Pangasinan language

Geographic distribution

Pangasinan is the official language of the province of Pangasinan, located on the west central area of the island of Luzon along Lingayen Gulf. The people of Pangasinan are also referred to as Pangasinense. The province has a total population of 2,343,086 (2000), of which 2 million speak Pangasinan. As of 2020, Pangasinan is ranked tenth on the leading languages generally spoken at home in the Philippines with only 334,759 households still speaking the language. Pangasinan is spoken in other Pangasinan communities in the Philippines, mostly in the neighboring provinces of Benguet, La Union, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Zambales, and Nueva Vizcaya, and has varying speakers in Metro Manila, Cagayan, Isabela, Quirino, Bulacan, Bataan, Pampanga, Aurora, Quezon, Cavite, Laguna, Mindoro, Palawan and Mindanao especially in Soccsksargen, Davao Region, Caraga, Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental.

History

Austronesian speakers settled in Maritime Southeast Asia during prehistoric times, perhaps more than 5,000 years ago. The indigenous speakers of Pangasinan are descendants of these settlers, who were probably part of a wave of prehistoric human migration that is widely believed to have originated from Southern China via Taiwan between 10 and 6 thousand years ago.

The word Pangasinan means 'land of salt' or 'place of salt-making'; it is derived from the root word asin, the word for 'salt' in Pangasinan. Pangasinan could also refer to a 'container of salt or salted products'; it refers to the ceramic jar for storage of salt or salted-products or its contents.

Literature

Written Pangasinan and oral literature in the language flourished during the Spanish and American period. Writers like Juan Saingan, Felipe Quintos, Narciso Corpus, Antonio Solis, Juan Villamil, Juan Mejía and María C. Magsano wrote and published in Pangasinan. Felipe Quintos, a Pangasinan officer of the Katipunan, wrote Sipi Awaray: Gelew Diad Pilipinas (Revolución Filipina), a history of the Katipunan revolutionary struggle in Pangasinan and surrounding provinces. Narciso Corpus and Antonio Solis co-wrote Impanbilay na Manoc a Tortola, a short love story. (Lingayen, Pangasinan: Gumawid Press, 1926)

Juan Villamil translated José Rizal's "Mi último adiós" in Pangasinan. Pablo Mejia edited Tunong, a news magazine, in the 1920s. He also wrote Bilay tan Kalkalar nen Rizal, a biography of Rizal. Magsano published Silew, a literary magazine. Magsano also wrote Samban Agnabenegan, a romance novel. Pangasinan Courier published articles and literary works in Pangasinan. Pioneer Herald published Sinag, a literary supplement in Pangasinan. Many Christian publications in Pangasinan are widely available.

Many Pangasinan are multilingual and proficient in English, Filipino, and Ilocano. However, the spread and influence of the other languages is contributing to the decline of the Pangasinan language. Many Pangasinan people, especially the native speakers are promoting the use of Pangasinan in the print and broadcast media, Internet, local governments, courts, public facilities and schools in Pangasinan. In April 2006, the creation of Pangasinan Wikipedia was proposed, which the Wikimedia Foundation approved for publication on the Internet.

Phonology

Vowels

Pangasinan has the following vowel phonemes:

In native vocabulary, /i/ and /u/ are realized as [i ~ ɪ ~ ɛ] and [u ~ ʊ ~ ɔ]. The close variants [i]/[u] are only used in stressed open syllables, while the open-mid variants [ɛ]/[ɔ] occur in open and closed final syllables before a pause. The default variants [ɪ]/[ʊ] occur in all other environments.

Some speakers have /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ as distinct phonemes, but only in loanwords.

Consonants

Pangasinan is one of the Philippine languages that do not exhibit []-[d] 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. Before consonants and word-final positions, [] is in free variation with trill [r]. In Spanish & Ilocano loanwords, [d] and [] contrast in all word positions.

All consonantal phonemes except may be a syllable onset or coda. The phoneme rarely occurs in coda position. Although the Spanish word reloj 'clock' would have been heard as , the final is dropped resulting in . However, this word also may have entered the Pangasinan lexicon at early enough a time that the word was still pronounced , with the j pronounced as in French, resulting in in Pangasinan. As a result, both and occur.

The glottal stop is not permissible as coda; it can only occur as onset. Even as an onset, the glottal stop disappears in affixation. Glottal stop sometimes occurs in coda in words ending in vowels, only before a pause.

Grammar

Sentence structure

Like other Malayo-Polynesian languages, Pangasinan has a verb–subject–object word order. Pangasinan is an agglutinative language.

Case Markers

Pronouns

Personal

Demonstrative

Verbal Morphology

These are some verbal paradigms in Pangasinan.

Noun affixes

Benton (1971) lists a number of affixes for nouns. Benton describes affixes in Pangasinan as either "nominal" (affixes attached directly to nouns) and "nominalizing" (affixes which turn other parts of speech into nouns). Benton also describes "non-productive affixes", affixes which are not normally applied to nouns, and only found as part of other pre-existing words. Many of these non-productive affixes are found within words derived from Spanish.

Writing system

The modern Pangasinan alphabet consists of 28 letters, which include the 26 letters of the basic Latin alphabet, the Spanish letter ñ, and the Pangasinan digraph ng:

The ancient people of Pangasinan used an indigenous writing system called Kuritan. The ancient Pangasinan script, which is related to the Tagalog Baybayin script, was derived from the Javanese Kawi script of Indonesia and the Vatteluttu or Pallava script of South India.

The Latin script was introduced during the Spanish colonial period. Pangasinan literature, using the indigenous syllabary and the Latin alphabet, continued to flourish during the Spanish and American colonial period. Pangasinan acquired many Spanish and English words, and some indigenous words were Hispanicized or Anglicized. However, use of the ancient syllabary has declined, and not much literature written in it has survived.

Loanwords

Most of the loan words in Pangasinan are Spanish, as the Philippines was ruled by Spain for more than 300 years. Examples are lugar ('place'), podir (from poder, 'power, care'), kontra (from contra, 'against'), birdi (verde, 'green'), ispiritu (espíritu, 'spirit'), and santo ('holy, saint'). Other loanwords came from English and Ilocano, as the latter is spoken as a second language. Another source of loanwords is Kapampangan, because of the migration of Kapampangans who passed through Agno River from Pampanga and south Tarlac; most Kapampangan loanwords are spoken in the dialects of central Pangasinan and north Tarlac and the most notable loanword is masanting, meaning "beautiful".

Examples

Malinac ya Labi (original by Julian Velasco).

Malinac ya Labi
Oras ya mareen
Mapalpalnay dagem
Katekep to’y linaew
Samit day kogip ko
Binangonan kon tampol
Ta pilit na pusok ya sika'y amamayoen

Lalo la no bilay
No sikalay nanengneng
Napunas ya ami'y
Ermen ya akbibiten
No nodnonoten ko ra'y samit na ogalim
Agtaka nalingwanan
Anggad kaayos na bilay

Modern Pangasinan with English translation

Malinak lay Labi
Oras la’y mareen
Mapalpalna’y dagem
Katekep to’y linaew
Samit da’y kugip ko
Binangonan kon tampol
Lapu’d say limgas mo
Sikan sika’y amamayoen
Lalo la bilay
No sika la’y nanengne'ng
Napunas lan amin
So ermen ya akbibiten
No nanonotan
Ko la'y samit day ugalim
Ag ta ka nalingwanan
Angga’d kauyos na bilay

Translation:

A night of calm
An hour of peace
A gentle breeze
Along with it is the dew
So sweet is my dream
Suddenly I awake
Because of your beauty
You are the only one I will love
Best of all, my life
When it's you that I see
All are wiped away
The sorrows that I bear
When I remember
Of your sweet kindness
I will not forget you
Until life is gone

Words

1. Good day! - Maabig ya agew!
2. Good morning! - Maabig a kabuasan!
3. Good afternoon! - Maabig a ngarem!
4. Good evening! - Maabig a labi!

Numbers

List of numbers from one to ten in English, Tagalog and Pangasinan

Cardinal numbers:

Ordinal numbers:

Ordinal numbers are formed with the prefix kuma- (ka- plus infix -um). Example: kumadua, 'second'.

Associative numbers:

Associative numbers are formed with the prefix ka-. Example: katlo, 'third of a group of three'.

Fractions:

Fraction numbers are formed with the prefix ka- and an associative number. Example: kakatlo, 'third part'.

Multiplicatives:

Multiplicative ordinal numbers are formed with the prefix pi- and a cardinal number from two to four or pin- for other numbers except for number one. Example: kaisa, 'first time'; pidua, 'second time'; pinlima, 'fifth time'.

Multiplicative cardinal numbers are formed with the prefix man- (mami- or mamin- for present or future tense, and ami- or amin- for the past tense) to the corresponding multiplicative ordinal number. Example: aminsan, 'once'; amidua, 'twice'; mamitlo, 'thrice'.

Distributives:

Distributive cardinal numbers are formed with the prefixes san-, tag-, or tunggal and a cardinal number. Example: sansakey, 'one each'; sanderua, 'two each'.

Distributive multiplicative numbers are formed with the prefixes magsi-, tunggal, or balangsakey and a multiplicative cardinal number. Example: tunggal pamidua, 'twice each'; magsi-pamidua, 'each twice'.

Dictionaries and further reading

The following is a list of some dictionaries and references:

• Fernández Cosgaya, Lorenzo (1865). Diccionario pangasinan-español and Vocabulario Hispano-pangasinán. Colegio de Santo Tomás – via University of Michigan's Humanities Text Initiative.
• Macaraeg, Anastacio Austria (1898). Vocabulario castellano-pangasinán.
• Pellicer, Mariano (1904). Arte de la lengua pangasinán o caboloan.
• Rayner, Ernest Adolphus (1923). Grammar and dictionary of the Pangasinan language / Gramatica tan diccionario na salitay Pangasinan. Manila, Philippines: Methodist Publishing House.
• Viray, Felixberto B. (1927). The Sounds and Sound Symbols of the Pangasinan Language. Manila: University of the Philippines.
• Corporación de PP. Dominicos (1951). Pasion Na Cataoan Tin JesuChristo. U.S.T. Press.
• Schachter, Paul Morris (1960). A Contrastive Analysis of English and Pangasinan (Thesis). Los Angeles: University of California. OCLC 500620511.
• Versoza, Paciencia E. (1977). Stress and Intonation Difficulties of Pangasinan Learners of English (Philippine Normal College thesis). OCLC 4736102.
• Benton, Richard A. (1971). Pangasinan Dictionary. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. OCLC 1123520882.
• Benton, Richard A. (1971). Pangasinan Reference Grammar. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824879105.
• Benton, Richard A. (1971). Spoken Pangasinan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780870220739.
• Benton, Richard A. (1972). Phonotactics of Pangasinan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. OCLC 16326646.
• Constantino, Ernesto (1975). English-Pangasinan Dictionary.
• Silverio, Julio F. (1976). New English-Pilipino-Pangasinan Dictionary. Manila: National Book Store. OCLC 3371251.
• Garcia, Alta Grace Q. (1981). Morphological Analysis of English and Pangasinan Verbs. Manila: Rex Book Store. OCLC 989412334.
• Say Santa Biblia (in Pangasinan). Manila: Philippine Bible Society. 1982. ISBN 9789712900228.
• Maung A Balita Para Sayan Panaon Tayo (in Pangasinan). Philippine Bible Society and United Bible Societies. 1983. OCLC 54302118.
• Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania (2015). Balon Mundo a Patalos na Masanton Kasulatan. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania.
• Tungol, Mario "Guese" (1993). Modern English-Filipino Pangasinan Dictionary. Manila: Merriam Webster. OCLC 70045401.
• Church of Christ (n.d.). Say Cancanta. Includes translations of English songs like "Joy to the World," and "What A Friend We Have in Jesus."
• Jovellanos, Emiliano (2002). Pangasinan-English English-Pangasinan Dictionary. The compilation has 20,000 entries.
• Jovellanos, Mel V. (March 2007). Pangasinan-English English-Pangasinan Language Dictionary (in Pangasinan). Calasiao: Corpuz Press.
• Rosario Jr., F. C. (2012). "The Vowel Space of Pangasinan". Frontiers of Language and Teaching. 3.
• Malinak Lay Labi [Calm is the Night] (in Pangasinan). Traditional folk song.