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Bicol

Bicol 
Bikol languages a group of Central Philippine languages spoken particularly on the Bicol Peninsula on the island of Luzon and parts of Catanduanes and Burias Island, Masbate Province. There is also a continuum between Visayan languages and Bikol languages, called Bisakol languages.

Five of the eight Bikol languages belong to the Bikol macrolanguage (ISO 639: bik).
1. bhk — Albay Bicolano
2. bcl — Central Bicolano
3. bto — Iriga Bicolano
4. cts — Northern Catanduanes Bicolano
5. bln — Southern Catanduanes Bicolano

The Bicol Region or Bicolandia is one of the 17 regions of the Philippines. It occupies the Bicol Peninsula at the southeastern end of Luzon island and some other islands.
It consists of six provinces, namely, Albay, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate, and Sorsogon. It has one independent component city, Naga City, and six component cities, Iriga, Legazpi, Ligao, Masbate, Sorsogon, and Tabaco. The regional centers are Legazpi City, the region's political and administrative center, Naga City, the region's cultural and religious center. Legazpi City, Naga City, Iriga City and Sorsogon City are the leading cities in the region in terms of urbanization and also the hub of the region's economic activity.

Language
Inhabitants, called Bicolanos, speak any one of the several varieties of Bikol, an Austronesian language closely related to other Central Philippine languages such as Cebuano and Tagalog. Bikol varieties include Bikol Rinconada (Iriga-Buhi area), the western Albay dialects (Oas, Daraga), Bikol Sorsogon (Sorsogon), Bikol Catanduanes and Bikol Partido (municipalities surrounding Lagonoy Gulf). Standard Bikol is based on the dialect of Naga City and is spoken in a wide area stretching from Camarines Norte, most of Camarines Sur, the entire east coast of Albay (including Legazpi and Tabaco) and northern Sorsogon. Standard Bikol is generally understood by other Bikol speakers and is the regional lingua franca.
The Bikol languages are the dominant languages of the region. The Filipino language (Tagalog) is also spoken in northern parts of Camarines Norte as well as in the municipality of Del Gallego, Camarines Sur. Two Visayan languages, Sorsoganon and Masbateño, are spoken in Masbate and Sorsogon; they are collectively referred to as Bisakol.

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