Kinamiging Language Ability of Senior Students: Implications Towards Preservation of Language

The study aimed to determine the status of Kinamiging by looking into the respondents’ language ability. It considered the variables such as years of residency, ethnicity, first language, and language attitude to determine if these variables positively relate to the respondents’ language ability in Kinamiging. The respondents were from the largest public high school in Sagay, Eulalio U. Pabillore National High School in the Philipppines. The study, however, revealed that among the respondents, Sebuano is the dominant language in formal domains such as school. Even in such an informal domain as the community, Sebuano shows its dominance, especially in inter-group interactions. However, there is no precise functional distribution of language use according to the supposed high variety (H) and the regional dialects of low variety (L). The language situation in Camiguin is non-diglossic, meaning there is no precise functional distribution of languages into different domains. It further indicates that the speech community is unstable bilingualism among speakers of the language. Kinamiging is not totally “eclipsed†by the other languages in the area. With the present conditions of its speakers, Kinamiging needs to be integrated with technology among speakers and be revitalized through other forms of activities in school and community to withstand any pressure coming from competing languages such as Sebuano, Tagalog, and English.