Southwestern Bontoc (Southwestern Bontok) is a variety of the

Bontoc language Bontoc (Bontok) (also called Finallig) is the native language of the indigenous Bontoc people of the Mountain Province, in the northern part of the Philippines. Dialects ''Ethnologue'' reports the following locations for each of the five Bontok ...

of 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 ...

. This language is a

moribund language An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a "dead langu ...

, with only 2,470 speakers left in 2007. Southwestern Bontok at ''

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 ...

''.

Distribution and dialects

reports the following locations for Southwestern Bontok:

Cordillera Administrative Region The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR; ilo, Rehion/Deppaar Administratibo ti Kordiliera; fil, Rehiyong Pampangasiwaan ng Cordillera), also known as the Cordillera Region and Cordillera (), is an administrative region in the Philippines, ...

Mountain Province Mountain Province is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. Its capital is Bontoc. Mountain Province was formerly referred to as ''Mountain'' in some foreign references. The name is usually short ...

: Bontoc Municipality: Alab, Balili, Gonogon and some villages near Chico River Valley and the southwest of Bontoc Municipality.

identifies Ina-ab, Binalili and Ginonogon as dialects of Southwestern Bontok.

Similarities

reports the language is similar to 4 other

s: Central Bontok, North Bontok, Southern Bontok and Eastern Bontok.

Death of the language

This language is a moribund language, which means that only a few people speak it and if the speakers of the language continue to speak Tagalog or

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

to their sons and not speak their own mother tongue, the language will not be passed down to newer generations, eventually becoming a "

dead language An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers, especially if the language has no living Genetic relationship (linguistics), descendants. In contrast, a dead language is one that is no longer the native language of any commun ...

". Many of the speakers have shifted to Ilokano. Many of the speakers can also speak Central Bontok and Kankanaey as their second language.

References

{{Reflist

Distribution and dialects

Similarities

Death of the language

References

See also