ABSTRACT:

The Bilic languages comprise a subgroup of languages spoken in Mindanao. These are Blaan, spoken in South Cotabato; Tboli, spoken in Davao Occidental; Teduray, spoken in Maguindanao; and Klata, spoken in Davao del Sur (cf. Zorc, 2019 shows evidence that Klata comprises a branch separate from the other three). They represent a type of languages that are typologically important in our current understanding of languages in general—the Bilic languages are Philippine languages that are no longer Philippine-type, exhibiting features indicative of a development away from the complex Philippine-type systems and towards more simplified systems such as those exhibited by Indonesian-type languages.

The paper presents some morphosyntactic features reflective of this development: (1) the absence of aspectual marking; (2) restrictive modality marking to realis (i.e., irrealis verbs are unmarked); (3) a two-voice alternation (i.e., agentive/non-agentive voices); (4) neutralization of all undergoer voices and the absence of instrumental voice marking; and (5) simplified phrase-marking systems.

Described in this work as languages in transit, the Bilic family still bears other Philippine-type features, and even where general behavior indicates loss, environments where Philippine-type features otherwise occur can still be seen.

The paper underscores new directions for linguistic study that these features reveal. These include grammatical, diachronic and typological directions, such as the use of a framework that enables the comparison of Bilic with other symmetrical voice languages.

Source for featured image: https://projectgora.com/tboli-tribe/