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THE HISTORY OF ITS NAME

WHY OVU-MANUVU  ?

𝐎𝐛𝐨 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐯𝐮' is the spelling used by the Kidapawan City History and Heritage Research Team for the name of the tribe indigenous to the city. 

The spelling follows the Monuvu orthography of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, which was designed by tribal leaders and which seeks to represent the language's phonology as accurately as possible. 

'𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐯𝐮' is how members of the tribe refer to their culture. The /v/ sound is a unique feature of the language. 

The first vowel is pronounced /ɒ/, the vowel in the English word 'not'. 

'𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘷𝘶,' the spelling used by anthropologist E. Arsenio Manuel, 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐥.

'𝐎v𝐨' is also used as a qualifier to be more specific.

 This is to distinguish the tribe from related sub-tribes like the Tinananen Monuvu in the Arakan valley, or from other cultures that are also called 'Monuvu/ 'Manuvu'/ 'Menuvu'/ 'Manobo' (such as the Agusan Manobo or the Dulangan Manobo)

'Obo' is an exonym, a word from the language of the neighbouring Tagabawa culture. 

Because the Tagabawa language does NOT contain the /v/ sound, spellings of 'Obo' which contain it - '𝘜𝘷𝘶,' '𝘖𝘷𝘰,' '𝘜𝘷𝘰,' '𝘖𝘷𝘶' - are inaccurate and 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐛𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝. 

 '𝘖𝘣𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘰' is the spelling most common in extant literature. 

But it is an adjustment to the limitations of Settler languages, which do not contain the /v/ sound. As such it may be seen as 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲. 

The Obo Monuvu are indigenous to the Greater Kidapawan Area and parts of Davao. While we have no Tokaan over how those in other areas may choose to spell the tribe's name, we strongly encourage those in Kidapawan to follow 𝐎𝐛𝐨 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐯𝐮 as spelling.