Nearly 98 percent of households in Catanduanes use Bikol/Bicol in everyday family communication and cultural identity, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said last week in a press release celebrating the Buwan ng Wika.
In the extract from the results of the 2020 Census of Population and Housing (CPH) on the language or dialect generally spoken at home, the data revealed that Bikol/Bicol remains the dominant household language in the island province.
From a total of 60,337 households in the province, 58,947 households or 97.7 percent reported that they speak Bikol/Bicol at home.
The second most commonly spoken language at home is Tagalog, used by 1,283 households or 2.1 percent.
Other local dialects such as Bisaya/Binisaya (7 households), Kapampangan (7), Waray (4), Ilocano (2), Cebuano (2), and Masbateño/Masbatenon (1) were also recorded in smaller proportions.
Catanduanes is also home to households that speak indigenous languages, including Aeta/Ayta, Alta-Kabulowan, Batak, and Bontok, though each account for less than 0.1 percent of the total.
Foreign languages, while minimal, are present in some households: American/English (34 households or 0.1 percent), British (2 households), and other foreign languages (4 households).
The PSA reminds the public that the data excludes households enumerated as homeless.