BOHOLANA - "BISDAK", Pride of Bohol

When I was still at university in Manila (Philippines Christian University), in my block section, I was the only one from Bohol. There were from other Visayas provinces but not exactly from where I came from. I tell you what, when everybody learned that I was from "J" and "H" place, they started teasing me by talking boholano way. But to tell you honestly, I never ever learned the correct way of speaking boholano, due to the fact that we used Cebuano in our island than boholano. Even here at work, all the Filipinos tease me all the time. The truth is, I am from Bohol, whether I speak boholano or cebuano, still I am a very proud "Boholana".

BOHOLANO is a local dialect of Cebuano/Visayan that is spoken in the island of Bohol. It is sometimes described as a separate language, as it is a dialect only for Boholano people.

Boholano, especially the dialects used in Central Bohol, can be distinguished from other Cebuano dialects by a few phonetic changes. Like for example the "y" sound in Cebuano becomes "j" ("iya" in Cebuano becomes "ija"), the "k" sound sometimes becomes "h" ("ako" in Cebuano becomes "aho") the "l" sound sometimes if it is used in the second or following syllable becomes "w" ("kulang" in Cebuano becomes "kuwang").

Here are some examples:

Cebuano: Iyaha man na. = Boholano: Ijaha man na. In Tagalog means "Kanya yan", and in English goes "That's his or her".

Cebuano: Akoa man ni. = Boholano: Ahoa man ni. In Tagalog means "Akin to", and in English goes "This is mine".

We call ourselves as BOL-ANON, well for obvious reason people who lives in Bohol. Boholanos refer to our island homeland as the 'Republic of Bohol' with both conviction and pride. A narrow strait separates the island of Cebu and Bohol and both share a common language, but the Boholanos retain a conscious distinction from the Cebuanos.