Use of linkers in Philippine languages

Happy New Year!

Since I am on Christmas vacation, just thought I'd get a major entry in before I return to work and school on Wednesday, then I'll be too busy to write in this blog. That's my new resolution - to write in here more often. Anyway, I will be taking astronomy, logic, and argumentation and research at school for the winter quarter - so I'm in for a challenging quarter.

Y'know, what I had in mind a few days ago was just to repeat last year's post where I wished you all a Happy New Year in 10 Philippine languages. But as I was "admiring" the translations, I was looking at the linkers that each of the Philippine languages used. So I thought, why don't I talk about how linkers are used in different Philippine languages?

Before I go on, I thought I'd explain what linkers are and use an example in Tagalog (linkers are in bold). In many Philippine languages, linkers (also called ligatures) are used to "link" (duh!) words together. They may link an adjective and noun (malaking bahay), verb and adverb (mabilis na tumakbo), clauses (sabi niya na hindi raw siya aalis), pseudo-verb and verb (gustong umuwi), number and noun (tatlong hari), prepositioned possessive pronouns and nouns (ang kaniyang asawa) and others.

Here are the uses and general guidelines in case there is more than one linker (which is usually the case). Any native speaker comment, correction, and clarifications are welcome. And if you speak a language not represented here, then by all means contribute to the list by leaving me a comment! :-)

Tagalog and Northern Bikol

1. -ng: In Tagalog, this is suffixed to words ending in a vowel and glottal stop while it replaces /n/ in words that end with that. In Bikol, the same rules seem to apply except in the case of words ending in /n/, either that or there is a variation. Examples: bagong taon (Tag., new year), ba-gong taon (Bik. Naga, new year).


2. na: This is used after words ending in a consonant (not a glottal stop or /n/) or a diphthong. Examples: itim na aso (Tag., black dog), itom na ayam (Bik. Naga, black dog)

Cebuano and Hiligaynon

1. -ng: This is suffixed to words ending in a vowel, glottal stop, and even diphthongs (this is a departure from Tagalog & Bikol usage). Examples: bag-ong tuig (Ceb. & Hil., new year).


2. nga: Used after words ending in a consonant. Sometimes this is used even after words ending in a vowel. Examples: itom nga iro (Ceb., black dog), itom nga ido (Hil., black dog).


3. ka: This is a special linker used with numbers. Examples: tulo ka adlaw (Ceb., three days), tatlo ka adlaw (Hil., three days)

Note: The rules also ably to Romblomanon and Masbateño. However, with Masbateño, some speakers use -ng and nga while others use -n and na.

Waray-Waray

nga is the sole linker. bag-o nga tuig (new year).

Ilokano

1. nga: Used after words, regardless of ending. However, this is prefered before words that begin with a vowel. Example: nangisit nga aso (black dog).


2. a: Same as above, but usually prefered, though not obligatory, before words beginning with a consonant. Example: baro a tawen (new year)

Kapampangan

1. -ng: Same as Tagalog. Example: bayung banwa (new year)


2. a: Equivalent of Tagalog na used after words ending in consonants. Example: anam a aldo (six days). A special note, before /a/ there is no glottal stop; there is a /y/ inserted between them so mayap a abak sounds like mayap a yabak.

Pangasinan

1. -n: Suffixed to words ending in vowels. Example: balon taon (new year).


2. ya: Used before words beginning in a vowel. Example: sakey ya agew (one day).


3. a: Used everywhere else, namely after words ending in a consonant and before words beginning in a vowel. Example: andeket a sira (black fish).

Bolinao

1. -n: Suffixed to words ending in vowels. Example: ba-yon taon (new year)


2. a: Used after words ending in consonants. Example: maabig a awro (good day [greeting]).

Sambal Botolan

1. ya: Used everywhere, and sometimes after vowels. malake ya alahas (a lot of jewelry), katowa ya papwak.


2. -y: Suffixed to words ending in vowels, but seems as if it is interchangeable with "ya". tatloy mipapatel (three siblings), pitoy olo (seven heads).

Asi

1. -ng: Suffixed to words ending in vowels. Example: bag-ong tuig (new year).


2. nak: Elsewhere. Example: itom nak isra (black fish).

Maranao

a is the sole marker. Example: mala' a seda' (big fish).

Central Tagbwana

a is the sole marker. Example: bayo a taon (new year).

Tausug

Wayruun (There is none)! Simply putting the words next to each other suffices. Example: baru tahun (new year).

And to end this post, here are the words "new" and "year" in a number of Philippine languages. Unfortunately, I don't know the linkers for all of them.

NEW

bago - Tagalog, Butuanon, Maranao, Buhid Mangyan, Cuyonon, Southern Bikol
ba-go - Northern Bikol
bag-o - Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, Kinaray-a, Aklanon, Masbateño, Romblomanon, Asi, Onhan, Cagayanon, Mamanwa, Surigaonon, Hanunoo
bagu - Agta, Pamplona Atta, Isneg, Kalagan, Mansaka, Ibanag, Maguindanao
ba-gu - Tausug, Palawan Batak, Aborlan Tagbanwa
bag-u - Binukid, Kinamigin, Tigwa Manobo
bag-ew - Agusan Manobo
begu - Sindangan Subanun, Western Bukidnod Manobo, Kakidugen Ilongot
bigu' - Casiguran Dumagat
bogu - Siocon Subanon
baha'u - Samal
bahu - Itawis
behu - Ilianen Manobo
buhu - Sangir
bado - Inibaloy
balo - Pangasinan, Guinaang Bontoc, Northern Kankanaey, Bayninan Ifugao, Kallahan
baklu - Kalamian Tagbanwa
baro - Ilokano
vuru - Sarangani Sangil
bawu - Gaddang
baya - Dibabawon Manobo
bayo - Sambal Botolan, Alangan Mangyan
bayu - Kapampangan, Iraya Mangyan
ba-yu - Tagalog Sinauna (Tagarug)
va-yo - Ivatan
va-yu - Itbayat
pa''ala - Amganad Ifugao
lomih - Tboli
lami - Obo Manobo
falami - Blaan
lafus lomi - Ubo Manobo
manto - Tiruray, Tagabawa Manobo
'iam - Ata Manobo, Tigwa Manobo
kaling - Sarangani Manobo
magtu - Ata Manobo, Tigwa Manobo, Tasaday Manobo
milalaw - Tadyawan Mangyan
nuevo - Chabacano

YEAR

taon - Tagalog, Northern Bikol, Southern Bikol, Pangasinan, Sambal Botolan, Batak, Casiguran Dumagat, Cagayano, Kakidugen Ilongot, Sinauna Tagalog, Aborlan Tagbanwa
taen - Tadyawan Mangyan
taung - Sarangani Sangil, Sangir
tawen - Ilokano, Guinaang Bontoc, Balangaw, Binongan Itneg,
taw-en - Inibaloy, Kayapa Kallahan, Northern Kankanaey
tew-en - Northern Kankanaey
tawon - Ifugao, Guinaang Kalinga
tahun - Tausug, Samal
takun - Kalamian Tagbanwa
tuun - Keley-i Kallahan
toon - Sindangan Subanon
ton - Siocon Subanon
dagon - Cuyonon, Alangan Mangyan
dagun - Ibanag, Isneg, Atta
dag-on - Aklanon, Hanunoo
dag-un - Iraya
dawun - Gaddang
lagun - Maguindanao
ragon - Maranao
lahon - Obo Manobo
dahun - Itawis
rahun - Ilianen Manobo
tuig - Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, Kinaray-a, Masbateño, Asi, Onhan, Romblomanon, Butuanon, Surigaonon, Manobo, Mansaka, Binukid, Mamanwa
tuid - Kinamigin, Ata Manobo, Tigwa Manobo
awaan - Ivatan
hawan - Itbayat
fali - Sarangani Blaan
foli - Koronadal Blaan
omay - Sarangani Manobo
umay - Kalagan
halay - Tboli
segefalay OR gefalay - Kalamansig Cotabato Manobo
banwa - Kapampangan
bialun - Tagabawa Manobo
belintuwa' - Tiruray
fangaraw - Buhid
timpo - Hanunoo
año - Chabacano

Who are the Tagarugs? The Tagarug Mystery...

This entry is the fifth in a series of articles in the first annual Seven-Day Salita Blogathon. For more information, please see this entry.

During the Christmas season of 2003, I ran into an old newsgroup posting by a Dr. Rodrigo "Rudy" Dar. In 1996, he mentioned doing research with linguist Dr. Ted Llamzon in the Limutan River area of Rizal province. The name of the language they were researching was called Tagarug. The speakers refered to themselves as "Sinauna" (original). Thirsty for more information, I finally got into contact with Dr. Dar after New Year's 2004.

Dr. Dar told me about the story how he and Dr. Llamzon went about looking for this language. They took some notes and made a Swadesh list (list of words). Unfortunately, Dr. Dar immediately left the Philippines when martial law was instituted by Marcos in the 1970's, so all his notes are gone.

There seem to be some discrepancies which add to all these mysteries.

First, Ethnologue lists a language called Remontado Agta. It's classified in the same subgroup as Kapampangan and the Sambal languages. Also, its alternate names are Hatang-Kayey and Sinauna. Dar told me that Llamzon would shorten the name to Sinauna rather than Tagarug, and that is the name that stuck with SIl and the Linguistic Society of the Philippines.

However, Dar said that the Tagarugs were certainly not Agtas or Negritos.

Second, Dr. Lawrence Reid mentioned in a mailing list that there are people called Sinauna Tagalog (Original Tagalog) in Tanay, Rizal province. This variety shared the pronoun tamu (we; tayo in Tagalog) with Kapampangan.

Third, I have a paper written in 1973 by Dr. Llamzon called The Importance of Dialects in historical Linguistics: Conant's Pepet Law as a Case in Point. He mentions a dialect called "Puray Tagalog" which has the "schwa vowel" found in other Philippine languages. It is spoken in the town of Montalban, Rizal.

Fourth, Dar showed me excerpts of a master's thesis by Pilar Santos. She identifies the Sinauna Tagalog-speaking area to be in: Barangay Daraitan in Tanay, Rizal as well as barangay Kaybilukay, Makidata, Paymihuan, and Pinutian, which are only available by foot. She mentions that Llamzon researched these areas. (so I guess that rules out the third reason above). She says that Tagalog is not intelligible with Sinauna Tagalog.

So are we dealing with 3 different languages or one different one? Unfortunately, I have no native speaker texts of this language, so it is hard to tell.

I do have some words. Mark Rosenfelder's Zompist.Com has Sinauna Tagalog. The numbers are: isâ, dar-á, tatlú, á-pat, limá, á-num, pitú, walú, siyám, sangpú.

I also have my own copy (bought it in a place in India, of all places) of Fe Aldave Yap's A Comparative Study of Philippine Lexicons (I reviewed it here), and there are Sinauna Tagalog words. Yap says it's spoken in Tanay, Rizal.

Many of the Sinauna Tagalog words resemble Tagalog, which is probably due to contact with Tagalogs. But there are words that are different.

They are:

SinaunaTagalog	Tagalog	English
pamahaw	almusal	breakfast
ba'bak	ahas	snake
kumawat	umakyat	to climb
alahipan	alipin	slave
dunut	amoy	smell
anaya	ano	what
aydaw	araw	day
atap	atip	roof
migbunu	mag-away	to fight
bayi	babae	woman
ba'yu	bago	new
ubon	bata	child
ngusu	bibig	mouth
mabayat	mabigat	heavy
buak	buhok	hair
burak	bulaklak	flower
minadunut	bulok	rotten
sabud	bundok	mountain
hayin	dahon	leaf
aramay	daliri	finger
rangbun	marami	many
landap	dinig	hear
a'bang	gutom	hunger
a'dong	ilong	nose
sarapaw	lumpiad	to fly
marukas	masama	bad
ngatte	ngayon	today
bitiis	paa	foot
itit	puki	vagina
pig'i	puwet	butt
kanana	saan	where
si'na	sino	who

That's the gist of it ... there's more. But it still would be nice to have actual sentences because the words alone do not tell the whole story.

Also, to make matters more mysterious - Dar mentions that he saw on a map called "The Filipino People" - released by the National Museum in the 1970's - that there are people who call themselves Tageilog in Quezon province.

Google reveals this page. It's an altername for DUMAGAT: Kabulowen language. It gives the Ethnologue code of Alta, Southern. However, the Tageelog/Tageilog names aren't mentioned.

It makes me wonder who the original Tagalogs really were. Could it be that Southern Luzon was populated by these Tageilogs and Tagarugs, and then the Central Filipinos came in from the Visayas and adopted the name of these people and conquered their land and intermarried with the locals? Who knows. I could only speculate. If only there were evidence.

Lien du jour: Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database

I recently borrowed Dr. Zorc's Core Etymological Dictionary of Filipino, which Sauvage Noble mentioned in his blog. Fascinating read and quite a refreshing change from poking my nose in non-linguistics textbooks for school. ;-) There are some Tagalog words that I hadn't realized were foreign borrowings via Malay (though can't remember them offhand...).

Anyway...

Here's today's link of the day (or at the frequency I post, perhaps link of the month!):

http://language.psy.auckland.ac.nz

I saw it mentioned in an AN-LANG post by Simon Greenhill. It is the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database. Even if it just opened up, it seems to be very comprehensive!

It is basically a database of common vocabulary words of Austronesian languages such as Philippine languages like Tagalog & Ibanag to non-Philippine ones like Madurese, Paiwan, and Hawaiian. Heck there's even Proto-Austronesian and Proto-Central Malayo-Polynesian.

The full list is here and as of now there are 282 languages, though there are new languages being added regularly. I hope it grows some more! Apparently many of the sources were culled from works by Drs. Bob Blust, Laurie Reid, David Zorc, and other Austronesian linguists.

And just for a start, you can see what the word for day is in other Austronesian languages.

Waray-Waray articles

In this issue of Salita Blog, we'll explore the wonderful world of Waray-Waray markers and how they compare with other Philippine languages.

To put this into perspective, Tagalog has three markers that each fit into three categories: absolutive, which is represented by ang; ergative (genitive), which is represented by ng; and oblique, which is sa. We'll just concern ourselves with the first two categories. These are further divided into common and personal classes, and the ones I listed are the common ones which this blog entry will focus on.

For more information on Tagalog markers, check out the Wikipedia article I wrote about Tagalog grammar. But here are some examples:

Ang Republika ng Pilipinas. (The Republic of the Philippines)
Kumain ng mansanas ang lalaki. (The man ate some apples [actor focus])
Kinain ng lalaki ang mansanas. (The man ate some [object focus])

Ilokano has a simpler system. Ti covers both absolutive and ergative case when the verb is not in the actor focus. On the other hand iti is usually the oblique but if there is an actor focus verb, it marks the object.

Ti Republika ti Pilipinas.
Nangan ti lalaki iti mansanas. (actor focus)
Kinnan ti lalaki ti mansanas. (object focus)


Bikol has a more expanded system. an and si are both absolutive with si being the most "specific" of the two. Usually it refers to something that was already mentioned. nin and kan are the ergative counterparts, respectively. Tagalog has a similar system but on an ostensibly colloquial level; yung and nung. Examples for Bikol:

An Republika kan Pilipinas.
Nagkakan an lalaki nin mansanas. (The man ate some apples.)
Nagkakan si lalaki nin mansanas. (The man ate some apples. [This refers to a man that was already mentioned.])
Kinakan nin lalaki an mansanas. (The man ate the apple.)
Kinakan kan lalaki an mansanas. (The man ate the apple. [again, refering to a previously-mentioned man.)
Siisay an maduman sa Maynila?


Hiligaynon has only ang in the absolutive case but sing and sang in the ergative. Sing is indefinite while sang is definite.

Hiligaynon's system appears to be the norm among Visayan languages.

Ang Republika sang Pilipinas.
Nagkaon ang lalaki sing mansanas. (apples, indefinite)
Ginkaon sang lalaki ang mansanas. (man, definite)

Cebuano has what I find to be a peculiar system. ang is the absolutive marker but the indefinite one is 'y and appears only in certain constructions such as interrogative words. ug is the ergative marker and usually found when the verb is in the actor focus. Sa is the definitive ergative marker and the one used in genitive constructions. It is also the oblique marker, so from my Tagalog perspective it sounds odd to me.

Ang Republika sa Pilipinas.
Mikaon ang lalaki ug mansanas.
Gikaon sa lalaki ang mansanas.
Unsa'y gikaon nimo? (What did you eat?)

Now, on to Waray-Waray's very interesting system.

Waray-Waray not only has an definite and indefinite distinction, but also a temporal one! This means a distinction between past and the non-past.

Here's a run-down:

in - indefinite (all times)
an - definite past
it - definite non-past (present and future)

The genitive forms are simply the addition of h or s, depending on the dialect. I will use h since that is used in Tacloban.

In Tagalog, to express "a man called" one could say may tumawag na lalaki or tumawag ang isang lalaki; and yes, tumawag ang lalaki is also possible. In Waray-Waray, the indefinite article gets rid of the ambiguity, it'd be tinmawag in lalaki. May-ada tinmawag nga lalaki is also possible.

If it's definite, you say tinmawag an lalaki (The man called).

Other translations.

Natawag an lalaki = The man was calling. (note an, past definite)
Natawag it lalaki = The man is calling. (note it, non-past definite)
Matawag it lalaki = The man will call.

Matawag an lalaki is also possible and it could imply that the person being spoken to knows the man.

Translations of the phrases I used for other languages:

An Republika han Pilipinas.
Kinmaon an lalaki hin mansanas. (The man ate some apples).
Kinmaon an lalaki han mansanas. (The man ate the apples).
Kinaon han lalaki an mansanas. (The man ate the apples).
etc.

I find this really cool. I think it'd be great if Tagalog had a system (or dare I say had conserved a system?) like this. It's the complex things in a language which attract (and oftentimes, frustrate) me.

And that concludes today's entry, folks!

New Diversion: A Comparative Study of Philippine Lexicons

Before I begin. To those of you who have sent me e-mails concerning ordering my book, this is just to let you know that I am in receipt of them. I intend on giving pricing and shipping information sometime after I receive the books within the next couple of weeks.

In the mean time, I have a new diversion. It's Fe Z. Aldave-Yap's A Comparative Study of Philippine Lexicons. It was published in 1977. It's a comprehensive book and it was just as I was looking for. I do own a copy of Dr. Lawrence Reid's Philippine Minor Languages: Word Lists and Phonologies, but it covers "only" 43 languages spoken mostly in Northern Luzon and Mindanao. Aldave-Yap's work expanded upon Dr. Reid's to a total of 80 languages spoken in the Philippines.

The similarities and differences vary depending on the word. For example, dila and its variants (i.e., zila, rira, jila, chila, hila, etc.) are common in about 77 of the languages listed. The other 3 use lengua (in the Zamboanga & Cavite variants of Chabacano) and limut of Kakidugen Ilongot.

For an example of the vast differences, here's the word for "face" in those languages which I posted to a mailing list today. The names and transcription methods used have been altered somewhat.

MUKHÂ - Aklanon, Tagalog, Tagarug Sinauna (a language that is related
more to Kapampangan than Tagalog), Mangyan Tadayawan
NUKÂ - Ibanag
MUKAT - Agta, Isneg

ÁNGAH - Amganad Ifugao, Keley-i Kallahan
ÁNGAS - Northern Kankanaey, Tiruray
ANGAH - Batad Ifugao, Bayninan Ifugao
BÁNGAS - Hanunoo

APÉNG - Balangaw
APÍNG - Guinaang Kalinga
PING, ÁPING - Guinaang Kalinga

BAHU' - Agusan Manobo
BÁNHU' - Dibabawon Manobo
BAYHU' - Samal, Tausug
BÁYHO' - Butuanon, Mamanwa
BÁYHO(N) - Masbateño, Waray-Waray
BAYU' - Siocon Subanon

GE'YA - Dibabawon Manobo
GYA - Kalagan
GUYÁ - Hiligaynon
UYAEN - Kalamian Tagbanwa
UYAHÓN - Aklanon, Buhid, Hanunoo, Romblomanon
PANGUYÁHEN - Kinaray-a
UYÉN - Kuyonon
UYO - Tboli

RANGÍ - Tiruray
LENGI - Maranao
LANGÁ - Ilokano
LANGLANGUAN - Ata Manobo, Tigwa Manobo

NÁWENG - Dibabawon Manobo
NAWÓNG - Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, Cebuano
NAONG - Kinamigin (Camiguin)

MÚYUNG - Itawis
MUTÚNG - Ibanag
MÚTUNG - Gaddang

LÓPA - Guinaang Bontoc, Binongan Itneg, Botolan Sambal
LÚPA - Kayapa Kallan, Kapampangan, Pangasinan
RÚPA - Ilokano, Aborlan Tagbanwa
DOPA - Ibaloi

BENÉNG - Maguindanao
BÉNNENG - Obo Manobo

BÍAS - Maranao
BIYAS - Maguindanao, Tiruray

MUGING - Isneg
MÚYIÑ - Ivatan

GÁTI - Sarangani Sangil
HATI - Sangir

KAHIMÓ - Waray-Waray
KAIMU' - Mansaka

WALENG - Palawan Batak, Cagayano
WE'LENG - Binukid
WAYÓNG - Surigaonon

LALÁWGEN - Rinconada Bikol
LALÁWGON - Naga Bikol

ALITÁNG - Iraya Mangyan
BATUK - Tagbanwa
BAWA - Sarangani Manobo
BAWEH - Sarangani Blaan, Koronadal Blaan
BEHÁL - Balangaw
DAGWAY - Kinamigin
DANGOY - Ivatan
QA'NUP - Kakiudgen Ilongot
CARA - Zamoboanga Chabacano, Cavite Chabacano
KILAY - Kalamansig Cotabato Manobo (of forehead)
KEPIREKPIREK - Western Bukidnod Manobo
MAMMANG - Pamplona Atta
MATÂ - Casiguran Dumagat
MULU' - Sindangan Subanon
RÚSAY - Alangan Mangyan

The words are grouped by similarity. Those that cannot are at the end of the list. It's a great book. It's too bad that it's out of print.

Yami

I do know that the description of this blog is dedicated to the "the over 160 languages in the Republic of the Philippines." However, there is a language that is worth mentioning. It is part of the Philippine language family, and is particularly close to Ivatan and Itbayat of Batanes. This language is called Yami and it is spoken in Taiwan.

Taiwan is not only home to Chinese language such as Taiwanese, Mandarin, and Hakka but it is also home to Austronesian languages such as Atayal, Paiwan, Tsou, Rukai, Ami, and others. Yami is the only Austronesian language spoken in Taiwan that is considered part of the vast Malayo-Polynesian subfamily that includes languages as far west as Malagasy and as far east as Hawaiian and Rapa Nui.

Yami, Ivatan, and Itbayat belong to the Bashiic-Central Luzon-Northern Mindoro (henceforth, BCN) subfamily of the Northern Philippine branch. The most famous BCN language is one of the 12 most spoken languages in the Philippines, Kapampangan. The position of Kapampangan in this category is still pretty much shaky, but that's a whole other blog entry.

In any case, I have encountered a very interesting website dedicated to the Yami language. The URL is: http://www.uga.edu/~asian-lp/jpn_html/yami/content.html

Knowing that Yami is related to the languages of the Batanes Islands, I wondered if it was mutually intelligible with them. The third chapter, The Common Origin of Bashiic cultures answered that for me. Apparently if the speakers try speaking their respective languages without foreign borrowings then their mutual intelligiblity is highly increased. For an Ivatan, this meant avoiding Spanish, English, & Tagalog words and a Yami had to avoid using Chinese & Japanese words.

I found the following passage, under "intercomprehension", particularly fascinating:

... In 1986 I succeeded in taking along a Yami friend named Si-Mogaz (male, 39), when I traveled from Irala to Ivatan and to Itbayat. My main curiosity was to see how well, after several hundreds of years of isolation, they could communicate with each other. Now we had living people at hand with a strong desire to communicate, which made the testing of mutual comprehension very different from the previous attempts with the recordings. The results showed themselves within the first hours of conversation. Si-Mogaz felt uncomfortable with the negative form of the Ivatan verb and was somewhat discouraged by the Spanish and English loanwords. As the hours passed, however, his conversation became more self-confident and a few very clear communication behavior patterns started surfacing. Both sides had realized by then that Spanish, English, and Tagalog loanwords on the one side, or Chinese and Japanese loanwords on the other, did not work, so they started eliminating them by looking for synonyms in their own languages. This spontaneous, instinctive response caused an unusual feeling of excitement for the conversants, as if they had understood subconsciously that they were making efforts to reconstruct the language of their common ancestors. Almost every time they succeeded in finding a proper synonym for a native word or bypassed an acculturated element of their contemporary vocabulary by finding a commonly understood synonym, they had to pause to express their excitement by saying: "we are relatives indeed," or "we surely have common origin." In the case of those Spanish words for which there were no Ivatan synonyms, or which were so strongly embedded in usage that the Ivatans could not work their way around them, to my greatest amazement Si-Mogaz started picking them up. At the end of the day he was using correctly the word siguro, which comes from the Spanish "sure." In Ivatanen it is used for "perhaps" and there is no exact Yami equivalent for it. ...

Very cool. Please be sure to read the transcriptions of two stories in Yami to get a feel for the language and to see similarities with other Philippine languages; Nikapowan no tawo do yayo (The creation myth of Yayo) and Nikapowan no tawo do tawo d'Iranmilek (The Creation Myth of Iranmilek). The list of Yami vocabulary is worth visiting as well.

The site also includes an extremely brief grammar & phonology. There are phonemes that are not prevalent in other Philippine languages such as a uvular stop found in Arabic and retroflex stops. On Dr. Rubino's page, you can read a brief description of Ivatan grammar.

And below is a map of the Bashiic area. Click it to enlarge. Enjoy!

Kapampangan Pronoun Combinations

Since the late 1950's, my family has had ties of some sort to Pampanga province, due to the former Clark Air Base. My relatives aren't from Pampanga, but from Manila. I've also lived there myself for a period of five years and my now-18 year old brother was born there as well.

Looking back, my exposure to Kapampangan in Angeles City & Clark was rather scant. Though, I admit that at a young age I could have mistaken it for Tagalog. I was aware of phrases like me keni (come here) and that the locals didn't speak Tagalog the way my parents do. My mother, on the other hand, attended elementary school (Holy Family) in the 1960's and was exposed to it constantly. She understands it well, but cannot speak it fluently.

I left Pampanga in 1989 and it took about 12 year for me to develop a curiosity for the language spoken there; Kapampangan.

This curiosity led to fascination.

What can I say about Kapampangan? Perhaps, unpredictible, bizarre, unique, and, uh... cool? After studying Ilokano, Bikol, & the Visayan languages, I can say that the language is certainly an oddball. And that's what I love about it.

Conjugating took some time getting used to. In Tagalog, sumulat means "wrote" in the actor focus. In Kapampangan, it means "will write." On the other hand susulat means "will write" in Tagalog but means "is writing" in Kapampangan. The past tense in Kapampangan is sinulat. And this resembles the past tense of the object focus in Tagalog!

Also, in Kapampangan you have, for the verb "to read" (object focus): basan (future), babasan (progressive), and binasa (past).

But for the verb "to do" (object focus): gawan (future), gagawan (progressive), and not *ginawa, but gewa.

For "to eat" (again, object focus): kanan, kakanan, and you'd expect to see maybe *kinan. But no, it's pengan!

Ay naku, what a challenge. What fun.

Another interesting feature of Kapampangan is the the fact that a pronoun must always be present even when the noun it stands for is present. Dr. Reid calls these verbal agreement forms.

Kap: Malagu ya i Maria.
Tag: *Maganda siya si Maria. (literal translation)
Tag: Maganda si Maria. (free translation)
Eng: Mary is beautiful.

Kap: Silatanan na kang Pedru.
Tag: *Sinulatan ka niya ni Pedro. (literal)
Tag: Sinulatan ka ni Pedro. (free)
Eng: Peter wrote you.

Kap: Mamasa yang libru i Cristobal.
Tag: *Bumabasa siya ng libro si Cristobal. (literal)
Tag: Bumabasa si Cristobal ng libro. (free)
Eng: Christopher is reading a book.

Furthermore, Kapampangan has a set of merged pronouns that occur with the 3rd person singular & plural pronouns. Tagalog and its Central Philippine cousins typically have one that represents ko ikaw. Tagalog has kita, Bikol has taka, Cebuano has tikaw, Tausug has ta kaw, etc.

Kap: Ikit ke.
Tag: Nakita ko siya.
Eng: I saw him.

Kap: Dinan mong ebun.
Tag: Bigyan mo sila ng itlog.
Eng: Give them an egg.

Kap: Dinan meng ebun.
Tag: Bigyan mo siya ng itlog
Eng: Give him an egg.

Sometimes, they take different forms. The 3rd person singular forms usually do it around the word naman; kya naman rather than *ke naman. The plural ones change because they cannot end a sentence; Ikit ku la rather than *Ikit ko.

In any case, I made a chart that shows the pronoun combinations in Kapampangan. It's been very helpful to me, and so I'd like to share it with you. I compiled the information from sources written by Ernesto Turla, Hiroaki Kitano, Leatrice Mirikitani, and Michael Forman. Some entries might have two variants. The one on top is the short form and the bottom is the long one. Dashes indicate combinations which are deemed impossible. And the "ing sarili [pronoun]" represents a reflex action; myself, yourself, etc.

Also, Kapampangan writers may usually write words like da ka or yu ke as one word, daka or yuke. I've decided to keep them separate since particles can split them; da pin ka.

I've included a similar chart for Tagalog for comparison. I've listed the dual pronoun (you and I) in Tagalog, kata (or kita), which isn't used anymore these days. However, its Kapampangan counterpart is very much in use.

Some more examples:

Kap: Kaluguran da ka.
Tag: Mahal kita. OR Mahal ka namin. OR Mahal ka nila.
Eng: I love you. OR We love you. OR They love you.

Kap: Sulatanan na kong Isabel.
Tag: Susulatan kayo ni Isabel.
Eng: Isabel will write to you (plural).

Kap: Sibli no ring lapis.
Tag: Isinauli niya ang mga lapis.
Eng: He returned the pencils.

Chart of Kapampangan pronoun combinations by Christopher Sundita
Genitive (Ergative)		Nominative (Absolutive)
		yaku 1 sg	ika 2 sg	ya 3 sg	ikata 1 dual	ikatamu 1 pl inc.	ikami 1 pl exc.	ikayu 2 pl	ila 3 pl
ku 1 sg		(ing sarili ku)	da ka	ke kya	-	-	-	da ko da kayu	ko ku la
mu 2 sg		mu ku	(ing sarili mu)	me mya	-	-	mu ke mu kami	-	mo mu la
na 3 sg		na ku	na ka	ne nya (ing sarili na)	na kata	na katamu	na ke na kami	na ko na kayu	no nu la
ta 1 dual inc.		-	-	te tya	(ing sarili ta)	-	-	-	to ta la
tamu 1 pl inc.		-	-	ta ya	-	(ing sarili tamu)	-	-	ta la
mi 1 pl exc.		-	da ka	mi ya	-	-	(ing sarili mi)	da ko da kayu	mi la
yu 2 pl		yu ku	-	ye ya	-	-	yu ke yu kami	(ing sarili yu)	yo yu la
da 3 pl		da ku	da ka	de dya	da kata	da katamu	da ke da kami	da ko da kayu	do da la (ing sarili da)

Chart of Tagalog pronoun combinations by Christopher Sundita
Genitive (Ergative)		Nominative (Absolutive)
		ako 1 sg	ikaw 2 sg	siya 3 sg	kata 1 dual	tayo 1 pl inc.	kami 1 pl exc.	kayo 2 pl	sila 3 pl
ko 1 sg		(ang sarili ko	kita	ko siya	-	-	-	ko kayo	ko sila
mo 2 sg		mo ako	(ang sarili mo)	mo siya	-	-	mo kami	-	mo sila
niya 3 sg		niya ako	ka niya	niya siya (ang sarili niya)	niya kata	niya tayo	niya kami	niya kayo	niya sila
nita 1 dual inc.		-	-	nita siya	(ang sarili nita)	-	-	-	nita sila
natin 1 pl inc.		-	-	siya natin	-	(ang sarili natin)	-	-	natin sila
namin 1 pl exc.		-	ka namin	namin siya	-	-	(ang sarili namin)	namin kayo	namin sila
ninyo 2 pl		ninyo ako	-	ninyo siya	-	-	ninyo kami	(ang sarili ninyo)	ninyo sila
nila 3 pl		nila ako	ka nila	nila siya	nila kata	nila tayo	nila kami	nila kayo	nila sila (ang sarili nila)

Rinconada Bikol

Just a little note before I begin. Today I obtained via Interlibrary Loan Tagalog Texts with Grammatical Analysis written in 1917 by linguist Leonard Bloomfield (1887-1949). Interesting book. You can expect to read my comments about this book sometime after I'm done reading it.

Anyway, there are a total of four main languages spoken in the Bicol region. The region is rich in linguistic diversity. They are, according to Jason Lobel:

1. North Coastal Standard Bikol - three main dialect groups spoken from: Daet, Camarines Norte; much of Camarines Sur including Naga and excluding the southern coast region; eastern Albay including Legazpi; northern Sorsogon; and the southern end of Catanduanes Island. The dialects of Naga & Legazpi are considered the standard.


2. Southern Coastal & Inland Bikol - Rinconada Bikol, which is spoken in the southern part of Camarines Sur which includes the cities of Buhi, Iriga, Nabua, and Balatan; Libon; and eastern & western Miraya (from southern Camarines Sur, western Legazpi, and part of Northern Sorsogon.


3. Northern Catanduanes - The (surprise!) northern end of Catanduanes island.


4. Bisakol - Comprised of the words Bisaya and Bikol. This includes Central & Southern Sorsogon, Masbate island, and Ticao island.

Anyway, this entry is about Rinconada Bikol. A couple of months ago, I wrote a message in a mailing list showing the differences between the Naga standard dialect of Bikol, Rinconada Bikol, and Tagalog. I formulated the sentences from Jason Lobel's Rinconada Phrasebook and a draft copy of his Rinconada textbook.

RNC - Rinconada Bikol. NAG - Naga Bikol. TAG - Tagalog. ENG - English.

-UM- verbs
note 1: Naga Bikol doesn't make use of the -UM- prefix.
note 2: -UM- and MAG- prefixes are interchangeable and thus don't
affect meaning in Rinconada Bikol unlike in Tagalog.

RNC: Kumaon
NAG: Magkakan
TAG: Kumain
ENG: To eat (infinitive)

RNC: Kinnaon ya.
NAG: Nagkakan siya.
TAG: Kumain siya.
ENG: He ate.

RNC: Kinnakaon ya.
NAG: Nagkakakan siya.
TAG: Kumakain siya.
ENG: He is eating.

RNC: Kumkaon ya OR Kumakaon ya. (Note loss of vowel after -UM-)
NAG: Mákakan siya.
TAG: Kakain siya.
ENG: He will eat.

MAG- verbs

RNC: Magtutturo
NAG: Magtukdo
TAG: Magturo
Eng: To teach.

RNC: Nagtutturo sira.
NAG: Nagtukdo sinda.
TAG: Nagturo sila.
ENG: They taught.

RNC: Nagtututturo sira.
NAG: Nagtutukdo sinda.
TAG: Nagtuturo sila.
ENG: They are teaching.

RNC: Migtutturo sira.
NAG: Mátukdo sinda.
TAG: Magtuturo sila.
ENG: They will teach.

And some miscellany...

RNC: Isadto ya sa baloy namo.
NAG: Yaon siya duman sa harong mi.
TAG: Nandoon siya sa bahay namin.
ENG: He's there at our house.

RNC: Ono 'di?
NAG: Ano ini?
TAG: Ano ito?
ENG: What's this?

RNC: Agko ka igin?
NAG: Igwa kang aki?
TAG: Mayroon ka bang anak?
ENG: Do you have any kids?

RNC: Migtrabawo a agom ko sa Maynila udma.
NAG: Mátrabaho an agom ko sa Maynila saaga.
TAG: Magtatrabaho ang asawa ko sa Maynila bukas.
ENG: My husband will work in Manila tomorrow.

Alternative pronouns in Kinaray-a, Akeanon, and Onhan

Sometime last year a language named Kinaray-a caught my eye. It's spoken on the island on Panay in the provinces of Antique and Iloilo. The reason it interested me was because it was one of a handful of Central Philippine languages that had the fourth "schwa" vowel in its phonemic inventory. This phoneme, an unrounded back vowel, is prevalent in the languages of Northern Luzon such as Ilokano & Pangasinan, where it's represented by the letter "e". Many Visayan languages just have three; /a/ /i/ and /u/.

In any case, I decided to join a Kinaray-a mailing list to observe the participants use their language. The language certainly "felt" Visayan, but it was quite different from Hiligaynon, another language I've been exposed to which is spoken on Panay. Despite this, it's widely believed that Kinaray-a is a dialect of Hiligaynon or vice-versa even though they both occupy different branches of the Visayan family.

I noticed that they used the letter "u" and to represent the schwa vowel and one member wasn't too fond of my proposal to use "e".

Another thing that caught my eye and heard vaguely about was what I call the T-series pronouns.

Pronouns in Philippine languages are separated into categories. I'll use Tagalog as an example:

Nominative (Absolutive) - ako, ikaw (ka), siya, kami, tayo, kayo, sila
Genitive (Ergative) - ko, mo, niya, namin, natin, ninyo, nila
Oblique - sa akin, sa iyo, sa kaniya, sa amin, sa atin, sa inyo, sa kanila

In Kinaray-a, there are two sets of nominative pronouns. They appear to be based upon the genitive ones. Kinaray-a's pronouns are as follows:

Nominative (Absolutive) #1 - ako, ikaw (kaw), [none], kami, kita, kamo, sanda
Nominative (Absolutive) #2 - taken, timo, tana, tamen, taten, tinyo, tanda
Genitive (Ergative) - ko, mo, na, namen, naten, ninyo, nanda
Oblique - kanaken, kimo, kana, kanamen, kanaten, kaninyo, kananda

I found this rather odd. Even more odd was the fact that there is no 3rd person pronoun in the first series. I guess there is no need for one. In Tagalog, it is usually possible to leave out "siya" in a sentence.

I asked around and received a bunch of native speaker opinions on what the T-series pronouns could be used for. The best one was from Gail. Who said:

If someone told me "iririmaw kita" [let's get together], my knee jerk reaction would be to say, "amo ri-a abi mo" [that's what you delude yourself with]. but if he says "iririmaw tatun" [let's get together], aba okay ako diyan! [I'm ok with that] hehehe.

I concluded that it had to either be some kind of politeness marker or some kind of "softening" marker. I knew that this system existed in Aklanon, another Western Visayan language. So I consulted Dr. R. David Zorc, a fluent Aklanon speaker who is married to a native Aklanon.

An excerpt from his e-mail:

The differences are more pragmatic (i.e., discourse sensitive or oriented) than cultural. One set does not show more or less respect, as opposed to more emphasis, bringing the audience in to the fineries of the discussion or tale. They are limited to informal speech, rarely do they make it to writing, except in folktales where people or animals engage in extended discourse. They take quite a while to appear. For example, if I were telling of a bumpy plane trip to Manila, I would run through all the basic stuff using aku', e.g., umadtu aku sa erport ag naghuEa't aku' it mabu:hay
went - I - to - airport - and -waited - I - quite a while
Once we got up in the air, and the bumpy flight started, the airplane
or the weather could be characterized as:
ma7u'ndag gid 7it'7a:na 'it was very bumpy'
and what was going on in my stomach as:
masaki't gid 7it'7a:kun tyan, tumalig7ab 7a:nay aku', tapus sumukah gid
7it'7a:kun.
'my stomach was really sick, at first I belched, afterwards I just
vomited

And from another e-mail. This really explained things very well for me:

The Kinaray-a uses you describe ARE cultural, and so are some of the Aklanon
uses. ... What I believe is and has been going on is a long process of detopicalization. Object focus constructions allow the speaker to deemphasize himself or to be
deemphasized (gin-baligya7-a'n mo 'Did you sell it?', gin-baligya7'a'n ko 'I sold
it'; gin-Ea'bh-an ko 'I washed it'). In W.Bisayan dialects, the process is taken one step further by using an object-marked set instead of the topic marked set. I once heard Tagalogs say of Peace Corps Volunteers who always used the actor focus that they were "arrogant Americans." The lady's reaction to the IRIRIRMAW KITA smacks of the same thing. In the sick-on-airplane snippet I talked about, once the action gets
going, the actor removes himself from topicalization.

And he's right. In Tagalog, we usually switch from the nominative to the genitive. But in the three Western Visayan languages that I have looked at, there is another option. This, I find fascinating. I'd bet it'd be useful in Tagalog.

I also was told that there is another use for the t-series pronouns. Using two nominative pronouns in a row provides emphasis.

Kinaray-a: Ako taken ang nagabantay kang aken mga bata.
Tagalog: Ako mismo ang nagbabantay ng aking mga bata.
English I, myself, am watching over my children.

And I'll end this long post by showing Akeanon & Onhan's pronoun systems. I am corresponding with a native Onhan speaker about their pronouns. So it may need corrections later. Note that there is a hyphen in the Aklanon forms. It stands for a glottal stop.

Aklanon

Nominative #1 - ako, ikaw (ka), imaw, kami, kita, kamo, sanda
Nominative #2 - t-akon, t-imo, t-ana, t-amon, t-aton, t-inyo, t-anda
Genitive - ko (nakon), mo (nimo), na (nana), namon, ta (naton), ninyo, nanda
Oblique - kakon, kimo, kana, kamon, katon, kinyo, kanda

Onhan

Nominative #1 - ako, ikaw (kaw), imaw, kami, kita, kamo, sanda
Nominative #2 - takon, timo, tana(?), tamon, taton, tinyo, tanda(?)
Genitive - ko (nakon), mo (nimo), na (nana), namon, ta (naton), ninyo, nanda
Oblique - akon, imo, ana, amon, aton, inyo, anda

I discovered Onhan's last night from this site. There are other Western Visayan languages, but I am unsure of them as I don't have resources about them.