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Exploring the Language of the Ilocanos

SAMTOY
Prepared by: CRISCEL JOY L. SAMBRANO
MAED-English
Background of The
Language
The language is also known as Ilokano,
Ilocano, Iluko, Iloco and Iloko. After Tagalog
and English, Ilocano is the third most spoken
language in the Philippines.
The people call itSamtoy, a contraction from
the Iloko phrasesa mi ditoy, meaning "our
language here".
Background of The
Language
It is originally written with the Baybayin
syllabary, which is also used to write Tagalog,
but this was gradually replaced by the Latin
alphabet when the Spanish arrived in the
Philippines in the 16th century.
The earliest written attestation of Ilocano is
the Doctrina Cristiana, which dates back to
1621 and was produced in the Philippines.
Background of The
Language
Ilocano is also spoken by a fairly substantial
population in the United States, particularly in
Hawaii, Alaska, California, and Washington.
Growing Ilocano-speaking communities are
emerging in other parts of the world, most
notably in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, the
Middle East, Europe, and Canada.
Here are the list of places in the country
using the Ilocano language:

Ilocos Norte Nueva Viscaya


Ilocos Sur Abra
La Union Apayao
Pangasinan Ifugao
Tarlac Mt. Province
Zambales Benguet
Cagayan Kalinga
Isabela Nueva Ecija
Quirino Cotabato
Bukidnon
Major
Characteristics of
the Language
A. LINGUISTIC AFFILIATION

Ilocano is a Northern Philippine language of the


Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian
language family. It is most closely related to other
Northern Luzon languages such as Arta and Agta,
as well as central Philippine languages like
Tagalog.
B. LANGUAGE VARIATION

Although Ilocano is largely uniform across the


various regions in which it is spoken, Ilocano
scholars recognize two primary dialects: Northern
Ilocano and Southern Ilocano.
C.ORTHOGRAPHY

Ilocano language is composed of 28 letters


divided into two groups.

a. Abakada Ilokana (20 letters)


a, b, k, d, e, g, h, i, l, m, n, ng, o, p, r, s, t, u,
w, y
ORTHOGRAPHY

b. Other letters from the English and Spanish


Language

c, f, j, , q, v, x and z
ORTHOGRAPHY

Vowels and Consonants

a. vowels (paaweng) -- a, e, i, o, u
b. consonants (pauni) other 23 letters
Non- letters composed of the punctuation
marks (kur-it-a-tarabay) divided into two:
kurtalikas (spoken) and kurtasurat (written).

a. kurtalikas-- punctuation mark use for speaking.

. pardas/stress mark ( ) -use to emphasize a


syllable of a given word.

example:
dya ( west) day (party or celebration)
dag (land) dga ( a kind of a dagger)
b. kurtasurat punctuation marks used for
writing

tuldek (.)
marka-ti-saludsod (?)
marka-ti-rikna (!)
kaw-it (,)
tuldek-kaw-it (;)
dua-a-tuldek (:)
pangsandi-a-marka ()
parangtay (-)
marka-ti-sao ( )
LINGUISTIC SKETCH
A.Phonological
There is a phonological variation between the
Northern and Southern Ilokanos especially with
respect to the pronunciation of the vowel e
(Rubino, 1997).
1. Theeandsounds
Northern Ilokanos use the front medial dialect (e).

Southern Ilokanos use the high back unrounded


()dialect.

Northern Southern English


Ilocos Ilocos Translation
wen /wen/ wen /wn/ yes
ken /ken/ ken /kn/ also
2. The Glottal Stop
In some parts of Ilocos, the glottal stop (?) is also
prevalent in the language.
It can occur as an allophone or variant of /t/ in word
final position.
Examples
met = /me?/ also
sadot = /sado?/ lazy
ragot = /rago?/ ugly
It also appears as an allophone of /k/ in word
final position (i.e., wherekis part of the enclitic
pronoun).
Examples
kunak = /kuna?/ I said; I thought
kaniak = /kania?/ mine; me (oblique)
Napanak diay Badok,
pinagsidadak ti manok, ay
yot!, dutdo-dutdot!
B. Morphological

Morphologically, Ilocano is quite complex.


Prefixation, infixation, suffixation, circumfixation,
encliticization, and reduplication are all attested and
represent productive morphological operations in the
language.
C. Syntactic

Ilocano is a verb-initial language. This property


is typical of many Austronesian languages.
The base word order of the language is V-S-O,
an order which is also characteristic of
languages spoken in the geographic vicinity of
the Philippines.
Example:
Intedna diay libro ken Maria.
(She gave the book to Maria.)

*inted verb
*na subject
*libro object
D. Lexical

Ilocano lexicon isAustronesianin origin but the


language also contains borrowings
fromSpanishandEnglish.

Spanish English
susic argument eraser
Jehova Jehovah chalk
Quen and ref
Spanishloanwords reflect over 300 years of Spanish
domination, whileEnglishloanwords result from
half-century of American control over the
Philippines.
In addition, Ilocano has loanwords fromMin Nan
Chinese,Malay,Sanskrit,Arabic,Tamil,Persian,and
otherAustronesianlanguages.
MostSanskritloanwords pertain to religious and
intellectual concepts.
Common Expressions
English Ilocano
Yes Wen
No Saan/Haan (variant)
Kumustaka?
How are you? Kumustakayo? (polite and
plural)
Naimbag nga aldaw.
Good day Naimbag nga aldawyo.
(polite and plural)
Naimbag a bigatmo.
Good morning Naimbag a bigatyo. (polite and
plural)
Naimbag a malemmo.
Good afternoon Naimbag a malemyo. (polite and
plural)
Naimbag a rabiim.
Good evening
Naimbag a rabiiyo. (polite and plural)
Ania ti naganmo?
What is your name?
Ania ti naganyo?(polite and plural)
Saanko a maawatan/Haanko a
I do not understand maawatan
Diak maawatan/matarusan.
Ay-ayatenka.
I love you
Ipatpategka.
Pakawanennak.
I'm sorry.
Dispensarennak.
Agyamannak apo.
Thank you.
Dios ti agngina.
Kastan/Kasta pay. (Till then)
Innakon. (I'm going)
Goodbye Inkamin. (We are going)
Ditakan. (You stay)
Ditakayon. (You stay (pl.))
AGYAMANAK
UNAY!

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