Editing Cebuano language (section)

{{Short description|Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines}}
{{about-distinguish|the specific Bisayan Cebuano language|Bisayan languages|Brunei Bisaya language}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Use Philippine English|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Cebuano
| altname          = Cebuan
| nativename       = ''Bisayâ'', ''Binisayâ'', ''Sinugbuanong Binisayâ'',<!--Used by traditional speakers, formal journalism and literary works--> ''Sebwano/Sinebwano''<!--Not all native speakers refer to this as Bisaya. Other speakers such as people in Negros are more specific to distinguish it from other Bisayan languages like Hiligaynon, rather than referring to the generic Bisayâ''.-->
| pronunciation    = <!-- Pronunciation of the native name -->
| states           = Philippines
| region           = [[Central Visayas]], eastern [[Negros]], western parts of [[Eastern Visayas]], and most parts of [[Mindanao]]
| ethnicity        = [[Visayans]] ([[Cebuano people|Cebuano]], [[Boholano people|Boholano]], [[Eskaya people|Eskaya]], etc.)
| speakers         = 20 million
| date             = 2023 estimate
| ref              = <ref>{{cite web |url = https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/census/projected-population |title = Population Projection Statistics |date = 28 Mar 2021 |website = psa.gov.ph |access-date = 20 Mar 2024 |archive-date = December 26, 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231226235925/https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/census/projected-population |url-status = live }}</ref>
| speakers2        =
| familycolor      = Austronesian
| fam2             = [[Malayo-Polynesian languages|Malayo-Polynesian]]
| fam3             = [[Philippine languages|Philippine]]
| fam4             = [[Greater Central Philippine languages|Greater Central Philippine]]
| fam5             = [[Central Philippine languages|Central Philippine]]
| fam6             = [[Bisayan languages|Bisayan]]
| dia1             = {{bulleted list|Standard Cebuano (Cebu Island)}}
| dia2             = {{bulleted list|Urban Cebuano (Metro Cebu)}}
| dia3             = {{bulleted list|Negros Cebuano}}
| dia4             = {{bulleted list|[[Boholano dialect|Bohol Cebuano]]}}
| dia5             = {{bulleted list|Leyte Cebuano (Kanâ)}}
| dia6             = {{bulleted list|Mindanao Cebuano}}
| dia7             = {{bulleted list|Davao Cebuano}}
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]] ([[Filipino alphabet]])<br />[[Philippine Braille]]<br />''Historically [[Baybayin|Badlit]]''
| nation           =
| minority         = [[Regional language]] in the Philippines
| agency           = {{unbulleted list|[[Visayan Academy of Arts and Letters]]|[[Commission on the Filipino Language|Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino]]}}
| iso2             = ceb
| iso3             = ceb
| glotto           = cebu1242
| glottorefname    = Cebuano
| map              = Distribution of cebuano language.png
| mapcaption       = Cebuano-speaking area in the Philippines
| notice           = IPA
| ancestor         = [[Classical Cebuano]] (late 18th century)
}}

'''Cebuano''' ({{IPAc-en|s|ɛ|ˈ|b|w|ɑː|n|oʊ}} {{respell|se|BWAH|noh}})<ref name=mw>[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Cebuano Cebuano] on Merriam-Webster.com</ref><ref>[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Cebu Cebu] on Merriam-Webster.com</ref><ref>[http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Cebu+(province) Columbia Encyclopedia]</ref> is an [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian language]] spoken in the southern [[Philippines]] by [[Cebuano people]] and other [[Ethnic groups in the Philippines|ethnic groups]] as a secondary language. It is natively, though informally, called by the generic name '''Bisayâ''' ({{IPA|ceb|bisəˈjaʔ|audio=LL-Q33239 (ceb)-Bloomagiliw-Bisaya.wav}}), or '''Binisayâ''' ({{IPA|ceb|bɪniːsəˈjaʔ|}}) (both terms are translated into English as ''Visayan'', though this should not be confused with other [[Bisayan languages]]){{efn|Reference to the language as ''Binisayâ'' is discouraged by many linguists, in light of the many languages within the Visayan language group that might be confounded with the term.}} and sometimes referred to in English sources as '''Cebuan''' ({{IPAc-en|s|ɛ|ˈ|b|uː|ən}} {{respell|seb|OO|ən}}). It is spoken by the [[Visayans|Visayan ethnolinguistic groups]] native to the islands of [[Cebu]], [[Bohol]], [[Siquijor]], the eastern half of [[Negros Island|Negros]], the western half of [[Leyte]], the northern coastal areas of [[Northern Mindanao]] and the eastern part of [[Zamboanga del Norte]] due to [[Captaincy General of the Philippines|Spanish settlements]] during the 18th century. In modern times, it has also spread to the [[Davao Region]], [[Cotabato]], [[Camiguin]], parts of the [[Dinagat Islands]], and the lowland regions of [[Caraga]], often displacing native languages in those areas (most of which are closely related to it).<ref name="Wolff 1972" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/ceb |title=Cebuano |website=Ethnologue |access-date=6 September 2018}}</ref>

While [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]] has the largest number of native speakers among the languages of the Philippines today, Cebuano had the largest native-language-speaking population from the 1950s until about the 1980s.<ref name="gruyter">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LMZm0w0k1c4C |title=Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society |last1=Ammon |first1=Ulrich |last2=Dittmar |first2=Norbert |last3=Mattheier |first3=Klaus J. |last4=Trudgill |first4=Peter |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2006 |isbn=9783110184181 |volume=3 |page=2018}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=April 2021}} It is by far the most widely spoken of the [[Bisayan languages]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 12, 2020 |title=Language Specific Peculiarities Document for Cebuano as Spoken in the Philippines |url=https://catalog.ldc.upenn.edu/docs/LDC2018S07/LSP_301_final.pdf |website=Linguistic Data Consortium}}</ref>

Cebuano is the ''[[lingua franca]]'' of Central Visayas, the western parts of Eastern Visayas, some western parts of [[Palawan]], and most parts of [[Mindanao]]. The name Cebuano is derived from the island of [[Cebu]], which is the source of Standard Cebuano.<ref name="Wolff 1972" /> Cebuano is also the primary language in Western Leyte—noticeably in [[Ormoc]]. Cebuano is assigned the [[ISO 639-2]] three-letter code {{code|ceb}} but not an [[ISO 639-1]] two-letter code.

The [[Commission on the Filipino Language]], the Philippine government body charged with developing and promoting the national and regional languages of the country, spells the name of the language in Filipino as {{lang|fil|Sebwano}}. 

While it is not widely spoken in Luzon, there are a few Cebuano communities in [[Metro Manila]], [[Calabarzon]], [[Bulacan]], throughout [[Central Luzon]], northernmost Luzon, including [[Cordillera Administrative Region]], and [[Ilocos Region]].