Ibanag language


The Ibanag language is an Austronesian language spoken by up to 500,000 speakers, most particularly by the Ibanag people, in the Philippines, in the northeastern provinces of Isabela and Cagayan, especially in Tuguegarao, Solana, Abulug, Cabagan, and Ilagan and with overseas immigrants in countries located in the Middle East, United Kingdom and the United States. Most of the speakers can also speak Ilocano, the lingua franca of northern Luzon island. The name Ibanag comes from the prefix "I" which means "people of", and "bannag", meaning river. It is closely related to Gaddang, Itawis, Agta, Atta, Yogad, Isneg, and Malaweg.

Use and current status

As of Oct. 2012, "revival of the Ibanag culture is part of the Mother-Tongue Based program of the government which seeks to preserve indigenous cultures, including its languages, for generations to come. Ibanag is one of the MTB languages now taught in Philippine schools," and two current stage plays, “Zininaga Ta Bannag ” and “Why Women Wash the Dishes” are being performed in the Ibanag language.

Phonology

Vowels

Monophthongization of diphthongs is observable in Ibanag. For example, the words umay, balay or aggaw are sometimes pronounced as ume, bale, and aggo respectively.

Consonants

Ibanag is one of the Philippine languages which are included in the - allophony.
Ibanag features phonemes that are not present in many related Philippine languages; phonemes unique to Ibanag compared to its sister languages include as in innafi, "rice", as in bavi, "pig", as in kazzing, "goat" and as in madjan, "maid".
Ibanag features gemination:
Similar to more known languages in the Philippines such as Cebuano and Tagalog, Ibanag is a Philippine language within the Austronesian language family. On the other hand, it belongs to the Northern Philippine languages subgroup where related yet larger Ilokano and Pangasinan also fall under.

Dialects

Since Ibanag is spoken in various areas of Northeastern Region of the Philippines, there are also minor differences in the way that it is spoken in these areas. Ibanag spoken in Tuguegarao is known to be the standard dialect. And other native Ibanag speakers usually distinguish if the speaker is from Tuguegarao City with the variation of their pronunciation and accent. Most who have adapted the urban dialects of Ibanag tend to have a Hispanic accent.
In Tuguegarao, before the Spaniards came, the language was Irraya. Spaniards introduced Ibanag to the city from Lal-lo and made the language as the lingua franca of the northeastern Philippines. But with the introduction of Ilocano settlers, Ilocano has become the new lingua franca since the late 20th Century.
Cauayan speakers and Ilagan speakers in Isabela have a hard accent as opposed to the Tuguegarao Ibanag that sounded Hispanic. But, native speakers of Northern Cagayan have a harder accent.
For example, Ibanags from towns in northern Cagayan, which includes Abulug, Aparri, Camalaniugan, Pamplona and Lallo, tend to replace their "p's" with more "f's". Also, certain Ibanag words differ from these areas as opposed to the Tuguegarao and Isabela Ibanag.
Examples:
Tuguegarao Ibanag may be considered as the standard, however, Northern Cagayan Ibanag may be the one closest to the ancient Pre-Hispanic Ibanag existent prior to the spread of the language throughout the province, as Northern Cagayan was the original Ibanag home territory. On the other hand, Tuguegarao Ibanag, besides having Spanish influences may have acquired elements from nearby Itawis. At the same time, Isabela Ibanag may have acquired elements from the original Gaddang language predominant in the province.
Tuguegarao IbanagIsabela IbanagEnglishTagalog
Ari ka nga kuman ta illuk.Kammu nga kumang tu illug.Don't eat eggs.Huwag kang kumain ng itlog.

Archaic Ibanag

Some words used in the present such as innafi or rice, bavi or pig, afi or fire, are listed in Spanish texts as innafuy, bavuy, and afuy respectively. Also, the Ibanag term for the number one, tadday, was once used interchangeably with the word itte, which is no longer used apparently by modern speakers of the language.

Grammar

Orthography

There are two ways that Ibanag can be written. In older texts, the "Spanish style" is often used. This is where ⟨c⟩, and ⟨qu⟩ are used in representing /k/, and words that end with a glottal stop are added with "-c" after the word.
Example 1: Quiminac cami tab bavi - We ate pork.
Example 2: Napannu tac cunam y langui-c. - The sky is full of clouds.
The other way of writing Ibanag is the new and simplified way that tends to be more phonetic. This modern spelling system is consistent with that of the Filipino language and other languages such as Bisaya and Ilokano. Moreover, silent letters are omitted. This orthography is the one being 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.
Example 1: Kiminak kami tu bavi - We ate pork.
Example 2: Napannu tu kunam i langi. - The sky is full of clouds.

Nouns

Personal pronouns

PronounPossessive pronouns formsExample of root wordExample of derived word
First personSakan, Sakang, So' -ku,
-' when subject ends with a vowel or diphthong		kazzing
lima 		kazzing ku
lima
Sikami, Sittam/sittang -mi, -tamlibru libru mi, libru tam
Second personSikaw -mu, -mmejas libru mejas mu librum
Sikamu -nuBandera Bandera nu
Third personYayya, yatun -namanu manu' na
Ira -daitubang itubang da

Sakan/So'

"Kua" is the root word that identifies something as belonging to someone. Often "Ku" is added before "Kua" to emphasize this. Note that this is only possible with "Mine" and "Yours" but not with other possessive pronouns.
Kukua' yatun - That IS Mine.
In order to emphasize or stress the distance or time, the stress on the word falls on the first syllable except for "yatun".
I.e. Yatun davvun - That land
Other ways that words are emphasized are by using Locatives.
With turi the stress on "tu" is often lengthened to emphasize the distance and time that has passed.

Interrogative Words

Each of the doubled consonants must be pronounced separately.
I.E. Anni? - "An ni"
Ibanag verbs are not conjugated in the same manner that most Indo-European languages are. They are conjugated based on the tense of the word.
As with many other Malayo-Polynesian languages, there is no verb for "to be". However this is sometimes compensated by using the verb for "to have".

Infinitive and present tense

Many times, the infinitive form is the same as the present tense.
There are different ways to form the past tense. Here are a few common ways.
Again there are a couple of ways of forming future tense. One is by the use of a helping word like "to go".
Sometimes the present tense can indicate future depending on the context.

Syntax and word order

Ibanag sentence structure often follows the " Verb + Subject + Object " pattern.
Example: Nellawan ni Andoy y kitu. - Andoy took out the dog.
Adjectives often follow the nouns with a marker attached.
Example: Dakal nga balay - Big house.
Simple sentences as opposed to descriptive patterns:
Example:
The house is red - Uzzin y balay
The red house - Uzzin nga balay

Markers

"Y" and "nga" are the two most commonly used markers in Ibanag. They either link adjectives to nouns, or indicate the subject of the sentence.
Examples:
"Tu" is another marker that is used, but is not very simple to explain. Often it is seen in conjunction with the word "Awan" meaning "nothing or none".
Example:
"Ta" is yet another marker used. ta - is like "sa" in Tagalog
Example:
"Ta" - is used to refer place This is also used in Tuguegarao

Example: Minay kami ta Tuguegarao - We went to Tuguegarao.

"Tu" - is used to refer on things

Example: Kiminang kami tu bavi - We ate pork.

Consonant mutation

Ibanag verbs that end in "n" lose the last consonant, which is replaced by the first consonant of the succeeding word. However, when the succeeding word starts with a vowel or another "n", the last "n" is not affected.
Examples:
Correct = Apam mu yari libru - Go get the book.
Correct = Nasingak ku y yama na - I saw his father.
The marker "ta" and the preposition "na" sometimes, depending also on the dialect, acquires the first consonant of the succeeding word.
Tal likuk nab balay - at the back of the house

Proverbs

This is an example of an Ibanag proverb, that is also known throughout the archipelago.
Y tolay nga/tu ari nga/amme* na mallipay ta pinaggafuanan na ay ari nga/amme na makadde ta angayanan na.
Ang taong Hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay Hindi makakarating sa paroroonan.
Translated to: He who does not look back into his past, cannot reach his destination.
Ta langi awan tu binarayang, yatun ta utun na davvun ittam minum.
Sa langit walang alak, kaya sa ibabaw ng lupa dapat tayo'y lumaklak.
Translated to: In heaven there is no beer, that's why we drink it here.
Ari mu kagian nga piyyo ngana y illuk tapenu ari nga magivung.
Ammeng kagim tu piyyo ngana y illug tapenu ari nga magivung.
Huwag mong sabihing sisiw na ang itlog para Hindi ito maging bugok,.
Translated to: Never call an egg a chick, so that it will not become rotten.

Cagayan provincial anthem

Cagayan, Davvun nga kakastan niakan,
Egga ka laran nakuan ta piam,
Nu kuruk tu maparrayyu ka niakan,
Ariat ta ka vuluvvuga nga kattamman.
Cagayan, Makemmemmi ka nga innan.
Cagayan, Awan tu kagittam.
Nu anni paga y kasta na davvun a karuan
Egga ka la ta futu' nga ideddukan.
Translation:
Cagayan, a beautiful land to me,
You have done great things,
If it were true that you will be away from me,
I will not intently forget you.
Cagayan, I adore looking at you,
Cagayan, you are incomparable.
Even if other lands are beautiful,
You are in my heart to be loved.
The direct translation done in here is different from the English Version of the Cagayan Provincial Anthem.

Vocabulary

Loan words