Philippine Negrito languages explained

The Negrito peoples of the Philippines speak various Philippine languages. They have more in common with neighboring languages than with each other, and are listed here merely as an aid to identification.

Classification

The following languages are grouped according to their geographic location, and not genetic classification.

Lobel (2013)

Lobel (2013)^[1] lists the following Black Filipino (i.e., Philippine Negrito) ethnolinguistic groups.

Northern Luzon

• Umiray Dumaget
• Remontado/Hatang-Kayi
• Alta, Northern
• Alta, Southern
• Arta
• Casiguran Agta
• Nagtipunan Agta
• Dinapigue Agta
• Central Cagayan Agta
• Pahanan Agta (distinct from Paranan, which is not spoken by a Negrito Filipino population)
• Dupaningan Agta
• Atta (3–4 languages)

(Lobel (2010)^[2] lists the following Negrito languages that are spoken on the eastern coast of Luzon Island, listed from north to south.)

• Dupaningan Agta (Northern Luzon branch)
• Pahanan Agta
• Casiguran Agta
• Umiray Dumaget
• Remontado/Hatang-Kayi
• Inagta Alabat
• Manide
• Inagta Partido
• Inagta Rinconada

Furthermore, Robinson & Lobel (2013)^[3] argue that Dupaningan Agta, Pahanan Agta, Casiguran Agta, Nagtipunan Agta, Dinapigue Agta, and Paranan do not belong to the Northern Cordilleran branch, but rather a new branch that they call Northeastern Luzon, which they consider to be a primary branch of the Northern Luzon (Cordilleran) group.

Zambales Mountains

• Ayta Mag-indi
• Ayta Mag-anchi
• Ayta Abellen
• Ayta Ambala
• Ayta Bataan (Ayta Magbukun)

Southern Luzon

• Inagta Rinconada
• Inagta Partido
• Manide
• Inagta Alabat (and Inagta Lopez)

Southern Philippines

• Inata (possibly 2 dialects)
• Inati (Inete) (2 dialects)
• Mamanwa
• Batak (5–8 dialects)
• Iraya (Mangyan)
• Ata/Tigwa/Matigsalug Manobo

Extinct varieties

• Mount Iraya Agta (a.k.a. East Lake Buhi Agta)
• Dicamay Agta

spoken on the Dicamay River on the western side of the Sierra Madre near Jones, Isabela; reportedly exterminated by Ilokano homesteaders sometime between 1957 and 1974^[4]

• Villa Viciosa Agta

Ethnologue adds the extinct and unclassified Katabaga of Catanauan, Quezon, southern Luzon. The language was originally listed by Garvan.^[5] Katabaga is in fact a misspelling of Katabangan, the name that the people use to refer to themselves. Some people in the Bikol Region also use the term Katabangan to refer to mixed-blood Agta in the region. Lobel reports from a 2006 visit that the Katabangan speak only Tagalog. According to Lobel (2013), based on their location, if the Katabangan did in fact once have their own language, it may have been related to Inagta Alabat-Lopez (see Inagta Alabat language) and Manide. Louward Allen Zubiri reports that there are 670 individuals in the Katabangan community, and that there are also families living in Mulanay, Gumaca, Lopez, and Alabat. He also reports on a handful of vocabulary items remembered by the Katabangan which offer evidence for a close relationship of their now-lost language with Manide and Inagta Alabat.^[6]

Reid (1994)

Reid (1994) lists the following Negrito languages.^[7]

• North Agta
  • Northern Cagayan
  • Central Cagayan
  • Eastern Cagayan
  • Southern Cagayan
  • Southern Isabela
  • Aurora
• Arta 12 remaining speakers in Aglipay, Quirino, in 1990
• Alta
  • North Alta – spoken in Aurora Province
  • South Alta (Kabuluen) – spoken in Nueva Ecija and Bulacan Provinces
• Central Agta – spoken in eastern Luzon; includes Umiray
• South Agta (> Manide)
  • Camarines Norte (> Manide)
  • Camarines Sur (> Inagta Rinconada, Inagta Partido)
• Sinauna (> Remontado/Hatang-Kayi)
• Ayta – 6 different languages spoken in the Zambales Mountains according to Wimbish (1986):^[8]
  • Abelen
  • Aberlen
  • Magganchi
  • Maggindi
  • Ambala
  • Magbeken Ayta

Other Philippine Negrito languages:

• Ata Manobo – spoken in Mansalinao, Davao
• Batak – spoken in Palawan
• Inati
• Mamanwa – spoken in Agusan

Reid (2013)

Reid (2013)^[9] considers the Philippine Negrito languages (highlighted in bold) to have split in the following fashion. Reid (2013) considers each Negrito language or group to be a first-order split in its respective branch, with Inati and Manide–Alabat as first-order subgroups of Malayo-Polynesian.

• Malayo-Polynesian (MP)
  • diverse MP branches outside of the Philippines
  • Bashiic, Kalamianic and other MP branches on the Philippines not comprising Negrito languages
  • Manide–Alabat
  • Inati
  • Northern Luzon languages
    • Arta
    • Umiray Dumaget (?)
    • Northeastern Luzon languages
    • Cagayan Valley languages
    • Ilokano
    • Meso-Cordilleran languages
      • North Alta
      • South Alta
      • South Cordilleran languages
      • Central Cordilleran languages
  • Central Luzon languages
    • Remontado Dumagat (Sinauna Tagalog)
    • Kapampangan
    • Sambalic languages
      • Ayta languages
      • Sambal languages
  • Central Philippine languages
    • Mamanwa
    • Tagalog
    • Bikol
    • Bisayan
    • Mansaka

Unique vocabulary

Lobel (2010)^[2] lists the following percentage of unique vocabulary items out of 1,000 compared words in these Negrito languages, which Reid (1994)^[7] suggests are lexical remnants from the pre-Austronesian substrata that these Negrito languages may have. Manide and Umiray Dumaget have the most unique vocabulary items.

• Manide

28.5%

• Umiray Dumaget

23%

• Inate

9%

• Mamanwa

7%

• Batak

1%

• Inagta Rinconada

Inagta Partido: 2%

Other Southeast Asian languages with high proportions of unique vocabulary of possible isolate origin include the Enggano language of Indonesia and the Kenaboi language of Malaysia.

Reid (1994)

Reid (1994)^[7] lists the following reconstructed forms as possible non-Austronesian lexical elements in Philippine Negrito languages.

No.	Gloss	Reconstructed form	Attested branches
1.	rattan	lati	North Agta, Alta
2.	rat	kuyəŋ	North Agta, Alta, Central Agta
3.	ashamed	aməs	North Agta, Alta, Central Agta
4.	vein	litid	North Agta, Alta, Central Agta
5.	bury, inter	tapuR	North Agta, Alta, Central Agta
6.	pity, kindness	Rəbi	North Agta, Arta, Alta
7.	snake	babak	Alta, Central Agta, Sinauna
8.	thirst	pələk	North Agta, Arta
9.	hunt	purab	North Agta, Arta
10.	deer, buck	b[ia]dut	North Agta, Arta
11.	fingernail	[l]usip	North Agta, Arta
12.	penis	g[ia]ləŋ	North Agta, Arta
13.	wall	gəsəd	North Agta, Arta
14.	dog, puppy	lapul	North Agta, Arta
15.	fire	dukut	North Agta, Arta
16.	hair, feather	pulug	North Agta, Arta
17.	boil (v.)	ləbut	North Agta, Alta
18.	forget	liksap	North Agta, Alta
19.	summit	taltay/*taytay	North Agta, Alta
20.	forehead	[l]aŋas	North Agta, South Agta
21.	summit	kurut	North Agta, South Agta
22.	fragrant	səlub	Arta, Alta
23.	buttocks	sula	Alta, Central Agta
24.	fast	paripari	Alta, Central Agta
25.	know (s.o.)	abuyan	Alta, Central Agta
26.	leaf	agid	Alta, Central Agta
27.	man, male	patud	Alta, Central Agta
28.	see	lawi[g]	Alta, Central Agta
29.	wall	sagbuŋ	Alta, Central Agta
30.	shoulder	sugbuŋ/*subuŋ(-an)	Alta, South Agta
31.	run	kaldit	Alta, South Agta
32.	betel leaf	li[t]lit	Alta, Ayta
33.	waterfall	gərəy	Central Agta, Sinauna
34.	accompany	ilan	North Alta, South Alta
35.	know	ənul	North Alta, South Alta
36.	lazy	b[ia]kət	North Alta, South Alta
37.	pregnant	tuyud	North Alta, South Alta
38.	sleep	puləd	North Alta, South Alta
39.	heavy	dəgi	North Agta
40.	thick	bagəl	North Agta
41.	bitter	təkak	North Agta
42.	butterfly	lullu/*lilli	North Agta
43.	dry in sun	sarun	North Agta
44.	hear	tima[n, ŋ]	North Agta
45.	hunt	lagum	North Agta
46.	mountain	amugud	North Agta
47.	old (obj.)	ligid	North Agta
48.	sun	pamalak	North Agta
49.	termite	sarik	North Agta
50.	throw (away)	tugbak	North Agta
51.	fingernail	lu/*[l]udis	North Agta
52.	run	buyut	North Agta
53.	wing	kəpig	North Agta
54.	throw	b[ia]sag	North Agta
55.	waterfall	sənad	North Agta
56.	shoulder	dapi	North Agta
57.	call	dulaw	North Agta
58.	sweat	asub	North Agta
59.	butterfly	lumlum/*limlim	North Agta
60.	sit	tugkuk	North Agta
61.	thirst	g[ia]mtaŋ	North Agta
62.	urine	sitəb	North Agta
63.	walk	sugut	North Agta
64.	hear	sanig	North Agta
65.	rattan	karat	North Agta
66.	run	gutuk	North Agta
67.	salt	b[ia]gəl	North Agta
68.	afternoon	(ma-)*lutəp	Arta
69.	arrive	digdig	Arta
70.	bone	sagnit	Arta
71.	butterfly	pippun	Arta
72.	drink	tim	Arta
73.	ear	ibəŋ	Arta
74.	lime	ŋusu	Arta
75.	man, male	gilaŋ(-an)	Arta
76.	mosquito	buŋur	Arta
77.	old (man)	dupu	Arta
78.	one	sipaŋ	Arta
79.	rain	punəd	Arta
80.	run	gurugud	Arta
81.	say, tell	bud	Arta
82.	sleep	idəm	Arta
83.	two	təlip	Arta
84.	burn	təmuk	North Alta
85.	call	ŋuk	North Alta
86.	collapse	bəwəl	North Alta
87.	depart	əg[ʔk]aŋ	North Alta
88.	fruit	ian	North Alta
89.	hear	tibəŋ	North Alta
90.	hit, strike	pu[ʔk]na	North Alta
91.	lie down	ədsaŋ	North Alta
92.	locust	pəsal	North Alta
93.	long	lə[ʔk]aw	North Alta
94.	penis	gəyət	North Alta
95.	put, place	dətun	North Alta
96.	red	silit	North Alta
97.	seek	alyuk	North Alta
98.	stand	payuŋ	North Alta
99.	wait	tanud	North Alta
100.	ant	il[əu]m	South Alta
101.	black	lit[əu]b	South Alta
102.	blow (v.)	uswa	South Alta
103.	burn	tiduk	South Alta
104.	bury, inter	laba	South Alta
105.	butterfly	(ma-)*lawak	South Alta
106.	buttocks	timuy	South Alta
107.	call	gawi	South Alta
108.	carabao	uduŋ(-an)	South Alta
109.	cry	kəbi	South Alta
110.	deep	tanaw	South Alta
111.	fall (v.)	pagpag	South Alta
112.	fight/quarrel	itaw	South Alta
113.	fingernail	lunu	South Alta
114.	loincloth	g[ia]nat	South Alta
115.	long (time)	təwali	South Alta
116.	other (diff.)	kalad	South Alta
117.	put, place	bənu	South Alta
118.	rain	dəsu	South Alta
119.	sit	laŋad	South Alta
120.	stand	piad	South Alta
121.	tail	lambuŋ	South Alta
122.	three	saŋay	South Alta
123.	tree, wood	lab[ia]t	South Alta
124.	true	kuduR	South Alta
125.	vagina	(i-)*plaŋ	South Alta
126.	widow, widower	(na-)*dit	South Alta
127.	wind	kabu(-an)	South Alta
128.	bone	kaks(-an)	Central Agta
129.	call	ulaŋ	Central Agta
130.	climb	dawit	Central Agta
131.	crocodile	(maŋ-)*atu	Central Agta
132.	feather	putput	Central Agta
133.	hair	sapuk	Central Agta
134.	hunt	ikag	Central Agta
135.	ladle	lukuy	Central Agta
136.	long (time)	luy	Central Agta
137.	no, not	eyen	Central Agta
138.	pound	buntul	Central Agta
139.	rain	tapuk	Central Agta
140.	run	g[ia]kan	Central Agta
141.	sand	laŋas	Central Agta
142.	sit	lipa	Central Agta
143.	sleep	pida	Central Agta
144.	stand	[uə]di	Central Agta
145.	sweat	aldut/*ald[ia]t	Central Agta
146.	vagina	kin(-an)	Central Agta
147.	water, river	urat	Central Agta
148.	white	lapsay	Central Agta
149.	fire	adiŋ	South Agta
150.	mosquito	kubuŋ	South Agta
151.	shoulder	mugmug(-an)	South Agta
152.	sleep	lubat	South Agta
153.	child	ubun	Sinauna
154.	leaf	hayin	Sinauna
155.	sit	səna	Sinauna
156.	stone	igaŋ	Sinauna
157.	wind	rugus	Sinauna
158.	see	ələw	Ayta

Reid considers the endonym *ʔa(R)ta, meaning 'person', to have been a native Negrito word that was later borrowed into Austronesian with the meaning 'dark-skinned person'.^[9]

Further reading

• Book: K. Alexander . Adelaar . Nikolaus . Himmelmann . The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar . Routledge . 2005 . 9780415681537.
• Web site: Greenhill . Simon J. . Blust . Robert . Gray . Russell D. . Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database . 2008.
• Greenhill . Simon J. . Blust . Robert . Gray . Russell D. . 2008 . The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics . Evolutionary Bioinformatics . 4 . 271–283. 10.4137/EBO.S893 . 19204825 . 2614200 .
• Book: Fay . Wouk . Malcolm . Ross . The history and typology of western Austronesian voice systems . Australian National University . 2002 . 10.15144/PL-518 . free . 0-85883-477-4 .

External links

• Comparative vocabularies of Philippine and other Austronesian languages
• Cognate sets for Austronesian languages

Notes and References

1. Lobel . Jason William . Philippine and North Bornean Languages: Issues in Description, Subgrouping, and Reconstruction . 2013 . Ph.D. . University of Hawai'i at Manoa . 10125/101972 . en.
2. Lobel . Jason William . 2010 . Manide: An Undescribed Philippine Language . Oceanic Linguistics . 49 . 2 . 478–510. 10.1353/ol.2010.a411422 . 146191944 .
3. Robinson . Laura C. . Lobel . Jason William . 2013 . The Northeastern Luzon Subgroup of Philippine Languages . Oceanic Linguistics . 52 . 1 . 125–168 . 10.1353/ol.2013.0007. 143927521 .
4. Thirty endangered languages in the Philippines . Thomas N. . Headland . 2003 . Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session . 47 . 1 . 10.31356/silwp.vol47.01. free . 6.
5. Book: Garvan, John M. . 1963 . The Negritos of the Philippines . Wiener Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte und Linguistik Band . XIV . Vienna . Ferdinand Berger Horn. (Published posthumously from field notes taken by Garvan between 1903 and 1924.)
6. Web site: ISO 639-3 Change Request 2019-024.
7. Reid . Lawrence A. . 1994 . Possible Non-Austronesian Lexical Elements in Philippine Negrito Languages . Oceanic Linguistics . en . 33 . 1 . 37–72 . 10.2307/3623000. 3623000 . 10125/32986 . free .
8. Wimbish . John . 1986 . The languages of the Zambales mountains: a Philippine lexicostatistic study . Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota Session . 30 . 133–142 . 10.31356/silwp.vol30.08 . free.
9. Reid . Lawrence A. . 2013 . Who Are the Philippine Negritos? Evidence from Language . Human Biology . 85 . 1 . 15.