The Kulay-full Davao Tagalog

According to my good old friend Wiki, there are roughly 125 to  175 dialects in the Philippines depending on the category or classification.

Quite a lot for such a smalll country, right?

Perhaps this can be attributed to our country’s archipelagic nature. Whatever is the root of this great degree in variation, this blog entry is a personal in depth analysis of the Davao Tagalaog that I grew up with, in comparison with all the other dialects in the country.

From the first few words I uttered to the most complicated sentences that I was able to muster, the Davao Tagalog has always been a part of me.

But before anything else, what exactly is the Davao Tagalog? I’m no linguist expert of sorts, but I will try to define the Davao Tagalog based on my personal experience of the dialect.

DEFINING DAVAO TAGALOG

The Davao Tagalog is an amalgamation of Tagalog (Luzon: Northern Island and capital of the Philippines) and Bisaya (Visayas: Central Islands of the Archipelago).

So how does it work? I’ll just point out one of the few aspects of the Filipino Tagalog that I personally find note worthy:

(1) Mag-

Mag- is a prefix that are affixed before a verb or an action  in future tense.

It is a tagalog prefix, that is freely used with Bisayan words in the Davao Tagalog dialect.

Example:

Tagalog: Maglalaro ako. (I will play)

Bisaya: Mu-dula ko. (I will play)

Davao Tagalog: Mag-dula ko. (I will play)

So as you can observe the tagalog prefix is affixed before a bisayan word.

“Mag” the prefix is tagalog, whereas the verb play or “dula” is a bisayan term.

(2) Naga-

Naga- is a bisaya prefix affixed to actions words intended for those in present tense. It is a Bisayan prefix, that is freely used with Tagalog words in the Davao dialect.

Example:

Tagalog: Kumakain ako. (I am eating)

Bisaya: Nagakaon ko. (I am eating)

Davao Tagalog: Nagakain ako. (I am eating)

In Davao Tagalog, the bisaya prefix Naga- is affixed before the tagalog verb kain.

This is very common in conversations in Davao Tagalog.

(3) Beh and Bah

“Beh” and “Bah” is an expression Davao people use often. It can usually be found at the end of sentences or you can take is as a sentence add on. I’m not really sure how its correctly spelled, but I choose not to drop the “H” so as to make a distinction with the English word “be”.

Here are various examples where the word “beh” or "bah is used in various contexts:

The asking-for-favor Beh and the aggressive Bah

Paki-kuha ng ballpen ko, beh? (Can you please get my ballpen?)

You can use beh when asking for a favor, so this context of beh, is better paired with a sweet tone.

This kind of “beh” can be paired with an aggressive “bah”. If the person you asked for the favor refuses to do it or deliberately ignores you, all you have to do is say the same question but end it with a “bah”. This time say it with a louder and fuller voice, and hopefully get the point through.

Paki-kuha ng ballpen ko, bah?! (Can you PLEASE get my ballpen?!)

The taunting Beh

 The word can also be added to a sentence when you are challenging or perhaps taunting a person.

Example:

Sige daw gawin mo, beh?! (Go on, do it!)

To make it more effctive, use a challenging i-don’t-think-you-can-do-it sarcastic tone. If the person tries to weasel himself out of the dare with some excuse of sorts, feel free to use the taunting beh once again.

Unsa man, beh? Di nimo kaya? (So now what? You can’t do it?)

Then eventually, if the person doesn’t give in, you can try to do the act yourself by saying.

Ako na lang, beh! (Let me do it!)

The angry Beh

The expression beh can also be used to underscore anger or make a point. This type of beh should be said with force.

Example:

Paghilom dira, beh! (Shut up!)

If the other end of the conversation still has not acknowledged your statement, just replace the be with a bah and increase the volume of your voice.

Paghilom dira, bah!!! (Shut up!!!)

Another form of the angry beh, is the annoyed beh. You can use the word beh with a sarcastic tone and it will make the sarcasm more effective.

These are just three points that I pointed out here, the list goes on and on. But knowing these common terms are helpful in the desire to easily understand the Davao Tagalog.

THE ROOTS OF DAVAO TAGALOG

I grew up in a household where Filipino Tagalog is the main means of communication. According to my mother, this could be attributed to the fact that her parents came all the way from Cavite and Samar, and they settled here in Davao. Whereas my father’s parents are all from Bohol who also decided to settle in Davao.

Perhaps, the Davao Tagalog can be referred to as the middle ground dialect for all the various dialects that has invaded the city. Since more or less, the Davao Tagalog is a hodge podge of various dialects.

But during my childhood years, the Filipino Tagalog became my first language with a hint of that particular Luzon accent. This was our household dialect, and even in school the people I encountered and the friends that I made were very much using the Filipino Tagalog. Only a few people were using the Bisaya for daily conversations.

Eventually, in Highschool I had a group of friends whose first language was Bisaya. With that I had to adjust to their Bisaya, and thus they found my Filipino Tagalog meshed with Bisaya.

A classic example of my epic fail attempt at the Davao Tagalog was:
“Ano man ito uy, nagkatol man dalunggan ko.” (What is this? My ear is itchy)

It sounds funny, because perhaps the mixture or balance of Tagalog and Bisaya is not the perfect Davao Tagalog ideal. I think. I’m not really sure, but yes, we Davaoenoes know when it’s not a Davao Tagalog. There’s like this one open secret grammar guide book innate in us that we unanimously laugh at pathetic Davao Tagalog attempts - like the statement above. Eventually, I was able to adjust to the Davao Tagalog like everyone else.

DAVAO TAGALOG IN FILIPINO TAGALOG ZONE

So all my life I have been in the comforts of Davao Tagalog. I speak english fluently, and it is a communication skill that I have developed thanks to my Alma Mater. I can speak bisaya as well, though only the basic words and none of those gruesome nose bleed to death deep words.

Filipino Tagalog is overly different from the Davao Tagalog because of the accent. There was this one time way back in highschool when I had a classmate who started speaking with a Luzon/Manila-ish accent, saying that she couldn’t help it because she spent an entire week with a cousin from Manila.

We were all like, “okay”. One week with someone from Luzon, will totally change your accent for a month. We were like, whatever, Davao Tagalog can be understood by people from manila.

Yes, a number of Davao people find Davaoenoes with a Manila accent as “hilas” or “mayabang” or boastful if spoken by a true blue Davao peepz. Especially when that person can speak the local accent before.

I’ve been to Manila various times, but usually with family or friends. So I don’t really have to put much effort in the accent. So it would just be “po” and “opo” to my relatives there and a couple of “magkano po ito” in shopping.

But about a couple of years ago, I was one of the delgates for our church group for the Asian Youth Day hosted in Manila. In our delegation, there were ten of us, from different parts of the country, and I was the only one from Mindanao.

Ten days in Manila, how bad could it be right?

Here is a picture of our delegation for the Asian Youth Day.

I took it as a game, of speaking with the Filipino Tagalog accent. With my Filipino Tagalog upbringing, I was alway able to pull it off. And every time people would ask me where I was from, and I would answer that I’m from Davao they would all have the same reaction saying that they wouldn't have guessed. So there, I can pull off a the accent and talk in Filipino Tagalog fluently.

I just had to take note of the following:

(1) Do not use Mag/Nag instead repeat the first syllable of words.

i.e. Do not say “Magkain ako” instead say “Kakain ako”

(2) Use Filipino words,meaning no bisayan words. Words that I learned from elementary vocabulary Filipino Subjects. (LOL at my self)

i.e. Say “Nakaka-TUWA naman” instead of saying “Lingaw naman”

(3) Keep the accent on.

In this 10 day escapade I had, I learned very important things that I have to pin down to the following.

• DAVAO PEOPLE ARE MORE LINGUISTICALLY VERSATILE. We understand them but they can’t understand us. I’m not really saying that it’s only the Davao dialect that’s versatile, it goes the same for all the other dialects. But the Davao dialect is really an equally balanced play of two dialects. 
• ACCENT IS VITAL. Surely, those who are accustomed to the Luzon accent can understand what we say because basically the Davao dialect is a mesh of Filipino Tagalog words. But every time I dropped the accent at one point, my point becomes more difficult to understand. The person I would be talking to would say “Ano nga iyon ulit?” (What was that again?). So, basically if you drop the accent you’d have to repeat what you said all over again. They find our local accent somewhat foreign, making the conversation more difficult to comprehend.
• ACCENT RETAINS. Even after the ten day exodus, I had slips and snags of accent retention for about roughly two weeks. The accent has somewhat rooted itself in my system. So, I guess I was able to have a first hand experience that the accent does remain after a while, but it doesn’t stay for good.
• FIRST DIALECT WILL ALWAYS COME FIRST. I was not the only coming from outside of Luzon in our delegation. I had breathers from the Filipino Tagalog dialect when I was having bisayan conversation with one of my delegation mates coming from Visayas. But of course, her Waray (Samar Dialect) was also something I cannot fully comprehend. I pulled it off for the next ten days, but my good friend from Samar completely gave up on talking in Filipino Tagalog on the 8th Day or so. She was literally tired, and extremely desired to go home to the point that her brain got exhausted from translating Waray ideas to Filipino Tagalog. She literally engaged in conversations in her dialect, leaving all others to cope for themselves what she was trying to say.

The Davao Tagalog is not really as complicated as it may seem. But whatever you may want to call it or quote it, it remains as it is. The great degree of variety all historically lodged in one dialect makes it more unique and interesting. Davao city is a boiling pot of various Filipino cultures, and this Davao Tagalog that lives and breathes amidst the Davao Streets is forever evolving and is a vital part of the Davao heritage.

DISCLAIMER: All contents of this article are just mere hum-drums of my radical mind based on my personal and on hand experience of the Davao Tagalog. I am in no way an expert or a linguist.