I start this essay with a few personal notes regarding my encounters with the Ilocano language in the hope of gliding into an analysis of it in the Cordillera environment. My first note is regarding my first utterance in the Ilocano language when I was a child. It happened on my first visit to my father’s residence in Camp 6, Tuba, Benguet where he was working then for a mining company back in the eighties. The neighbourhood was a mixture of people, both from the lowlands and around the Cordilleras lured by employment in the mines. Children are conversing in a language I don’t understand and so I often choose not to play with them. Back in the town where I came from, children who did not yet go to school converse then purely in the Ifugao language. But days of hearing words alien to me and asking what some words mean from my parents gave me confidence to join the children at play. The perfect moment came when from a distance, I saw some stone which was about to roll from an elevated place to the ground where children were playing. From the top of my voice, I shouted “Lumisikayu ta mapulig nan batu!” Everyone ran away from the crash when they looked at me pointing to the rolling stone. There was a brief moment of silence then laughter, from the children and some adults present. I realized it was not the near accident that they were laughing at but my mixture of the Ilocano and my native language.
My second note
is regarding how I became conversant in the Ilocano language. Undeniably, my
regular vacation at my father’s workplace is the foundation of learning how to
speak Ilocano. And as I grew up, many
other factors reinforced this knowledge.
Back in my hometown, people were listening to a radio station based in
Cauayan, Isabela. It helped that the
station carries news from the Ifugao province especially that a field reporter
is assigned to cover the area then. People are also attached to drama that the
station offers. The broadcast medium is
mainly the Ilocano language. I myself
listen to drama such as Doming Mabalin Amin, Mang Bianong, Pagsarmingan, Dagiti
Tugot iti Dana ti Biag, and many others.
Aside from the radio, I also came across the magazines Agriingkayo and
Pagwanawanan which are the Ilocano versions of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Awake
and Watchtower, respectively. These
magazines are regularly made available to our home by some ministers who came
to evangelize.
My third note
is regarding a poem I composed in creative writing workshop that I tried to
translate to Ilocano. When I showed my
translation to a friend who was not a native Ilocano speaker, he agreed with
the rendition but when I showed it to a native Ilocano speaker, he enhanced it
to be more poetic in the translation. For
instance, the first few lines of the poem goes, “Natong an balat, matabal/ Mu
mangibati hi hobwal / Ta hiyantu boy umongngal / Hi obal onu nan habal.” My translation: “Mabalinen ti saba, mapukan/
Ngem mangibati ti subwal/ Nga isuntu ti dumakkel/
Idiay abay ti balay wennu idiay bantay.”
The native speaker translated it as “Natangkenanen ti bungan ti saba,
mapukanen/ Ngem mangibati ti subual/ Ta isuntu ti agdur-as/ Iti likod ti balay wenno
idiay bangkag.” From the two
translations, difference is noticeable in terms of lexis and orthography. And I thought that the translation of the
native speaker approximates the thought that I am trying to impart in the
Ifugao text better than my translation.
These notes
lead me to the thesis of this paper. How
does the Ilocano language influence Cordillera highlands languages? To answer this, the paper will cover the
origin of the language, the processes that lead to the development of the
lowland language in the highland, and on the ability of this non-native
language as carrier of highland indigenous culture.
Ethnologue.com
lists the Ilocano language as belonging to the Austronesian family of languages
(Lewis, 2013). The website, maintained
by the Summer Institute of Linguistics, lists at least one hundred forty-six
other families of language. The family
metaphor would imply that “the languages are genetically related in that they
are developed out of the same mother tongue…”(Reid, 2009) The determination of
the family of a language follows the theory of prototyping whereby the grouping
has reference to typical instances such as experiences (Schultz and Lavenda, 2001)
“rather than by reference to set of features” (Wardhaugh, 2010). Wardhaugh further expounds, quoting Hudson
(1996), that prototyping “leads to an easier account of how people learn to use
language, particularly linguistic concepts, from the kinds of circumstances
they came across.”
From the
Austronesian prototype to the Ilocano language, the following lineage is
traced: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Philippine, Northern Luzon, Ilocano (Lewis,
2013). This is supported by
archaeological evidence proving movement of Austronesian-speaking people from
Taiwan going south to the Philippines (Reid, 2009). From the Northern Luzon prototypes branches
other prototypes apart from Ilocano, the Northern Cordilleran from which the
languages of Cagayan Valley and Northeast Luzon languages take root and the
Meso-Cordilleran from where most of the highland Cordilleran languages such as
theIfugao, Bontoc, Kan-kanaey, and Kalanguya emanate (Lewis, 2013; Reid, 2009).
Scott (1975)
noted two theories on how the highlands of North Luzon, which now comprises
most of what is called the Cordillera Region, was peopled. One is by Dr. H. Otley Beyer who proposed
that the people are part of migration from mainland Asia that happened 25,000
to 30,000 years ago (the first publication of his work that contained this
insinuation was in 1918). The other is
by Dr. Felix Keesing who proposed that the people in the inland mountainous
part of North Luzon are from the coastal areas of Spanish-conquered Ilocos who
ran away to the mountains “to avoid paying taxes.” Both suggestions does not
dispute that the Ilocano and Cordillera highland languages are relatives
following the family metaphor.
The theories
put in perspective the contention that the “homeland” of Ilocano is the
North-West Luzon provinces of Ilocos Sur, IlocosNorte, and Abra and La Union
(Rubino, 1998).Except for Abra, these provinces comprise what is now known as
the Ilocos Region or Region I which includes the province of Pangasinan.
So far, we have
noted that the Ilocano language has been from a process of language
change. And as the saying goes that the
only permanent thing is change, the Ilocano language has continued to
metamorphose. It has been diffused by
migration of speakers (Rubino, 1998) to other lowland provinces south like
Pangasinan, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, and even eastward to Nueva Vizcaya, Isabela, Aurora, Quirino and
even as far as Cagayan.
It has also
climbed, as a manner of speaking, to the highland region of the
Cordillera. Rubino (1998) likewise noted
migration of Ilocanos to the province of Benguet. While this supposed migration was undated,
Scott (1975) dates the contact between Ilocanos and people in the highlands
during the Spanish Period in the Philippines.
And it is because of economic reasons and the spread of the Catholic
faith which the Spanish brought and Ilocanos embraced.
Scott (1975)
noted that the people in the highlands “had plenty of commercial contacts in
the Ilocos, Pangasinan, and Nueva Vizcaya.”
He cited a record by a Dominican priest in 1593 describing highland
people trading their gold in Pangasinan for pigs and carabaos. It substantiates the account that for the
highland people, “the gold near Baguio” was their most valuable export. In the addition, Scott also mentions that on
the eastern side, the Ifugao traded their rice and iron tools moulded from vats
and pots earlier traded by lowland people.
On the part of the Ilocanos, they also weaved g-strings and supplied
carnelian beads for the people of the highlands which turned out to be status
objects for the latter.
Also, Scott
(1975) wrote about Spanish accounts regarding Christianization of the
Cordilleras, the earliest being an expedition by the Spanish forces joined by
Zambals, Pampangos, and Ilocanos to the Cordilleras were they were able to
settle base in Kayan which is now part of the Mountain Province. The Christianization, however, might have
been just a secondary goal. Scott wrote
that Spanish priests were looking for gold.
Soon, they were driven out of Kayan, tucking with them the converts from
the highlands to the Ilocos region. This
account is among the early failed accounts to convert a region that has
developed own system of faith, but as we today, the Cordillera highlands has
also embraced Christianity.
Aside from economic and spiritual reasons, there were political
developments that had have great impact on contact of the Ilocano people with
the highlands. Still from Scott (1975), one
was the creation of the old Mt. Province by Philippine Commission Act 1876 in
1912 but some “gerrymandering” in the 1920’s gave large part of the former
Amburayan and Lepanto districts to La Union and Ilocos Sur. This again had an
impact on migration from the highlands to the lowlands, but he migrants had
maintained their contacts with their relatives.
Republic Act 4695 in 1966 divided the old Mt. Province into four
provinces but even as they are born from a single province, transportation to
and from each newly created provinces pass through Ilocano provinces. For example, travel from Kalinga passes
through Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, La Union before
reaching Baguio City. This situation
remained true even after making provinces created from the old Mt. Province
into a separate administrative region in 1987. Another is the Presidential Decree No. 1 in
1972 establishing the political regions in the Philippines. Benguet, Abra, and Mt. Province were then
part of the Ilocos Region or Region I while Ifugao and the then Kalinga-Apayao
were part of the Cagayan Valley Region.
This set-up called for intensified contact of highland citizens with
Ilocano speaking lowlanders especially that regional offices of key government
offices are located in Ilocano-speaking areas and that the Ilocano population
is greater in number than the non-Ilocano counterparts.
Baguio City in the nucleus of Benguet has also developed into
becoming an education centre of the North especially with the opening of Saint
Louis University in 1912 followed through by other schools that later developed
into big educational centers enrolling a large number of students. Notable of which are the University of
Baguio, University of the Cordilleras, Baguio Central University, the
University of the Philippines, and Pines City Colleges. In Baguio-Benguet alone, there are at least
thirty higher education institutions (www.ched.com.ph). The cool climate of the area is naturally
attractive to students including most from the Ilocano-speaking lowlands.
These developments again put in picture the reason why Ilocano is
claimed as an important language in Northern Luzon (Rubino, 1998). He further
describes the Ilocano language as the “National Language of the North.” He argued that ethnic groups in North Luzonare
“more at home” with Ilocano as a second language than Tagalog or Pilipino. For him, Ilocano is a “regional dialect” of
Northern Luzon.
Ethnologue.com
lists Ilocano as “wider communication language.” This indicates the vibrancy of the
language. The interesting point is that
the website noted a “pidginized version in the northern highlands.” This claim indicates that there is a
difference in the Ilocano spoken in the lowlands from that spoken in the
Cordillera highlands.(Lewis, 2013).
Sabado (2006),
from her interview with noted Cordilleran linguist Dr. M. Pungayan, listed
differences on what she termed Montanosa Ilocano, alluding to the popular
alternate name for the old Mt. Province that comprise highland Cordillera, from
the lowland Ilocano. She mentioned
eight. One, Montanosa Ilocano is
peppered by ethnic expressions such as “angsan”, “mango”, “ngudin”, “adi”, and
“mampay.” Two, some words in the native
language are Ilocanized, e.g., “ukmon” instead of “tilmon” for “swallow.” Three, it borrows from Tagalog and
English. Four, the accent follows the
native tongue. Five, syllables are often
repeated by the Montanosa speaker to emphasize degree, e.g. “makaturturog” even
if “makaturog” is enough. Six, there is
difference in pronunciation. Seventh,
the Montanosaspeaker interchanges the use of “ti” or “iti”. Eight, the Montanosa speaker uses less
flowery words than the Ilocano native speaker.
Sabado’s study
also came up with some interesting points about the Montanosa Ilocano. She found out that it is a language spoken at
home by most of her study’s respondent in the capital town of Benguet. Her respondent’s also say that each is
actually their language preference for print news however, no local newspaper
has adopted it yet as a medium. On the
other hand, publishers give poor acceptability, internal market, and some
problems with Ilocano grammar as among the reasons why Ilocano was not
considered as a medium for print news in this highland region (Sabado, 2006). Nevertheless, the results of the study tell
much about the potentials of the Montanosa Ilocano in the highland Cordillera.
How did the Ilocano
language originate and developed in the highlands?
The literature
described earlier clearly points out that the Ilocano in the highlands
originated from changes that happened to the Ilocano language. Intermigration between highlanders and
lowlanders diffused the lowland language to the highlands. Constant contacts brought about by economic,
religious, political, and educational endeavours also played significant roles
in the acquisition of the lowland language into the highlands.
At present, it
can be said that the Cordillera Region is in a multi-lingual state with English
and Filipino being acquired by speakers from formal schooling and Ilocano being
acquired thru informal channels. Ilocano
print materials such as the Bibliya (Bible), Bannawag magazine and the
sectarian Agriingkayo and Pagwanawanan magazines of the Jehova’s Witnesses are
available to the public. More prominent are
radio stations that uses Ilocano in their broadcasts. There are several in Baguio City including
BomboRadyo DZWXand Mountain Province Broadcasting Corporation’s (MPBC) DZWT
which covers the city and the nearby highland provinces of Benguet and parts of
Mountain Province. BomboRadyo DZNC in
CauayanIsabela continues to reach Ifugao and Kalinga while highland parts of
Abra and Apayao are reached by Ilocano stations in Region I. Curiously though, local TV stations in Baguio
City use Tagalog rather than Ilocano confirming a stable multi-lingual
state. Native speakers of highland
languages, and migrants to the city who are non-Ilocano speakers still maintain
their mother tongue thus the use of a common language on TV serves their
interest. The internet carries Ilocano
websites including bomboradyo.com which runs Ilocano news from its radio
stations including those that covers highland Cordillera.
Movements of
people are evidenced by Cordillera surnames that sound non-native to the
region. The following table gives a list
of these surnames as culled from selected list of candidates in the recent
local elections last May 2013.
Table 1. List of Non-Native Cordilleran Surnames of
Politicians that participated in Local Elections in the Cordillera Highlands, May
13, 2013
Place
|
Surname
|
Abra (Highland area of Tineg and Malibcong)
|
Coloma
Quezada Valencia Buenavista Viernes
|
Apayao (Conner and Kabugao)
|
Soriano
Pascua Mallillin Romero
|
Benguet
|
Soriano
Vicente Wilson Sabado Selencio
|
Ifugao
|
Lumauig
Domingo Gallego Labador Mariano
|
Kalinga
|
Penera Ancheta Vicente
|
Mt. Province
|
Rafael de
Guzman Solano Carlos
|
Most of the
surnames mentioned in the table are common Ilocano surnames. It adds to evidence that there is an active
influence of the Ilocanos in the highlands.
This is probably due to movement of people including immigration and
intermarriages. Coupled with
geographical proximity and necessary economic activities, the active forces of
migration and intermarriages ensures the continued evolution of the Ilocano
language in the highlands.
Is the highland Ilocano
different from the lowland Ilocano?
Right now,
there are lexical similarities between the highland languages and the Ilocano
language. Table 2 shows some of the
words.
Table 2. Example of Terms that are Similar in the
Highland and Ilokano language
Highland Language
|
Ilocano
|
English Equivalent
|
babuy
|
baboy
|
pig
|
balituk
|
balitok
|
gold
|
gombang
|
gambang
|
bronze
|
nuwang
|
nuwang
|
carabao
|
simbaan
|
simbaan
|
church
|
padi
|
padi
|
priest
|
madre
|
madre
|
Sister/nun
|
Bibliya
|
Bibliya
|
Bible
|
pastor
|
pastor
|
minister
|
asin
|
asin
|
salt
|
asukar/ahhukal
|
asukar
|
sugar
|
The table shows
that because of the contacts like trade and common endeavours like religion,
the highland and lowland language have some words that are the same. Note that pigs, carabaos, and gold were
traded in the oldest recorded periods.
The Christian religion has been something common both in the lowlands
and in the highlands thus the similarity in words.
There are
however terms that the highland speaker may likely use over the synonym that
the native speaker likely would use. The
examples are shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Example of differences in word to use between
a the highland speaker and a native speaker
Term a highland
speaker would likely use
|
Term the native
speaker would likely use
|
Meaning
|
Ag-progreso
|
Agdur-as
|
To progress
|
bumisita
|
sumarungkar
|
To visit
|
agkamali
|
agbiddut
|
To make mistake
|
abaken
|
atiwen
|
To defeat
|
nadadael
|
napirdi
|
destroyed
|
newspaper
|
pagiwarnak
|
newspaper
|
The table
illustrates the tendency of the non-native speaker to use “narabaw nga Ilocano”
a term introduced by Rubino (1998). It
would be characterized by those mentioned by Sabado (2006) such as borrowing
from another language, ilocanizing local words, and use of less elaborate
words.
Thus
the question on difference boils down to whether the Ilocano language would be
able to sustain a distinctive identity which is one of the functions of
language (Dyer, 2007 in Llamas, Mullany and Stockwell) in the highlands. In an article by noted local columnist Dacawi
(2013) on Ifugao humor, he said, “Anecdotes with local color are also best when
told in the local dialect and its diction. Something is always lost in the
translation, given the nuances of language.”
However, “there is no necessary relationship between territory,
ethnic/cultural identity and language (Gal, 2007 in Llamas et.al). Thus, Dacawi (2013) in rendering the some of
what he calls Ifugao humor said that perhaps translating the Ifugao dialogues
in Ilocano “would help readers get the drift.”
In other words, highland ethnolinguistic groups can still own another
language, say Ilocano, through which it can glide its culture. Caution would however have to be taken in
what ethnologue.com refer to as language endangerment which we don’t like to
happen to highland languages.
Conclusions
The paper has
explored into the origins and development of Ilocano in the highlands, the differences
that it has with the aboriginal Ilocano, and its implications to culture and
identity. The paper foregrounds the
discussion with the verity that the Ilocano is a “relative” to the highland
languages. It has been noted too that in many instances, Ilocano
proved to be a dominant language when compared to our native highland
languages. Today, we see the prevalence
of endeavours that non-Ilocano speaking people in the highland and the Ilocano
speaking of the lowlands unite including education, religion, politics, and
especially economic activities. And it
is certain that as with the native Ilocano speakers, the highland speakers can live
through in these endeavours in the Ilocano language. In other words, the highland can still attain
cultural identity even if it uses the more prevalent Ilocano language. Nan Ilocano ya agge nat-on (The Ilocano is
not different), we would say.
Caution however
should be taken in order not allow death of highland languages. Ethnologue.com says that endangerment is a
serious concern. It cites two reasons:
1) to avoid social and cultural disruptions and 2) more broadly to preserve the
heritage of human society. It is
recommended therefore that stable multilingualism should always be maintained. The highlands owe a lot to
Ilocano for its communications but the highland speakers owe a lot to the
Nabaloi, the Kankanaey, the Bontok, the Ifugao languages and other Cordillera
languages the obligation to preserve them.
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