When I was a small kid, my curiosity was always piqued when I hear old folks use special words for certain special situations.

When I approach my father to ask for money, he would say “Inda! Mayo akong sagtak!”

(“I don’t have money!”) The “Inda” to convey the meaning “I don’t care and don’t trouble me with your needling,” and “sagtak” to mean “money”.

The more formal word for “money” is, of course, “kwarta”. To convey irritation or exasperation, my father uses “:sagtak”. Eventually, I came to know other variants conveying the same connotation: samagtak, samagrak, sagrak, hagrak.

Soon enough, I learned there was a whole gamut of words in Bikol specially used to give force to one’s feeling of irritation, exasperation, anger and also to convey mirth, playful insult, teasing and provocative baiting. Or, he may simply use them for emphasis.

Jaime T, Malayanyaon described them as “Mga tataramon na itinataram sa maluya saka makusog na boses” (Weak and strong ways of speaking). Vide, p.434, Tambobong Nin Mga Piniling Tataramon Sa Bikol. Publ. 1989. Author, Jaime T. Malanyaon.. He listed more than 300 words he classifies as maluya and makusog.

I playfully termed them as “tamongot” (contraction of taramon and anggot – word and angry) ( My mother, who was one of my most esteemed consultants, gamely went along with my coinage and also adopted the word in her vocabulary!). A native speaker can say them in whisper and yet the emotive content is still intact.

Some other examples (not found in Malanyaon’s listing):

sahong-sahong(sawongsawong)……… interfere …….. sabal-sabal

tulak ………………………………………………. stomach……… lamasdak

halas……………………………………………….. snake ………….. lasolas

aki…………………………………………………… child …………….pusi’

parong…………………………………... put out fire, light…palsok

mata………………………………………………… eye ……………… malsok

ayam………………………………………………...dog ……………...gamadya

buta, harap……………………………………… blind………….buslag

ngipon…………………………………………….. teeth…………. ngipngip

lubot…………………………………………..anus, buttock ….. lusbot

bitis……………………………………………….... feet……………… singkil, samingkil

babae…………………………………………..…woman …………. babaknit

lalake……………………………………………….. man……..……… lalaknit

gadan……………………………………………….die, dead…….. tinglo’, tigbak

Incidentally I take special note of the infix –s- which can be used in practically all words to convey the same feeling of irritation or emphasis. Thus osran (oran, rain), dusnag (du’nag, rain(double emphasis!),

The –s- is found in the word nagisnit na! (Oh, how hot it is!)

The nag- prefix, coupled with the use of the infix –s- lends a forceful comment on a hot, simmering day. I wonder if linguist Lobel ever noticed this unassuming infix in Standard Naga Bikol. I have a copy of his book but I have yet to make a thorough reading of its contents.

Perhaps the –s- infix deserves a more thorough treatment in another blog.

Now, the question is: Is this peculiar linguistic feature in Bikol common in many or all of the Philippine languages? I would not venture any opinion although knowing Filipino/Tagalog I also see some words in the latter hinting of a similar character although perhaps not as preponderant as in Bikol.

Perhaps one reason why many synonynmous words assume slightly different connotations is that they originally came from different localities. The interaction of the speakers would result in giving varying meanings for words apparently denoting similar objects, or actions.

I am creating this blog for Bicol culture and history. For things that are close to my place of birth.

Among others, I want to give special focus to the Bikol language, the tongue used by my mother to sing llulaby to lull me to sleep and to soothe me when I was young and I was distressed.

It is argued the Bikol language is splintered into various dialects and subdialects given the geographical situation in the region. This may be true, but still and all it cannot be denied the region has a local tongue in extensive use when the Spaniards came who, undeniably, preserved and strenghtened the tongue in writing while it continues to grow and develop in non-written usage; it created words as the situation demands while borrowing and improvising in its effort to give meaning and sense to the world around.

History is replete with the spectacles of even dynamic languages dying out of existence because of cultural forces beyond the control of its users.

Latin is one of them and, while it was the foundation of Western thought and culture, forces beyond the control of its original users reduced it into obsolescence..

Some languages mutate into versions no longer appearing like the original copy, so to speak, because of interactions of various peoples meeting in one place speaking different tongues. As time goes on, the language that melds is a product of multilateral accommodation giving premium to the need for common understanding.

As an illustration, this is what happened in some parts of Sorsogon and Masbate where the prevalent dialect is known as Bisacol, a marriage of bisaya and bikol.

It is an understatement to say, therefore, that human institutions, including language, have no permanent character. They are always in constant flux and no single individual can control or impede change in these institutions although in some ways one can influence thought and behavior to achieve certain desired results.

There are over 168 languages in the Philippines and Bicol is one of the major languages spoken by three to four million Filipinos although Christopher Sundita (visit his Salita Blog) , basing his extrapolations from the studies of previous linguists (Mintz and Jobel , et al) avers there are at present 2.4 million speakers of the so-called Northern Standard Bikol (Naga and Legazpi as its axis) and 1.1 million of nonstandard Southern Bikol. The rest of the supposed Bicol speakers reside outside of the region.

I want to focus on Standard Bikol, not because nonstandard Bikol is less important, but because of practical considerations being the former in wider use and with greater literary tradition.

With this as an introduction I shall now and then post my blogs not so much in an organized manner but what takes my special fancy because blogs are not supposed to be publications or excerpts from well-written books and/or products of intensive studies done over several decades.

Let me also warn you readers I am not a linguist nor an abstruse, learned scholar out to prove something to the world . I am an assiduous student of local history and simply has the curiousity to study things worthy, if it can be said, of intellectual preoccupation.

The parameters now expressly stated, my objective is to arouse curiosity, elicit reaction and helpful criticism, and perhaps contribute to a deeper understanding of a subject not well-trodden for the moment.