Tausug language
Tausūg (Bahasa Sūg; Jawi: بَهَسَ سُوگ; Malay: Bahasa Sūlūk, lit. 'Language of Sulu/the Tausūg people') is an Austronesian language spoken in the province of Sulu in the Philippines and in the eastern area of the state of Sabah, Malaysia, by the Tausūg people. It is widely spoken in the Sulu Archipelago (Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Basilan), the Zamboanga Peninsula (Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Sur, and Zamboanga City), southern Palawan, and Malaysia (eastern Sabah).
| Tausūg | |
|---|---|
| Bahasa Sūg بَهَسَ سُوگ | |
| Native to | Philippines, Malaysia |
| Region | — Spoken throughout the Sulu Archipelago (Basilan and Tawi-Tawi), southern Palawan and eastern Sabah — Also spoken in Zamboanga City and Zamboanga Peninsula |
| Ethnicity | Tausūg |
Native speakers | 1.2 million (2010) |
| Latin (Malay alphabet) Arabic (Jawi) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Regional language in the Philippines |
| Regulated by | Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tsg |
| Glottolog | taus1251 |
Areas where Tausūg is the majority language | |
Tausūg has some lexical similarities or near similarities with Surigaonon language of the provinces Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, and Agusan del Sur and with the Butuanon language of Agusan del Norte; it has also some vocabulary similarities with Sugbuanon, Bicolano, and with other Philippine languages. Many Malay and Arabic words are found in Bahasa Sūg.