Can Hiligaynon literature fare?
Bryan Mari Argos argues for the preservation of Hiligaynon literature by proactively writing in the traditional Hiligaynon literary forms.
This is slowly becoming evident in young writers who attempt to write in Hiligaynon but retain English semantics in their work or a phenomenon we might call Hiligaynizing western concepts. This should not be. Cultural assertion dictates that for literature to truly serve its purpose of preserving local culture it should be able to mirror the culture of the people starting with the medium which is the language, down to the form and the material. This is perhaps the reason why the very small believers in the cause to preserve Hiligaynon literature start with the simpler and more attractive traditional literary forms like the paktakon (hiligaynon riddle), the loa (a hiligaynon rhyme usually verbalized during wakes) and the binalaybay (interchangeably used to refer to Hiligaynon poetry and Hiligaynon lyric poetry).
I am also okay though with what he calls "Hiligaynizing western concepts." Whether your literary sense of direction is from the outside in or the inside out, it all still redounds to the good of Literature, in general, and Philippine literature, in particular.
