Ilocano (also Ilokano; /iːloʊˈkɑːnoʊ/;[6] Ilocano: Pagsasao nga Ilokano) is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines, primarily by Ilocano people and as a lingua franca by the Igorot people. It is the third most-spoken native language in the country.
Ilocano | |
---|---|
Ilokano | |
Iloko, Iluko, Pagsasao nga Ilokano, Samtoy, Sao mi ditoy | |
Native to | Philippines |
Region | Northern Luzon, many parts of Central Luzon and few parts of the Soccsksargen region in Mindanao |
Ethnicity | Ilocano |
Native speakers | 8.1 million (2010)[1] 2 million L2 speakers (2000)[2] Third most spoken native language in the Philippines[3] |
Language family | |
Writing system | Latin (Ilocano alphabet), Ilokano Braille Historically Kur-itan |
Official status | |
Official language in | La Union[4] |
Recognised minority language in | Philippines |
Regulated by | Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | ilo |
ISO 639-3 | ilo |
Glottolog | ilok1237 |
Linguasphere | 31-CBA-a |
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. |
As an Austronesian language, it is related to Malay (Indonesian and Malaysian), Tetum, Chamorro, Fijian, Māori, Hawaiian, Samoan, Tahitian, Paiwan, and Malagasy. It is closely related to some of the other Austronesian languages of Northern Luzon, and has slight mutual intelligibility with the Balangao language and the eastern dialects of the Bontoc language.[dubious – discuss] [7]
The Ilokano people had their indigenous writing system and script known as kur-itan. There have been proposals to revive the kur-itan script by teaching it in Ilokano-majority public and private schools in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.[8]
Ilocano, like all Philippine languages, is an Austronesian language, a very expansive language family believed to originate in Taiwan.[9][10] Ilocano comprises its own branch within the Philippine Cordilleran language subfamily. It is spoken as first language by seven million people.[3]
A lingua franca of the northern region of the Philippines, it is spoken as a secondary language by more than two million people who are native speakers of Ibanag, Ivatan, and other languages in Northern Luzon.[2]
The language is spoken in northwest Luzon, the Babuyan Islands, Cordillera Administrative Region, Cagayan Valley, northern parts of Central Luzon, Mindoro, and scattered areas in Mindanao (the Soccsksargen region in particular).[11] The language is also spoken in the United States, with Hawaii and California having the largest number of speakers.[12] It is the third most spoken non-English language in Hawaii after Tagalog and Japanese, with 17% of those speaking languages other than English at home (25.4% of the population) speaking the language.[13]
In September 2012, the province of La Union passed an ordinance recognizing Ilocano (Iloko) as an official provincial language, alongside Filipino and English, as national and official languages of the Philippines, respectively.[4] It is the first province in the Philippines to pass an ordinance protecting and revitalizing a native language, although there are also other languages spoken in the province of La Union, including Pangasinan and Kankanaey.[4]
The modern Ilokano alphabet consists of 28 letters:[14]
Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Ññ, NGng, Oo, Pp, Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, and Zz
Pre-colonial Ilocano people of all classes wrote in a syllabic system known as Baybayin prior to European arrival. They used a system that is termed as an abugida, or an alphasyllabary. It was similar to the Tagalog and Pangasinan scripts, where each character represented a consonant-vowel, or CV, sequence. The Ilocano version, however, was the first to designate coda consonants with a diacritic mark – a cross or virama – shown in the Doctrina Cristiana of 1621, one of the earliest surviving Ilokano publications. Before the addition of the virama, writers had no way to designate coda consonants. The reader, on the other hand, had to guess whether a consonant not succeeding a vowel is read or not, for it is not written. Vowel apostrophes interchange between e or i, and o or u. Due to this, the vowels e and i are interchangeable, and letters o and u, for instance, tendera and tindira ('shop-assistant').
In recent times, there have been two systems in use: the Spanish system and the Tagalog system. In the Spanish system words of Spanish origin kept their spellings. Native words, on the other hand, conformed to the Spanish rules of spelling. Most older generations of Ilocanos use the Spanish system.
In the system based on that of Tagalog there is more of a phoneme-to-letter correspondence, which better reflects the actual pronunciation of the word.[lower-alpha 1] The letters ng constitute a digraph and count as a single letter, following n in alphabetization. As a result, numo ('humility') appears before ngalngal ('to chew') in newer dictionaries. Words of foreign origin, most notably those from Spanish, need to be changed in spelling to better reflect Ilocano phonology. Words of English origin may or may not conform to this orthography. A prime example using this system is the weekly magazine Bannawag.
The following are two versions of the Lord's Prayer. The one on the left is written using Spanish-based orthography, while the one on the right uses the Tagalog-based system.
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With the implementation by the Spanish of the Bilingual Education System of 1897, Ilocano, together with the other seven major languages (those that have at least a million speakers), was allowed to be used as a medium of instruction until the second grade. It is recognized by the Commission on the Filipino Language as one of the major languages of the Philippines.[15] Constitutionally, Ilocano is an auxiliary official language in the regions where it is spoken and serves as auxiliary media of instruction therein.[16]
In 2009, the Department of Education instituted Department Order No. 74, s. 2009 stipulating that "mother tongue-based multilingual education" would be implemented. In 2012, Department Order No. 16, s. 2012 stipulated that the mother tongue-based multilingual system was to be implemented for Kindergarten to Grade 3 Effective School Year 2012–2013.[17] Ilocano is used in public schools mostly in the Ilocos Region and the Cordilleras. It is the primary medium of instruction from Kindergarten to Grade 3 (except for the Filipino and English subjects) and is also a separate subject from Grade 1 to Grade 3. Thereafter, English and Filipino are introduced as mediums of instructions.
Ilocano animistic past offers a rich background in folklore, mythology and superstition (see Religion in the Philippines). There are many stories of good and malevolent spirits and beings. Its creation mythology centers on the giants Aran and her husband Angalo, and Namarsua (the Creator).
The epic story Biag ni Lam-ang (The Life of Lam-ang) is undoubtedly one of the few indigenous stories from the Philippines that survived colonialism, although much of it is now acculturated and shows many foreign elements in the retelling. It reflects values important to traditional Ilokano society; it is a hero's journey steeped in courage, loyalty, pragmatism, honor, and ancestral and familial bonds.
Ilocano culture revolves around life rituals, festivities, and oral history. These were celebrated in songs (kankanta), dances (salsala), poems (dandaniw), riddles (burburtia), proverbs (pagsasao), literary verbal jousts called bucanegan (named after the writer Pedro Bucaneg, and is the equivalent of the Balagtasan of the Tagalogs), and epic stories.
Modern Ilocano has two dialects, which are differentiated only by the way the letter e is pronounced. In the Amianan (Northern) dialect, there exist only five vowels while the older Abagatan (Southern) dialect employs six.
Reduplicate vowels are not slurred together, but voiced separately with an intervening glottal stop:
The letter in bold is the graphic (written) representation of the vowel.
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i /i/ | u/o /u/
e /ɯ/ | |
Mid | e /ɛ/ | o /o/ | |
Open | a /a/ |
For a better rendition of vowel distribution, please refer to the IPA Vowel Chart.
Unstressed /a/ is pronounced [ɐ] in all positions except final syllables, like madí [mɐˈdi] ('cannot be') but ngiwat ('mouth') is pronounced [ˈŋiwat].
Although the modern (Tagalog) writing system is largely phonetic, there are some notable conventions.
In native morphemes, the close back rounded vowel /u/ is written differently depending on the syllable. If the vowel occurs in the ultima of the morpheme, it is written o; elsewhere, u.
Example:
Instances such as masapulmonto, 'You will manage to find it, to need it', are still consistent. Note that masapulmonto is, in fact, three morphemes: masapul (verb base), -mo (pronoun) and -(n)to (future particle). An exception to this rule, however, is laud /la.ʔud/ ('west'). Also, u in final stressed syllables can be pronounced [o], like [dɐ.ˈnom] for danum ('water').
The two vowels are not highly differentiated in native words due to fact that /o/ was an allophone of /u/ in the history of the language. In words of foreign origin, notably Spanish, they are phonemic.
Example: uso 'use'; oso 'bear'
Unlike u and o, i and e are not allophones, but i in final stressed syllables in words ending in consonants can be [ɛ], like ubíng [ʊ.ˈbɛŋ] ('child').
The two closed vowels become glides when followed by another vowel. The close back rounded vowel /u/ becomes [w] before another vowel; and the close front unrounded vowel /i/, [j].
Example: kuarta /kwaɾ.ta/ 'money'; paria /paɾ.ja/ 'bitter melon'
In addition, dental/alveolar consonants become palatalized before /i/. (See Consonants below).
Unstressed /i/ and /u/ are pronounced [ɪ] and [ʊ] except in final syllables, like pintás ('beauty') [pɪn.ˈtas] and buténg ('fear') [bʊ.ˈtɛŋ] but bangir ('other side') and parabur ('grace') are pronounced [ˈba.ŋiɾ] and [pɐ.ˈɾa.buɾ].
The letter ⟨e⟩ represents two vowels in the non-nuclear dialects (areas outside the Ilocos provinces) [ɛ] in words of foreign origin and [ɯ] in native words, and only one in the nuclear dialects of the Ilocos provinces, [ɛ].
Word | Gloss | Origin | Nuclear | Non-nuclear |
---|---|---|---|---|
keddeng | 'assign' | Native | [kɛd.dɛŋ] | [kɯd.dɯŋ] |
elepante | 'elephant' | Spanish | [ʔɛ.lɛ.pan.tɛ] |
Diphthongs are combination of a vowel and /i/ or /u/. In the orthography, the secondary vowels (underlying /i/ or /u/) are written with their corresponding glide, y or w, respectively. Of all the possible combinations, only /aj/ or /ej/, /iw/, /aw/ and /uj/ occur. In the orthography, vowels in sequence such as uo and ai, do not coalesce into a diphthong, rather, they are pronounced with an intervening glottal stop, for example, buok 'hair' /bʊ.ʔuk/ and dait 'sew' /da.ʔit/.
Diphthong | Orthography | Example |
---|---|---|
/au/ | aw | kabaw 'senile' |
/iu/ | iw | iliw 'home sick' |
/ai/ | ay | maysa 'one' |
/ei/[lower-alpha 2] | ey | idiey 'there' (regional variant; standard idiay) |
/oi/, /ui/[lower-alpha 3] | oy, uy | baboy 'pig' |
The diphthong /ei/ is a variant of /ai/ in native words. Other occurrences are in words of Spanish and English origin. Examples are reyna /ˈɾei.na/ (from Spanish reina, 'queen') and treyner /ˈtɾei.nɛɾ/ ('trainer'). The diphthongs /oi/ and /ui/ may be interchanged since /o/ is an allophone of /u/ in final syllables. Thus, apúy ('fire') may be pronounced /ɐ.ˈpoi/ and baboy ('pig') may be pronounced /ˈba.bui/.
Bilabial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stops | Voiceless | p | t | k | (#[lower-alpha 4]∅[lower-alpha 5] V/∅V∅/C-V)[ʔ][lower-alpha 6] | |
Voiced | b | d | g | |||
Affricates | Voiceless | (ts, tiV) [tʃ][lower-alpha 7] | ||||
Voiced | (diV) [dʒ][lower-alpha 7] | |||||
Fricatives | s | (siV) [ʃ][lower-alpha 7] | h | |||
Nasals | m | n | (niV) [nʲ][lower-alpha 7] | ng [ŋ] | ||
Laterals | l | (liV) [lʲ][lower-alpha 7] | ||||
Flaps | r [ɾ] | |||||
Trills | (rr [r]) | |||||
Semivowels | (w, CuV) [w][lower-alpha 7] | (y, CiV) [j][lower-alpha 7] |
All consonantal phonemes except /h, ʔ/ may be a syllable onset or coda. The phoneme /h/ is a borrowed sound and rarely occurs in coda position. Although the Spanish word reloj 'clock' would have been heard as [re.loh], the final /h/ is dropped resulting in /re.lo/. However, this word also may have entered the Ilokano lexicon at early enough a time that the word was still pronounced /re.loʒ/, with the j pronounced as in French, resulting in /re.los/ in Ilokano. As a result, both /re.lo/ and /re.los/ occur.
The glottal stop /ʔ/ is not permissible as coda; it can only occur as onset. Even as an onset, the glottal stop disappears in affixation. Take, for example, the root aramat [ʔɐ.ra.mat], 'use'. When prefixed with ag-, the expected form is *[ʔɐɡ.ʔɐ.ra.mat]. But, the actual form is [ʔɐ.ɡɐ.ra.mat]; the glottal stop disappears. In a reduplicated form, the glottal stop returns and participates in the template, CVC, agar-aramat [ʔɐ.ɡar.ʔɐ.ra.mat].
Stops are pronounced without aspiration. When they occur as coda, they are not released, for example, sungbat [sʊŋ.bat̚] 'answer', 'response'.
Ilokano is one of the Philippine languages which is excluded from [ɾ]-[d] allophony, as /r/ in many cases is derived from a Proto-Austronesian *R; compare bago (Tagalog) and baró (Ilokano) 'new'.
The language marginally has a trill [r] which was spelled as rr, for example, serrek [sɛ.ˈrɛk] 'to enter'. Trill [r] is sometimes an allophone of [ɾ] in word-initial position and word-final positions, spelled as single ⟨r⟩. But it is different in proper names of foreign origin, mostly Spanish, like Serrano, which is correctly pronounced [sɛ.ˈrano]. Some speakers, however, pronounce Serrano as [sɛ.ˈɾano].
The placement of primary stress is lexical in Ilocano. This results in minimal pairs such as /ˈkaː.jo/ ('wood') and /ka.ˈjo/ ('you' (plural or polite)) or /ˈkiː.ta/ ('class, type, kind') and /ki.ˈta/ ('see'). In written Ilokano the reader must rely on context, thus ⟨kayo⟩ and ⟨kita⟩. Primary stress can fall only on either the penult or the ultima of the root, as seen in the previous examples.
While stress is unpredictable in Ilokano, there are notable patterns that can determine where stress will fall depending on the structures of the penult, the ultima and the origin of the word.[2]
Ilocano | Gloss | Comment |
---|---|---|
doktór | doctor | Spanish origin |
agmaného | (to) drive | Spanish origin ('I drive') |
agrekórd | (to) record | English origin (verb) |
Ilocano | Gloss | Comment |
---|---|---|
addá | there is/are | Closed penult |
takkí | feces | Closed penult |
bibíngka | (a type of delicacy) | -ŋ.k sequence |
Ilocano | Gloss | Comment |
---|---|---|
al-aliá | ghost | Consonant–glide–vowel |
ibiáng | to involve (someone or something) | Consonant–glide–vowel |
ressuát | creation | Consonant–glide–vowel |
Ilocano | Gloss | Comment |
---|---|---|
buggúong | fermented fish or shrimp paste | Vowel–glottal–vowel |
máag | idiot | Vowel–glottal–vowel |
síit | thorn, spine, fish bone | Vowel–glottal–vowel |
Secondary stress occurs in the following environments:
Ilocano | Gloss | Comment |
---|---|---|
pànnakakíta | ability to see | Syllable before geminate |
kèddéng | judgement, decision | Syllable before geminate |
ùbbíng | children | Syllable before geminate |
Ilocano | Gloss | Comment |
---|---|---|
agsàsaó | speaks,is speaking | Reduplicate CV |
àl-aliá | ghost, spirit | Reduplicate CV |
agdàdáit | sews, is sewing | Reduplicate CV |
Vowel length coincides with stressed syllables (primary or secondary) and only on open syllables except for ultimas, for example, /'ka:.jo/ 'tree' versus /ka.'jo/ (second person plural ergative pronoun).
As primary stress can fall only on the penult or the ultima, suffixation causes a shift in stress one syllable to the right. The vowel of open penults that result lengthen as a consequence.
Stem | Suffix | Result | Gloss |
---|---|---|---|
/ˈpuː.dut/ (heat) | /-ɯn/ (Goal focus) | /pu.ˈduː.tɯn/ | to warm/heat (something) |
/da.ˈlus/ (clean) | /-an/ (Directional focus) | /da.lu.ˈsan/ | to clean (something) |
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2018) |
Ilokano is typified by a predicate-initial structure. Verbs and adjectives occur in the first position of the sentence, then the rest of the sentence follows.
Ilocano uses a highly complex list of affixes (prefixes, suffixes, infixes and enclitics) and reduplications to indicate a wide array of grammatical categories. Learning simple root words and corresponding affixes goes a long way in forming cohesive sentences.[19]
Foreign accretion comes largely from Spanish, followed by English and smatterings of much older accretion from Hokkien (Min Nan), Arabic and Sanskrit.[20][21][22]
Word | Source | Original meaning | Ilocano meaning |
---|---|---|---|
arak | Arabic | drink similar to sake | generic alcoholic drink |
karma | Sanskrit | deed (see Buddhism) | spirit |
sanglay | Hokkien | to deliver goods | to deliver/Chinese merchant |
agbuldos | English | to bulldoze | to bulldoze |
kuarta | Spanish | cuarta ('quarter', a kind of copper coin) | money |
kumusta | Spanish | greeting: ¿Cómo estás? ('How are you?') | How are you? |
Ilokano shows a T-V distinction.
English | Ilocano |
---|---|
Yes | Wen |
No | Saan
Haan (variant) |
How are you? | Kumustaka?
Kumustakayo? (polite and plural) |
Good day | Naimbag nga aldaw.
Naimbag nga aldawyo. (polite and plural) |
Good morning | Naimbag a bigatmo.
Naimbag a bigatyo. (polite and plural) |
Good afternoon | Naimbag a malemmo.
Naimbag a malemyo. (polite and plural) |
Good evening | Naimbag a rabiim.
Naimbag a rabiiyo. (polite and plural) |
What is your name? | Ania ti naganmo? (often contracted to Ania't nagan mo? or Ana't nagan mo?)
Ania ti naganyo? |
Where's the bathroom? | Ayanna ti banio? |
I do not understand | Saanko a maawatan/matarusan.
Haanko a maawatan/matarusan. Diak maawatan/matarusan. |
I love you | Ay-ayatenka.
Ipatpategka. |
I'm sorry. | Pakawanennak.
Dispensarennak. |
Thank you. | Agyamannak apo.
Dios ti agngina. |
Goodbye | Kastan/Kasta pay. (Till then) Sige. (Okay. Continue.) Innakon. (I'm going) Inkamin. (We are going) Ditakan. (You stay) |
I/me | Siak/Siyak. |
Ilocano uses two number systems, one native and the other derived from Spanish.
0 | ibbong awan (lit. 'none') | sero |
0.25 (1/4) | pagkapat | kuatro |
0.50 (1/2) | kagudua | mitad |
1 | maysa | uno |
2 | dua | dos |
3 | tallo | tres |
4 | uppat | kuatro |
5 | lima | singko |
6 | innem | sais |
7 | pito | siete |
8 | walo | otso |
9 | siam | nuebe |
10 | sangapulo (lit. 'a group of ten') | dies |
11 | sangapulo ket maysa, sangapulo't maysa | onse |
12 | sangapulo ket dua, sangapulo't dua | dose |
20 | duapulo | bainte, beinte |
30 | tallopulo | treinta, trenta |
50 | limapulo | singkuenta |
100 | sangagasut (lit. 'a group of one hundred') | sien, siento |
1,000 | sangaribo (lit. 'a group of one thousand'), ribo | mil |
10,000 | sangalaksa (lit. 'a group of ten thousand'), sangapulo nga ribo | dies mil |
1,000,000 | sangariwriw (lit. 'a group of one million') | milion |
1,000,000,000 | sangabilion (American English, 'billion') | bilion (US-influenced), mil miliones |
Ilocano uses a mixture of native and Spanish numbers. Traditionally Ilocano numbers are used for quantities and Spanish numbers for time or days and references. Examples:
Spanish:
Ilocano:
Days of the week are directly borrowed from Spanish.
Monday | Lunes |
Tuesday | Martes |
Wednesday | Mierkoles |
Thursday | Huebes |
Friday | Biernes |
Saturday | Sabado |
Sunday | Dominggo |
Like the days of the week, the names of the months are taken from Spanish.
January | Enero | July | Hulio |
February | Pebrero | August | Agosto |
March | Marso | September | Septiembre |
April | Abril | October | Oktubre |
May | Mayo | November | Nobiembre |
June | Hunio | December | Disiembre |
The names of the units of time are either native or are derived from Spanish. The first entries in the following table are native; the second entries are Spanish derived.
second | kanito segundo |
minute | daras minuto |
hour | oras |
day | aldaw |
week | lawas dominggo (lit. 'Sunday'), semana (rare) |
month | bulan |
year | tawen anio |
To mention time, Ilocanos use a mixture of Spanish and Ilocano:
Also of note is the yo-yo, probably named after the Ilocano word yóyo.[23]
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