Gaddang
Cagayan
Native to	Philippines
Region	Luzon
Ethnicity	Gaddang people
Native speakers	30,000 (2005)[1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Northern Luzon Cagayan Valley Gaddang
Language codes
ISO 639-3	gad
Glottolog	gadd1244
Areas where Gaddang language is spoken according to Ethnologue maps
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TheGaddang language (alsoCagayan) is and Austronesian language spoken by up to 30,000 of theGaddang people in thePhilippines, particularly along theMagat and upperCagayan rivers in the Region II^[2] provinces ofNueva Vizcaya^[3] andIsabela and by overseas migrants to countries in Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, in the Middle East, United Kingdom and the United States. Most Gaddang speakers also speakIlocano, the lingua franca of Northern Luzon, as well asTagalog and English. Gaddang is associated with the "Christianized Gaddang" people,^[4] and is closely related to the highland (non-Christian in local literature) tongues ofGa'dang with 6,000 speakers,Yogad,Cagayan Agta with less than 1,000 andAtta with 2,000 (although theNegritoAeta and Atta are genetically unrelated to the Austronesian Gaddang), and more distantly toIbanag,Itawis,Isneg andMalaweg.

The Gaddang tongue has been vanishing from daily and public life over the past half-century. Public and church-sponsored education was historically conducted in Spanish (or later in English), and now in Filipino/Tagalog. The Dominicans tried to replace the multitude of Cagayan-valley languages with Ibanag, and later the plantations imported Ilocanos workers in such numbers that they outnumbered the valley natives. Once significantly-Gaddang communities grew exponentially after WWII due to in-migration of Tagalog, Igorot, and other ethnicities; Gaddang is now a minority language. In the 2000 Census, Gaddang was not even an identity option for residents of Nueva Vizcaya.^[5] Vocabulary and structural features of Gaddang among native Gaddang speakers have suffered as well, as usages from Ilokano and other languages affect theirparole. Finally, many ethnic Gaddang have migrated to other countries, and their children are not learning the ancestral tongue.

The Gaddang people were identified asI-gaddang (likely meaning 'brown-colored people') by the Spanish in the early 1600s, and differentiated from theIgorots of the highlands by physique, skin color, homelands, and lifestyle. Mary Christine Abriza wrote "The Gaddang are found in northern Nueva Vizcaya, especially Bayombong, Solano, and Bagabag on the western bank of the Magat River, and Santiago, Angadanan, Cauayan, and Reina Mercedes on the Cagayan River for Christianed groups; and western Isabela, along the edges of Kalinga and Bontoc, in the towns of Antatet, Dalig, and the barrios of Gamu and Tumauini for the non-Christian communities. The 1960 census reports that there were 25,000 Gaddang, and that 10% or about 2,500 of these were non-Christian."^[6]

Distinct versions of Gaddang may be heard down the valleys of the Magat and Cagayan on the Asian Highway 26 (the Pan-Philippine Highway) throughNueva Vizcaya intoIsabela after leavingSanta Fe, where its use is infrequent, and successively throughAritao,Bambang,Bayombong,Solano,(including Quezon & Bintawan), andBagabag. By the time you arrive inSantiago City, in-migration due to the economic development of the lowerCagayan Valley over the last century means you now must search diligently to hear Gaddang spoken at all.

• Santa Fe, near Dalton Pass, and San Roque (now Mabasa barangay ofDupax del Norte) are reputed originally to have been settled by immigrants from Ilocos and Pangasinan in the latter part of the 19th century. Neither has a large community of Gaddang-speakers.
• Aritao was originallyIsinai (withIbaloi andAeta minorities), Kayapa is inhabited byIbaloi farmers andKankanaey-speaking merchants, whileBambang andDupax wereIlongot (also locally called Bugkalot); the Gaddang as spoken in these areas incorporates vocabulary and grammar borrowed from these unrelated languages.
• The provincial capital and university town ofBayombong also has an Ilokano-speaking majority (as well as a significantIfugao minority), however Bayombong has a long history of recognizing the municipality's Gaddang-speaking roots. Despite growing disuse of Gaddang as a language of public and general daily life, Gaddang is often heard at social gatherings in traditionalharana, such as "Ope Manke Wayi". Many participants are not, in fact, native speakers; they are often ethnic Ilokanos, Tagalogs, and even non-Filipinos.
• In urbanSolano, Gaddang is now rarely used outside the households of native speakers, and the many regional variants are unreconciled. Nueva Vizcaya's largest commercial center in 2013, Solano is effectively an Ilokano-speaking municipality.
• TheBagabag variant of Gaddang is frequently described by residents of the province as the "deepest" version. Some related families inDiadi and the adjoining Ifugao Province municipality ofLamut also continue to speak Gaddang.
• Gaddang-speakers and the linguistically-relatedIbanag-speaking peoples were historically the original occupants of what is now the Cagayan Valley province ofIsabela, most of which was carved-out from Nueva Vizcaya in 1856. Rapid agricultural development of the new province spurred a wave of Ilokano immigration, and after 1945 the cities ofSantiago City,Cauayan andIlagan City (originally the Gaddang town of Bolo) became major commercial and population centers. Presently, nearly 70% of the 1.5 million residents of Isabela identify themselves as Ilokano, and another 10% as Tagalog. 15% call themselves Ibanag, while the remaining 5% are Gaddang- orYogad-speakers.

The Gaddang language is related to Ibanag, Itawis, Malaueg and others. It is distinct in that it featuresphonemes not present in many neighboringPhilippine languages. As an example, the "f", "v", "z" and "j" sounds appear in Gaddang. There are notable differences from other languages in the distinction between "r" and "l" (and between "r" and "d"), and the "f" sound is avoiceless bilabial fricative somewhat distinct from thefortified "p" sound common in many Philippine languages (but not much closer to the Englishvoiceless labiodental fricative). Finally, the (Spanish) minimally-voiced "J" sound has evolved to a plosive (so the nameJoseph sounds to the American ear asKosip).

Most Gaddang speakers use six vowel sounds:/a/,/i/,/u/,/ɛ/,/o/,/ɯ/

Gaddang features doubled consonants, so the language may sound guttural to Tagalog, Ilokano, and even Pangasinan speakers. The uniqueness of this circumstance is often expressed by saying Gaddang speakers have "a hard tongue".

For example:tudda (tood-duh). which means rice.

Gaddang is also one of the Philippine languages which is excluded from[ɾ]-[d] allophony.^{[citation needed]}

• I –Ik anak
• You –Ik a
• He, she, it –Baggina
• We (exclusive) –Ik ami
• We (inclusive) –Ik anetam
• You (plural/polite) –Ik ayu
• They –Ira
• Sibling –wayi/anak/kolak

• Yao – this
• Yan – that
• Sitao – here
• Sitan – there
• Sinay – over there

• What, who –nenay. (nenay ka? 'who are you?',nenay yan? 'what is that?')
• Why –saay/ma/?
• Where –sintaw/sintaw pe?
• Where is –ope
• How –manantaw/insanna?
• How much –pigya

• 0 -awan
• 1 -tata
• 2 -addua
• 3 -tallu
• 4 -appat
• 5 -lima
• 6 -annam
• 7 -pitu
• 8 -walu
• 9 -siyam
• 10 -tafulu
• 11 -tafulu tata
• 12 -tafulu addua
• 13 -tafulu tallu
• 14 -tafulu appat
• 15 -tafulu lima
• 20 -duafulu
• 21 -duafulu tata
• 22 -duafulu dua
• 100 -tahatut
• 200 -duatut
• 500 -limatut
• 1000 -tarifu
• 2000 –duarifu

Like most languages of the Philippines, Gaddang is declensionally, conjugationally and morphologicallyagglutinative.

Also like them, it is characterized by a dearth of positional/directionaladpositional adjunct words. Temporal references are usually accomplished using agglutinated nouns or verbs.

The following describes similar adpositional structure inTagalog: "The (locative) markersa, which leads indirect objects in Filipino, corresponds to English prepositions...we can make other prepositional phrases withsa + other particular conjugations."^[7] Gaddang usessi in the same manner as the Tagalogsa, as an all-purpose indication that a spatial or temporal relationship exists.

• Good morning. –Makasta a daddaramat/nalawad agigibbat.
• Good afternoon. –Makasta a fuwab/nalawad a fuwab.
• Good evening/night. –Makasta a gaffi/nalawad a gafi.
• How are you? –Manantaw ka?
• I'm good and you? –Mappia ak pay, ikka ay?
• I'm just fine, thank God. –Mappia ak pay, mabbalat si dios ay.
• Thank you. –Mabbalat sikuam.
• Where are you going? –Sintaw yo angan nu?
• I'm going to... –Umang ngak ki......
• What are you doing? –Hanna angwa-angwan nu?
• Oh, nothing in particular. –E awan lamang.
• Please come in. –Makigumallak ak, umunag ka.
• Happy birthday. –Maka yoan ka??
• We visit our grandfather. –Binisitan mi e lolo. orbisitan mi e lolo.
• Are we good, grandfather? –Husta eta lolo? ormapia eta lolo?
• Who are you? –Kinno ka?
• Dodge that ball! –Aroyuan nu yo bolla!
• Why are you crying? –Saay a mattangit ka?
• Are there many people here? –Addu (yao) tolay sitao?
• Are you sleepy? –Sikkaturug kan?
• I don't want to sleep yet. –Ammek kepay gustu (a) makkaturug.

Below are examples of Gaddang proverbs and riddles. Note the Ilokano and even Spanish loan-words.

• Inakkan na lammag ka. (Translated: 'eaten by alligator' ha, ha!)^[tone]
• Nu boliadanku ay mabbebed – abanasyo. ('If I open it, it gossips – a fan.')
• Si liek a mangngan, mabattuak; akkabalin ku mangngan, mabisinnak – caldero. ('Before a meal, I'm full; afterward I'm hungry – a pot.')

• Global Recordings Network^{[permanent dead link]}
• Philippine Peoples
• Genealogy page of C. Balunsat
• Gaddang–English DictionaryArchived 2019-12-13 at theWayback Machine
• Gaddang Word List
• Internet Archive

• Languages of Nueva Vizcaya
• Languages of Isabela (province)
• Cagayan Valley languages

• Language articles citing Ethnologue 25
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Pages with plain IPA
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2014
• Articles containing Gaddang-language text
• Articles containing Tagalog-language text
• Wikipedia articles with style issues from November 2022
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