Curtis McFarland gives the following classification for the Bikol languages.[1]
Lobel (2000)
Clockwise from top-left: A signage barring people from hanging around the area; A signage barring vendors inside the churchyard; A signage reminding people of proper waste disposal; and a signage barring swimmers in Lake Bato. All are written in the Coastal Bikol language (Naga–Legazpi variant).
While McFarland (1974) splits Bikol into 11 dialects, Lobel (2000) splits Bikol into 12 different dialects (including Partido Bikol, which McFarland does not differentiate) and 4 main branches.[2]
Bikol
Northern Coastal Bikol
Central Standard – spoken primarily in Naga City, Cam. Sur, Tabaco & Legazpi, Albay and Sorsogon City, Sorsogon. Also recognized (and sometimes understood) in Daet, Camarines Norte and many other areas of Camarines Sur, San Pascual, Masbate on Burias Island, first and second districts of Albay, southwestern coast of Catanduanes, and northeastern Sorsogon.
Partido – spoken in the Camarines Sur municipalities of Ocampo, Goa, Tigaon, Lagonoy, Sagñay, and San Jose. This dialect has a mellow intonation and is heavily influenced by Rinconada Bikol.
Rinconada Bikol – spoken primarily in Iriga City, Baao, Bula, Balatan, Baao and Nabua, Camarines Sur. Also in some parts of Ocampo, Buhi and Pili in Camarines Sur and in parts of Polangui, Albay.
Lakeside Rinconada dialect (lacks /ə/ vowel)
Highland Rinconada dialect (with /ə/ vowel)
Buhinon – spoken in Buhi, Camarines Sur. Contains features from both the Bikol of Polangui, Albay and the Iriga variant of Rinconada Bikol.
Some dialects of Southern Bikol have the close central unrounded vowel/ɨ/ as a reflex of Proto-Austronesian*ə. However, Proto-Austronesian *ə is realized as /o/ in Libon. Two Bikol dialects have unique additional consonants, namely Southern Catanduanes, which has an interdentallateral consonant /l̟/ (also transcribed as l̪͆),[3][4] and Buhi-non, which has the voiced velar fricative/ɣ/.[5]
^Olson, Kenneth S.; Machlan, Glenn; Amangao, Nelson (2008). "Minangali (Kalinga) Digital Wordlist: Presentation Form". Language Documentation & Conservation. 2 (1). hdl:10125/1772.
^"Interdental Lateral". Xiller Yañez's Weblog. March 17, 2012. Archived from the original on May 3, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2015.
^Lobel, Jason (2009). "Bikol". In Brown, K.; Ogilvie, S. (eds.). Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. Oxford: Elsevier. pp. 158–161. ISBN 978-0-08-087775-4.
Sources
Lobel, Jason William; Tria, Wilmer Joseph S.; Carpio, Jose Maria Z. (2000). An satuyang tataramon / A Study of the Bikol Language. Naga City, Philippines: Lobel & Tria Partnership, Co.: Holy Rosary Minor Seminary.
McFarland, Curtis D. (1974). The Dialects of the Bikol Area (PDF) (Ph.D. thesis). Yale University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-10-31.
External links
Wikivoyage has a phrasebook for Bikol.
Translate Bikol, an online English–Bikol and Bisakol languages translator.
A Bikol language database is available through the Kaipuleohone archive.