Intelligibility between Iranun and Maranaw Languages through the Lens of Austin’s Speech Acts Theory

Abstract

There are languages in Southern Philippines that are closely related where speakers are mutually intelligible especially on the case of Maranaw and Iranun. The purpose of this qualitative study employing content analysis is to identify the mutual intelligibility of the two Danao languages-the Maranaw and Iranun. The analysis of the study was anchored from the framework of Austin (1962) on illocutionary acts in terms of verdictives, exercitives, commissives, behavitives, and expositives. Results revealed that these languages showed their closeness and easy understanding when speakers converse. In expositives for example, the word affirms, confirms, and not have the same equivalent in both languages. The same with commissives for vow, promise, and pledge. Almost the same in behavitives, however, during the interview, an Iranun speaker used a distinct word that is not intelligible among the Maranaw speakers. For, verdictives and exercitives, both languages used the same terminologies with the same meaning and used in the same contexts and situations. Furthermore, this paper emphasizes preservation of the rich cultural heritage. Though, these Danao languages are not considered endangered, but because of the scarcity of literatures, findings of this study could fill those gaps.