The Bontoc Igorot Part 35

The verbal suffixes of the Bontoc Igorot are very similar to those of the Benguet. It is therefore probable that the possessive suffixes are also very similar.

It is interesting to note that in the Chamorro language of Guam the possessive suffixes for the first person correspond to those of the Igorot -- MY is KO and OUR is TA.

Verbs

Mention has been made of the verbal suffixes. Their use is shown in the following paradigms:

I eat Sak-in' mang-an-ak'

You eat Sik-a' mang-an-ka'

He eats Si-to-di' mang-an'

We eat Cha-ka'-mi mang-an-ka-mi'

You eat Cha-kay'-yo mang-an-kay'-o

They eat Cha-to-di' mang-an-cha'

I go Sak-in' u-mi-ak'

You go Sik-a' u-mi-ka'

He goes Si-to-di' u-mi'

We go Cha-ka-mi' u-mi-ka-mi'

You go Cha-kay'-yo u-mi-kay'-yo

They go Cha-to-di' u-mi-cha'

The suffixes are given below, and the relation they bear to the personal p.r.o.nouns is also shown by heavy-faced type:

I 'ak Sak-in'

You (sing) 'ka Sik-a'

He ...

Si'-a or Si-to-di'

We kami or tako Cha-ka'-mi or Cha-ta'-ko

You kayo Cha-kay'-yo

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

The Benguet suffixes as given by Scheerer are:

I 'ko or 'ak

You 'mo or 'ka

He 'to

We { me

tayo

You 'kayo or 'dio

They 'ra or 'cha

The verbal suffixes seem to be commonly used by the Bontoc Igorot in verbal formations. The tense of a verb standing alone seems always indefinite; the context alone tells whether the present, past, or future is indicated.

Comparative vocabularies

About eighty-five words have been selected expressing simple ideas. These are given in the Bontoc Igorot language and as far as possible in the Benguet Igorot; they are also given in the Malay and the Sulu languages.

Of eighty-six words in both Malay and Bontoc 32 per cent are clearly derived from the same root words, and of eighty-four words in the Sulu and Bontoc 45 per cent are from the same root words. Of sixty-eight words in both Malay and Benguet 34 per cent are from the same root words, and 47 per cent of sixty-seven Benguet and Sulu words are from the same root words. Of sixty-four words in Bontoc and Benguet 58 per cent are the same or nearly the same.

These facts suggest the movement of the Philippine people from the birthplace of the parent tongue, and also the great family of existing allied languages originating in the primitive Malayan language. They also suggest that the Bontoc and the Benguet peoples came away quite closely allied from the original nest, and that they had a.s.sociation with the Sulu later than with the Malay.

[In the following compilation works have been consulted respectively as follows: Malay -- Hugh Clifford and Frank Athelstane Swettenham, A Dictionary of The Malay Language (Taiping, Perak; in parts, Part I appearing 1894, Part III appearing 1904); Sulu -- Andson Cowie, English-Sulu-Malay Vocabulary, with Useful Sentences, Tables, etc. (London, 1893); Benguet Igorot -- Otto Scheerer, The Ibaloi Igorot, MS. in MS. Coll., The Ethnological Survey for the Philippine Islands.]

English Malay Sulu Benguet Igorot Bontoc Igorot

Ashes Abu Abu De-pok Cha-pu'

Bad Jahat (wicked) Mang-i, ngi ...

Ngag

Black Hitam Itam An-to'-leng In-ni'-t.i.t

Blind Buta Buta Sa-gei a ku'-rab[44]