A STUDY ON LEXICAL VARIATION OF CEBUANO SPEAKERS OF GENERAL SANTOS USING SWADESH LIST

The research and dissertations related to Social Variation Theory are unrest and adding in numbers. Lexical Variation is a phenomenon happening in most languages worldwide, including the Cebuano language used in General Santos. This study attempted to identify the factors that caused lexical variation within the Cebuano used in the area. The researcher used the modified Swadesh list, where participants are asked to translate 30-words from English into Cebuano. Using the purposive sampling method, the researcher asked twenty-six (26) participants from every barangay in General Santos. The data from this study revealed that there are nineteen (19) differences, and eleven (11) uniformity within the translation of the participants. Willliam Labov's Social Variationist Theory is evident in this study, where it revealed that the variation in the words used reflects the uniqueness in the Cebuano language spoken within General Santos. Whereas, the different factors such as ethnolinguistic difference, economic status, sexual orientation, nature of the occupation, generational difference, and even the geographic location, cause such variation within the use of specific lexicon of the Cebuano speakers of General Santos. However, future studies in other Cebuano Speaking areas of the Philippines need to investigate to analysed further the Cebuano language and its linguistic features to address drawbacks in linguistic variation.