Ilocano language
Ilocano is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines. It is the third most-spoken native language in the country.
As an Austronesian language, it is related to Malay, Tetum, Chamorro, Fijian, Maori, 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.
The Ilokano people had their own distinct 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.
Classification
Ilocano, like all Philippine languages, is an Austronesian language, a very expansive language family believed to originate in Taiwan. Ilocano comprises its own branch within the Philippine Cordilleran language subfamily. It is spoken as first language by seven million people.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.
Geographic distribution
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 language is also spoken in the United States, with Hawaii and California having the largest number of speakers. 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 speaking the language.In September 2012, the province of La Union passed an ordinance recognizing Ilocano as an official provincial language, alongside Filipino and English, as national and official languages of the Philippines, respectively. 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.
Writing system
Modern alphabet
The modern Ilokano Alphabet of 28 lettersAa 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 Zz
Pre-colonial
Precolonial 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 the vowel was read or not, due to this vowels "e" and "i" are interchangeable and letters "o" and "u", for instance "tendera" and "tindira".Modern
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 generation of Ilocanos use the Spanish system.In the system based on that of Tagalog there is more of a phoneme-to-letter correspondence, and better reflects the actual pronunciation of the word. The letters ng constitute a digraph and counts 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.
Samples of the two systems
The following are two versions of the Lord's Prayer. The one on the left is written using the Spanish-based orthography, while the one on the right uses the Tagalog-based system.Ilocano and education
With the implementation by the Spanish of the Bilingual Education System of 1897, Ilocano, together with the other seven major languages, 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. Constitutionally, Ilocano is an auxiliary official language in the regions where it is spoken and serves as auxiliary media of instruction therein.In 2009, the Philippine Department of Education instituted department order 74, s. 2009 stipulating that "mother tongue-based multilingual education" would be implemented. In 2012, department order 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. 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 and is also a separate subject from grade 1 to grade 3. Thereafter, English and Filipino are introduced as mediums of instructions.
Literature
Ilocano animistic past offers a rich background in folklore, mythology and superstition. 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 epic story Biag ni 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, dances, poems, riddles, proverbs, literary verbal jousts called bucanegan and epic stories.
Phonology
Segmental
Vowels
Modern Ilocano has two dialects, which are differentiated only by the way the letter e is pronounced. In the Amianan dialect, there exist only five vowels while the Abagatan dialect employs six.- Amianan:,,,,
- Abagatan:,,,,,
- saan: no
- siit: thorn
| Front | Central | Back | |
| Close | i | u/o e | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a |
For a better rendition of vowel distribution, please refer to the IPA Vowel Chart.
Unstressed /a/ is pronounced in all positions except final syllables, like madí but ngiwat is pronounced.
Although the modern writing system is largely phonetic, there are some notable conventions.
O/U and I/E
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 example:lutuen dayta
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, -mo and -to. An exception to this rule, however, is laud . Also, u in final stressed syllables can be pronounced , like for danum.
The two vowels are not highly differentiated in native words due to fact that was an allophone of 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, like ubíng .
The two closed vowels become glides when followed by another vowel. The close back rounded vowel becomes before another vowel; and the close front unrounded vowel,.
Example:
kuarta money
paria bitter melon
In addition, dental/alveolar consonants become palatalized before..
Unstressed /i/ and /u/ are pronounced and except in final syllables, like pintás and buténg but bangir and parabur are pronounced and.
Pronunciation of
The letter represents two vowels in the non-nuclear dialects in words of foreign origin and in native words, and only one in the nuclear dialects of the Ilocos provinces,.| Word | Gloss | Origin | Nuclear | Non-nuclear |
| 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, 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 and dait sew.| Diphthong | Orthography | Example |
| /au/ | aw | kabaw "senile" |
| /iu/ | iw | iliw "home sick" |
| /ai/ | ay | maysa "one" |
| /ei/ | ey | idiey "there" |
| /oi/, /ui/ | oy, uy | baboy "pig" |
The diphthong is a variant of in native words. Other occurrences are in words of Spanish and English origin. Examples are reyna and treyner . The diphthongs and may be interchanged since is an allophone of in final syllables. Thus, apúy may be pronounced and baboy may be pronounced.
Consonants
All consonantal phonemes except 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 , 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, 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 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, use. When prefixed with ag-, the expected form is . But, the actual form is ; the glottal stop disappears. In a reduplicated form, the glottal stop returns and participates in the template, CVC, agar-aramat.
Stops are pronounced without aspiration. When they occur as coda, they are not released, for example, sungbat answer, response.
Ilokano is one of the Philippine languages which is excluded from - allophony, as /r/ in many cases is derived from a Proto-Austonesian *R, compare bago and baró new.
The language marginally has a trill which was spelled as "rr", for example, serrek to enter. Trill is sometimes an allophone of in word-initial position and word-final positions, spelled as single
Prosody
Primary stress
The placement of primary stress is lexical in Ilocano. This results in minimal pairs such as /ˈkaː.yo/ and /ka.ˈyo/ or /ˈkiː.ta/ and /ki.ˈta/. 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.
- Foreign Words – The stress of foreign words adopted into Ilokano fall on the same syllable as the original.
| Ilocano | Gloss | Comment |
| doktór | doctor | Spanish origin |
| agmaného | drive | Spanish origin |
| agrekórd | record | English origin |
- CVC.'CV# but 'CVŋ.kV# – In words with a closed penult, stress falls on the ultima, except for instances of /-ŋ.k-/ where it is the penult.
| Ilocano | Gloss | Comment |
| addá | there is/are | Closed Penult |
| takkí | feces | Closed Penult |
| bibíngka | -ŋ.k sequence |
- 'CV# – In words whose ultima is a glide plus a vowel, stress falls on the ultima.
| Ilocano | Gloss | Comment |
| al-aliá | ghost | Consonant-Glide-Vowel |
| ibiáng | to involve | Consonant-Glide-Vowel |
| ressuát | creation | Consonant-Glide-Vowel |
- C.'CV:.ʔVC# – In words where VʔV and V is the same vowel for the penult and ultima, the stress falls on the penult.
| 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
Secondary stress occurs in the following environments:- Syllables whose coda is the onset of the next, i.e., the syllable before a geminate.
| Ilocano | Gloss | Comment |
| pànnakakíta | ability to see | Syllable before geminate |
| kèddéng | judgement, decision | Syllable before geminate |
| ùbbíng | children | Syllable before geminate |
- Reduplicated consonant-vowel sequence resulting from morphology or lexicon
| Ilocano | Gloss | Comment |
| agsàsaó | speaks,is speaking | Reduplicate CV |
| àl-aliá | ghost, spirit | Reduplicate CV |
| agdàdáit | sews, is sewing | Reduplicate CV |
Vowel length
Vowel length coincides with stressed syllables and only on open syllables except for ultimas, for example, /'ka:.yo/ tree versus /ka.'yo/ .Stress shift
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/ | /-ɯn/ | /pu.ˈduː.tɯn/ | to warm/heat |
| /da.ˈlus/ | /-an/ | /da.lu.ˈsan/ | to clean |
Grammar
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 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
Foreign accretion comes largely from Spanish, followed by English and smatterings of much older accretion from Hokkien, Arabic and Sanskrit.| Word | Source | Original Meaning | Ilocano meaning |
| arak | Arabic | drink similar to sake | generic alcoholic drink |
| karma | Sanskrit | deed | spirit |
| sanglay | Hokkien | to deliver goods | to deliver/Chinese merchant |
| agbuldos | English | to bulldoze | to bulldoze |
| kuarta | Spanish | cuarta | money |
| kumusta | Spanish | greeting: ¿Cómo está? | How are you? |
Common expressions
Ilokano shows a T-V distinction.| English | Ilocano |
| Yes | Wen |
| No | Saan Haan |
| How are you? | Kumustaka? Kumustakayo? |
| Good day | Naimbag nga aldaw. Naimbag nga aldawyo. |
| Good morning | Naimbag a bigatmo. Naimbag a bigatyo. |
| Good afternoon | Naimbag a malemmo. Naimbag a malemyo. |
| Good evening | Naimbag a rabiim. Naimbag a rabiiyo. |
| What is your name? | Ania ti naganmo? 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. Sige. Innakon. Inkamin. Ditakan. Ditakayon. |
| I/me | - |
Numbers, days, months
Numbers
Ilocano uses two number systems, one native and the other derived from Spanish.| 0 | ibbong awan | sero |
| 0.25 | pagkapat | kuatro |
| 0.50 | 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 | dies |
| 11 | sangapulo ket maysa | onse |
| 20 | duapulo | bainte |
| 50 | limapulo | singkuenta |
| 100 | sangagasut | sien, siento |
| 1,000 | sangaribo | mil |
| 10,000 | sangalaksa | dies mil |
| 1,000,000 | sangariwriw | milion |
| 1,000,000,000 | sangabilion | bilion |
Ilocano uses a mixture of native and Spanish numbers. Traditionally Ilokano numbers are used for quantities and Spanish numbers for time or days and references.
Examples:
Spanish:
Ilocano:
Days of the week
Days of the week are directly borrowed from Spanish.| Monday | Lunes |
| Tuesday | Martes |
| Wednesday | Mierkoles |
| Thursday | Huebes |
| Friday | Biernes |
| Saturday | Sabado |
| Sunday | Dominggo |
Months
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 |
Units of time
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 |
| month | bulan |
| year | tawen anio |
To mention time, Ilokanos use a mixture of Spanish and Ilokano:
More Ilocano words
- abay = beside; wedding party
- abalayan = parents-in-law
- adal = study
- adda = affirming the presence or existence of a person, place, or object
- ading = younger sibling; can also be applied to someone who is younger than the speaker
- ala = to take
- ammo = know
- anus = perseverance, patience
- anya = what/what is it
- apan = go; to go
- apa = fight, argument; ice cream cone
- apay = why
- apong = grandparent
- apong baket / lilang / lola = grandmother
- apong lakay / lilong / lolo= grandfather
- aramid = build, work
- aysus!/ Ay Apo! = oh, Jesus/oh, my God!
- baak = ancient; old
- bado = clothes
- bagi = one’s body; ownership
- balong = same as baro
- bangles = spoiled food
- baga = tell/speak
- bagtit / mauyong = crazy/bad word in Ilokano, drunk person, meager
- balasang = young female/lass
- balatong = mung beans
- balong = infant/child
- bangsit = stink/unpleasant/spoiled
- baro = young male/lad
- basa = study ; read
- basang = same as balasang
- bassit = few, small, tiny
- kabarbaro = new
- basol = fault, wrongdoing, sin
- baut = spank
- bayag = slow
- binting = 25 cents/quarter
- dadael = destroy/ruin
- damdama = later
- danon = to arrive at
- diding / taleb = wall
- dumanon = come
- kiaw/amarilio = yellow
- buneng = bladed tool / sword
- gasto = spend
- ganus = unripe
- gaw-at = reach
- gawid = go home
- giddan = simultaneous
- iggem = holding
- ikkan = to give
- inipis = cards
- inton bigat / intono bigat = tomorrow
- kaanakan = niece / nephew
- kabalio = horse
- kabatiti = loofah
- kalub = cover
- kanayon = always
- karuba = neighbor
- kayat = want
- kayumanggi-kunig = yellowish brown
- kibin = hold hands
- kigtut = startle
- kuddot/keddel = pinch
- kumá / komá = hoping for
- ina/inang/nanang = mother
- lastog = boast/arrogant
- lag-an = light/not heavy
- laing / sirib = intelligence
- lawa / nalawa = wide
- lugan = vehicle
- madi = hate
- manang = older sister or relative; can also be applied to women a little older than the speaker
- manó = how many/how much
- manong = older brother or relative; can also be applied to men a little older than the speaker
- mare = female friend/mother
- met = also, too
- obra = work
- naimbag nga agsapa = good morning
- naapgad = salty
- nagasang, naadat=spicy
- pintas = beautiful/pretty
- ngato = high/above/up
- panaw = leave
- pare = close male friend
- padi = priest
- peggad = danger
- perdi = break/ruin/damage
- pigis= tear
- pigsa = strength; strong
- pustaan = bet, wager
- pimmusay = died
- riing = wake up
- rigat = hardship
- rugi = start
- rugit = dirt/not clean
- ruot = weed/s
- rupa = face
- ruar = outside
- sagad = broom
- sala = dance
- sang-gol = arm wrestling
- sapul = find; need
- sakit = hurts
- sida = noun for fish, main dish, side dish, viand
- siit = fish bone/thorn
- singpet = kind/obedient
- suli = corner
- surat = write
- tadem = sharpness
- takaw = steal
- takrot/tarkok = coward/afraid
- tangken = hard
- tinnag = fall down
- tokar = to play music or a musical instrument
- torpe = rude
- tudo = rain
- tugaw = sit
- tugawan = anything to sit on
- tugaw = chair, seat
- tuno = grill
- tawid = inherit
- ubing = kid; baby; child
- umay = welcome
- unay = very much
- uliteg = uncle
- uray = even though/wait
- uray siak met = me too; even I/me
- ulo = head
- upa = hen
- utong = string beans
- utot = mouse/rat
- uttot = fart