Phonological Variations among Mandaya Dialects: A Multiple Case Study

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue XII, December 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Phonological Variations among Mandaya Dialects: A Multiple Case Study

Arnold M. Duping
Institute of Teacher Education, Davao del Norte State College, Philippines

Abstract: This multiple case study analyzes the phonological variation of Mandaya dialects among four municipalities in Davao Oriental. Purposeful sampling, in-depth interviews, sorting and classifying of words according to phonological structures in data analysis were employed. Findings revealed that the Mandaya dialects consisted of 23 segmental phonemes, 17 consonants: /b/, /k/, /d/, /g/, /h/, /l/, /l~l/, /m/, /n/, /Ƞ/, /p/, /r/, /s/, /t/, /w/, /y/ and /ɂ/; 6 vowels: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/ including the schwa sound /Ə/. All these phonemes can be found in Tarragona, Manay and Caraga except for phoneme /h/. Similarly, Cateel has also 22 sounds with schwa sound not found. Consonant clusters were also evident in the medial position or in the beginning of the syllables such as the cluster /mp/ for the word /ompoɂ/ which means grandchild. Initial consonant clusters were also found mostly from the loan words such as the cluster /gr/ in /grin/ which means green. Generally, the phonological variations of the dialects among the four municipalities center to three distinct phonemes: /h/, /l~l/ and /Ə/. These variations were attributed to the influence brought by migration, intermarriages, social media, and the influx of tourist exploring the nature of Davao Oriental.

Key words: Phonology, Mandaya, Language Variations, Dialects, Multiple Case Study

I. INTRODUCTION

The Mandaya children who speak their mother tongue at home and learning English at school encounter problems in their beginning years in education. It is because they begin learning English, that is far from their language spoken at home. This leads to poor comprehension on instructional materials because of too culturally distant and strange contents. The worst is young learners may tend to drop from school.
To counter this problem, teachers have resorted to traditional way of teaching language such as rote teaching methods or grammar-translation method because also of their inadequacy in understanding the prescribed languages of instruction. As a matter of fact, the Department of Education has resulted to implement the MTBLE through the DepEd Order No 28, S. 2013- the additional guidelines to DepEd Order No. 16, S. 2012. The Mandaya young learners in Davao Oriental are taught in their native tongue during their first three years in school. However, the standard dialect Cebuano is used instead, which is also a foreign to them.

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