(The dialect referred to in the succeeding article is that which
is spoken in the Municipalities of Romblon, San Agustin, Magdiwang,
San Fernando and Cajidiocan. The 5 municipalities composes 41.93%
of the total population of the province.)
Ours is a language
of various Visayan origins. There are Ilonggo, Hiligaynon, Kinaray-a
and a bit of Tagalog adopted words. But as a whole, we call it Romblomanon
dialect.
When I was a little kid in school, I remember reading elementary books
printed in Hiligaynon. Those books usually depicted stories on plants
animals in a garden setting. It is from these books that I learned
what a "paka" (frog), what is a "suso"
(snail), an "alibangbang" (butterfly), an "uhong"
or "amamakoy" (mushroom), and many others are.
If I were not mistaken, the old curriculum used a multi-lingual approach
of teaching because when we were promoted to a higher grade, English
and Tagalog (later termed Filipino) were also used as medium of instruction.
Good for us then because it broadened our understanding about the
things that surround us may be written or spoken in English, Filipino
or in vernacular.
However today, I observe that some words, deeply rooted in our Romblomanon
culture are slowly disappearing and in the verge of "extinction".
Children or even teen-agers do not understand local tongue like "kyakuran"
(coconut grater), "tayhop" (a foot -long bamboo tube
where air is blown to augment fire), and "tadyaw"
(large, earthen clay-jar). These words seem to be strangers in their
vocabularies. They can't differentiate "ugsungi"
(to push firewood into a stove to augment fire) from "agwati"
(put-off fire to reduce heat in stove), and worst, they can't find
the "lusong" (a large wooden bowl-like vessel where
palay is pounded) and the "bayo" (a long-slender
wooden pestle) kept beside a "pinuntukan" (a tall
conical-shaped haystack).
This striking scenario of event which does not segregate us from other
localities is brought about by the so-called "technological revolution
and breakthroughs". With the invention of modern gadgets, machineries,
home and kitchen appliances, it alienated us from the constant use
of our tongue because some traditional tools in office and homes become
useless and obsolete in our daily routine.
Just like our environment, the endangered planet as a whole, nothing
seems to escape the alarming effects of "technological invasion".
I am afraid that one day in our lives, we will wake up and see ourselves
talking in a very unusual conversation using a totally slang-connotated
medium.
As parents and educators, we still have time to teach our children
about our grandiose past. About our distinct, yet unique language
may it be Tagalog or Bisaya. Let not technology rob us of our rich
culture. We must preserve our heritage and legacy, especially our
own native tongue.
