Alternate Names: Bagobo, Kidapawan Manobo, Obo Bagobo
Dialects: Arakan Manobo, Kidapawan Manobo, Magpet Manobo, Marilog. 69% intelligibility of Tigwa (Matigsalug Manobo , reportedly most similar) and 60% of Tagabawa ,. Lexical similarity: 63% with Tagabawa , and Ilianen Manobo ,, 35% with Cebuano ,.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 60,000 (2007 SIL). 20,000 monolinguals. L2 users: Used by those intermarrying with local speakers.
Language Use: Home, market, church. All ages. Positive attitudes. Also use Cebuano [ceb], Tagabawa [bgs].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 65%–70%. Literacy rate in L2: 95% in Cebuano [ceb]. Literacy work ongoing. Taught in 3 primary schools (2007 SIL). Taught in 1 secondary school (2007 SIL). New media. Radio programs. Videos. Dictionary. Grammar. NT: 2011.
Typology: VSO, VOS; prepositions; genitives after noun heads; articles, adjectives, and numerals before noun heads; question word in sentence-initial position; 2 maximum prefixes, 1 maximum suffix; ergativity; passives; causatives; comparatives; CV, CVC, CVV. CVVC; nontonal.
Writing System: Latin
Nation of Origin: Philippines
Other Comments: Christian, traditional religion.