Wikijunior:Languages/Kinaray-a

What writing system(s) does this language use?
Kinaray-a and almost all of the languages in the Philippines are written using the Latin alphabet.

The Kinaray-a alphabet includes all of the same letters we use in English, along with 'Ñ' (enye), which the Filipinos borrowed from the Spanish, and 'Ng', a digraph already available as a single character in Baybayin.

How many people speak this language?
There are 600,000 native speakers of Kinaray-a language as of 2010.

Where is this language spoken?
Kinaray-a is an Austronesian regional language in the Philippines spoken by the Karay-a people, mainly in Antique.

What is the history of this language?
Kinaray-a is an Austronesian Language. It was thought that the Austronesian language came from Taiwan and migrated southwards through sailing. They first reached Batanes islands, by around 2200 BCE.

Soon after the Age of Contact came and the Philippines started trading with other people like Persians, Arabs, Malays, Indians, Japanese, and Chinese. The people who traded with the Filipinos also introduced their language and culture, and soon after the Filipinos started using words from their languages and dressed, ate, and lived like them.

The Spaniards came and introduced Spanish, taught the Filipinos Spanish, and soon after many Spanish words entered the Language. The Americans came and introduced English and encouraged the use of English, so English words also entered Kinaray-a. Kinaray-a therefore is one of the most diverse languages of the world, with Sanskrit, Malay, Javanese, ../Mandarin Chinese/, Nahuatl, Persian, ../Arabic/, ../Japanese/, ../Spanish/, and ../English/ loanwords.

Who are some famous authors or poets in this language?

 * Alex C. Delos Santos is a Kinaray-a writer born in San Jose, Antique. UGSAD KANG KINARAY-A is the second book written entirely in Kinaray-a by Delos Santos, after his controversial collection of gay short stories AGI, AGI MAY PUTAY SA DAHI published in 2006.

What is a simple song/poem/story that I can learn in this language?
Antique, Banwa Nga Hamili is the provincial hymn of Antique.

English Translation (by Ulysses C. Loresto)