Botolan language

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title: "Botolan language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["sambalic-languages", "languages-of-zambales"] description: "Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botolan_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]

Field	Value
name	Botolan
altname	Botolan Sambal
states	Philippines
region	some parts of Zambales province, Luzon
speakers	33,000
date	2000
ref	e18
familycolor	Austronesian
fam2	Malayo-Polynesian
fam3	Philippine
fam4	Central Luzon
fam5	Sambalic
agency	Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino
iso3	sbl
glotto	boto1242
glottorefname	Botolan Sambal
notice	IPA
map	Botolan_Sambal_language_map.png
mapcaption	Area where Botolan Sambal is spoken according to Ethnologue
::

| name = Botolan | altname = Botolan Sambal | states = Philippines | region = some parts of Zambales province, Luzon | speakers = 33,000 | date = 2000 | ref = e18 | familycolor = Austronesian | fam2 = Malayo-Polynesian | fam3 = Philippine | fam4 = Central Luzon | fam5 = Sambalic | agency = Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino | iso3 = sbl | glotto = boto1242 | glottorefname = Botolan Sambal | notice = IPA | map = Botolan_Sambal_language_map.png | mapcaption = Area where Botolan Sambal is spoken according to Ethnologue

Botolan is a Sambalic language spoken by 32,867 (SIL 2000) Sambal, primarily in the Zambal municipalities of Botolan and Cabangan in the Philippines. Language status is 5 (developing).

Varieties

The Ayta people of sitio Villar, Botolan, and sitio Kakilingan, Santa Fe, Cabangan also speak a Botolan dialect with some unique lexical items.

Ethnologue reports Ayta Hambali (Hambali Botolan), Sambali Botolan as dialects of Sambal Botolan. Among themselves, Ayta Hambali reportedly use some words that are similar to Ayta, Mag-Anchi.

Phonology

Botolan has 20 phonemes: 16 consonants and four vowels. Syllable structure is relatively simple. Each syllable contains at least a consonant and a vowel.

Vowels

Botolan has four vowels. They are:

• /a/ an open central unrounded vowel similar to English father
• /e/ a close-mid front unrounded vowel similar to German Elefant
• /i/ a close front unrounded vowel similar to English machine
• /u/ (written as ‘o’) a close back unrounded vowel similar to English flute

There are five main diphthongs: , , , /ij/, and .

Consonants

Below is a chart of Botolan consonants. All the stops are unaspirated. The velar nasal occurs in all positions including at the beginning of a word.

::data[format=table] | Bilabial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | Nasals | Plosives/ Affricates | voiceless | voiced | Fricatives | Laterals | Flaps | Semivowels | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::

Note: Consonants and can sometimes interchange as they were once allophones.

Stress

Stress is phonemic in Botolan. Word stress is very important; it differentiates homonyms, e.g. hikó ('I') and híko ('elbow').

Historical sound changes

Many words pronounced with and in Tagalog have and , respectively, in their cognates in Botolan. Compare hiko and bayo with the Tagalog siko and bago.

Sample texts

The Lord's Prayer

Version from Matthew

Hay ngalan mo ay igalang dayi nin kaganawan. Andawaten nawen ya tampol kayna dayin mag-arí. Mangyari dayi ya kalabayan mo bayri ha babon lotá Bilang ombayro ha katatag-ayan. Hapa-eg ay biyan mo kayin pamamangan ya angka-ilanganen nawen. Patawaren mo kayi ha kawkasalanan nawen bilang pamatawad nawen ha nakapagkasalanan konnawen. Agmo kayi biyan ma-irap ya pagsobok boy ipakarayó mo kayi koni Satanas.}}}}

Philippine national proverb

Below is a translation in Botolan of the Philippine national proverb "He who does not acknowledge his beginnings will not reach his destination," followed by the original in Tagalog.

• Botolan: Hay ahe tanda nin nanlek ha pinangibatan, ay ahe makalateng ha lalakwen.
• Tagalog: Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan.

References

References

1. "Ethnologue".
2. Himes, Ronald S.. (2012). "The Central Luzon Group of Languages". Oceanic Linguistics.
3. "Botolan Sambal".
4. "National Philippine Proverb in Various Philippine Languages".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::