| Ibanag | |
|---|---|
| Ybanag, Ibanak | |
| Native to | Philippines |
| Region | Northern Luzon |
| Ethnicity | Ibanag |
Native speakers | 600,000 (2024)[1][needs update] |
| Latin | |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | Regional language in thePhilippines |
| Regulated by | Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ibg |
| Glottolog | iban1267 |
| Linguasphere | 31-CCB-a |
 Areas where Ibanag is spoken according to Ethnologue | |
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TheIbanag language (also written asYbanag orIbanak)[2] is anAustronesian language spoken by up to 500,000 speakers, mostly comprising theIbanag people, in the northeastern provinces ofIsabela andCagayan in thePhilippines. Ibanag is spoken widely in the cities ofTuguegarao,Solana,Abulug,Camalaniugan,Lal-lo,Cabagan,Tumauini,San Pablo,Santo Tomas,Santa Maria, andIlagan, as well as in the area around theCagayan River. Ibanag is also spoken by Filipinos in the Middle East, United Kingdom, and the United States. Most speakers of Ibanag can also speakIlocano, thelingua franca of northernLuzon island. The name Ibanag comes from the prefixI- which means 'people of', andbannag, meaning 'river'. Ibanag is closely related toGaddang,Itawis, Agta,Atta,Yogad,Isneg andMalaweg.
As with other widely spokenPhilippine languages likeCebuano andTagalog, Ibanag is anAustronesian language. Within thislanguage family. Ibanag belongs to theNorthern Philippine languages subgroup, which also includes the more widely spokenIlocano andPangasinan languages.
Ibanag is spoken in various areas of the Northeastern Philippines, but principally in the provinces ofIsabela andCagayan; there are minor differences between these areas in the way that Ibanag is spoken. Ibanag spoken inTuguegarao, 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.[citation needed]
In Tuguegarao, before thearrival of the Spanish, the language predominantly spoken was Irraya, which is now an almost-extinct dialect ofGaddang. The Spanish introduced Ibanag to the city fromLal-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.[3][4]
Ibanag speakers who originate fromCauayan and Illagan, the two major cities of Isabela Province, have a "hard" accent, whereas the form of Ibanag spoken inTuguegarao is alleged to have a Hispanic quality. However, speakers of Ibanag from NorthernCagayan have a more complex accent.[citation needed] As an example, Ibanang speakers from towns in Northern Cagayan, which includesAbulug,Aparri,Camalaniugan,Pamplona, as well as Lal-lo, tend toreplace [p] with [f].[5]
Additionally, certain Ibanag words exhibit regional variations between the Tuguegarao and Isabela dialects.
| Tuguegarao | Isabela | English | Tagalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ari ka nga kuman ta illuk. | Kammu nga kumang tu illug. | Don't eat eggs. | Huwag kang kumain ng itlog. |
Beyond the distinctive features of urban usages, the main dialects of Ibanag are Southern Ibanag and Northern Ibanag.[6] While Southern Ibanag is commonly considered thestandard 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 haveacquired elements from nearbyItawis 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.[citation needed]
Some modern Ibanag words, such asinnafi 'rice',bavi 'pig', andafi 'fire', are listed in Spanish texts asinnafuy,bavuy, andafuy respectively.[citation needed] The modern Ibanag term for the number one,tadday, was once used interchangeably with the worditte, which appears to have fallen out of modern usage.[7][8]
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 -Zininaga Ta Bannag ("Heritage of the River") andWhy Women Wash the Dishes - were being performed in Ibanag.[9]
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| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | |
| Open | a | ɔ |
Monophthongization ofdiphthongs is observable in Ibanag. For example, the wordsumay 'to go',balay 'house' oraggaw 'day' are sometimes pronounced asume,bale, andaggo respectively.[citation needed]
Ibanag is one of thePhilippine languages which do not exhibit the[ɾ]-[d]allophony.[clarification needed] Ibanag features phonemes that are not present in many relatedPhilippine languages; phonemes unique to Ibanag compared to its sister languages include[f] as ininnafi, 'rice',[v] as inbavi, 'pig',[z] as inkazzing 'goat' and[dʒ] as inmadjan 'maid'.[citation needed]
Ibanag featuresgemination:
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | ʔ |
| voiced | b | d | dʒ | ɡ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | |
| voiced | v | z | ||||
| Tap | ɾ ~r | |||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | |||
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.[10] The more modern method of writing Ibanag is both simpler and tends to be more phonetic.
| "Spanish style" | Modern Style | English |
|---|---|---|
| quiminac cami tab bavi | kiminak kami tu bavi | 'we ate pork' |
| napannu tac cunam y langui-c | Napannu tu kunam i langi | 'the sky is full of clouds' |
The modern orthographic system for writing Ibanag is consistent with the conventions ofFilipino, as well as other languages such asBisaya 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.[11][12][13]
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| Person | Number | Pronoun | English | Possessive pronouns | Example of root word | Example of derived word(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | singular | Sakan,sakang (Isabela) So' | I / my | -ku, -' (when the noun ends with a vowel or diphthong) | kazzing 'goat' lima 'hand' | kazzing ku 'my goat' lima' 'my hand' |
| plural | Sikami (exclusive) Sittam, sittang (Isabela - inclusive) | we / our | -mi, -tam | libru 'book' | libru mi 'our book' libru tam 'our book' | |
| 2nd | singular | Sikaw | you / your | -mu, -m | mejas 'socks'libru 'book' | mejas mu 'your socks' librum 'your book' |
| plural | Sikamu | you / your (formal) | -nu | bandera 'flag' | bandera nu 'your flag' | |
| 3rd | singular | Yayya, yatun | he / his she / herit / its | -na | manu' 'chicken' | manu' na 'his / her / its chicken' |
| plural | Ira | they / their | -da | itubang 'chair' | itubang da 'their chair' |
Ibanag isagglutinative, and pronouns are generally attached to verbs asenclitics.
There are at least four ways to indicate the first-person pronoun.
The third-person singular pronoun typically takes the formna.
Sittam becomes -tam or -tang when attached to the end of the verb or noun.
To exclude the person being spoken to,Sikami is used. In this case, -mi is attached to the end of the verb, adjective, or noun.
Both -nu and -kamu are used:
Ira is rarely used unless firmly indicating the persons denoted.[clarification needed] Instead ofira, the wordda is used.
The wordkua, when used in conjunction with the first-person or second-person plural personal pronouns, marks possession, and the prefixku- may be added tokua to emphasise possession.
'That IS mine.':Kukua' yatun
In order to emphasise the spatial or temporaldistance encoded in the demonstrative pronoun, the first syllable in the pronoun, other than inyatun, asyatun davvun ('that land'), may be stressed by the speaker.
Locatives may also serve to emphasise distance.
When the wordturi is used, the stress ontu is often lengthened to emphasise the distance and time that has passed.[clarification needed]
Each of the doubled consonants must be pronounced separately – i.e.anni? –an ni
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Ibanag verbs are conjugated on the basis oftense but not person. Like most otherMalayo-Polynesian languages, Ibanag does not have acopula, which means there is no equivalent to English verb 'to be'. However, the Ibanag verbegga meaning 'to have' can perform a copulative function.
Theinfinitive form of the verb is often the same as the present tense.
There are multiple ways to form the past tense.[clarification needed]
The principal method of forming the future tense is by using anauxiliary verb such as 'to go'. The present tense can also imply the future in certain circumstances.
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Ibanag sentence structure tends to followverb–subject–object word order.
Adjectives tend to precede nouns with a marker attached.
Y andnga are the two most commonly used markers in Ibanag. They either link adjectives to nouns or indicate the subject of the sentence.Y performs a copulative function, whilenga indicates adjectival description.
The markertu is also used, but its usage is complex.[citation needed] It often is seen in conjunction with the wordawan, meaning 'nothing, none'.
Ta is yet another marker used.Ta is likesa in Tagalog.[clarification needed]
Ta is used to refer to place in the Isabela and Tuguegarao dialects.
Example: 'We went to Tuguegarao.':Minay kami ta Tuguegarao.
Tu is used to refer to things.
Example: 'We ate pork.'Kiminang kami tu bavi. (Isabela)
Ibanag verbs that end inn omit the last consonant, which is replaced by the first consonant of the next word - unless the next word starts with a vowel or anothern, in which case the finaln is not affected.
Examples:
Correct:Apam mu yari libru 'Go get the book.'
Correct:Nasingak ku y yama na 'I saw his father.'
The markerta and the prepositionna (not the pronoun) can, depending on the dialect in use, acquire the first consonant of the succeeding word.
Tal likuk nab balay 'at the back of the house'
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| Ibanag | Tagalog | English |
|---|---|---|
| Y tolay nga/tu ari nga/amme* na mallipay ta pinaggafuanan na ay ari nga/amme na makadde ta angayanan na.(*Isabela) | Ang taong Hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay Hindi makakarating sa paroroonan. | 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. | In heaven there is no beer, that is why we drink it here. |
| Ari mu kagian nga piyyo ngana y illuk tapenu ari nga magivung. (Tuguegarao) Ammeng kagim tu piyyo ngana y illug tapenu ari nga magivung. (Isabela) | Huwag mong sabihing sisiw na ang itlog para Hindi ito maging bugok. | Never call an egg a chick, so that it will not become rotten. |
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.
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 provided here is not the official English version of the Cagayan Provincial Anthem.[why?][citation needed]
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Many words in Ibanag are of Spanish origin, and certain Spanishloanwords in Ibanag are not commonly used in any of the other Philippine languages.
| Ibanag | Tagalog | English |
|---|---|---|
| Anni y kinnam mu ganguri? | Ano ang kinain mo kanina? | What did you eat? |
| Anni y kinnan nu? | Ano ang kinain ninyo? | What did you,(all) eat? |
| Anni y kanakanam mu? | Ano ang kinakain mo? | What are you eating? |
| Anni y kankanam mu sangaw? | Ano ang kinakain mo ngayon? | What are you eating now? |
| Kuman ittam sangaw nu pallabbe na. | Kakain tayo pagdating niya. | We will eat when he/she comes. |
| Maddaguk kami kuman kustu limibbe yayya. | Kumakain kami nang dumating siya. | We were eating when he came. |
| Nakakak kami nakwang nu minilubbe yayya. | Nakakain sana kami kung dumating siya. | We would have eaten I if he had arrived. |
| Natturukí y gattó. | Sumirit ang gatas. | The milk shot out. |
| Ari ka nga kuman. | Huwag kang kumain. | Don't eat. |
| Kumak ka ngana! | Kumain ka na! | Eat now! |
| Kukwa' yatun! | Akin yan! | That's mine! |
| Iddu taka/ay-ayatat taka | Mahal kita | I love you |
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