Inagta Alabat language explained

Inagta Alabat
Also Known As:Alabat Island Agta
States:Philippines
Region:Quezon
Speakers:10
Date:2019
Ethnicity:spoken by 5–20% (2020)
Familycolor:Austronesian
Fam2:Malayo-Polynesian
Fam3:Philippine?
Fam4:?
Fam5:Manide–Alabat
Dia1:Inagta Lopez
Iso3:dul
Glotto:alab1246
Glottorefname:Alabat Island Agta

Inagta Alabat (Alabat Island Agta) is a Philippine Negrito language spoken in central Alabat Island, Philippines. Its speakers began arriving on the island in the 1970s but originated from Villa Espina in Lopez, with earlier settlements in Gumaca and perhaps other towns. (Lobel, Alpay, Barreno and Barreno 2020) Predating the Agta on Alabat Island were communities of individuals self-identifying as "dumagat" but who now only speak Tagalog as a native language. Less than a dozen individuals can still speak the Inagta Alabat language whether on Alabat Island, where it is being lost in favor of Tagalog, or in Lopez, where it is being replaced by the language of the Manide who have migrated to the area in large numbers and intermarried with the Agta, and also replaced by Tagalog. Those Agta who can still speak the Inagta language in Lopez speak the same language as the Agta who have migrated to Alabat over the past 50 years. Other Agta in Lopez either speak only Manide, or a mixture of Manide and Inagta Alabat-Lopez.

Classification

Inagta Alabat forms a subgroup with Manide. The extinct Katabangan may have also been related.

Lexicon

Selected Inagta Lopenze words from Salipande (2022):[1]

Gloss Inagta Lopenze
afternoon álem
pig bébuy
sun, day degéw
fruit geʔén
lightning keldét
to chew ŋásŋas
butterfly kalibaŋbáŋ
crocodile beʔéye
moon bílan
cloud dagʔúm
evening, night diyúm
rattan uwáy
endonym agtáʔ
to eat káʔun
river sáyug
breast súsu
tree káhew
house beléy
give awéy
fire hapúy
navel púsed
person táwu
tooth ŋépen
leg sukáb
blind bulég
to cry íbil
blood digíʔ
worm bukbúk

References

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Salipande, Aldrin Ludovice. 2022. Phonology of Agta Lopenze. Presentation given at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (SEALS 31), University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, May 18–20, 2022.