Ati (''Inati''), or Binisaya nga Inati, is an Austronesian language of the island of

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and has a total population of 4,542,926 as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City o ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. The variety spoken in northern Panay is also called Sogodnin. The

Ati people The Ati are a Negrito ethnic group in the Visayas, the central portion of the Philippine archipelago. Their small numbers are principally concentrated in the islands of Boracay, Panay and Negros. They are genetically related to other Negrito et ...

also speak

Kinaray-a The Karay-a language ( krj, label=none, Kinaray-a, krj, label=none, Binisayâ nga Kinaray-a or krj, label=none, Hinaraya; en, Harayan) is an Austronesian regional language in the Philippines spoken by the Karay-a people, mainly in Antique, I ...

and Hiligaynon.

Classification

and consider Inati to be an isolate within the

Philippine languages The Philippine languages or Philippinic are a proposed group by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and Robert Blust (1991; 2005; 2019) that include all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi, Indonesia—except Sama–Bajaw (languages ...

. It differs markedly from the

Visayan languages The Bisayan languages or Visayan languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages spoken in the languages of the Philippines, Philippines. They are most closely related to Tagalog language, Tagalog and the Bikol languages, all of which ar ...

and has many features not found in the

Central Philippine languages The Central Philippine languages are the most geographically widespread demonstrated group of languages in the Philippines, being spoken in southern Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and Sulu. They are also the most populous, including Tagalog (and ...

. Inati shows some unique

sound change A sound change, in historical linguistics, is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature value) by a different one (called phonetic chang ...

s. *

Proto-Malayo-Polynesian Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, which is by far the largest branch (by current speakers) of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Malayo-Polynesian is ancestral to all Austronesi ...

*R > Inati , such as PMP * > Inati *

*ə > Inati (as in the

Central Luzon languages The Central Luzon languages are a group of languages belonging to the Philippine languages. These are predominantly spoken in the western portions of Central Luzon in the Philippines. One of them, Kapampangan, is the major language of the Pampang ...

), not PMP *ə > or , as in the

Distribution and dialects

lists the following Ati communities in the Philippines, with populations given in parentheses: *

Iloilo Iloilo (), officially the Province of Iloilo ( hil, Kapuoran sang Iloilo; krj, Kapuoran kang Iloilo; tl, Lalawigan ng Iloilo), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is the City of Iloilo, the ...

(1,902): Anilao (341), Barotac Viejo (867), Cabatuan (31), Calinog (163), Dueñas (43), Dumangas (50), Janiuay (22), New Lucena (59), Passi (103), San Miguel (17), San Rafael (110), Santa Barbara (12), Tigbauan (69), San Joaquin (15) *

Antique An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

(4,680): Anini-y (156), Hamtic (3,081), Tobias Fornier (1,383), San Jose (60) *

Capiz Capiz, officially the Province of Capiz ( Capiznon/ Hiligaynon: ''Kapuoran sang Capiz''; tl, Lalawigan ng Capiz), is a province in the Philippines located in the central section of Western Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Roxas. It is ...

(308): Dumarao (308) *

Aklan Aklan, officially the Province of Aklan ( Akeanon: ''Probinsya it Akean'' k'ɣan hil, Kapuoran sang Aklan; tl, Lalawigan ng Aklan), is a province in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. Its capital is Kalibo. The province is situated ...

(740+): Buruanga (?), Malay (740) *

Guimaras Guimaras , officially the Province of Guimaras ( hil, Kapuoran sang Guimaras; tl, Lalawigan ng Guimaras), is an island province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is Jordan while its largest local government ...

(789): Buenavista (189), Jordan (237), Sibunag (178), Nueva Valencia (185) *

Negros Occidental Negros Occidental ( hil, Nakatungdang Negros; tl, Kanlurang Negros), officially the Province of Negros Occidental, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region. ...

(309): Isabela (309) *

Romblon Romblon ( , ), officially the Province of Romblon, is an archipelagic province of the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. Its main islands include Tablas, the largest, which covers nine municipalities; Sibuyan with its three towns; as w ...

Odiongan Odiongan, officially the Municipality of Odiongan ( Asi: ''Banwa it Odiongan'', Filipino: ''Bayan ng Odiongan'', is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Romblon, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 49,284 pe ...

and Calatrava on

Tablas Island Tablas is the largest of the islands that comprise the province of Romblon in the Philippines. The name of the island was of Spanish origin. Before the colonization of the Philippines, Tablas was known as the Island of ''Osigan''. At the time of ...

, and San Jose on Carabao Island (unknown population size) lists the following locations: *Antique: Culuasi, Hamtic, San Jose, Sibalom, Tobias **Tina,

Hamtic, Antique Hamtic, officially the Municipality of Hamtic, ( krj, Banwa kang Hamtic; hil, Banwa sang Hamtic; tl, Bayan ng Hamtic), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Antique, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 52 ...

(512 people) *Capiz: Dumarao *Iloilo: Janiuay, Anilao, Cabatuan, Duenas, Dumangas, Mina, New Lucena, Passi, San Miguel, San Joaquin, San Rafael, Santa Barbara, Tigbauan **Nagpana, Barotac Viejo, Iloilo (500 people) *Aklan **Barangay Sabang,

Buruanga, Aklan Buruanga, officially the Municipality of Buruanga ( Aklanon: ''Banwa it Buruanga''; Hiligaynon: ''Banwa sang Buruanga''; tl, Bayan ng Buruanga), is a 5th class municipality in the province of Aklan, Philippines. It is the farthest town of Akla ...

(4 households, 15 people) **Barangay Jesuna,

Nabas, Aklan Nabas, officially the Municipality of Nabas ( Aklanon: ''Banwa it Nabas''; Hiligaynon: ''Banwa sang Nabas''; tl, Bayan ng Nabas), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Aklan, Philippines. Nabas serves as the arrival gateway of Boracay A ...

(3 households, 20 people) **In

Malay, Aklan Malay , officially the Municipality of Malay (Aklanon language, Aklanon: ''Banwa it Malay''; Hiligaynon language, Hiligaynon: ''Banwa sang Malay''; tl, Bayan ng Malay), is a 1st class cosmopolitan municipality of the Philippines, municipality in ...

: Barangays Argao, Cubay Norte, Cubay Sur, Cogon, Boracay (total: 63 households, 321 people) reports that Sogodnin is spoken by a few remaining speakers in Cogon, Malay (whose ancestors had moved from interior Sabang to Bakirohan to Cogon), and on Carabao and Boracay islands. ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...

'' reports two dialects for Ati:

Ati Ati or ATI may refer to: * Ati people, a Negrito ethnic group in the Philippines **Ati language (Philippines), the language spoken by this people group ** Ati-Atihan festival, an annual celebration held in the Philippines *Ati language (China), a ...

at ''

.'' Malay (not to be confused with

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

.) and Barotac Viejo Nagpana.

states that Barotac Viejo Nagpana is the prestige dialect.

References

Works cited

* * * *

External links

Schools keep indigenous culture aliveThe Ati of Negros and PanayNegritos and Negros

Beyond the beach: The untold story of Boracay’s Ati tribe
;Additional resources
Inati (Jordan, Guimaras)
word list (Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database)
Inati (Hamtic)
word list (Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database)
Inati (Nagpana)
word list (Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database)
Sogodnin (Boracay)
word list (Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database)
Sogodnin (Iloilo)
word list (Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database) {{Authority control Philippine languages Endangered Austronesian languages Aeta languages Languages of Antique (province) Languages of Capiz Languages of Aklan Languages of Iloilo Languages of Guimaras Languages of Negros Occidental