Kalagan language

Not to be confused with Kalanga language.

Kalagan
Native to	Philippines
Region	Mindanao (Davao Region and a few parts in Caraga)
Ethnicity	Kalagan people (or "Caragans" or "Caragas")
Native speakers	(160,000 cited 2000–2002) [1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Central Philippine Mansakan Kalagan
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: kqe  – Kalagan kll  – Kagan Kalagan klg  – Tagakaulu Kalagan
Glottolog	west2552

Kalagan is an Austronesian dialect cluster of the Davao Region of Mindanao in the Philippines. It is also spoken in a few parts of Caraga, still in Mindanao.

Distribution

Ethnologue lists the following locations for Kalagan.

• Davao del Sur Province: southwest of Davao City, along inland coasts
• Compostela Valley and Davao del Norte provinces: including Samal and associated islands, and inland on eastern shores of Davao Gulf
• Davao Oriental Province highlands

Kalagan dialects are:

• Isamal dialect: spoken in Samal, Davao del Norte
• Western Kalagan: spoken in Davao Oriental Province
• Lupon: spoken in Davao del Sur Province, along the gulf down to Hagonoy and Guihing near Digos
• Eastern Kalagan: spoken mainly in Davao Oriental Province

Other dialects include the Kagan Kalagan which is spoken near Digos in Davao del Sur Province where there are 6,000 speakers, and the Tagakaulo which is spoken mainly in Davao del Sur Province (western shore of Davao Gulf, from Digos south to Bugis and inland), Sarangani Province (Malungon Municipality), and also in Sultan Kudarat (Columbio municipality) and South Cotabato (Tampakan) provinces.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Fricative			s
Rhotic			( ɾ )
Lateral			l
Approximant		w		j

• /d/ can have an allophone of [ɾ] in intervocalic positions.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u
Mid	ɛ
Open		a

• /ɨ/ can be heard as [ə] in word-final stressed syllables when preceding /ʔ/.
• /i, a/ can be heard as [ɪ, ʌ] in closed syllables.
• /ɛ/ is heard as [æ] when after /m/.
• /u/ is heard as [o] in word-final position. ^[2]

References

1. Kalagan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Kagan Kalagan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Tagakaulu Kalagan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Wendel, Asa & Dag (1978). Kaagan-Kalagan phonemic statement. Studies in Philippine Linguistics 2. pp. 191–203.