Aklanon Literature Is Not Hiligaynon!

Aklanon Literature Is Not Hiligaynon!
by Melcichon

I have read in some write-ups that there is only one literature in Western Visayas , and that is Hiligaynon Literature.
To us Aklanons, this is Iloilo Colonialism.
And I think this is also the same feelings of the Kinaray-a writers. They also do not want to be labeled as Hiligaynon writers. All they want is Kinaray- writers.
I cannot understand why Hiligaynon writers have been labeling us Aklanon and Kinaray-a writers as Hiligaynon writers when our languages, Aklanon and Kinaray-a, have so many distinct characteristics. If the Hiligaynon writers can pronounce this sentence the way the Aklanon prounounce it and can understand it fully, then I will agree with them:

Ro anwang gaeugaeog sa eugan-eugan.

Yes, it is true that there are many words in Kinaray-a and Aklanon languages that may have the same spelling and meanings. But definitely there are a lot of words in Kinaray-a and Aklanon that have different meaning.
Especially so in the pronunciation of Aklanon words.
If we look back, Aklan has its literary tradition.
In my book, The 32 Best Aklanon Poets, I featured there a poem in Aklanon in its original spelling. In the book by Beato De La Cruz, he features old poems, songs, proverbs, in Aklanon.
And recently, the Aklanon writers have been producing poems, short stories in Aklanon.
And if those Hiligaynon writers cannot pronounce these words correctly, then, I can say that we do not belong to Hiligaynon literature

Ro Binaeaybay ni Tatay Itsong hay gaeapuyot nga Inakeanon.

We are Aklanons, not Hiligaynon, and our literature is Aklanon Literature.