Hiligaynon Literature.docx

HILIGAYNON LITERATURE Hiligaynon is the lingua franca of the West Visayas in Central Philippines. Politically labeled Region 6, West Visayas is composed of the provinces of Iloilo, Capiz, Antique and Aklan on the island of Panay; Negros Occidental, the western half of the island of Negros; and the new island-province of Guimaras which used to be a sub-province of Iloilo. Purely oral, West Visayan literature before the coming of the Spaniards was in Kinaray-a which must have been the language in folk literature of the ten Bornean datus who, according to the folk account of the Maragtas, got the island of Panay from the aboriginal Ati in exchange for a headgear of gold and a necklace that touched the ground. The coming of the Spaniards and the conversion of the people to Christianity produced new forms of folk literature. Written literature also started, first with translations of Spanish texts of prayers and lives of the saints. Important young writers in West Visayas today include: Hiligaynon– Alicia Tan-Gonzales, Peter Solis Nery, Edgar Siscar, Resurreccion Hidalgo, Alfredo Siva, Alain Russ Dimzon; Kinaray-a — Ma. Milagros C. Geremia Lanchica, Alex C. de los Santos, John Iremil E. Teodoro, Jose Edison C. Tondares, Maragtas S. V. Amante, Ma. Felicia Flores; Aklanon –– Melchor F. Cichon, Alexander C. de Juan, John E. Barrios.