Mayon Vulcano dominates the landscape of Legazpi City, Albay Province and much of the rest of Luzon’s Bicol Peninsula. It last erupted on July 26, 2001.

Language information: Bikol (also known as Bicol, Bikolano and Bicolano) is used primarily in its traditional area which covers most of the Philippine’s Albay province, situated on the Bicol Peninsula of Luzon island. The name “Bikol” denotes both a specific language and a Central Philippine language group. The group consists of two sub-groups, northern and southern. The northern sub-group contains the dialects Northern Standard, Partido, and Southern Catanduanes, and the southern sub-group contains the dialects Rinconada, Buhinon, Libon, Western Miraya and Eastern Miraya. In addition, there is the specific sub-group of Northern Catanduanes. What is known as Central Standard Bikol consists of closely related varieties used mostly along the east coast of Albay province, including Naga City and Legazpi City. In particular, Naga Bikol is widely considered the standard, and virtually all Bikol publications utilize it. However, Naga Bikol, too, comes in a few varieties not all of which are considered “standard.” One such variety is that of Calabanga in Camarines Sur. In terms of phonology, Miraya Bikol is quite different from other Bikol varieties, and it is not normally written.
     Like several other languages of the Philippines, Bikol used to be written with the Baybayin script (which is more popularly known as Alibata), one of several syllabaries used on the Philippine Islands since pre-colonial times. While being very closely related to the Baybayin script used for Tagalog, the Baybayin script for Bikol has a slightly different look. The closest relative of the Baybayin script appears to be the Tagbanwa script of the Philippines’ Palawan Island. These scripts appear to be at least partly derived from the Jawi script of Java, Bali and Sumatra, which is derived from the Brahmi-derived Pallava script of Southern India. Even now, some Baybayin letters resemble letters in other Filipino and Indonesian scripts, in the Lao, Khmer and Cham scripts as well as in South Indic scripts such as the ones used for Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada. In its pre-colonial form, the Baybayin script omits all syllable-final consonants. The colonial Spanish administration introduced a revised version that sought to remedy this. Though there are people who wish to continue the Baybayin tradition, the script is now practically defunct and is used mostly for decorative purposes.

Genealogy: Austronesian > Malayo-Polynesian > Western > Philippines > Central > Bikol

Historical Lowlands language contacts: English

    Click to open the translation:
    [Calabanga (Naga)] [Daet] [Legazpi] [Miraya] [Rinconada] [Tiwi]

    Other Philippine language varieties: [Click]