The Bolinao language or Binubolinao is a Central Luzon language spoken primarily in the municipalities of Bolinao and Anda, Pangasinan in the Philippines. It has approximately 50,000 speakers, making it the second most widely spoken Sambalic language. Most Bolinao speakers can speak Pangasinan and/or Ilocano. Ethnologue reports 510 monolinguals for this language.
Bolinao has 21 phonemes: 16 consonants and five vowels. Syllable structure is relatively simple. Each syllable contains at least a consonant and a vowel.
Bolinao has five vowels. They are:
There are six main diphthongs: , , , , , and .
Below is a chart of Bolinao consonants. All the stops are unaspirated. The velar nasal occurs in all positions including at the beginning of a word.
The first known grammar on the Bolinao language is the <i>Arte de la Lengua Sambala y Española</i> (translation from Spanish: Grammar of the Sambal and Spanish languages). It was written by an anonymous source likely with the oldest paragraphs dating to or close to 1601, with the date 1601 written on the colophon. As written in red ink on the final page, it was "found ... on the ground in the village of Bolinao... in the year 1780", most likely by Fray AgustÃÂn MarÃÂa de Castro (1740âÂÂ1801). Today, it is housed in the Archive of the Philippine Augustinian convent in Valladolid, Spain.
A common proverb from Filipino hero Jose Rizal in English, "He who does not acknowledge his beginnings will not reach his destination," is translated into Bolinao, followed by the provincial language Pangasinan, the regional language Ilocano, and the original in Tagalog for comparison:
Persons, Gary. (1978). Bolinao: A Preliminary Phonemic Statement. Summer Institute of Linguistics.