Discourse markers in the Bikol Language

Here are some Bikolnon words. The list is from an entry in Wikipedia, which describes a branch of the Bikol language called Central Bikol, used with variations in Naga and Legazpi City and in places influenced by the two cities.

These words were tagged in the article as discourse particles or discourse markers.

• bagá – expresses doubt or hesitation
• bayâ – giving a chance to someone; polite insisting
• daa – (Tagalog: daw) quoting information from a secondary source
• daw – (Tagalog: ba/kaya) interrogative particle
• garo – (Tagalog: mukhang, parang) likeness or similitude. English: “It looks like, it’s as if.”
• gáyo – “exactly”
• daing gáyo – “not exactly, not really”
• gayód / nanggayod – (Tagalog: bakâ) “maybe, could be”
• giráray / liwát – (Tagalog: [m]uli) “again”
• kutá-na / kutâ – “I hope (something did / did not happen” ; “If only …” (conditionality of past events)
• lang / lámang / saná – (Tagalog: lang) “only, just”
• lugód – hoping that something will happen, or expressing surrender
• man – (Tagalog: din, rin) “also” or “ever” (such as ano man ‘whatever’ and siisay man ‘whoever’)
• mú-na / ngó-na – (Tagalog: muna) “first” or “yet”
• na – (Tagalog: na) “now” or “already”
• naman – (Tagalog: naman) “again”
• nanggad / mananggad – (Tagalog: talaga, nga) “really, truly, absolutely” (adds a sense of certainty)
• nyako – “I said”
• ngani – expresses fate (“This is helpless”) or a plea for others not to insist
• ngantig – reports something one has said to a third person
• ngapit – “then,” “in case,” “during/while” (span of time)
• ngaya – politeness in requesting information (“so,” “let’s see”)
• pa – (Tagalog: pa) “still”
• palán – (Tagalog: pala) expresses surprise or sudden realization
• po – (Tagalog: po) politeness marker; “tabí” in some Bikol dialects
• túlos / túlos-túlos – (Tagalog: agad-agad) “immediately, right away”

Some notes and comments of my own:

• baga is also used to assert or negate something.  Dae man baga is equivalent to “That is not true”. Iyo baga connotes the opposite. Other examples of usage:
  • Lalaki/babae/bakla ka baga! – (But,) you are a man.  The speaker is making an assertion as to the gender of the person referred to, in this case, man/woman/gay person. The same sense would be imparted in “Abogado (lawyer) ka baga!” Or, “Matibay ka baga!”
  • Baga, with stress on the first syllable, means another word, meaning hot ember, something hot as to be glowing.
• some of the words here like ngani, palan, lang may be used differently as expressions:
  • Iyo ngani – Yes, that is true!
  • Iyo palan – Is that true?! (nearest English meaning)
• ngantig – functions like a quotation marker: Sabihan mo si ama mo, ngantig magpuli na siya ta hapon nang maray. (Tell your father to go home because it is very late in the afternoon. An equivalent to “ngantig” is not present in the translation. It tells the other person to quote him exactly as he/she said.)
• ngaya – examples:
  • Ano man ngaya an masasabi mo sa bado ko? (What (ngaya) can you say about my clothes?) Here, ngaya is a politeness marker. Speaking in English, one may say, “What, if I may ask, can you say about my clothes”.
  • Tatay, sabi po kan si paratinda, ngaya, duwang pidaso na sana nin gulayon an natatada? (Father, the vendor said (ngaya), only two pieces of vegetables remain.) Here, ngaya indicates the speaker was relaying information from another (the vendor, in this case). I cannot think of an equivalent in English.