The Ibanag language (also written as Ybanag or Ibanak) is an Austronesian language spoken by up to 463,390 speakers, mostly comprising the Ibanag people, in the northeastern provinces of Isabela and Cagayan in the Philippines.
It is spoken widely in the communities of Abulug, Buguey, Camalaniugan, Lal-lo, Solana, and Tuguegarao, all in the province of Cagayan. Also in the communities of Cabagan, Ilagan, San Pablo, Santo Tomas, Santa Maria, and Tumauini, all in the province of Isabela, as well as in the area around the Cagayan River. The language is also spoken in barangay San Agustin East, in Agoo, in the province of La Union.
Ibanag is also spoken by Filipinos in the Middle East, United Kingdom, and the United States. Most speakers of Ibanag can also speak Ilocano, the lingua franca of northern Luzon island. The name Ibanag comes from the prefix I- which means 'people of', and , meaning 'river'. Ibanag is closely related to Gaddang, Itawis, Agta, Atta, Yogad, Isneg and Malaweg.
Classification As with other widely spoken Philippine languages like Cebuano and Tagalog, Ibanag is an Austronesian language. Within this language family. Ibanag belongs to the Northern Philippine languages subgroup, which also includes the more widely spoken Ilocano and Pangasinan languages.
Distribution and dialects Ibanag is spoken in various areas of the Northeastern Philippines, but principally in the provinces of Isabela and Cagayan; there are minor differences between these areas in the way that Ibanag is spoken. Ibanag spoken in Tuguegarao, the capital of Cagayan (the northernmost of the two provinces), is considered the standard dialect. Native speakers of Ibanag are usually able to determine by pronunciation and accent whether another speaker is from Tuguegarao.
In Tuguegarao, before the arrival of the Spanish, the language predominantly spoken was Irraya, which is now an almost-extinct dialect of Gaddang. The Spanish introduced Ibanag to the city from Lal-lo (formerly the city of Nueva Segovia) and established the language as the lingua franca of the Northeastern Philippines. However, since the introduction of Ilocano settlers in the late 20th century, Ilocano has supplanted Ibanag as the region's common language.
As Ibanag was the lingua franca of Northeast Philippines, many native speakers of Gaddang, Itawis, Agta, Atta, Yogad, Isneg, Malaweg, and even Ilocano speak it.
Ibanag speakers who originate from Cauayan and Ilagan, the two major cities of Isabela Province, have a "hard" accent, whereas the form of Ibanag spoken in Tuguegarao is alleged to have a Hispanic quality. However, speakers of Ibanag from Northern Cagayan have a more complex accent. As an example, Ibanang speakers from towns in Northern Cagayan, which includes Abulug, Aparri, Camalaniugan, Pamplona, as well as Lal-lo, tend to replace [p] with [f].Da Ayong Anni Dagga. https://archive.org/stream/rosettaproject_ibg_vertxt-1/rosettaproject_ibg_vertxt-1_djvu.txt – ('hot') – ('a place to put') – ('banana')
Additionally, certain Ibanag words exhibit regional variations between the Tuguegarao and Isabela dialects. Tuguegarao Isabela English TagalogDon't eat eggs.
Beyond the distinctive features of urban usages, the main dialects of Ibanag are Southern Ibanag and Northern Ibanag. While Southern Ibanag is commonly considered the standard dialect, Northern Ibanag is considered to be closer to the ancient Pre-Hispanic Ibanag which existed before the more widespread adoption of Ibanag beyond its original home territory in Cagayan. However, Southern Ibanag may have acquired elements from nearby Itawis as well as from Spanish. The form of Southern Ibanag spoken in Isabela may similarly have been influenced by the Gaddang substrate that was originally the dominant language in the areas where Ibanag is currently spoken.
Archaic Ibanag Some modern Ibanag words, such as 'rice', 'pig', and 'fire', are listed in Spanish texts as , , and respectively. The modern Ibanag term for the number one, , was once used interchangeably with the word , which appears to have fallen out of modern usage.
Use and current status In October 2012, "revival of the Ibanag culture [was] part of the Mother-Tongue Based (MTB) program of the [Philippine] government which seeks to preserve indigenous cultures, including its languages, for generations to come." Ibanag was also listed as one of the MTB languages being taught in Philippine schools, and two stage plays - ("Heritage of the River") and Why Women Wash the Dishes - were being performed in Ibanag.
Phonology
Vowels Front Central BackClose Mid Open
Monophthongization of diphthongs is observable in Ibanag. For example, the words 'to go', 'house' or 'day' are sometimes pronounced as ume, bale, and aggo respectively.
Consonants Ibanag is one of the Philippine languages which do not exhibit the - allophony, they only contrast before consonants and word-final positions; otherwise, they become allophones where [d] is only located in word-initial positions and after consonants & [] is only pronounced between vowels. In Spanish & Ilocano loanwords, [d] and [] contrast in all word positions. Ibanag features phonemes that are not present in many related Philippine languages; phonemes unique to Ibanag compared to its sister languages include as in , 'rice', as in , 'pig', as in 'goat' and as in 'maid'.
Ibanag features gemination: 'half' 'to squeeze, squeezing', kazzing 'goat'
The <rr> is pronounced as alveolar trill [r]. Before consonants and word-final positions, [] is in free variation with trill [r].
+ Table of consonant phonemes of Ibanag Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Nasal Plosive/Affricate Fricative Tap ~ Approximant
Orthography There are two principal orthographic conventions for writing Ibanag. Older texts use a spelling influenced by Spanish in which ⟨c⟩, and ⟨qu⟩ are used to represent /k/, and words that end with a glottal stop have -c added to the end of the word. The more modern method of writing Ibanag is both simpler and tends to be more phonetic. "Spanish style"Modern StyleEnglish'we ate pork''the sky is full of clouds' The modern orthographic system for writing Ibanag is consistent with the conventions of Filipino, as well as other languages such as Bisaya and Ilocano, in which silent letters are omitted. The modern orthographic system has similarly been adopted for use in public schools for the purpose of the Department of Education's Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education policy in Ibanag-speaking areas and is prescribed by the Ibanag Heritage Foundation, Inc.Cabalza, Chester (2013). Ibanag Language and Culture. http://cbclawmatters.blogspot.com/2013/07/ibanag-language-anc-culture.html
Grammar
Nouns
Pronouns
PersonNumber Pronoun English Possessive pronouns Example of root word Example of derived word(s)1stsingular, (Isabela)I / my -ku, -' (when the noun ends with a vowel or diphthong) 'goat' 'hand' 'my goat' 'my hand'plural (exclusive) (Isabela - inclusive)we / our -mi, -tam 'book' 'our book' 'our book'2ndsingularyou / your -mu, -m 'socks' 'book' 'your socks' 'your book'pluralyou / your (formal) -nu 'flag' 'your flag'3rdsingularhe / his she / her it / its -na 'chicken' 'his / her / its chicken'plural they / their -da 'chair' 'their chair'
Subject Pronouns Ibanag is agglutinative, and pronouns are generally attached to verbs as enclitics.
Sakan/So' (1sg.) There are at least four ways to indicate the first-person pronoun. 'I am eating': = 'to eat' and 'I'. Sometimes, is used instead of . 'I gave him some food': = 'to give' and 'I'. 'I will be the one to go': = 'I' 'I split it in half': = 'to split in half' and 'I'. Here the glottal stop on the sentence indicates 'I'. Without the glottal stop, the sentence would become incomplete and would otherwise not make any sense.
Sikaw (2sg.) '(You) go outside': = 'to go' and 'you' 'You give': = 'to give/to put' and 'you'
Yayya (3sg.) The third-person singular pronoun typically takes the form . 'He lost it': = 'lost' and 'he/she/it' (Note: without the glottal stop, can mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'.)
Sittam / sittang (1pl. - inclusive) becomes - or - when attached to the end of the verb or noun. 'Let us go': (Isabela) or
Sikami (1pl. - exclusive) To exclude the person being spoken to, is used. In this case, - is attached to the end of the verb, adjective, or noun. 'We are going to look': = 'to go' and 'we' 'We are full' (as in food): = 'full', 'we' (excl.) 'We are Ibanags':
Sikamu (2pl. - inclusive) Both - and - are used: 'Go get him/her': = 'to get' and 'you' 'You went there?': = 'went' and 'you'
Ira (3pl.) is rarely used unless firmly indicating the persons denoted. Instead of , the word is used. 'They bought my house': = 'bought', 'they'
Possessive pronouns
The word , when used in conjunction with the first-person or second-person plural personal pronouns, marks possession, and the prefix may be added to to emphasise possession.
'That IS mine.':
'My, mine': , , 'Me': 'Your, yours': -m, , , 'His, her, its': , 'Our, ours' (inclusive): , 'Our, ours' (exclusive): , 'Your, yours': , 'Their, theirs': , 'My toy': 'Your gift': 'Her earring': 'His scissors': garsib na 'Our land': 'Our house': 'Your car': 'Their dog': 'This is mine': 'This is hers/his': 'That is yours': 'That is hers':
Demonstrative pronouns
'This': , , 'That' (item by person being spoken to): or (Isabela) 'That' (far from both speaker and person being spoken to): or 'That' (sometimes used for objects that are absent or in the past): 'This dog': 'That cat': 'That carabao': 'That day':
In order to emphasise the spatial or temporal distance encoded in the demonstrative pronoun, the first syllable in the pronoun, other than in , as ('that land'), may be stressed by the speaker.
Locatives
'Here': or 'There': (by person being spoken to) 'There': (far from both) 'There': (absent, past time and location) Locatives may also serve to emphasise distance. 'THIS house' (here): 'That girl there': 'That man over there': 'That old lady a long time ago': *
When the word is used, the stress on tu is often lengthened to emphasise the distance and time that has passed.
– Tagalog: – English: – Tagalog: – English: – Tagalog: – English:
Enclitic particles
Interrogative Words 'What?': 'When?': 'Where?': 'Who?': 'Why?': 'How?': 'How much?':
Each of the doubled consonants must be pronounced separately – i.e. – an ni
'What are you doing?': 'When did you arrive?': 'Where are we going?': 'Who took my fan?': 'Why are you not eating?': 'How are you going to cook that if you do not have the ingredients?': 'How much is this? How much is that?':
Verbs
Ibanag verbs are conjugated on the basis of tense but not person. Like most other Malayo-Polynesian languages, Ibanag does not have a copula, which means there is no equivalent to English verb 'to be'. However, the Ibanag verb meaning 'to have' can perform a copulative function.
Infinitive and present tense The infinitive form of the verb is often the same as the present tense.
'There is'/'to have': 'To eat/eat': 'To drink/drink': 'To need/need': 'To want/want', 'to like/like': 'To go/go', 'to come/come': 'To not want/not want', 'to not like/not like': 'I am here': 'Do you eat goat?': 'Drink this': 'Drink water': 'You need to sleep': 'To ask':
Past tense There are multiple ways to form the past tense.
'Cooked': 'Cut': 'Cut (hair)': 'Placed far away': 'Bought': 'We cooked dinengdeng': 'We cooked the pig': ( becomes assuming the pig itself is not present since it was already cooked) 'They cut my hair': 'I got my hair cut': 'They placed him far away': 'I bought you this cow':
Future tense The principal method of forming the future tense is by using an auxiliary verb such as 'to go'. The present tense can also imply the future in certain circumstances.
'We are going to pick him up.':