any member of a large ethnolinguistic group of the Philippines, living on Samar, eastern Leyte, and Biliran. Numbering about 2,840,000 in the late 20th century, they speak a Visayan (Visayas) (Bisayan) language of the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) family. Most Samaran are farmers, living in small villages. Although the kinship system and family structure are almost identical with those of other Christian Filipino groups, the Samaran are considered to have retained more of the beliefs and folklore of pre-Christian times.