Case.
There is no inflection for Bisayan nouns to distinguish their different cases, as in Greek and Latin. The cases are determined by the prepositions and by variable parts of speech preceding the noun.
IMPORTANT OBSERVATION.
There are great many Bisayan nouns composed of the same letters, but which have different meanings according to the accent they bear. Of these are the following:
| anáy | (she-hog), | ánay | (before) |
| apó | (grandson or grand-daughter), | ápò | (a thing fully introduced) |
| áyao | (distributive possession), | ayáo | (no, imperative) |
| bábà | (mouth), | babá | (to carry a thing on the back) |
| babáye | (woman), | babayé | (female not person) |
| baga | (red-hot coal or wood), | bága | (lung), bagá (like) |
| bálay | (turn), | baláy | (house) |
| bálod | (a kind of dove), | balód | (wave) |
| bálos | (return), | balós | (revenge) |
| bánus | (abundant, thick), | banús | (to scrub) |
| bárang̃ | (an amulet), | baráng | (knot) [[42]] |
| bayáo | (brother-in-law), | báyao | (to lift up) |
| bucád | (flower), | búcad | (to dig up) |
| búhat | (work), | buhát | (to raise) |
| buhi | (alive), | buhi | (losse) |
| buláo | (yellow), | búlao | (to provoke a stranger) |
| búrong[54] | (fog), | buróng | (to throw) |
| busà | (reprimand), | búsà | (therefore) |
| cóbal | (thread), | cobál | (corn, callosity) |
| comót | (sinked), | cómot | (quick) |
| dósol | (pain of the stomack), | dosól | (despective form of “cáon”, to eat) |
| hóron | (to pass the night), | horón | (farm) |
| igo, | (just), | igô | (to be hit) |
| lága | (flame), | lagà | (cooked) |
| láya | (a net for fishing), | layà | (to wither), layâ (withered) |
| laláqui | (man), | lalaquí | (male, not person) |
| látos | (reaching, overtaking), | latós | (to whip) |
| lúya | (weakness), | luyà | (lime), luyâ (restlessness), luy-a (ginger) |
| muláy | (play), | múlay | (to teach) |
| obós | (low), | óbos | (to exhaust) |
| usá or usâ | (one), | úsa | (to marvel) |
| úpa | (reward), | upá | (rice chaff) |
| pátag | (plane), | patág | (a kind of basket) |
| píli | (a tree so called), | pilì | (to select) |
| pálad | (palm), | palád | (a fish) |
| pusò | (flower of banana), | pusô | (rice especially cooked) |
| pusâ | (pounded), | pusà | (to wash the feet) |
| púto | (a dainty so called), | pútò | (partition), putó (last son or daughter) |
| sábot | (agreement), | sabót | (filement or to understand) |
| sácay, | (passenger or companion on a boat), | sacáy | (to embark) |
| sócot | (frequent), | socót | (to collect) [[43]] |
| súso | (teat), | susò | (thickset), susô (a mollusk so called) |
| tíao | (joke), | tiáo | (maniac) |
| tíma | (finished), | timá | (uneven) |
| túba | (a plant so called), | tubâ | (wine from cocoanut or nipa) |
| tubó | (sugar-cane), | túbò | (to grow), etc. |
Transposition of accents.
The accent of a word frequently changes its place upon its transformation.
In the diminutives formed by repetition of the root or by the affix ay, the acute accent is always placed upon the penult. As
| from | baláy, | balaybálay |
| from,, | saróual, | sarouálay |
| from,, | balóto, | balotóhay. |
The grave accent of the root is preserved; and its angular accent becomes grave, which is preserved in its repetition. As