Magahat, also called Southern Binukidnon or Negros Island Bukidnon, is a Central Philippine language of the mountains of Negros in the Philippines that has been strongly influenced by Cebuano and Hiligaynon. It is similar to Karolanos; Lobel (2013)
Demographics
Oracion (1974)
reported a Magahat population of just under 400 people in Basay, Negros Oriental. Dantes (2015)
[Dantes, Edmundo. 2015. Anthropology Development in Negros Oriental.] reported a Magahat population of 2,478 individuals.
According to the Ethnologue, Magahat is spoken in the Mount Arniyo area near Bayawan, upper Tayaban, Tanjay, Santa Catalina, and Siaton municipalities in southern Negros Oriental Province, located just west of Dumaguete.
Sound changes
Lobel (2013: 39, 249, 273)
[Lobel, Jason William. 2013. Philippine and North Bornean languages: issues in description, subgrouping, and reconstruction. Ph.D. dissertation. Manoa: University of Hawai'i at Manoa.] reports that Southern Binukidnon is a Bisayan language that has some uncommon phonological features, including the preservation of Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *-h in
syllable positions.
