Lexical Variety in Cang-actol, Dumanjug, Cebu

This qualitative-ethnographic language research investigated the features and distinctness of the lexical variety spoken by the people in Barangay Cangacto, Dumanjug, Cebu. The unstructed conversations of which the topics range from food, hobbies, interests, way of life, family, relationships, beliefs, and so on became the data for analysis. This study makes a great contribution in the preservation and documentation of the rural vocabularies and the speakers? culture and heritage.
The three-weak immersion in the speech community involved in the collection of the unstructed conversations with the key persons, the adult and the young, in the community. The conversations were recorded for analysis. The lexicons from those conversations were the data for the study.
The study reveals that this lexical variety spoken by the people of Cangactol, Dumanjug, Cebu is rich in agricultural or farming lexicons. Their language used in any topic during the conversations is closely associated with soil, fertility, planting, harvesting, crops, cattle, and the like. These observations explain the principle of linguistic relativity wherein the structure of human language affects the way in which an individual conceptualizes the world. Most of the residents are engaged in farming which is their primary source of living. They also raise their own cattle such as pigs, chickens, goats, and cows. Their lexicons are far different from those of the urban areas and some are not understood by the urban people.
Based in the findings and conclusions, the following recommendations are proposed: (1) A language study in the same community focusing on phonology, (2) A replicate language study to be conducted in the town proper of Dumanjug, Cebu; (3) An investigation involving the theories of language change, and (4) A dictionary of Cebu-Visayan terms gathered from the different areas in the province.

000-099