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Encyclopedia: Ilokano language, Talk:Ilokano language

Ilokano (variants: Ilocano, Iluko, Iloco, and Iloko) is the third most-spoken language of the Republic of the Philippines.

Being an Austronesian language, it is related to such languages as Indonesian, Malay, Fijian, Maori (of New Zealand), Hawaiian, Malagasy (of Madagascar), Samoan, Tahitian, Chamorro (of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands), Tetum (of East Timor), and Paiwan (of Taiwan).

History

Ilokanos are descendants of Austronesian-speaking people from southern China via Taiwan. Families and clans arrived by viray or bilog, meaning boat. The term Ilokano originated from i-, meaning "from", and looc, meaning "cove or bay", thus "people of the bay." Ilokanos also refer to themselves as Samtoy, a contraction from the Ilokano phrase saö mi ditoy, meaning "our language here".

Classification

Ilokano comprises its own branch in the Philippine Cordilleran family of languages. It is spoken as a native language by eight million people.

A lingua franca of the northern region, it is spoken as a secondary language by more than two million people who are native speakers of Pangasinan, Ibanag, Ivatan, and other languages in Northern Luzon.

Dialects

Linguists recognize two main dialect groups in Ilokano: northern and southern. The northern group of subdialects is generally characterised by the pronunciation of the vowel e as an open-mid front unrounded vowel or IPA|bed.

In the southern group of subdialects, the letter e has two pronunciations. In words of Spanish and foreign origin, it is pronounced IPA|e is pronounced as a close back unrounded vowel or IPA|Kinaray-a as well as non-Philippine languages such as Japanese, and Turkish.

Geographic distribution

thumb|left|Ilokano population distribution. Enlarge picture to see percent distribution.
Ilokanos occupy the narrow, barren strip of land in the northwestern tip of Luzon, squeezed in between the inhospitable Cordillera mountain range to the east and the South China Sea to the west. This harsh geography molded a people known for their clannishness, tenacious industry and frugality, traits that were vital for survival. It also induced Ilokanos to become a migratory people, always in search for better opportunities and for land to build a life on. Although their homeland constitutes the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and Abra, their population has spread east and south of their original territorial borders.

Ilokano pioneers flocked to the more fertile Cagayan Valley, Apayao mountains and the Pangasinan plains during the 18th and 19th centuries and now constitute a majority in many of these areas. In the 20th century, many Ilokano families moved further south to Mindanao. They became the first Filipino ethnic group to immigrate en masse to North America (the so-called Manong generation), forming sizable communities in the American states of Hawaii, California, Washington and Alaska. Ilokano is the native language of most of the original Filipino immigrants in the United States, but Tagalog is used by more Filipino-Americans because it is the national language of the people of the Philippines.

A large, growing number of Ilokanos can also be found in the Middle East, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Canada and Europe.

Writing system

Pre-Colonial

Pre-colonial Ilokanos of all classes wrote in a syllabic system prior to European arrival. They used a what is termed 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 Ilokano version, however, was the first to designate coda consonants with a diacritic mark - a cross 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 the vowel was read or not.

thumb|right|Our Father prayer from Doctrina Cristiana, 1621.

Colonial

After the advent of the Spanish to the islands, the syllabary was abandonded in favor of the Spanish (Castillian) version of the Latin alphabet.

Modern

Recently, there are 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. Nowadays, only the older generation of Ilokanos use the Spanish system.

The system based on that of Tagalog is more phonetic. In this system each letter receives one phonetic value, and better reflects the actual pronunciation of the word.The reverse is true for the vowel / where it has two representations in native words. The vowel / is written o when it appears in the last syllable of the word or of the root, for example kitaemonto /ki.ta.e.mun.tu/. In addition, e represents two vowels in the southern dialect: IPA| The letters ng, however, constitute a digraph and follows the letter n in alphabetization. As a result, numo humility appears before ngalngal to chew in newer dictionaries. Words of foreign origin, nost notably those from Spanish, need to be changed in spelling to better reflect Ilokano phonology. The weekly magazine Bannawag is known to use this system.

System Comparison

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto:" align="center" width="75%"
|+caption | System Comparison
!Comments
!Spanish
!Ilokano
!Gloss
|-
|c -> k
|tucac
|tukak
|frog
|-
|ck -> kk
|dackel
|dakkel
|big
|-
|ci, ce -> si, se
|acero
|asero
|steel
|-
|ch -> ts
|coche
|kotse
|car
|-
|f -> p In Ilokano phonology (and Tagalog as well) the labio-dental fricative / does not exist. The closest approximation is the phoneme /. As a result, borrowings from Spanish or English that contain this sound have a /. This is especially common in family names that start with /, for example Fernández /per.nan.des/.
|familia
|pamilia
|family
|-
|gui, gue -> gi, ge
|daguiti
|dagiti
|the (plural)
|-
|ge, gi -> he, hi The phoneme / only occurs in words of foreign origin and in the variant of the negative haan.
|página
|pahina
|page
|-
|h -> 0
|horas
|oras
|hour
|-
|j -> h
|juez
|hues
|judge
|-
|ll -> li
|caballo
|kabalio
|horse
|-
|ñ -> ni
|baño
|banio
|bath/bathroom
|-
|ñg -> ng
|ngioat
|ngiwat
|mouth
|-
|Vo(V) -> Vw(V)
|aoan
aldao
|awan
aldaw
|there are no/there is no/not have
day
|-
|qui, que -> ki, ke
|iquit
|ikit
|aunt
|-
|v -> b
|voces
|boses
|voice
|-
|z -> s
|zapatos
|sapatos
|shoe
|}

Literature

main|Ilokano

Ilokano 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 Angngalo, 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.

Ilokano culture revolves around life rituals, festivities and oral history. These were celebrated in songs, dances, poems, riddles, proverbs, literary verbal jousts called bucanegan and epic stories.

Phonology

Segemental

Vowels

Modern Ilokano has a five-vowel system in the North and six-vowel system in the South.
* North: /, /, /
* South: /, /, /

The letter in bold is the graphic (written) representation of the vowel.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto:" align="center" style="text-align:center" width="75%"
|+caption | Ilokano Vowel Chart
!Height||Front||Central||Back
|-
|Close
|i /
|
|e /, u/o /
|-
|Mid
|e /
|
|o /
|-
|Open
|
|a /
|
|}

For a better redition of vowel distribution, please refer to the IPA Vowel Chart.

Although the modern (Tagalog) writing system is largely phonetic, there are some notable conventions.

In native morphemes, the close back rounded vowel / is written differently depending on the syllable. If the vowel occurs in the ultima of the morpheme, it is written o; elsewhere, u.

Example:
Root: luto cook
agluto to cook
lutuen to cook (something)

Instances such as kitaekonto, I will take a look at it, are still consistent. Note that kitaekonto is, in fact, three morphemes: kitae(n) (verb base) , ko (pronoun) and (n)to (future particle). An exception to this rule, however, is laud , west.

That said, the two vowels are not highly differentiated in native words, due to fact that / was a allophone of / in the history of the language. In words of foreign origin, notably Spanish, they are phonemic.

Example:
uso use
oso bear

The two close vowels become glides when followed by another vowel. The close back rounded vowel / becomes before another vowel. The close front unrounded vowel / and becomes the glide before another vowel.

Example:
kuarta /kwar.ta/ money
paria /par.ya/ bitter melon

In addition, dental/alveolar consonants become palatalized before /. (See Consonants below).

The letter e represent two vowels in the Southern dialect, / in words of foreign origin and / in native words, and only one in the Northern dialect, /.

{| class="wikitable" align="center" width="70%" style="text-align: center"
|+caption|Realization of 'e'
!Word||Gloss||Origin||Northern Dialect||Southern Dialect
|-
|keddeng
|assign
|Native

|-
|elepante
|elephant
|Spanish

|}

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are combination of a vowel and /i/ or /u/. In the orthography, the secondary vowels are written with their corresponding glide, y or w. Of all the possible combinations, only /ai/ or /ei/, /iu/, /ai/ and /ui/ occur. In the orthography, vowels in sequence such as uo and ai, do not coelesce into a diphthong, rather, they are pronounced with an intervening glottal stop, for example, buok hair / and dait sew /.

{|class="wikitable" align="center"
|+caption|Diphthongs
!Diphthong||Orthography||Example
|-
|style="text-align:center"|/au/
|style="text-align:center"|aw
|kabaw "senile"
|-
|style="text-align:center"|/iu/
|style="text-align:center"|iw
|iliw "home sick"
|-
|style="text-align:center"|/ai/
|style="text-align:center"|ay
|maysa "one"
|-
|style="text-align:center"|/ei/The diphthong /ei/ is a variant of /ai/.
|style="text-align:center"|ey
|idiey "there"
|-
|style="text-align:center"|/oi/, /ui/The distinction between /o/ and /u/ is minimal.
|style="text-align:center"|oy, uy
|baboy "pig"
|}

Consonants

{|class="wikitable" style="margin:auto:" align="center" style="text-align:center" width="75%"
|-
|colspan=2|
|Bilabial
|Dental /
Alveolar
|Palatal
|Velar
|Glottal
|-
|rowspan=2 | Stops
|Voiceless
|p
|t
|
|k
| - IPA|Words that begin with a vowel begin with a glottal stop. This is not shown in the orthography. When it occurs within a word, a hyphen is used to represent it, for example lab-ay lab.ʔaj.
|-
|Voiced
|b
|d
|
|g
|
|-
| rowspan=2 | Affricates
|Voiceless
|
|
|(ts, tiV) IPA|Letters in parentheses are orthographic conventions that are used.
|
|
|-
|Voiced
|
|
|(diV) IPA|
|
|
|-
| colspan=2 | Fricatives
|
|s
|(siV) IPA|
|
|h
|-
| colspan=2 | Nasals
|m
|n
|(niV) nj
|ng IPA||
|-
| colspan=2 | Laterals
|
|l
|(liV) lj
|
|
|-
| colspan=2 | Flaps
|
|r
|
|
|
|-
| colspan=2 | Semivowels
|(w,CuV) w
|
|(y, CiV) y
|
|
|}

All consonantal phonemes may be the syllable onset or coda. Exceptions are /h/ and . The phoneme /h/ is loaned and rarely occurs in coda position. Although, the Spanish word, reloj, clock, would come into Ilokano as */re.loh/, the final /h/ is dropped resulting in /re.lo/. However, this word may have entered the Ilokano lexicon at early enough a time that the word was still pronounced , with the j pronounced as in French, resulting in /re.los/ in Ilokano. Both, /re.lo/ and /re.los/ occur.

The glottal stop is not permissible as coda; it can only occur as onset. Even as an oset, the glottal stop disappears in affixation. Take for example the root aramat, use. When prefixed with ag-, the expected form is *ag-aramat .ra.mat/. But, the actual form is, in fact, agaramat .ga.ra.mat/; the glottal stop disappears. In a reduplicated form, the glottal stop returns and participates in the template, CVC, agar-aramat .ra.mat/.

Stops are pronounced without aspiration. When they occur as coda, they are not released.

Suprasegmental

Syllable

Every syllable has a consonant onset. Syllables that begin with a vowel have a glottal stop onset. This is not shown in the orthography.

Stress Accent

Stress is not shown in the orthography although it is phonemic. There are, however, combinations of syllabic weights where stress is predictable, in at least in native words. Foreign words, especially from Spanish, tend to maintain their stress contour.

Grammar

main|Ilokano

Ilokano employs a predicate-initial structure. Verbs and adjectives occur in the first position of the sentence, then the rest of the sentence follows.

Ilokano 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.

Lexicon

Borrowings

Ilokano's vocabulary has a closer affinity to languages from Borneo. Foreign accretion comes largely from Spanish, followed by English and smatterings of Hokkien (Min Nan), Arabic and Sanskrit.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto:" align="center" style="text-align:center" width="75%"
|+ Examples of Borrowing
|-
! Word !! Source !! Original Meaning !! Ilokano 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 ||copper coin || money
|-
| kumusta || Spanish|| greeting "How are you?" || how are you
|}

Common expressions

{| cellspacing=2
|-
| Yes || Wen or Hamman (Saan man)
|-
| No || Saan or Haan
|-
| How are you? || Kumusta ka?
|-
| Good day || Naimbag nga aldaw
|-
| Good morning || Naimbag a bigat
|-
| Good afternoon || Naimbag a malem
|-
| Good evening || Naimbag a rabii
|-
| What is your name? || Ania ti naganmo? (often contracted to Aniat' naganmo?)
|-
| Where's the bathroom? || Ayanna ti banio?
|-
| I love you || Ay-ayatenka or Ipatpategka
|-
| Sorry || Pakawan or Dispensar
|-
| Goodbye || Agpakadaakon or Kastan/Kasta pay (Till then) or Sige (Okay) or Innakon (I'm going)
|}

Numbers (Bilang), Days, Months

{| cellspacing=2
|+ Numbers
|-
| 0 || ibbong OR awan OR sero (English zero) OR itlog (Ilokano slang, "egg")
|-
| 0.25 (1/4) || kakappat
|-
| 0.50 (1/2) || kagudua
|-
| 1 || maysa
|-
| 2 || dua
|-
| 3 || tallo
|-
| 4 || uppat
|-
| 5 || lima
|-
| 6 || innem
|-
| 7 || pito
|-
| 8 || walo
|-
| 9 || siam
|-
| 10 || sangapulo
|-
| 11 || sangapulo ket maysa
|-
| 20 || duapulo
|-
| 50 || limapulo
|-
| 100 || sangagasut
|-
| 1000 || sangaribu
|-
| 1000000 || sangariwriw
|-
| 1000000000 || sangabilion (English, billion)
|}

Days and months are of Spanish origin:

{| cellspacing=2
|+ Days of the Week
|-
| Monday || Lunes
|-
| Tuesday || Martes
|-
| Wednesday || Mierkoles
|-
| Thursday || Huebes
|-
| Friday || Biernes
|-
| Saturday || Sabado
|-
| Sunday || Domingo
|}

{| cellpadding=2
|+ Months
|-
| January || Enero || || July || Hulio
|-
| February || Pebrero || || August || Agosto
|-
| March || Marso || || September || Settiembre
|-
| April || Abril || || October || Oktubre
|-
| May || Mayo || || November || Nobiembre
|-
| June || Hunio || || December || Disiembre
|}

{| cellpadding=2
|+ Units of time
|-
| second || kanito OR segundo
|-
| minute || minuto OR daras
|-
| day || aldaw
|-
| week || lawas OR domingo
|-
| month || bulan
|-
| year || tawen OR anio
|}

To mention time, Ilokanos use a mixture of Spanish and Ilokano:

: 1:00 a.m. A la una iti bigat (One in the morning)
: 2:30 p.m. A las dos imedia iti malem (in Spanish, Son las dos y media de la tarde or "half past two in the afternoon")

Ilokano uses a mixture of ilokano and spanish numbers. Traditionally ilokano numbers are used for quantities and spanish numbers for time of days and references.
Examples:

Spanish:
Mano ti tawenmo? Beintiuno
How old are you? Twenty one

Luktanyo dagiti Bibliayo iti libro ni Juan capitulo tres bersikolo diesiseis.
Open your Bibles to the book of John chapter three verse sixteen.

Ilokano:
Mano a kilo a bagas ti kayatmo? Sangapulo laeng.
How many kilos of rice do you want? Ten only.

Adda dua nga ikan kenkuana.
He has two fish.

More Ilokano words

*ading = younger brother/sister
*aysus! = Oh, Jesus/Oh, my God!
*babai = female
*bakla = effeminate male
*baket = old women
*bangsit = stink
*kabsat = sibling
*lalaki = male
*lakay = old man
*manang = older sister or relative; can also be applied to women a little older than the speaker
*manong = older brother or relative; can also be applied to men a little older than the speaker
*mari = female friend/mother
*nana = grandmother
*(na)pintas = beautiful (woman)
*nataraki = cute (man, slightly impolite connotation, but properly used on an animal, as for a rooster)
*(na)guapo = handsome (man)
*pari = close male friend/father (priest)
*pustaan = bet or wager
*(na)sakit = (it) hurts
*tata = grandfather
*tomboy = masculine female
*ubing = child

Notes

External links

* http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ilo Etnologue entry for Ilokano
* http://www.bansa.org?q=dictionaries/cmd&dict_lang=Ilokano Bansa.org Ilokano Dictionary
* http://www.ilocano.org Ilocano.org A project for building an online Ilokano dictionary. Also features Ilokano songs, and a community forum.
* http://iloko.tripod.com/Ilocano.html Ilocano: Ti pagsasao ti amianan - Webpage by linguist Dr. Carl R. Galvez Rubino, author of dictionaries on Iloko and Tagalog.
* http://www.iluko.com Iluko.com popular Ilokano web portal featuring Ilokano songs, Iloko fiction and poetry, Ilokano riddles, and a lively Ilokano forum (Dap-ayan).
* http://mannurat.blogspot.com mannurat.com blog of an Ilokano fictionist and poet written in Iloko and featuring original and Iloko fiction and poetry, literary analysis and criticism focused on Ilokano Literature, and literary news about Iloko writing and writers and organization like the GUMIL (Gunglo dagiti Mannurat nga Ilokano).
* http://samtoy.blogspot.com/ samtoy.blogspot.com Yloco Blog maintained by Ilokano writers Raymundo Pascua Addun and Joel Manuel
* http://language.psy.auckland.ac.nz/austronesian/ Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
*http://www.dadapilan.com/ruangan dadapilan.com - an Iloko literature portal featuring Iloko works by Ilokano writers and forum for Iloko literary study, criticism and online workshop.

Category:Austronesian languages
Category:Malayo-Polynesian languages
Category:Languages of the Philippines
Category:Languages of the United States

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wiktionary article "Ilokano" . It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ilokano language" .