Emilio de Catalina, PhD. Published on: Jun 20, 2026, 9:36 am
I came across a Facebook post that said, “Cebuano is not equal to Bisaya.” This caught my attention. My immediate reaction was to mutter to myself: correct. And why is it correct? This is now the content of this article in the Akademiya Page. Our tool for analysis is semantics, a branch of linguistics. In its simple definition, semantics deals with the study of the meaning of words. Accordingly, we will first analyze the meaning of the word Bisaya (or Binisaya) and then the word Cebuano (or Sinugboanon).
Meaning of Bisaya
First, the word Bisaya means a geographical place. This word is used as the name of the place in the Philippines called Visayas or Kabisay-an. Second, the word Bisaya (or Binisaya) also means a language. It is used as the name of the group of languages within the Visayas. Thus, we will call them Binisayan languages.
Within the Visayas region, there are several different languages. There are many of them. For example, Hiligaynon (Ilonggo), spoken in Bacolod, Iloilo, Roxas; Aklanon, spoken in Aklan; Capiznon, spoken in Capiz; Kinaray-a, spoken in Antique; Asi, spoken in Romblon; Cuyonon, spoken in Palawan and the Cuyo Islands; Waray, spoken in Northern and Eastern Samar, Eastern Leyte, and parts of Biliran; Surigaonon, spoken in Surigao del Norte and Agusan del Norte; and Cebuano (or Sinugboanon), spoken in Cebu, Bohol, parts of Negros, parts of Leyte, and parts of Mindanao. Those languages listed above, because they are spoken in areas within the Visayas, are collectively called Binisayan languages. Each one of them is a Binisayan language.
Here, we can see that the word Bisaya (or Binisaya), in its meaning as a language, is a generic word because it includes or encompasses many languages. For this reason, the languages mentioned above are all Binisayan languages.
Meaning of Cebuano
Second, the word Cebuano has two meanings. 1) It refers to the people living in Cebu. 2) It also refers to the language spoken on the island of Cebu. Let us analyze the second meaning, as a language. The language spoken in Cebu or Sugbo is called “Cebuano language” in English, or Sinugboanong pinulongan. And why this word “Cebuano” is the name of this language remains a mystery (to me). And because this language is spoken not only on the island of Cebu but also in other parts of the Visayas, and even in parts of Mindanao. And since its name is Sinugboanong pinulongan, even in Mindanao, it is still called by that name. (TO BE CONTINUED)
