A SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF “KAWING”

IN SELECTED MËRANAW POP SONGS

A RESEARCH PAPER

In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Subject
English Semantics (English 104)

to

Dr. Ivie C. Esteban

By

Nicolette Anne E. Ibona

Nazmah Haninni M. Macaumbang
Shamia M. Sambarani
Ainosalam H. Serad

May 2019

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 Abstract

Halliday (1976) asserted that language use is taken to be as a social action. The
grammatical and lexical features of a text have a function in determining the
construction, representation, and portrayal of the social and cultural world. The
selected Mëranaw pop songs employ the concept of confession, courtship, and
heartbreak among the youth. However, they also show a common narrative of ‘kawing’
or marriage. Marriage in Mëranaw is sometimes done to strengthen harmonious
relationships among families thus the utilization of pop songs to convey affection and
express thoughts and feelings of dismay. This study discusses how the concept of
‘kawing’ or marriage in Mëranaw community is portrayed in the language use from the
different themes of Mëranaw pop songs. Specifically, it identifies the lexical features
and its sense relations to ‘kawing’, the values and practices of ‘kawing’ that emerged
from these lexical items, and their function in the community based from its sense
relations. The result shows a meronymic sense relation where necessity, whole-
functioning, cause-effect, whole-segment, and collection member relations are
identified. The relations of these lexical items to ‘kawing’ varies depending on the
themes of the selected songs. Some values and practices of marriage that involves the
process, effects, and necessities also emerged. From these sense relations, the functions
of these values and practices in the Mëranaw community also vary. Moreover, in a
semantic level, the songs show an expressive and demonstrative sense in employing the
concept of ‘kawing’. The research concludes how the values and practices of ‘kawing’ or
marriage in the Mëranaw community differ because of the differences in human
experiences as reflected in the construction and the language choice in the text.

Keywords: semantics, lexical items, sense relations, meaning postulates, Maranao language,
Kawing

TABLE OF CONTENTS
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 Page
TITLE PAGE …………………………..…………………………………………………………………………...………. i
ABSTRACT …………………………………..…………………………………………………………………...…….…. ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ….………………………..………………..……………………………………………..….. iii

CHAPTER
1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1. Rationale of the Study ………………………………………...…..….….. 1

1.2. Statement of the Problem …………………...………………...………. 2
1.3. Significance of the Study ……………………………………….….…….. 3
1.4. Scope and Delimitation ……………………………………...….….……. 3
1.5. Definition of Key Terms …………………………………………….…….. 4

2 LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1. Exploring Meanings ….…………………………………………….…....… 5

2.2. Literature as a Culture and
Songs as a Literary Work ………..……………………...……..…. 8
2.3. Maranaos and the Concept of “Kawing” ……………………....... 9
2.4. Exploring Studies on Semantic Analysis on Songs ……..…..… 11

3 METHODOLOGY 13

3.1. Research Design ……………..………………………………………………. 13

3.2. Corpus/Source of Data …………….…...………………………………… 13
3.3. Data Gathering Procedure ……………………………….……………… 13
3.4. Data Analysis ……………………..…………………………………….…….. 14

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 15

5 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS

AND RECOMMENDATIONS 32

5.1. Summary of Findings ……………...…………………………………...… 32

5.2. Conclusion ………………...………...………………………………………… 34
5.3. Recommendations ……………….…………………………….…….……. 34

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APPENDIX ………………………………………………………………………………...……………….………………. 36
REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………………..……………………………….. 42

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1. Introduction

This chapter discusses the introductory parts of this study such as its rationale,
research questions, scope and delimitation, its significance, and its necessary key terms.
It is vital to provide a background of how the study came to be most importantly
regarding the gap that needs to be filled and its importance to the academe and the
society as a contribution to the existing studies on semantics.

1.1 Rationale

According to Kreidler (1998), semantics is the study of how languages organize and
express meanings. It deals with literal meaning rather than intended meaning which is
the focus of pragmatics. Meaning can be interpreted through analyzing the semantic
features, the semantic roles, and the lexical relations of words. Semantic features
represent the basic conceptual components of meaning for any lexical item. A semantic
feature analysis improves the comprehension, vocabulary, and content retention of a
learner. On the other hand, semantic roles refer to describing words depending on the
roles that they fulfill with the situation elucidated in a given sentence. Lexical relations
focus on expounding the meaning of a word in terms of its relationship with other
words. This type of analysis requires the understanding of the relations between words
such as synonym, antonym, hyponym, homophones, and homonyms.

In the study ‘Maranao: A preliminary phonological sketch with supporting audio’ by

Lobel & Riwarung (2001), Maranao (in this study, the term will be written as ‘Mëranaw’
following the recent conventions in the orthography of the language) is an Austronesian
language of the Greater Central Philippine subgroup spoken mainly on the southern
Philippine island of Mindanao specifically in the provinces of Lanao del Sur and Lanao
del Norte. It is closely related to Iranun, which is spoken in both Mindanao and Sabah,
Malaysia, and Maguindanaon. This study will analyze the semantic structure of the

1
Mëranaw language by identifying the lexical items found in selected Mëranaw pop
songs and examining their lexical relations. The corpus of this study includes Mëranaw
pop songs from various local singers such as Mally Band and Hogey.

There has been a published Mëranaw dictionary by Howard McKaughan and Batua
Al-Macaraya in 1996 where the authors mostly discussed the phonological and
morphological aspects of the Mëranaw language. They presented the parts of speech
evident in the structure of Mëranaw language. However, they somehow lack in
presenting the intricacies of lexical relations and semantic roles of the Mëranaw words.
The dictionary elaborates in discussing the verb inflections and aspect formations of the
words. This gap paved the way for the researchers to study the semantic aspects of the
Mëranaw language with a corpus that best relates to the contemporary world; music.

Music is a medium that connects people from different places thus, it is also a
mean for them to immerse parts of their culture and traditions. According to a study by
Lidskog (2017) entitled ‘The Role of Music in Ethnic Identity Formation in Diaspora: A
Research Review’, music is an important way for ethnic groups to negotiate and develop
their identities. Mëranaw pop songs reflect some of the culture and traditions of the
Mëranaw people in which the message that they want to convey is embedded in the
lyrics of their songs.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

There are a number of existing studies on Mëranaw phonology and morphology,

but it is not the same case for studies that focus on the semantics of their language. This
gap initiated the need to conduct this study that centrals its analysis on the semantical
focal point of Mëranaw language. In order to fill the gap that is presented, the goal of
this study is to answer the following research questions:

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1. What are the words and lexical items that suggest ‘kawing’ in the selected Mëranaw
pop songs?
2. What are the lexical relations that make the lexical items suggest the concept of
‘kawing’?

1.3. Significance of the Study

This study will allow individuals to get a closer and more intimate viewpoint into
the culture and traditions of the Mëranaw people. The selected Mëranaw pop songs
possess the similarity of depicting ‘kawing’ which is the Mëranaw concept for marriage.
Therefore, it enables us to unravel the meaning depicted by the lyrics from the selected
Mëranaw pop songs. It is also beneficial to examine the lexical relations that exist
between some of the words from the lyrics of the song which expresses the correlation
of words being identity markers for specific groups of people. This study will also serve
as the hallmark for other researchers to conduct a thorough research on the semantic
aspects of the Mëranaw language.

1.4. Scope and Delimitations

The scope of this study are selected Mëranaw pop songs from various local
singers released in the contemporary 21st century which also capture the concept of
‘kawing’ as their theme. There is a total of seven (7) songs that will be analyzed for this
study. First are the songs of Mally Band entitled “Aya” released in 2007 and “Raga a
Marikit” released in 2009—both of them are under the genre of love songs. Then,
“Pangaruma ko” by the singer Hogey which was released in 2007 and “Kulay” by
Brothers Band in 2009. The three songs “Mala ka sa ginawa ko” released in 2007, “So
Kiyasapai ta” in 2009, and “Baby Kulay akun a pukababayaan ko” are also included. The
analysis of the data will only focus on identifying the lexical items present in the songs

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as well as examining their contextual meaning and sense relations in order to fulfill the
objectives of this study.

1.5. Definition of Key Terms

Antonym. The semantic qualities or sense relations that exist between words with
opposite meanings in certain contexts.

Context. According to Dash (2008), context refers to an immediate linguistic

environment in which a particular word occurs. Context is not always explicit, therefore,
it may be hidden within the neighboring members of a word used in a piece of text.

Kawing. The Maranao term that encapsulates the concept of marriage.

Lexemes. The umbrella term that refers to all the semantic units stored in the lexicon
and may thus refer to lexical units such as meaning and form.

Lexical Item. Referred to as a single word, a part of a word, or a chain of words that
forms the basic elements of a language’s lexicon or vocabulary.

Meaning Postulate. The notion that lexical items can be defined in terms of their
relations with other lexical items.

Meronym. A word that denotes a constituent part or a member of something.

Meronym refers not only to a single relation but a bundle of different part-to-whole
relationships.

Polysemy. The association of one word with two or more distinct meanings.

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Sense Relations. The paradigmatic relation between words or predicates. There are
different kinds of sense relations as a result of the semantic relatedness between the
form and meaning of a word. Synonymy, polysemy, hyponymy, and antonymy are
examples of sense relations.

Synonym. The semantic qualities or sense relations that exist between words with
closely related meanings.

2. Review of Related Literature

In this section of the study, the researchers posed some related literature and
studies to fill in the research gap of the study.

Exploring Meanings

Linguistics is the study of language. It helps us understand that languages around

the world have commonalities in structure and use. Studies concerning linguistics allow
us to understand the commonalities of different languages and also determine their
structural differences and their limits. Linguistics covers a wide range of various fields
including phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. However, this
study will direct its focus on the semantic field of linguistics. Semantic level can be
analyzed on any written language that has grammatical structure such as poems, novels,
and songs like how music composers write song lyrics by using word complex sentences
to describe and encapsulate the message that they want to convey.

Anindya (2018) defined semantics as a branch of linguistics that is concerned with

studying the meanings of words, signs and sentence structure, and the relationship
between these words. Semantics also studies how these meanings are created which is

5
an integral part of understanding how language works. There are a number of sub-
branches of semantics including formal semantics which Griffiths (2006) defined as the
use of logical aspects to set out descriptions of meanings; lexical semantics which
focuses on word meanings and relations; and conceptual semantics that deals with the
cognitive structure of semantics. In this study, the researchers will try to explore
meanings in the perspective of lexical semantics.

When dealing with semantics, meaning is a necessary concept that one must
explore in order to arrive at how lexical items and words are derived from concepts.
Exploring meanings is also one way of judging whether there is a texture in a text and
how much the sentences interrelate in meaning (Akinola, 2016). The meaning of a word
is the contribution it makes to the meaning of the sentence as a whole to which it
appears. In the work of Griffiths (2006) entitled ‘An Introduction To English Semantics
and Pragmatics’ states that there are three stages of interpretation of meanings: (1)
literal meaning which is taking words in its most basic sense without any contextual or
metaphorical use, (2) explicature which now involves interpretations through looking at
its contextual knowledge or information, and (3) implicature which is the sender’s
intention or agenda why the message is being sent. Griffiths (2006) further notes about
the types of meanings which includes the sender’s meaning, the utterance meaning, the
meaning in explicature and implicature level, and sentence meaning also known as the
literal meaning.

Exploring meanings would also mean exploiting its sense relations to the bigger
concept. To identify how the “bigger concept” creates meaning through how lexical
items and words are used, sense approach must be studied. Sense relations, according
to Griffiths (2006) is a valuable start in studying and exploring meanings. Sense in an
aspect of the meaning of an expression or utterance to which it gives the denotation it

6
has. This defines the semantic relationships between the senses of expressions.
Differences in its sense therefore suggests differences in denotation. Such concepts that
have long held the interest and attention of sense relations are polysemy, homonymy,
synonymy, antonymy, and hyponymy.

Polysemy is a common feature to all-natural languages. It pertains to the capacity

of words or symbols to have multiple meanings. Words could develop and acquire new
meanings. These conditions are a result of two consequences: (1) with the advance of
time and development of language also known as the diachronic approach; and (2) the
coexistence of various meanings of the same word also known as synchronic approach.

Homonymy is another important concept of studying meaning in its sense

relations which are words in different meaning but either identical both in sound and
spelling or identical only in sound or spelling. Synonyms, on the other hand, can be
defined as words different in sound and spelling but nearly alike or exactly the same in
meaning. Meanings have its different shades and when dealing with synonymy, it is
either the word meaning have one type of the other words or has all the different types
it consists. For example, end and final are synonyms as they both pertain to being “last”
but used in different sense; end as the last part of something while final is the ultimate
ending or last.

Moreover, antonyms are words opposite in meanings although there are a

variety of the “oppositeness” of words. There are antonyms that are complementary
which admit no possibility between the words or in the absolute form of oppositeness.
While the other one is the contrary which can accommodate a middle ground of words.
For example, old and young have its middle ground which can be scaled as middle-aged.

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Hyponymy pertains to semantic inclusion. The meaning of a specific word is included in
the more general term of the word (e.g. rose and daisy are hyponyms of flowers).

The meaning of the words and its sense relations to another word is not only
found in the daily conversation of the people but also in the literary works like song
lyrics.

Literature as a Culture and Songs as a Literary Work

Akinola (2016) considers that literature is a not only a social discourse but also
cultural in which the writer operates on the “linguistic and communicative
presupposition” to convey social and cultural context. Hence, the writer’s language on
form, function, and meaning of the text of such work derives from one source as the
cultural situations. Literature is also known as a verbal art that uses language to present
social and cultural conditions (Babutantande, 1997 as stated in Akinola, 2016). As
Ifeoma (2018) presented, literature does not grow in isolation; it is given a driving force,
shape, direction, and area of concern by social, cultural. and economic forces of a
particular society hence, the notion that literature, in its linguistic function, draws from
the human experiences and the imitation of the human action and mirrors the ills of the
society.

Literature, as a creative activity, deeply ingrained its pattern of thoughts and

language from where its emotions are drawn, in this case, from its social and cultural
situations (Ifeoma, 2018). The concern of the work of literature, therefore, is to grow,
keep, develop, and assist the society to reflect on its problems by means of how the
writer uses language in a creative way. Language and literature are interwoven in each
other and so they must be working together to achieve good literary works (Akinola,
2016). A work of literature is successful in terms of its linguistic function when the best
words are in the best order and when an appropriate lexical device cooperate to unify

8
bigger values and concepts. Therefore, without an adequate knowledge of language, no
good literary work can be written. Literature is hence a good space in exploring selective
words and lexical items that bring out a certain identifiable pattern of cultural situations.

A song, in any way, is a work of literature. Anindya (2018) defined a song as a

short musical work with a poetic text and have equal importance given to music and to
the words. It contains a lyric that is sung with a melody which constitutes a song. In
other words, a song is a poem with a melody interpreted in a way that fits the emotions
being conveyed. It is created to describe a person’s mood or situation that is going on
around the environment. These situations can be described lyric or melody wise. Lyrics
are set of words that make up the song. Languages or words of songs used are different
with how people use it in daily conversations (Anindya, 2018). A songwriter uses
beautiful words to create attraction or bring emotions to the listener. They are also set
to characterize what the songwriter feels through creative writing. By listening to the
songs, one can exploit human experiences and situations through exploring the lexical
items and words used and identifying the patterns that conveys such situations. Hence,
songs as a literary work can be studied from an academic perspective.

Mëranaws and the Concept of ‘kawing’

According to Rivera (1996), Mëranaws are one of the many ethnolinguistic

groups of the Philippines who inhabits and originates around the Lake Lanao which is
why these people are also called “People of the Lake” or “Lake Dwellers”. They were
also the first inhabitants of the shores of the said lake. Mëranaws are identified as
Moros which is a collective term for the Islamized people in Mindanao. Moro is from the
Spanish word, Moor. Lobel & Riwarung (2001) stated in their study that Mëranaw has
their own language which identifies them as Mëranaw. Mëranaw language is an
Austronesian language of the Greater Central Philippine subgroup which is mainly

9
spoken by the Mëranaws. It is also closely related to Iranun that is spoken in both
Mindanao and Sabah, Malaysia. Even before the coming of Islam, they already have
established rich and fascinating culture and arts such as kulintang/kolintang music,
kakombong dance, kapëmalo-malong dance, okir art, landap (a type of cloth with an
okir design), and the famous Darangën epic. They also have organized political system
(Datu and Sultanate system of governing) that is present even until in today’s milieu.

Rivera (1996) also posited in his study that marriage customs and practices of the
Mëranaws are well-defined. Their marriage practices were highly influenced by their
Islamic views and beliefs. ‘Kawing’, which is the Mëranaw term for marriage, holds as
one of the most expensive occasions that undergo a long process. Macapundag et al.
(2016) argues that there are many factors why Mëranaws get in an arranged marriage
set up such as feud or redo settlements of both party, affiliations to other families to
establish close alliances and for economic considerations, and to strengthen family ties.
Hence, the reason why Mëranaws are allowed to marry their close relatives to the
extreme of a first cousin degree basis. Parental decisions also play a large role in
determining the marriages of their sons and daughters which is why arranged marriage
set up is highly rampant in the community. Mëranaws are not only allowed to marry at a
young age, but men could also marry more than one so long as he is able to provide
assistance and care to all of his wives equally. Before a couple could get married, they
have to undergo the process of kapanganakan, or in other words, courtship.

Courtship in Mëranaws is a common practice that is already present since the

1970’s and 1980’s as claimed by Sangalang (2011) in the article ‘Maranaw Courtship and
Marriages.’ Kapanganakan or also known as kapamanik (literal meaning: to climb;
figurative meaning: courtship) is when the man tries to win the woman through going to
her family first. The man and his family will explain his intentions and presents how

10
much dowry the family can offer. In this process, tracing of one’s ancestors also takes
place in order to identify their connection and relationship.

The dowry system in the Mëranaw community is considered an expensive affair

and a heavy burden. The bride’s price varies depending on how big and respected the
woman’s family is or what she has achieved in her life. This usually runs around
hundreds of thousand to millions of pesos. The system is also one way of identifying
how much the man can offer. To some instances, in order to provide for the marriage,
mortgages are necessary and so the men are allowed to ask for financial assistance from
his relatives. In today’s modern world, the family of a woman is very careful in choosing
who they want their daughter to marry. The family’s wealth is one of which a man must
possess for the marriage to take place smoothly. These custom and practice speak
volume on the class system and social structure of the community where, like any other
community, wealth largely puts one at the highest and easiest path.

Exploring Studies on Semantic Analysis on Songs

The study of Akinola (2016) entitled ‘A Lexico-Semantic Study of Mariama Ba’s So

Long A Letter’ investigates, in a lexico-semantic perspective, the creative deployment
and the use of language on Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter to achieve her purpose in the
text. In other words, the study examines how the author used words to expose the ills
of the African community through the use of dominant lexical features such as figures of
speech, lexical relations, and sense relations in the text and identified the projected
themes of socio-political problem of the African society such as political exclusion, evils
of polygamy, sadness and loneliness, socioeconomic degradation, betrayal, and
immorality among others. As what the data reveals, the author’s intention was not
merely to entertain but to reveal the social situations of their community to which the

11
choice of words and the use of lexical features have identified to project public
information and not an entertainment.

Another semantic study conducted by Trisnantasari (2018) entitled ‘Semantic

Analysis on Ed Sheeran Songs’ describes the lexical and contextual meanings of the five
selected songs of Ed Sheeran. This study used a descriptive qualitative method to
analyze and interpret the research object of Ed Sheeran’s songs. Moreover, a similar
study published from Lire Journal (2018) analyzes the meaning of semantic and moral
values in song lyrics by Coldplay. This research entitled ‘The Meaning Of Semantic
Analysis Within Song’s Lyrics “A Head Full Of Dreams” Album By Coldplay’ found
numerous lexical features such as denotations, connotations, ambiguity, antonyms,
synonyms, and some figurative languages such as simile, hyperbole, personification,
symbol, metaphor, apostrophe, synecdoche, and paradox among others. The study
concludes that the songs depict human social life which contained adventures and
emotions.

In the ‘Analysis of Contextual Meaning in A New Day Has Come Song Lyrics’ also
suggests to explore semantic studies that elicits meanings of lexical words and items.
Anindya (2018) studies the contextual meaning of the song aforementioned through
utilizing Mansoer Pateda’s Theory which posits that contextual meaning or situation
meaning appears to be the result of the relationship between space and context. As a
qualitative type of study, the researcher used a documentation technique to select the
data and found sixty-five (65) words that have contextual meanings.

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3. Methodology

This section of the study briefly discusses the research design employed, the
corpus/source of the data, the data gathering procedure, and the process of data
analysis (with sample tables).

3.1. Research Design

As a qualitative research study which aims to interpret features, attributes, and

characteristics of a phenomenon, this study will collect qualitative data in the form of
Mëranaw Pop Songs. The lexical items found in the Maranao songs were analyzed and
examined to figure out how they express the concept of ‘kawing’ through their lyrics.

3.2. Corpus/Source of Data

This study utilized seven (7) Mëranaw pop songs entitled “Aya” and “Raga a
Marikit” by the singer Mally (a.k.a Mally Band), “Pangaruma ko” by Hogey, “Kulay” by
Brothers Band in 2009. The three songs “Mala ka saginawa ko” released in 2007, “So
Kiyasapai ta” (2009) and “Baby Kulay akun a pukababayaan ko” are also included. The
researchers made use of the public online video-sharing website YouTube to access the
aforementioned songs.

3.3. Data Gathering Procedures

In order to fulfill the objectives of this study, the first step in gathering the data
was to identify the Mëranaw pop songs to be used as the source of the lexical items that
were analyzed. It is important to choose Mëranaw pop songs that are under the genre
of love songs, in order to dissect their lexical items that best depicts the concept of
‘kawing’.

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 Next, the sense relations of the lexical items found in the seven (7) Mëranaw pop
songs such as specific words and phrases were identified. The data analysis followed,
wherein the study presented how the specific lexical items suggests or represents the
concept of ‘kawing’ in the lyrics of the Mëranaw pop songs. Lastly, the study concluded
with answers for the research questions and provided recommendations for future
research studies.

3.4. Data Analysis

For the analysis of the data gathered, a list of the lexical items identified from the
selected Mëranaw pop songs, provided with their direct translation in English and the
contextual meaning behind the Mëranaw words were discussed and are presented
through a table as shown below.

FIGURE 3.4.1. Sample table for the presentation of lexical items found in Maranao pop songs

Lexical items/ words Literal Meaning Contextual Meaning

Maranao word A Literal translation in The implication of the

English lexical item

Maranao phrase A Literal translation in The implication of the

English lexical item

Following the same format, but with the addition of sense relations, another table
intended for the lexical items found in Mëranaw pop songs were also presented and
discussed. The table works on the assumption that specific Mëranaw words found in the
songs all correlate to their meaning implicating the concept of ‘kawing’, the concept of
marriage.

FIGURE 3.4.2. Sample table for the presentation of lexical items with their literal meaning,
contextual meaning and sense relations found in Maranao pop songs

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 Lexical items/ Literal Meaning Contextual Sense Relations
words Meaning

Maranao word A Literal translation The implication of (e.g. Synonymy,

in English the lexical item meronymy,
antonymy)

Maranao phrase A Literal translation The implication of (e.g. Synonymy,

in English the lexical item meronymy,
antonymy)

4. Results and Discussion

Lexical items/ words Literal meaning Contextual meaning

koris Destined; destiny Destined to get married

O bask’ta Be with each other Get married

pnayawng/ pnayawn Wait, to wait Wait until we get married

Tamok o mgaloks ta Wealth of our family Wealth of our family as

our dowry

Kabaya-e Be loved Love me too so we would

end up together

pangaroma Marry

Pipasadan Agreed Have agreed to get

married

makapanoksam To ask for the hand of

the girl and her family if
they would allow him to
marry the girl

tamok Wealth Wealth as the dowry for

the couple to get married

15
 mibtang Endow; the act of giving
money or property to the
girl so they would get
married

makatarosa End up together as a

married couple

kiyandiyalagaan have engaged

kiyamongan The guy/girl’s

hometown or where
he/she came from

miyalalong Crazy in love Crazy in love with you that

I would want to marry you

pkababayaan In love In love with you that I

want to marry you
Table 4.1. Lexical items found in the Maranao Pop Song

Table 4.1. shows the lexical items, words and phrases with its direct translation
that suggests the concept of “Kawing” as shown in the song lyrics of the selected Moro
Pop songs. The researchers did not only use the literal or sentence meaning of the
lexical items, words, and phrases that would suggest “Kawing”, but also considered
using other types of meaning such as the contextual meaning of the words. Ifeoma
(2018) stated that literature as a creative activity deeply ingrained its pattern of
thoughts and language from which its emotion is drawn- in this case, from its cultural
practices such as kawing. The researcher further notes that, from the notion of Akinola
(2016), the meaning of a word is the contribution it makes to the meaning of the
sentence as a whole to which it appears. This is also the same as to how the meaning of
the sentence contributes to the meaning of the word itself to which it appears. The
following results yield the ideas aforementioned.

16
 Cultural beliefs and practices in an integral part of understanding words and lexical
items of such text. And in order to understand it more, one must learn their culture to
provide contextual meanings of the said words and lexical items. Koris (destiny) for the
Maranao people, has become part of their beliefs. This belief is highly influenced by
their Islamic views, wherein the events and the consequences that happens to them are
their predestinations and there’s nothing they can do about it. One line from the lyrics
of Aya says that:

“Aya masakit ko miyatangkdsaginawa a di

Di ta koris o basktapililang ko, aya”
English translation:
“What’s the most heartbreaking part is when I finally knew that
we are not destined to be with each other, my love”

The word koris in this line suggests a heartbreaking point of both lovers that they
are not destined to “be with each other” or “o baskta”, if described contextually, means
that the lovers were not destined to get married. For the reason that the relationship of
lovers in Maranaos, as influenced by their Islamic views and as part of their culture, the
“being together” or the “be with each other” phrase is only accepted as being together
legally, hence the marriage. Maranaos are not allowed to have a boyfriend-girlfriend
relationship or any other as they believe that relationships are sacred and therefore
should only be legal in the eyes of the families of the couple and to Islam.

The pnayawn (waiting for) word is also found in most of the selected song lyrics.
The following lines contains the Maranao word:

“So pasad ta pnayawng ko ska ko kambaling ka”

English translation:
17
 “Our agreement that I would wait for you ‘till you get home”

“Ba ko dnmiyakasanasapnayawenakong ka”

English translation:
“I expected that you would wait for me”

“A pnayawenakong ka nada’ng ka botomana”

English translation:
“I thought you would wait for me but you didn’t”

As what the aforementioned belief of the Maranao people that lovers are not
allowed to have a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship or any other as they believe that
relationships are sacred and therefore only marriage is allowed. But it was also stated
that Marriage holds as one of the most expensive affairs because the guy must have
enough money and wealth to provide dowry for the family of the girl he wants to marry.
Thus, it takes a lot of process and patience before the couple to get married. The
following lines suggests the concept of waiting, where the girl would wait until the guy
gets enough money for his dowry and for them to get married sooner, although the last
two lines suggests that the girls could not wait any longer. The first line though, presents
another situation of waiting, where the girl must have been somewhere else, far from
the guy, and so the guy must have to wait until the girl gets home for them to get
married.

The lines from Raga AMarikit song says that:

“Darumagsa da tamok o mgaloks ta”

English translation:
“even now that my family don’t have the money and wealth”

18
 This line suggests the dowry system of the Maranao people, where the guy must
have enough wealth to provide for the girl and her family before they would get
married. The “daromagsa da tamok o mgaloks ta” line which means that the guy do not
have that wealth, hence the reason why they cannot get married yet. Tamok (wealth)
which is also one of the lexical items that suggests “kawing” is also described here as
how much the guy could give in terms of his wealth, as his dowry for the girl.

Kabaya-e, miyalalong and, pkababayaan all pertains to love - the love that the guy
has felt for the girl that he would want to marry her. The following lines contains such
words:

“Di ta pn di mapangantok, oh kabaya’e ta niyan”

English translation:
“I would always guess, if she loves me back”

“Tanto akorkadn a miyalalong”

English translation:
“I am crazily in love with you”
“kulayaknpkababayaan ko ainikarasayakn”
English translation:
“my love that I love and whom I have worked hard for”

Like the previously mentioned notion of the culture of the Maranaos, the guy’s
love for the girl are expressed through kapanganakan, where the guy would tell her love
for the girl in front of her families and would ask for their permission to marry her. Also,
the words mentioned are exclusively meant love in a romantic way. Moreover, there are
some few phrases from the lyrics that suggest endearments, a way of expressing the
19
love for the opposite such as, kulayakn, lilangakn, andmataidakn. The “akn” from the
phrases previously mentioned means, “my”, preceded by words that describes their
love for the girl. There is no direct translation for the said words except for the word
“mataid” which means, beautiful. The two words, lilang and kulay, may pertain to love,
thus the phrases mentioned may mean “my love” in the English language.

Pangaroma, when directly translated, means will marry. This word is also present
on some of the song lyrics. The following lines are as follows:

“Taro’aniyokiama a pangaroma ko”

English translation:
“Tell my father that I want to (will) marry”

“pakipangaroma ka iransalawansaginawa ko”

English translation:
“they will let you marry someone even if it’s against my will”

The lines in itself, with the presence of the word “pangaroma” suggests the
concept of “kawing.” The first line with the word “pangaroma” denotes the will of the
speaker to get married soon and so he wanted to ask permission to his father. The
second line expresses how much hurt and disappointed the speaker that they let his
love marry someone else and not the speaker.

Makapanoksam or to ask for the hand of the girl is part of the process of
kapanganakanthat takes place before the kawingor marriage happens. When a

20
Maranao would hear the word, “makapanoksam”, it instantly denotes that someone is
getting married. A line from the song, “Kulay” is as follows:

“Na di kami makapanoksam ka dapn a tamokami”

English translation:
“We couldn’t ask for the hand of the girl because we don’t have enough money and
wealth”

The line above tells that the speaker could not ask for the hand of the girl because
his family does not have enough money and wealth to endow, thus also express his
disappointment.

Makatarosa, which means to end up together, also suggests the concept of

kawing. Looking at its contextual meaning, the togetherness of the “makatarosa” would
only mean the marriage stage of a couple since, as aforementioned, Maranaos are not
allowed to have a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship.

“Sa mibtangaknrka ka and ta makatarosa”

English translation:
“Whatever that I would endow just so we would end up together”

This states that in order for the lovers to end up together, which just means to get
married, the guy must have enough wealth or tamok that will serve as his dowry he will
give to the girl and her family, thus also the term “mbtang.” Mbtang is a verb word, a
state of giving wealth as his dowry. Such line with the word, “mbtang” is stated below:

21
 “A ba ko dnpumanila ka o ba ko makasokat
Sa mibtangaknrka ka and ta makatarosa”
English translation:
“I shall go to Manila and get enough money
that I could endow to you so we would end up together”

The line above manifests the culture of the Maranaos in which they have to work
hard and get enough money that they could endow to the girl that they wanted to
marry. The concept of “endow” is part of the process before a couple could get married.

When both parties already have an agreement (kiyapasadan) of how much dowry
must be given, they could hold an engagement party, thus the term, “kiyandiyalagaan”
which is a past tense of the verb engage. Lines with the word, “kiyandiyalagaan” are as
mentioned below”

“Go aknkatokawinakiyandiyalagaan ka bs”

English translation:
“I have come to know that you got engaged to someone else”

“Kiyandiyalagaan ka bs nadangkarakntaro’a”
English translation:
“You got engaged and you haven’t told me”

Diayalaga or engagement would mean a celebration for the upcoming wedding of

the lovers. But having been engaged does not guarantee that the boy could already
marry the girl. An engagement could be cut off if the girl decided that she doesn’t want
to marry anymore. The dowry, which the guy has given, could not be returned, hence

22
why one of the reasons why a redo happens. This backlash could lead to a
misunderstanding, thus a “pasad” or agreement must be fully understood and agreed
by both parties or families. This is also why “kiyapasadan”, a past tense verb for the root
word pasad(agreement), also suggests the concept of Kawing, as the agreement is the
motion that holds that a “kawing” is soon to take place.

“Isakopagampaganaynapipasadan ta kulayna
Di akong ka sambiansaapyaantawa mama”
English translation:
“We have agreed from the very start, my love
that you would not replace me with any other man”

When a couple gets married, the place where the other person lives is called
kiyamongan. Kiyamongan does not have an exact term in the English language as the
term is highly cultural thus only can be understood if explained thoroughly. This shared
term and meaning is also highly used even in the daily conversations of the people.

“So kiyapakaantapakn ko ingud a kiyamongan ka”

English translation:
“When I went to the place where he lives”
The line denotes that that the speaker went to the place where the girl’s husband
lives.

The “kawing” in itself is highly cultural hence, why some of the lexical items,
words, and phrases could only be found in the Maranao language. Such words like
kiyamongan,miyakatarosa, btang among others, does not need how they were used in
the sentence to suggest the concept “kawing” because the words itself are already

23
associated with the said concept. However, words like pnayawn, tamok, pkabayaan,
andpipasadan have to consider on how they were used in the sentence that would
suggest “Kawing”. Even the state of “Kawing” as a Maranao language already provides a
space for debates whether the lexical items that suggests the said concept holds a literal
meaning or contextual meaning. Nevertheless, the lexical items and words found cannot
stand itself to suggest the concept and so the meanings of the word are the contribution
it makes to the meaning of the sentence the meaning of the sentence as a whole
contributes to the meaning of the word itself. As per discussed, the culture of Kawing
were highly involved in the meaning-making of the lexical terms mentioned.

Lexical items Literal meaning Contextual Sense relations

meaning

koris Destined; Destined to get Meronymy—

destiny married cause and effect
relations

O bask’ta Be with each Get married Meronymy— cause

other and effect relations

pnayawng/ Wait, to wait Wait until we get Meronymy— whole-

pnayawn married segment relations

Tamok o Wealth of our Wealth of our Meronymy—

mgaloks ta family family as our dowry necessity and whole-
functional relations

Kabaya-e Be loved Love me too so we Meronymy—

would end up collection-member
together relations and cause-
effect relations

24
pangaroma To marry Meronymy—
Cause and effect
relations

Pipasadan agreed Have agreed to get Meronymy—

married necessity and whole-
segment relations,
whole-functional
relations

makapanoks To ask for the Meronymy—

am hand of the girl necessity and whole-
and her family if segment relations
they would
allow him to
marry the girl

tamok wealth Wealth as the Meronymy—

dowry for the necessity and whole-
couple to get functional relations
married

mibtang Endow; the act of Meronymy—

giving money or necessity and whole-
property to the segment relations
girl so they would
get married

Makatarosa End up together Meronymy— cause

as a married and effect relations
couple

kiyandiyalag have engaged Meronymy—

aan collection- member
relations

kiyamongan The guy/girl’s Meronymy― cause

25
 hometown or and effect relations
where he/she
came from

miyalalong Crazy in love Crazy in love with Meronymy—

you that I would collection-member
want to marry you relations and cause
and effect relations

pkababayaan In love In love with you Meronymy—

that I want to collection-member
marry you relations and cause
and effect relations
Table 4.2. Lexical items with their literal meaning, contextual meaning and sense relations
found in Maranao pop songs

26
 Figure 4.1. Meronymy

Meronymy

Garoma & Adugna (2015) defined metonymy as a condition and a semantic

relationship between lexical items in a sense of its whole-part indications. In other
words, the subjects denoted by one are parts of those denoted by the other. Metonymy
is also explained using two expressions in a language as “A is a part of B, or B has A.”
Objects that contain parts are called as elements. Meronymy as a sense relation
explains the semantic relationship between a lexical item to another. In this study, the
lexical items found in the song lyrics of the selected Moro pop songs will identify its
relationship to the concept “Kawing.”

27
 There were different types of meronymy presented by Lyons (1977) and Murphy
(2006) as stated in the study of Gamora & Adugna (2015). These types were inalienable
or necessity, alienable or optional, whole-segment relation, whole-functional
component relation, collection-member relation, portion-mass relation, cause-effect
relation, contain-container relation among others. This study has identified some of the
types of meronymic relation that suggests the concept of “Kawing.”

Inalienable or Necessity

Necessity is a meronymic relations between lexical items in which the parts are
necessary for the wholeness of the other. This study found that Tamok, tamok a
mgaloks ta, pipasadan, makapanoksam, and mibtang are necessary parts of the process
of the kawing for it to take place.

Makapanoksam or to ask for the hand of the girl is part of the process of
kapanganakan that takes place before the kawing or marriage happens, thus why the
process of makapanoksam is necessary for kawing. Secondly, the dowry system of the
Maranao people, where the guy must have enough wealth to provide for the girl and
her family before they would get married is also necessary. The “daromagtamok o
mgaloks ta” line which means that the guy do not have that wealth, hence the reason
why they cannot get married yet. The whole concept of “tamok” as described in the
study, shows how important having enough money and property a family should have
since these will serve as the dowry of the family to the family of the girl. The act of
giving of a dowry is described as “imbtang”, a future tense verb for endow. This is also a
necessary part of the process of kawing as it is already integrated in the culture of the
Maranaos.

28
 It was also mentioned that for a Kawing to take place, a “pasad” or agreement
must be materialized and be fully understood and agreed by both parties or families.
Hence, why the process is also a necessity.

Whole-functional Relations

Whole functional relation is another meronymy relation in which a part has its own
function in order for the whole to be completed. These components must be functional
in order for the tool, in this study, the kawing, to be performed.

The researcher identified that tamok and kiyapasadan are necessary tools and
processes that must function in order for a kawing to be performed. Tamok functions as
the dowry for the girl, means that a property or money must be provided to the family
of the girl and on the other hand, agreement functions as the motion that holds the
contract for a Kawing to happen.

Cause-effect relations

Cause and effect relations is simply the relationship between lexical items in which
the other one is the cause and the second are the event that take place. The data
presents that Koris, O bask’ta, Pangaroma, Makatarosa, Miyalalong, Pkabayaan,
Kabaya-e shows the cause-effect relations with the term “Kawing.”

Kabaya-e, miyalalong, andpkababayaan, as described in the song lyrics all pertains

to love- the love that the guy has felt for the girl that he would want to marry her.
Hence, the love of the guy would be the reason why a marriage or kawing happens.

Pangaroma, when directly translated, means will marry. “Pangaroma” denotes

the will of the speaker to get married soon and so he wanted to ask permission to his

29
father. Thus, because of the willingness of the speaker to get married, a marriage or a
wedding ceremony would likely to happen.

The togetherness of “O bask’ta” (be with each other) and “makatarosa” (end up
together) is actually an effect of the cause of kawing since as previously explained, the
“togetherness” of the couple is only accepted as being together legally, hence the
marriage.

Koris also describes its cause-effect relationship with the concept “kawing” since
as contextually expressed, the word means that if the lovers were not destined to get
married then there is no such marriage that will happen.

WHOLE-SEGMENT RELATIONS

The part that must come together in order to make the whole is called the whole-
segment relations. This meronymy relation shows that a segment must be presented or
performed to make the whole. The data presents that Pnayawn, Pipasadan,
Makapanoksam, mibtangare segments that must come together for the kawing to
happen.

As what the aforementioned belief of the Maranao people that lovers are not
allowed to have a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship or any other as they believe that
relationships are sacred and therefore only marriage is allowed. But it was also stated
that Marriage holds as one of the most expensive affairs because the guy must have
enough money and wealth to provide dowry for the family of the girl he wants to marry.
Thus, it takes a lot of process and patience before the couple to get married. Thus, in
here, the girl would wait until the guy gets enough money for his dowry and for them to
get married sooner.

30
 Like what was mentioned, makapanoksam, mibtang, and pipasadan are all
segments that must take place before the wedding. The guy must undergo these
processes before he will get to marry the girl that he wants to live with for the rest of his
life. Since endowment is indeed an expensive affair and a heavy burden because it
involves property and money, an agreement must be made so the wedding won’t cut
off.

COLLECTION-MEMBER RELATIONS

Pkababayaan, Pkabaya-e, Miyalalong, kiyandiyalagaan are collection-member

related to the concept of kawing since these concepts is what makes the wholeness of
“Kawing” but they are not necessarily important in the process since. The kawing may
not be affected even if one of these processes are removed. This is also the reason why
the meronymic relations between such lexical items and the concept kawing may also
be called as alienable or optional relations.

For the lexical items that pertains to romantic love - pkabaya’e, miyalalong, and
pkabayaan - it was previously mentioned that parental decisions play a larger role in
determining their sons and daughters’ weddings. This is because most of the time, the
reasons why Maranaos get on an arranged marriage set up are: feud or redo
settlements of both party; affiliations to other families to establish close alliances and
for economic considerations; and to strengthen family ties, hence why Maranaos are
allowed to marry their close relatives, to the extreme of a first cousin degree basis.
Thus, although the concept of romantic love makes the “kawing”, it cannot be denied
that the absence of this kind of love does not affect whether a kawing will take place or
not because of the aforementioned factors why Maranaos get on arranged marriage.
Kiyandiyalagaan (got engaged) or the concept of engagement party, a celebration

31
before a wedding takes place is also not necessary in the process. Most of the Maranaos
get wed even if they haven’t been organized engagement parties.

The following results shows that despite the words are far from how it is meant
through meronymic relations, the relationship of these lexical items to the concept of
“Kawing” is convincingly explainable because of (1) how these lexical items are
described in the selected song lyrics and (2) these lexical items were highly cultural in a
sense that some of the terms found does not have direct translation of meaning in the
English language. Through these sense relations, the links between words were
identified and established and thus, they can also be explained logically.

5. Summary of Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations

This section of the study briefly discusses the results of the data analysis and their
relevance to filling the gap of this study, the summary of findings, conclusion, and
recommendations.

5.1. Summary of Findings

Upon listing the words, identifying their literal meanings and context, and then
analyzing them, it was then evident that more than the words’ literal meanings, their
context has a more important role on how the word was used in the song. Although
their literal meanings still played a role in providing meaning for the song, by looking
how the words were used, it was clear that the context was given more consideration
and meaning.

Moreover, the sense relations found between the Mëranaw lexical items and the
Mëranaw word ‘kawing’ is meronym. The words were classified into five categories

32
under metonymy namely necessity, whole-function relations, cause-effect relations,
whole-segment relations, and collection-member relation.

Necessity is a part of the meronym relations between lexical items in which the
parts are necessary for the wholeness of the other. The Mëranaw words tamok,
pipasadan, makapanoksam, mibtang were classified under necessity and are therefore
considered necessary for ‘kawing’ to happen.

On the other hand, whole-function relations are defined as the meronym relation
where a part has its own function in order for the whole, i.e. ‘kawing’, to be completed.
The Mëranaw words tamok and pipasadan are also classified as necessity thus, they fall
under two (2) categories of meronym. These words, while they are considered
necessary for ‘kawing’ to happen, also plays an important role for the wholeness of the
word.

In the cause-effect relations, it is defined as the relationship between lexical items

in which the other one is the cause while the second is the result. The Mëranaw words
koris, o ba sk’ta, pangaroma, makatarosa, miyalalong, pkabayaan, and kabaya-e are
placed under this relation. These words are either the cause for ‘kawing’ to take place
or the effect of ‘kawing’.

Another meronym relation is the whole-segment relation which is defined as the

part that must come together in order to make the whole. This shows that a segment
must be presented or performed to make the whole. This indicates that the Maranao
words pnayawn, pipasadan, makapanoksam, and mbtang are classified under this
relation. These words are therefore significant to make the whole for the word ‘kawing’.

33
 The collection-member relations is defined as the concept that make the
wholeness of a word i.e. ‘kawing’ but are not necessarily important in the process since
the absence of these words or concepts may not even affect ‘kawing’. The Mëranaw
words pkababayaan, pkabaya-e, miyalalong, and kiyandiyalagaan are identified to be
under this relation; therefore, these words make the wholeness of ‘kawing’. However, it
should be noted that even if these concepts are not present, it will not bear any effect
on the concept of ‘kawing’.

5.2. Conclusion

The lexical items found that suggests ‘kawing’ are (1) lexical items that the words
themselves already associate with the said concept and (2) lexical items that consider
how they are used in the sentence that would suggest the said concept. It is implied in
the results that cultural involvement is highly phenomenal and relevant in the meaning-
making present in the Mëranaw lexical items that suggest the concept of ‘kawing’. It is
indicated in the results and discussion of this study that the lexical items found reflect
the concept of ‘kawing’. Therefore, no synonym and hyponym relations were found in
the lexical items that coincide with the concept of marriage in Mëranaw. In the process
of gathering the lexical items present in the song lyrics of the selected Mëranaw pop
songs, the researchers conclude that these lexical items also suggest and embody the
concept of love, confession, and heartbreak brought upon by rejection.

5.3. Recommendations

Based on the findings and conclusions presented, the following recommendations

are given:

1. It is recommended to conduct an in-depth study on the semantics of the Mëranaw

language such as its propositions and the entailment that they possess to provide more
data for betterment of future studies.

34
2. It is also recommended to continue this study but with another form of corpus such as
the other indigenous languages spoken by the various indigenous groups inhabiting the
Philippine archipelago.

35
 APPENDIX

“Aya” by Mally Band

Igiraalongan a da ka dnmailay
Mararasaymamikirsabaprka
Di ka khalipatan, lalayon ka pkhatadman
So ropan o bontal ka aya mala di khalipatan
Aya masakit ko miyatangkdsaginawa a di
Di ta koris o basktapililang ko, aya

Aya masakitsaginawanapiyakalipatan ka
So pasad ta pnayawng ko ska ko kambaling ka
Ogaydnakiyatokawan ko a miyaling ka pililang ko
Na kiyawing ka sasalakaw, tig ka di ngakharaw
Aya masakit ko miyatangkdsaginawa a di
Di ta koris o basktapililang ko
Aya masakit ko miyatangkdsaginawa a di
Di ta koris o basktapililang ko, aya

*instrumental*

Aya masakit ko miyatangkdsaginawa a di

Di ta koris o basktapililang ko
Aya masakit ko miyatangkdsaginawa a di
Di ta koris o basktapililang ko, aya
Aya masakit ko miyatangkdsaginawa a di
Di ta koris o basktapililang ko
Lala lalalalalalalalala

“Raga a Marikit” by Mally Band

Ongaposoakun, tihayamataakun
Oh raga manisansiisasiringan
Obo katawinga a daakaginawa
Ko kiyailayaruka, di ka kalipatan
Ska’ylalayonmapipikir o raga a marikit
Da bangalagidtitho a mataid
Di ka p’sasambiin
Sukaylalayonmapipikir

36
Igirasomiyaged, di ta di makasabr
Atiandamanaya, tigyanba ta di khaya
Darumagsa da tamok o mgaloks ta
Di ta pn di mapangantok, oh kabaya’e ta niyan
Ska’ylalayonmapipikir o raga a marikit
Da bangalagidtitho a mataid
Di ka p’sasambiin
Sukaylalayonmapipikir o raga a marikit
Da bangalagidtitho a mataid
Di ka pusasambiin
Sukaylalayonmapipikir

*instrumental*

Ska’ylalayonmapipikir o raga a marikit

Da bangalagidtitho a mataid
Di ka pusasambiin
wooooh
Sukaylalayonmapipikir o raga a marikit
Da bangalagidtitho a mataid
Di ka pusasambiin
Sukaylalayonmapipikir o raga a marikit
Da bangalagidtitho a mataid
Di ka pusasambiin
Sukaylalayonmapipikir

“Pangaruma ko” by Hogey

Ba baba ba baba baka ‘nan plalakaw
O ooooo ka onotanakn ska
Si sisisisisi ka sika bosasiringan
Sa sasasasasasasasasasasasa
Di ta pumakabal’sigiramadadanga
Di ta pamakalinoigirasomiyagd
Taro’aniyokiama a pangaroma ko, ina
Di ta p’kakanigiramiyapikir
Di ta torognigiragagawi-i
Inipagtirakn a kapipikira ko ron

37
Sa sasasasasa ka sana ka a mataid
Da dadadadada ka da p’kalawanrka
Hm hmhmhmhmhmhmhmhmhmhmhm
Na nananananananananananana
Di ta pamakabal’sigiramadadanga
Di ta pamakalinoigirasomiyag’d
Taroaniyokiama a pangaroma ko, ina
Di ta p’kakanigiramiyapikir
Di ta torog’nigiragagawii
Inipagtirakn a kapipikira, tabang

“Kulay” by Brothers Band

Isakopagampaganaynapipasadan ta kulayna
Di akong ka sambiansaapyaantawa mama
So kiyapakapiraolaniyannalagidobaknmiyasipat
A pakipangaroma ka iransalawansaginawa ko
Na di kami makapanoksam ka dapn a tamokami
Miyakaisagawiinamiyapamikirakn
A ba ko dnpumanila ka o ba ko makasokat
Sa mibtangaknrka ka and ta makatarosa
Go aknkatokawinakiyandiyalagaan ka bs

*instrumental*

Inaokulayaknnaaya rata on a ginawana

Kiyandiyalagaan ka bs nadangkarakntaro’a
Ba ko dnmiyakasanasapnayawenakong ka
Igiralagidaya a di ta pkarawmaling ka
Tanto dn a kiyasakitan a ginawa ko a rasay
Aydawkulayanda man aya e kiyabarawangkasaya
Miyakaisagawiinamiyapamikirakn
A ba ko dnpumanila ka o ba ko makasokat
Sa mibtangaknrka ka and ta makatarosa
Go aknkatokawinakiyandiyalagaan ka bs

*instrumental*

Inaokulayaknna so kiyabalingaknsaingud
Na kiyatokawanakn a miyakakawing kano

38
So kiyapakaantapakn ko ingud a kiyamongan ka
namiyaylayaknskanonaadn a wataiyo
Miyakaisagawiinamiyapamikirakn
A ba ko dnpumanila ka o ba ko makasokat
Sa mibtangaknrka ka and ta makatarosa
Go aknkatokawinakiyandiyalagaan ka bs sasalakaw

*instrumental*

“Mala ka sa Ginawa Kun (Pirot e Mata)” by Ali Comadug

Inaolilang ko anda ka miyaribon
Phulobaangko ska di ko ska katoon
Tanto akorkadn a miyalalong
Ska bo e mapipikirakn
Inaolilangm’balingan ka dn ka
Di ko ska katigranaydadawlilang ko a
Mataidakn, manisanakn, pirot e mata
Mala ka saginawakunpililang ko

*instrumental*

Aydadawlilang ko kapdi-in akong ka

Di akodntorognsamababasagawii
Sa kapipikira ko rkaaydawlilang ska bo e imangko
Inaolilangm’balingan ka dn ka
Di ko ska katigranaydadawlilang ko a
Mataidakn, manisanakn, pirot e mata
Mala ka saginawakunpililang ko

*instrumental*

Inaolilangm’balingan ka dn ka
Di ko ska katigranaydadawlilang ko
Mataidakn, manisanakn, pirot e mata
Mala ka saginawakunpililang ko

*instrumental*

Mala ka saginawakunlilang ko

39
Mala ka saginawa ko pililang
Mala ka saginawakunlilang ko
Mala ka saginawa ko lilang
Mala ka saginawa ko pililang ko
Ska bo e mapipikiraknlilang

“So Kiyasapa’i Ta” from YouTube channel: justech66

Kiyalipatan ka dn so kiyasapa’i ta
Di ka makip’nggaring o di sakn e garing ka
Ino ka ‘nan kagiyananda’ang ka dnmapamikir
So kiyarasayaknrkabolawan ko
Igirasaknboba ko dnpkas’gd
Pkatadmanakn so mgakabasa’ng ka rakn
A pnayawenakong ka nada’ng ka botomana
Di akodnpkarilabolawan ko
Bolawan ko lipati’ng ka atianda man aya
Na takdir o da payaglilangakn
Da akong ka kaoba-ipiyakatamanakn
Ska go saknba ta dndiprila-i

*instrumental*

Kiyalipatan ka dn so kiyasapa’i ta
A di ka makip’nggaring o di sakn e garing ka
Ino ka ‘nan kagiyananda’ang ka dnmapamikir
So kiyarasayaknrkabolawan ko
Igirasaknboba ko dnpkas’gd
Pkatadmanakn so mgakabasa’ng ka rakn
A pnayawenakong ka nadangkabotomana
Di akodnpkarilabolawan ko
Bolawan ko lipati’ng ka atianda man aya
Na takdir o da payaglilangakn
Da akong ka kaoba-ipiyakatamanakn
Ska go saknba ta dndiprila-i

*instrumental*

Bolawan ko lipati’ng ka atianda man aya

Na takdir o da payaglilangakn

40
Da akong ka kaoba-ipiyakatamanakn
Ska go saknba ta dndiprila-i

*instrumental*

“Baby KulayAkun a P’kababayaan Ko” by Ali Comadug

Aydawpililang ko a mataidakn a mariga e ka’aputi
Malalalongdn a romba’oladang ko sabapsaginawangkakulalay
Antonaadnmangaday (e sowaan) di ko sabot’n tanto aako a miyarasay
Aydadawkulalaykapdiinakongka di akodntorog’n
Baby kulayaknpkababayaan ko ainikarasayakn
Aya bopangning ko bangkakalipati so kiyangginawa’e ta

*instrumental*

Aydawpililang ko a mataidakn a di ko karawba ko ganati

Miyakalala ka saginawa ko ska bodn e mai’imangko
Apya ko t’ndanisabolawan ago pirak ka di ko ska ganatan
Inoakoayamangaday tanto akodn a miya’alalong
Baby kulayaknpkababayaan ko ainikarasayakn
Aya bopangning ko bangkakalipati so kiyangginawa’e ta

*instrumental*

Baby kulayakn a pkababayaan ko ainikarasayakn

Aya bopangning ko bangkakalipati so kiyangginawa’e ta
Aydawkulayakn a mataidakn a di ko karawisambi
Ska bo e mapipikiraknsatamandnsatamankulay
Aydadawkulayakn a mataidaknna di ka dnp’nggoraok

*instrumental*

41
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