Bahasa Sug is the lingua franca of the people of the Sulu archipelago. Being rooted in the central Philippine group of Austronesian languages, it shares similarities with Butuanon, Surigaonon, Cebuano, Bicolano, and Tagalog. As a language enriched by Southeast Asian-based customs and Islam, Bahasa Sug covers a broad spectrum of verbal and written expressions, and embodies diverse links with other cultures. In this dictionary, the author argues convincingly and substantially for the word “Tausug” to be interpreted not as “people of the current,” as is widely asserted in anthropological texts, but as “people of the path of knowledge.” Today, the Bahasa Sug language and its idioms continue to tell the story of the Tausug people’s struggles.

This English–Bahasa Sug dictionary contains over 15,000 entries, and is the first of its kind.