Pangasinan (''Pangasinense'') is an
Austronesian language
The Austronesian languages ( ) are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). They are spoken b ...
, and one of the eight major
languages of the Philippines
There are some 130 to 195 languages spoken in the Philippines, depending on the method of classification. Almost all are Malayo-Polynesian languages native to the archipelago. A number of Spanish-influenced creole language, creole varieties ge ...
. It is the primary and predominant language of the entire province of
Pangasinan
Pangasinan, officially the Province of Pangasinan (, ; ; ), is a coastal Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region of Luzon. Its capital is Lingayen, Pangasinan, Lingayen while San Carlos, Pangasi ...
and northern
Tarlac, on the northern part of
Luzon
Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...
's central plains geographic region, most of whom belong to the
Pangasinan
Pangasinan, officially the Province of Pangasinan (, ; ; ), is a coastal Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region of Luzon. Its capital is Lingayen, Pangasinan, Lingayen while San Carlos, Pangasi ...
ethnic group. Pangasinan is also spoken in southwestern
La Union
La Union (), officially the Province of La Union (; ; ; ; ; ), is a coastal province in the Philippines situated in the Ilocos Region on the island of Luzon. The province's capital, the San Fernando, La Union, City of San Fernando, is the most ...
, as well as in the municipalities of
Benguet
Benguet (), officially the Province of Benguet ('';'' ; ; ; ), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the southern tip of the Cordillera Administrative Region in the island of Luzon. Its capital cit ...
,
Nueva Vizcaya,
Nueva Ecija, and
Zambales
Zambales, officially the Province of Zambales (; ; ; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. Its capital is Iba, Zambales, Iba, which is located in t ...
that border Pangasinan. A few
Aeta groups and most
Sambal in Central Luzon's northern part also understand and even speak Pangasinan as well.
Classification
The Pangasinan language belongs to the
Malayo-Polynesian languages
The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeas ...
branch of the
Austronesian languages
The Austronesian languages ( ) are a language family widely spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Madagascar, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and Taiwan (by Taiwanese indigenous peoples). They are spoken ...
family.
Pangasinan is similar to other closely related
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 (language ...
,
Malay in
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
(as
Malaysian),
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
(as
Indonesian),
Brunei
Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...
, and
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
,
Hawaiian in
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
,
Māori in
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, and
Malagasy in
Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
. The Pangasinan language is very closely related to the
Ibaloi language spoken in the neighboring province of
Benguet
Benguet (), officially the Province of Benguet ('';'' ; ; ; ), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the southern tip of the Cordillera Administrative Region in the island of Luzon. Its capital cit ...
, located north of Pangasinan. Pangasinan is classified under the Pangasinic group of languages.
The other Pangasinic languages are:
*
Ibaloi
*
Karao
*
Iwaak
*
Kalanguya/Kallahan
Geographic distribution
Pangasinan is the official language of the province of Pangasinan, located on the west central area of the island of
Luzon
Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...
along
Lingayen Gulf
Lingayen Gulf is a large gulf on northwestern Luzon in the Philippines, stretching . It is framed by the provinces of Pangasinan and La Union and sits between the Zambales Mountains and the Cordillera Central (Luzon), Cordillera Central. The Agno ...
. The people of Pangasinan are also referred to as Pangasinense. The province has a total population of 2,343,086 (2000), of which 2 million speak Pangasinan. As of 2020, Pangasinan is ranked tenth on the leading languages generally spoken at home in the Philippines with only 334,759 households still speaking the language.
Pangasinan is spoken in other Pangasinan communities in the Philippines, mostly in the neighboring provinces of
Benguet
Benguet (), officially the Province of Benguet ('';'' ; ; ; ), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the southern tip of the Cordillera Administrative Region in the island of Luzon. Its capital cit ...
,
La Union
La Union (), officially the Province of La Union (; ; ; ; ; ), is a coastal province in the Philippines situated in the Ilocos Region on the island of Luzon. The province's capital, the San Fernando, La Union, City of San Fernando, is the most ...
,
Nueva Ecija,
Tarlac,
Zambales
Zambales, officially the Province of Zambales (; ; ; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. Its capital is Iba, Zambales, Iba, which is located in t ...
, and
Nueva Vizcaya, and has varying speakers in
Metro Manila
Metropolitan Manila ( ), commonly shortened to Metro Manila and formally the National Capital Region (NCR; ), is the capital region and largest List of metropolitan areas in the Philippines, metropolitan area of the Philippines. Located ...
,
Cagayan
Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan (; ; ; isnag language, Isnag: ''Provinsia nga Cagayan''; ivatan language, Ivatan: ''Provinsiya nu Cagayan''; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Cag ...
,
Isabela,
Bulacan
Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan (; ; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on ...
,
Bataan,
Aurora
An aurora ( aurorae or auroras),
also commonly known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly observed in high-latitude regions (around the Arc ...
,
Quezon
Quezon, officially the Province of Quezon () and historically known as Tayabas, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon Regions of the Philippines, region on Luzon. Lucena, a highly urbanized ci ...
,
Cavite
Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite (; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region. On the southern shores of Manila Bay and southwest of Manila, i ...
,
Laguna,
Mindoro,
Palawan
Palawan (, ), officially the Province of Palawan (; ), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of . The capital and largest c ...
and
Mindanao
Mindanao ( ) is the List of islands of the Philippines, second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and List of islands by population, seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the ...
especially in
Soccsksargen
Soccsksargen (officially stylized in all caps; ), formerly known as Central Mindanao, is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region of the Philippines, designated as Region XII. Located in south-central Mindanao, its name is an List of g ...
,
Davao Region
Davao Region, formerly called Southern Mindanao (; ), is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region in the Philippines, designated as Region XI. Situated at the southeastern portion of Mindanao, enclosing Davao Gulf, it comprises fiv ...
,
Caraga,
Bukidnon
Bukidnon (), officially the Province of Bukidnon (; ; ; Bukid language, Binukid and Higaonon language, Higaonon: ''Probinsya ta Bukidnon''), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Northern Mindan ...
and
Misamis Oriental.
History
Austronesian speakers settled in
Maritime Southeast Asia
Maritime Southeast Asia comprises the Southeast Asian countries of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and East Timor.
The terms Island Southeast Asia and Insular Southeast Asia are sometimes given the same meaning as ...
during
prehistoric
Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...
times, perhaps more than 5,000 years ago. The indigenous speakers of Pangasinan are descendants of these settlers, who were probably part of a wave of prehistoric
human migration
Human migration is the movement of people from one place to another, with intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily, at a new location (geographic region). The movement often occurs over long distances and from one country to another ( ...
that is widely believed to have originated from
Southern China via
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
between 10 and 6 thousand years ago.
The word ''Pangasinan'' means 'land of salt' or 'place of salt-making'; it is derived from the root word '','' the word for 'salt' in Pangasinan. ''Pangasinan'' could also refer to a 'container of salt or salted products'; it refers to the ceramic jar for storage of salt or salted-products or its contents.
Literature
Written Pangasinan and oral literature in the language flourished during the Spanish and American period. Writers like Juan Saingan, Felipe Quintos, Narciso Corpus, Antonio Solis, Juan Villamil, Juan Mejía and María C. Magsano wrote and published in Pangasinan. Felipe Quintos, a Pangasinan officer of the Katipunan, wrote ''()'', a history of the Katipunan revolutionary struggle in Pangasinan and surrounding provinces. Narciso Corpus and Antonio Solis co-wrote , a short love story. (Lingayen, Pangasinan: Gumawid Press, 1926)
Juan Villamil translated
José Rizal
José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is popularly considered a na ...
's "
Mi último adiós" in Pangasinan. Pablo Mejia edited , a news magazine, in the 1920s. He also wrote , a biography of Rizal. Magsano published , a literary magazine. Magsano also wrote , a romance novel. ''Pangasinan Courier'' published articles and literary works in Pangasinan. ''Pioneer Herald'' published , a literary supplement in Pangasinan. Many Christian publications in Pangasinan are widely available.
Many Pangasinan are multilingual and proficient in
English,
Filipino, and
Ilocano. However, the spread and influence of the other languages is contributing to the decline of the Pangasinan language. Many Pangasinan people, especially the native speakers are promoting the use of Pangasinan in the print and broadcast media, Internet, local governments, courts, public facilities and schools in Pangasinan. In April 2006, the creation of
Pangasinan Wikipedia was proposed, which the Wikimedia Foundation approved for publication on the Internet.
Phonology
Vowels
Pangasinan has the following vowel phonemes:
[
In native vocabulary, /i/ and /u/ are realized as ~ ɪ ~ ɛand ~ ʊ ~ ɔ The close variants are only used in stressed open syllables, while the open-mid variants � �occur in open and closed final syllables before a pause. The default variants � �occur in all other environments.][
Some speakers have /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ as distinct phonemes, but only in loanwords.][
]
Consonants
Pangasinan is one of the Philippine languages that do not exhibit []-[d] allophony, they only contrast before consonants and word-final positions; otherwise, they become allophones where [d] is only located in word-initial positions and after consonants & [] is only pronounced between vowels. Before consonants and word-final positions, [] is in free variation with alveolar trill, trill [r]. In Spanish loanwords, [d] and [] contrast in all word positions.
All consonantal phonemes except may be a syllable Syllable onset, onset or Syllable coda, coda. The phoneme rarely occurs in coda position. Although the Spanish word 'clock' would have been heard as , the final is dropped resulting in . However, this word also may have entered the Pangasinan lexicon at early enough a time that the word was still pronounced , with the ''j'' pronounced as in French, resulting in in Pangasinan. As a result, both and occur.
The glottal stop is not permissible as coda; it can only occur as onset. Even as an onset, the glottal stop disappears in affixation. Glottal stop ''sometimes'' occurs in coda in words ending in vowels, only before a pause.
Grammar
Sentence structure
Like other Malayo-Polynesian languages
The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeas ...
, Pangasinan has a verb–subject–object word order. Pangasinan is an agglutinative
In linguistics, agglutination is a morphological process in which words are formed by stringing together morphemes (word parts), each of which corresponds to a single syntactic feature. Languages that use agglutination widely are called agglu ...
language.
Pronouns
Personal
Noun affixes
Benton (1971) lists a number of affixes for nouns. Benton describes affixes in Pangasinan as either "nominal" (affixes attached directly to nouns) and " nominalizing" (affixes which turn other parts of speech into nouns). Benton also describes "non-productive affixes", affixes which are not normally applied to nouns, and only found as part of other pre-existing words. Many of these non-productive affixes are found within words derived from Spanish.
Writing system
Modern Pangasinan consists of 27 letters, which include the 26 letters of the basic Latin alphabet and the Pangasinan digraph ''ng'':
The ancient people of Pangasinan used an indigenous writing system called Kuritan. The ancient Pangasinan script, which is related to the Tagalog Baybayin
Baybayin (,),
also sometimes erroneously referred to as alibata, is a Suyat, Philippine script widely used primarily in Luzon during the 16th and 17th centuries and prior to write Tagalog language, Tagalog and to a lesser extent Visayan lang ...
script, was derived from the Javanese Kawi script
The Kawi script or the Old Javanese script (, ) is a Brahmic script found primarily in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia between the 8th century and the 16th century.Aditya Bayu Perdana and Ilham Nurwansah 2020Proposal to en ...
of Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
and the Vatteluttu or Pallava
The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of South India, the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The Pallavas played a crucial role in shaping in particular southern Indian history and heritage. The ...
script of South India.
The Latin script
The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...
was introduced during the Spanish colonial period. Pangasinan literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
, using the indigenous syllabary and the Latin alphabet, continued to flourish during the Spanish and American colonial period. Pangasinan acquired many Spanish and English words, and some indigenous words were Hispanicized or Anglicized. However, use of the ancient syllabary has declined, and not much literature written in it has survived.
Loanwords
Most of the loan words in Pangasinan are Spanish, as the Philippines was ruled by Spain for more than 300 years. Examples are ('place'), (from ''poder'', 'power, care'), (from , 'against'), (, 'green'), (, 'spirit'), and ('holy, saint'). Other loanowords came from English and Ilocano, as the latter is spoken as a second language.
Examples
Malinac ya Labi (original by Julian Velasco).
Modern Pangasinan with English translation
Words
# I – ,
# you (singular) – ,
# he – (he/she),
# we – , , , , , ,
# you (plural) – , ,
# they – ()
# this –
# that – ,
# here –
# there – ,
# who – , ,
# what –
# where –
# when – ,
# how – ,
# not – , , ,
# all –
# many – ,
# some – ()
# few –
# other –
# one – ,
# two – , ()
# three – , ()
# four – , ()
# five – , ()
# big –
# long –
# wide – ,
# thick –
# heavy –
# small – , , ,
# short – , , , , ,
# narrow –
# thin – ,
# woman –
# man – ,
# human –
# child –
# wife – , (spouse)
# husband – , (spouse)
# mother –
# father –
# animal –
# fish – ,
# bird – , (chick)
# dog –
# louse –
# snake –
# worm – (germ), (earthworm)
# tree – , (plant)
# forest – ,
# stick – ,
# fruit –
# seed –
# leaf –
# root –
# bark –
# flower – ,
# grass –
# rope – , ,
# skin – ,
# meat –
# blood –
# bone –
# fat (n.) – ,
# egg –
# horn –
# tail –
# place –
# go –
# nothing –
# feather –
# hair –
# head –
# ear –
# eye –
# nose –
# mouth –
# tooth –
# tongue –
# fingernail –
# foot –
# leg –
# knee –
# hand –
# wing –
# belly –
# guts –
# neck –
# back –
# breast – ,
# heart –
# liver –
# drink –
# eat – , ,
# bite –
# suck – ,
# spit –
# vomit –
# blow –
# breathe – , , , ,
# laugh –
# see –
# hear –
# know – ,
# think –
# smell –
# fear –
# sleep –
# live –
# die – ,
# kill – ,
# fight – , ,
# hunt – , , , (catch)
# hit – , ,
# cut – ,
# split – , , (half)
# stab – ,
# scratch – , ,
# dig –
# swim –
# fly (v.) –
# walk –
# come – , , ,
# lie – (lie down), (tell a lie)
# sit – ()
# stand –
# turn – ,
# fall – (drop),
# give – , ()
# hold –
# squeeze –
# rub – , ,
# wash –
# wipe –
# pull –
# push –
# throw –
# tie –
# sew –
# count –
# say – ,
# sing – ,
# play –
# float –
# flow –
# freeze –
# swell –
# sun – ,
# moon –
# star –
# water –
# rain –
# river – , , ,
# lake –
# sea – ,
# salt –
# stone –
# sand –
# dust –
# earth –
# cloud –
# fog –
# sky –
# wind –
# snow –
# ice –
# smoke –
# fire – , (blaze), (flame)
# ashes –
# burn – ,
# road – , (path)
# mountain –
# red – ,
# green – , , ''birdi''
# yellow –
# white – ,
# black – ,
# night –
# day –
# year –
# hot – ,
# cold – ,
# full – (), ()
# new –
# old –
# good – , ,
# bad – ,
# rotten – ,
# dirty – , , ,
# straight – ,
# round – , ,
# sharp – (),
# dull – ,
# smooth – , ,
# wet – ,
# dry – ,
# correct – , (true)
# near –
# far –
# right –
# left –
# at –
# in –
# with –
# and –
# if –
# because – ,
# name –
# smile – ,
# lolo –
# lola –
# beautiful – , ,
# true – ,
# wrong –
# odor –
# delicious – ,
# I love you – ,
# Good day! - ''Maabig ya agew!''
# Good morning! - ''Maabig a kabuasan!''
#Good afternoon! - ''Maabig a ngarem!''
#Good evening! - ''Maabig a labi!''
Numbers
List of numbers from one to ten in English, Tagalog and Pangasinan
Cardinal numbers:
Ordinal numbers:
Ordinal numbers are formed with the prefix ''kuma-'' (''ka-'' plus infix ''-um''). Example: , 'second'.
Associative numbers:
Associative numbers are formed with the prefix ''ka-''. Example: , 'third of a group of three'.
Fractions:
Fraction numbers are formed with the prefix ''ka-'' and an associative number. Example: , 'third part'.
Multiplicatives:
Multiplicative ordinal numbers are formed with the prefix ''pi-'' and a cardinal number from two to four or ''pin-'' for other numbers except for number one. Example: , 'first time'; , 'second time'; , 'fifth time'.
Multiplicative cardinal numbers are formed with the prefix ''man-'' (''mami-'' or ''mamin-'' for present or future tense, and ''ami-'' or ''amin-'' for the past tense) to the corresponding multiplicative ordinal number. Example: , 'once'; , 'twice'; , 'thrice'.
Distributives:
Distributive cardinal numbers are formed with the prefixes ''san-'', ''tag-'', or and a cardinal number. Example: , 'one each'; , 'two each'.
Distributive multiplicative numbers are formed with the prefixes ''magsi-'', , or and a multiplicative cardinal number. Example: , 'twice each'; , 'each twice'.
Dictionaries and further reading
The following is a list of some dictionaries and references:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Includes translations of English songs like "Joy to the World," and "What A Friend We Have in Jesus."
* The compilation has 20,000 entries.
*
*
* Traditional folk song.
See also
* Languages of the Philippines
There are some 130 to 195 languages spoken in the Philippines, depending on the method of classification. Almost all are Malayo-Polynesian languages native to the archipelago. A number of Spanish-influenced creole language, creole varieties ge ...
* Malayo-Polynesian
* Pangasinan
Pangasinan, officially the Province of Pangasinan (, ; ; ), is a coastal Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region of Luzon. Its capital is Lingayen, Pangasinan, Lingayen while San Carlos, Pangasi ...
* Tarlac
* La Union
La Union (), officially the Province of La Union (; ; ; ; ; ), is a coastal province in the Philippines situated in the Ilocos Region on the island of Luzon. The province's capital, the San Fernando, La Union, City of San Fernando, is the most ...
* Pangasinan literature
References
External links
Pangasinan as a dying language
Bansa Pangasinan-English Dictionary
Pangasinan Wiktionary
Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database
Sunday Punch
Sun Star Pangasinan
Pangasinan Star
Pangasinan: Preservation and Revitalization of the Pangasinan Language and Literature
Pangasinan language is alive and kicking (Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 8, 2007)
Pangasinan-Spanish Dictionary
by Lorenzo Fernandez Cosgata, published in 1865.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pangasinan Language
South–Central Cordilleran languages
Verb–subject–object languages
Agglutinative languages