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Waray Language History

The Waray people were first contacted by Westerners on March 31, 1521 when Ferdinand Magellan arrived in Leyte. Little is known about pre-Hispanic Waray history, but they are considered the easternmost Visayan group inhabiting central Philippine Islands. Today, Warays are predominantly Roman Catholic with some blending of animistic beliefs. They are the most culturally conservative of the Visayans. The Waray language is part of the Austronesian language family and is spoken throughout Samar Island, with some variations between the dialects of Eastern, Northern, and Western Samar.

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Neil Keven Millan
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1K views1 page

Waray Language History

The Waray people were first contacted by Westerners on March 31, 1521 when Ferdinand Magellan arrived in Leyte. Little is known about pre-Hispanic Waray history, but they are considered the easternmost Visayan group inhabiting central Philippine Islands. Today, Warays are predominantly Roman Catholic with some blending of animistic beliefs. They are the most culturally conservative of the Visayans. The Waray language is part of the Austronesian language family and is spoken throughout Samar Island, with some variations between the dialects of Eastern, Northern, and Western Samar.

Uploaded by

Neil Keven Millan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Waray language history

In history, the Westerners first contact with Waray peoples was on March 31, 1521, when Magellan
found the Leyte gateway. Very little is known about pre-Hispanic Waray history, but linguistic,
ethnographic, and archeological evidence help to classify the Warays as the easternmost extension of
the Visayan peoples, a relatively homogeneous group inhabiting the central Philippine Islands named
after the great Sumatran empire of Sri Vijaya. Warays today are predominantly Roman Catholic, many
practicing with a blend of pre-Hispanic animistic elements. They are the most culturally conservative of
the Visayans.

Tracing its language family, Waray-waray is a Central Bisayan branch of the Bisayan subgroup.
Bisayan is a subgroup of Central Philippine which is a subgroup of the Meso Philippine group. Meso
Philippine group then, is a subgroup of the Western Malayo-Polynesian branch. Western Malayo-
Polynesian branch which is a subgroup of the Malayo-Polynesian subfamily belongs to the Austronesian
language family. The Waray language is prevalently spoken in the whole of Samar Island. except
specifically in the little island communities of San Vicente and San Antonio in Northern Samar; and,
Almagro and Santo Niño in Western Samar where Cebuano is spoken. Cebuano is also spoken in some
barangays of San Isidro, Northern Samar and Calbayog City, Western Samar. Spoken Waray has
distinctions in vocabulary and nuances of tone and accent between those spoken in each province.
Thus, the Waray spoken in Eastern Samar is called estehanon; that in Northern Samar is nortehanon and
that of Samar in the west is westehanon. In terms of origin and local identity the people may also be
referred to with those terms.

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