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Central Philippine
Geographic; distribution:	Philippines
Genetic; classification:	Austronesian; Malayo-Polynesian; Philippine; Greater Central Philippine ?; Central Philippine
Subdivisions:	Tagalog Bikol Mansakan Visayan

The Central Philippine languages are the most geographically widespread demonstrated group of languages in the Philippines, being spoken in southern Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and Sulu. They are also the most populous, including Tagalog (and Filipino), Bikol, and the major Visayan languages Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, Kinaray-a, and Tausug, with forty-some languages altogether.[1]

[edit] Classification

The languages are generally subdivided as follows (Languages in italics refer to a single language):

Tagalog (at least 2 languages of southern Luzon)
Bikol (8 languages of the Bicol Peninsula)
Mansakan (11 languages of the Davao Region)
Visayan (18 languages in and around the Sibuyan and Visayan Seas, including northern Mindanao)

There are in addition several Aeta hill-tribal languages of uncertain affiliation: Ata, Sorsogon, Tayabas, Karolanos, Magahat, and Sulod.

A 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database^[1] supported the following structure, with Palawanic as the closest external branch:

The Bikol-Visayan connection was assigned an 80% confidence. Visaya-Mansakan, Palawan-Central, and Central Philippine itself were fully supported.

Blust (1991) notes that the central and southern Philippines has low linguistic diversity. He expands the Central Philippine family with South Mangyan, Palawan, Mindanao, and Gorontalo-Mongondow languages, the latter found in northern Sulawesi. (See Philippine languages.) The 2008 study fully supported a similar group that included South Mindanao and Kalamian, but excluded Gorontalo-Mongondow.

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