The
Yakan people are among the major indigenous
muslim tribes in
Mindanao. Having a significant number of followers of Islam, it is considered as one of the 13
Moro groups in the
Philippines. The Yakans mainly reside in
Basilan but are also in
Zamboanga City. They speak a language known as
Bahasa Yakan, which has characteristics of both
Sama-Bajau Sinama and
Tausug (Jundam 1983: 7-8). It is written in the Malayan Arabic script, with adaptations to sounds not present in
Arabic (Sherfan 1976).