The Bontoc Igorot Part 34

A as in FAR; Spanish RAMO A is in LAW; as O in French OR AY as in AI in AISLE; Spanish HAY AO as OU in OUT; as AU in Spanish AUTO B as in BAD; Spanish BAJAR CH as in CHECK; Spanish CHICO D as in DOG; Spanish DAR E as in THEY; Spanish HALLE E as in THEN; Spanish COMEN F as in FIGHT; Spanish FIRMAR G as in GO; Spanish GOZAR H as in HE; Tagalog BAHAY I as in PIQUE; Spanish HIJO I as in PICK K as in KEEN L as in LAMB; Spanish LENTE M as in MAN; Spanish MENOS N as in NOW; Spanish JABON NG as in FINGER; Spanish LENGUA O as in NOTE; Spanish NOSOTROS OI as in BOIL P as in POOR; Spanish PERO Q as CH in German ICH S as in SAUCE; Spanish SORDO SH as in SHALL; as CH in French CHARMER T as in TOUCH; Spanish TOMAR U as in RULE; Spanish UNO U as in BUT U as in German KUHL V as in VALVE; in Spanish VOLVER W as in WILL; nearly as OU in French OUI Y as in YOU; Spanish YA

The sounds which I have represented by the unmarked vowels A, E, I, O, and U, Swettenham and Clifford in their Malay Dictionary represent by the vowels with a circ.u.mflex accent. The sound which I have indicated by U they indicate by A. Other variations will be noted.

The sound represented by A, it must be noted, has not always the same force or quant.i.ty, depending on an open or closed syllable and the position of the vowel in the word.

So far as I know there is no R sound in the Bontoc Igorot language. The word "Igorot" when used by the Bontoc man is p.r.o.nounced Igolot. In an article on "The Chamorro language of Guam"[42] it is noted that in that language there was originally no R sound but that in modern times many words formerly p.r.o.nounced by an L sound now have that letter replaced by R.

Linguistic inconsistencies

The language of the Bontoc area is not stable, but is greatly shifting. In pueblos only a few hours apart there are not only variations in p.r.o.nunciation but in some cases entirely different words are used, and in a single pueblo there is great inconsistency in p.r.o.nunciation.

It is often impossible to determine the exact sound of vowels, even in going over common words a score of times with as many people. The accent seems very shifting and it is often difficult to tell where it belongs.

Several initial consonants of words and syllables are commonly interchanged, even by the same speaker if he uses a word more than once during a conversation. That this fickleness is a permanency in the language rather than the result of the present building of new words is proved by ato names, words in use for many years -- probably many hundred years.

One of the most frequent interchanges is that of B and F. This is shown in the following ato names: Bu-yay'-yeng or Fu-yay'-yeng; Ba-tay'-yan or Fa-tay'-yan; Bi'-lig or Fi'-lig; and Long-boi' or Long-foi'. It is also shown in two other words where one would naturally expect to find permanency -- the names of the men's public buildings in the ato, namely, ba'-wi or fa'-wi, and pa-ba-bu'-nan or pa-ba-fu'-nan. Other common ill.u.s.trations are found in the words ba-to or fa-to (stone) and ba-bay'-i or fa-fay'-i (woman).

Another constant interchange is that of CH and D. This also is shown well in names of ato, as follows: Cha-kong' or Da-kong'; Pud-pud-chog'

or Pud-pud-dog'; and Si-gi-chan' or Si-gi-dan'. It is shown also in chi'-la or di'-la (tongue).

The interchange of initial K and G is constant. These letters are interchanged in the following names of ato: Am-ka'-wa or Am-ga'-wa; Lu-wa'-kan or Lu-wa'-gan; and Ung-kan' or Ung-gan'. Other ill.u.s.trations are ku'-lid or gu'-lid (itch) and ye'-ka or ye'-ga (earthquake).

The following three words ill.u.s.trate both the last two interchanges: Cho'-ko or Do'-go (name of an ato); pag-pa-ga'-da or pag-pa-ka'-cha (heel); and ka-cho' or ga-de'-o (fish).

Nouns

The nouns appear to undergo slight change to indicate gender, number, or case. To indicate s.e.x the noun is followed by the word for woman or man -- as, a'-su fa-fay'-i (female dog), or a'-su la-la'-ki (male dog). The same method is employed to indicate s.e.x in the case of the third personal p.r.o.noun Si'-a or Si-to-di'. Si'-a la-le'-ki or Si-to-di' la-la'-ki is used to indicate the masculine gender, and Si'-a fa-fay'-i or Si-to-di' fa-fay'-i the feminine.

The plural form of the noun is sometimes the same as the singular. Plural number may also be expressed by use of the word ang-san (many) or am-in' (all) in addition to the noun. It is sometimes expressed by repet.i.tion of syllables, as la-la'-ki (man), la-la-la'-ki (men); sometimes, also, by the prefix ka together with repet.i.tion of syllables, as li-fo'-o (cloud), ka-li'-fo-li-fo'-o (clouds). There seems to be no definite law in accordance with which these several plural forms are made. When in need of plurals in this study the singular form has always been used largely for simplicity.

p.r.o.nouns

The personal p.r.o.nouns are:

I Sak-in'

You Sik-a'

He, she Si'-a and Si-to-di'

We Cha-ta'-ko and Cha-ka'-mi

You Cha-kay'-yo

They Cha-i-cha and Cha-to-di'

Examples of the possessive as indicated in the first person are given below:

My father A-mak'

My dog A-suk'

My hand Li-mak'

Our father A-ma'-ta

Our dog A-su'-ta

Our house A-fong'-ta

Other examples of the possessive are not at hand, but these given indicate that, as in most Malay dialects, a noun with a possessive suffix is one form of the possessive.

Scheerer[43] gives the possessive suffixes of the Benguet Igorot as follows:

My K, after A, I, O, and U, otherwise 'KO

Thy } M, after A, I, O, and U, otherwise 'MO

Your

His } IO

Her

Our (inc.) 'TAYO

Our (exc.) 'ME

Your 'DIO

Their 'CHA or 'RA

These possessive suffixes in the Benguet Igorot language are the same, according to Scheerer, as the suffixes used in verbal formation.