Waray-Waray : Ask Biography

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Wáray-Wáray (commonly spelled as Warai; also referred to as Winarai or Lineyte-Samarnon) or Samarnon is a language spoken in the provinces of Samar, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, and in some parts of the Leyte and Biliran in the Philippines. The name comes from the word often heard by non-speakers, "waray" (meaning "none", "nothing" or "not"), in the same way that Cebuanos are known in Leyte as "mga Kana" (after the oft-heard word "kana", meaning "that", among people speaking the Cebuano language).

The Waray-Waray language spoken by the Waray people of Samar island and in most parts of Leyte and in some parts of Biliran island shows dialectal variations. Dialects are spoken in some parts of Masbate, particularly on the island of Ticao which is adjacent to Samar island.

Waray-Waray Sorsogon and Masbate Sorsogon are grouped into the Waray-Waray language. Waray-Waray Sorsogon and Masbate Sorsogon are called by the untrained as Bisakol because they are intermediate between the Visayan and Bicolano languages, however, all of these are just variants of the Waray-Waray language.