Southern Alta language
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Southern Alta (also known as Kabuloan Dumagat, Kabuluen, Kabulowan or Kabuluwan, Kabuluwen, Ita, Baluga, Pugot), is a distinctive  Aeta language of the mountains of northern 
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 article will discuss Southern Alta's location, vocabulary, similarities and differences shared with other languages of the Philippines. Southern Alta is one of many endangered languages that risks being lost if it is not passed on by current speakers. Most speakers of Southern Alta also speak Tagalog. Southern Alta is not particularly close to  Northern Alta or to other languages of Luzon. Both Northern and Southern Alta have a significant proportion of vocabulary that is unique to each other, however, they are also very different from the other. Many Southern Alta also interact primarily with Tagalog speakers, sharing similarities between both languages. Tagalog is a more widely spoken language in the Philippines, using an alphabet that has five vowels and fifteen consonants. Although Southern Alta and Tagalog share similarities, Southern Alta still remains a very distinct language that constitutes at least one coordinate branch of the large Meso-Cordilleran group of Northern Luzon languages. The Southern Alta are also commonly referred to Kabuluwan, which may associate them with the Bulu, a small river flowing west past Malibay in Northern Bulacan Province. As a critically endangered language, Southern Alta has very few speakers. Currently, Southern Alta has a population of 1,000 speakers.


Geographic distribution

Southern Alta is spoken primarily in the Sierra Madre of eastern 
Nueva Ecija Nueva Ecija, officially the Province of Nueva Ecija ( tgl, Lalawigan ng Nueva Ecija , also ; ilo, Probinsia ti Nueva Ecija; pag, Luyag/Probinsia na Nueva Ecija; Kapampangan: ''Lalawigan/Probinsia ning Nueva Ecija''), is a landlocked province i ...
 and in nearby coastal areas of
Quezon Province Quezon, officially the Province of Quezon ( tl, Lalawigan ng Quezon), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region on Luzon. Kalilayan was the first known name of the province. It was later renamed Tayabas. In honor of the ...
. Lawrence Reid collected data from San Miguel, located east of Rio Chico, a barrio (
barangay A barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as barrio (abbreviated as Bo.), is the smallest administrative division in the Philippines and is the native Filipino term for a village, district, or ward. In metropolitan ...
) of 
General Tinio, Nueva Ecija General Tinio, officially the Municipality of General Tinio ( tl, Bayan ng Heneral Tinio, Ilocano: ''Ili ti Heneral Tinio''), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Nueva Ecija, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a popul ...
. There are also Southern Alta living further south near
Norzagaray Norzagaray, officially the Municipality of Norzagaray ( tgl, Bayan ng Norzagaray), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 136,064 people. It is the location of A ...
in
Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan ( tl, Lalawigan ng Bulacan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on August 15, 1578, and part of the Metr ...
(Reid 2013: 339). A phonologically more conservative dialect is spoken by a group known as the ''Edimala'' in Dicapanikian and Dicapanisan, on the coast north of
Dingalan Dingalan, officially the Municipality of Dingalan, Municipal District of Dingalan ( tl, Bayan ng Dingalan; ilo, Ili ti Dingalan), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Aurora, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populati ...
(Reid 2013: 339). Abreu (2018) reported Southern Alta speakers to be living in Sitio Bato, Barangay Sapang Bulac,
Doña Remedios Trinidad Doña Remedios Trinidad, officially the Municipality of Doña Remedios Trinidad ( tgl, Bayan ng Doña Remedios Trinidad), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 2 ...
Municipality,
Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan ( tl, Lalawigan ng Bulacan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on August 15, 1578, and part of the Metr ...
, who had been forcibly resettled from Hilltop,
Norzagaray Norzagaray, officially the Municipality of Norzagaray ( tgl, Bayan ng Norzagaray), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 136,064 people. It is the location of A ...
, Bulacan by the
National Power Corporation The National Power Corporation ( fil, Pambansang Korporasyon sa Elektrisidad, also known as Napocor, NPC or National Power), is a Philippine government-owned and controlled corporation that is mandated to provide electricity to all rural areas o ...
(NPC). Many have intermarried with the Umiray Dumaget. There are also Southern Alta people living with the Tagalog in Sitio Tubigan, Barangay Kalawakan,
Doña Remedios Trinidad Doña Remedios Trinidad, officially the Municipality of Doña Remedios Trinidad ( tgl, Bayan ng Doña Remedios Trinidad), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 2 ...
Municipality, but they no longer speak the Southern Alta language.


History

Prior to 1937, no information is available on the early history of the language. The research available to date has a direct bearing problem on when and how the Philippines began speaking the language of Southern Alta.


Dialects

Southern Alta is a very distinct language; however, it shares similarities to the language Tagalog, and Northern Alta. Southern Alta may be distantly related to other Philippine languages as well. Southern Alta is most similar to Northern Alta, with a lexical similarity of 34%. Sharing those similarities can be viewed as dialect borrowing, which is borrowing sounds, grammar, or vocabulary.


Endangerment of the language

Today, Southern Alta risks becoming extinct in the near future. With only 1,000 speakers, or less, the language is categorized as critically endangered. Due to Southern Alta not being a common spoken language in the Philippines, it is likely that the language will soon be lost and will not continue to be passed down, eventually becoming a "dead language".


Grammar

There is not much known about the language of Southern Alta because it is a little known language of the Philippines. The only data previously available on Southern Alta is an unpublished wordlist of 350 words collected by Wesley Petro (1974), formerly of
New Tribes Mission Ethnos360, formerly known as New Tribes Mission (NTM), is an international, theologically evangelical Christian mission organization based in Sanford, Florida, United States. Ethnos360 has approximately 2,300 missionaries in more than 20 nation ...
.


Vocabulary

To get a better understanding of a few words, as well as the language of Southern Alta, below is a table of words in
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 ...
and how that word would be translated in Southern Alta. Unique forms – Southern Alta. Northern and Southern Alta are distantly related languages. Below is a table that shows similarities between words spoken in both Southern Alta (ALTS) and Northern Alta (ALTN). Uniquely shared lexical items – Northern and Southern Alta.


References


Further reading


Southern Alta
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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 ...
'' (18th ed., 2015) * Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016) * Reid, Lawrence A. 1994. "Possible Non-Austronesian Lexical Elements in Philippine Negrito Languages." In ''Oceanic Linguistics'', Vol. 33, No. 1 (Jun. 1994), pp. 37–72. * Reid, Lawrence.&nbs
''The Alta Languages of the Philippines''
nbsp;(1991) * Reid, Lawrence. Who Are the Philippine Negritos? Evidence from Language (2013) * Dutton, Tom. Tyron, Darrell. Language Contact and Change in the Austronesian World (1994) * Alta, Southern https://www.ethnologue.com/language/agy (2017) * Southern Alta Language http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/sout2905 (2017) {{Languages of the Philippines Aeta languages Languages of Nueva Ecija Languages of Quezon