung
(was aimed)
-tumung
Gi- (prefix)
Complex
6. Gi-uyunan
(was agreed)
-uyun
Gi- -an
(circumfix)
Complex
7. Magpadayun
(may continue)
dayun
Magpa-
(prefix)
Complex
8. Mahimung
(may become)
-himu
Ma- (prefix)
Complex
9. Makasulud
(can enter)
-sulud
Maka- (prefix)
Complex
10. Malu-agan
(could widen)
-lu-ag
Ma- -an
(circumfix)
Complex
11. Mulukat
(to pay)
lukat
Mu- (prefix)
Complex
12. Padayung
(continue to)
-dayun
Pa- (prefix)
Complex
13. Pagdayig
(to praise)
-dayig
Pag- (prefix)
Complex
14. Pahi-uyun
(in accordance
with)
-uyun
Pahi- (prefix)
Complex
15. Pagkuntrular
(to control)
-kuntrul
Pag-; -ar
(circumfix)
Complex
16. Supurtahan
(to support)
supurta
-han (suffix)
Complex
ADVERBS
1. Diha’ng
(there)
diha
simple
2. Gihapun
(still, as before)
Gihapun
Simple
3. Karun’g
(this time now)
Karun
simple
4. Ni-adtu’ng
(since way back)
-adtu
Ni- (prefix)
Complex
International Journal of English Language and Linguistics Research
Vol.8, No 3, pp. 34-46, May 2020
Published by ECRTD-UK
Print ISSN: ISSN 2053-6305(Print), Online ISSN: ISSN 2053-6313(online)
45
CONCLUSION
Therefore, it has been proven that the Cebuano Visayan editorial, Dalaygon ang Kausaban of
SunStar Superbalita News revealed a textuality of inaccurate orthography, syntax and
morphemes. This study has also shown that many Cebuano words are formed by affixations
using prefixes, suffixes and circumfixes that affect the grammaticalization of ideas and
concepts. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that an information drive on
the idealized version of the Cebuano Visayan language be made through a smart website where
users of the language including those who are interested to learn Cebuano Visayan, can have
access to the accurate orthography, syntax and morphemic structure of the language. The smart
website can be a useful guide for learners to the correct spelling and orthographic system of
the Cebuano Visayan language. Furthermore, it is recommended to review the language policy
on the use of Cebuano Visayan language in the print media. The policy makers may look into
how using one common standard form of the language be made possible. In line with this,
publishing companies which present news in Cebuano Visayan may coordinate with experts of
the Cebuano Visayan language including linguists who can train and teach them with the
accurate Cebuano Visayan grammar. Third, language teachers especially those who are
teaching Cebuano Visayan in their Mother tongue- based Multilingual Education (MTB- MLE)
classes should be equipped with materials containing the accurate form and use of Cebuano
Visayan so that they can model to young learners the correct way of forming words in Cebuano
Visayan. Understanding how Cebuano Visayan words are formed is a necessary skill in order
to use the language both in speech and in writing. The ability to recognize how words change
as morphemes are added to it can be helpful for a learner of the Cebuano Visayan language to
learn proper word formation and the possible combinations of morphemes. It is also
recommended for future researchers to come up with an accurate Cebuano Visayan work text
that can be used by elementary pupils in their MTB –MLE classes.
IMPLICATIONS TO RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
News editorials can be a good source of authentic learning materials for language classes.
However, while editorials convey ideas and stance on a particular issue, giving readers an
implicit knowledge on how to use the language, they can also be a source of linguistic
inaccuracies in using the language. Hence, the need to uphold one common standard form in
the use of Cebuano Visayan language in printed texts in order to earn mastery of its grammar,
and to preserve its native form.
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