Gaddang language

Gaddang
Native to Philippines
Region Luzon
Native speakers
(30,000 cited 1984)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 gad
Glottolog gadd1244[2]

Areas where Gaddang language is spoken according to Ethnologue maps

The Gaddang language (also Gaddang or Cagayan) is spoken by up to 30,000 speakers (the Gaddang people) in the Philippines, particularly along the Magat and upper Cagayan rivers in the Region II [3] provinces of Nueva Vizcaya[4] and Isabela and by overseas migrants to countries in Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, in the Middle East, United Kingdom and the United States. Most Gaddang speakers also speak Ilocano, the lingua franca of Northern Luzon, as well as Tagalog and English. Gaddang is associated with the "Christianized Gaddang" people,[5] and is closely related to the highland (non-Christian in local literature) tongues of Ga'dang with 6,000 speakers, Cagayan Agta with less than 1,000 and Atta with 2,000 (although the Negrito Aeta and Atta are genetically unrelated to the Austronesian Gaddang), and more distantly to Ibanag, Itawis, Yogad, Isneg and Malaweg.

The Gaddang tongue has been vanishing from daily and public life over the past half-century. Public and church-sponsored education was historically conducted in Spanish or English, and now in Filipino/Tagalog. Once significantly-Gaddang communities grew exponentially after WWII due to in-migration of Ilokano, Tagalog, Igorot, and other ethnicities; Gaddang is now a minority language. In the 2000 Census, Gaddang was not even an identity option for residents of Nueva Vizcaya.[6] Vocablulary and structural features of Gaddang among native Gaddang speakers have suffered as well, as usages from Ilokano and other languages affect their parole. Finally, many ethnic Gaddang have migrated to other countries, and their children are not learning the ancestral tongue.

Geographic Distribution

The Gaddang people were identified as I-gaddang (likely meaning 'brown-colored people') by the Spanish in the early 1600s, and differentiated from the Igorots of the highlands by physique, skin color, homelands, and lifestyle. Mary Christine Abriza [7] tells us "The Gaddang are found in northern Nueva Vizcaya, especially Bayombong, Solano, and Bagabag on the western bank of the Magat River, and Santiago, Angadanan, Cauayan, and Reina Mercedes on the Cagayan River for Christianed groups; and western Isabela, along the edges of Kalinga and Bontoc, in the towns of Antatet, Dalig, and the barrios of Gamu and Tumauini for the non-Christian communities. The 1960 census reports that there were 25,000 Gaddang, and that 10% or about 2,500 of these were non-Christian."

Distinct versions of Gaddang may be heard as you travel down the valleys of the Magat and Cagayan on the Asian Highway 26 (the Pan-Philippine Highway) through Nueva Vizcaya into Isabela after leaving Santa Fe, where its use is infrequent, and successively through Aritao, Bambang, Bayombong, Solano,(including Quezon & Bintawan), and Bagabag. By the time you arrive in Santiago City, in-migration due to the economic development of the lower Cagayan Valley over the last century means you now must search diligently to hear Gaddang spoken at all.

Sounds

The Gaddang language is related to Ibanag, Itawis, Malaueg and others. It is distinct in that it features phonemes not present in many neighboring Philippine languages. As an example the "f","v","z" and "j" sounds appear in Gaddang. There are notable differences from other languages in the distinction between "r" and "l", and the "f" sound is a voiceless bilabial fricative somewhat distinct from the fortified "p" sound common in many Philippine languages (but not much closer to the English voiceless labiodental fricative). Finally, the (Spanish) minimally-voiced "J" sound has evolved to a plosive (so the name "Joseph" sounds to the American ear as "Kosip").

Vowels

Most Gaddang speakers use six vowel sounds: /a/, /i/, /u/, /ɛ/, /o/, /o/

Consonants

Gaddang features doubled consonants, so the language may sound guttural to Tagalog, Ilokano, and even Pangasinan speakers. The uniqueness of this circumstance is often expressed by saying Gaddang speakers have "a hard tongue"

For example: tudda (tood-duh) which means rice.

Phonology

Gaddang is also one of the Philippine languages which is excluded from [ɾ]-[d] allophone.

Grammar

Nouns

English Gaddang Tagalog
housebalaibahay
girlbafaybabae
boylalakilalaki
snakeiraoahas
persontolaytao
waterdanumtubig
plateduyugplato; pinggan
lightsiruatilaw
namenganpangalan
birdpappitutibon
pigbafuybaboy
carabaodaffugkalabaw
keyalladdususi
roaddalandaan
stomachkuyungtiyan
slippersinyelattsinelas
foodmaac-canpagkain
rice cakedekatkakanin
motherinaina
fatheramaama
brotherwayi, manung (pollito)kapatid, kuya (pollito)
sisterwayi a bafay, manang (pollito)kapatid, ate (pollito)
siblingwayikapatid

Personal Pronouns

Demonstrative Pronouns

Interrogative Words

Numbers

Structure

Like most languages of the Philippines, Gaddang is declensionally, conjugationally and morphologically agglutinative.

Also like them, it is characterized by a dearth of positional/directional adpositional adjunct words. Temporal references are usually accomplished using agglutinated nouns or verbs.

The following describes similar adpositional structure in Tagalog: "The (locative) marker sa, which leads indirect objects in Filipino, corresponds to English prepositions...we can make other prepositional phrases with sa + other particular conjugations."[8] Gaddang uses si in the same manner as the Tagalog sa, as an all-purpose indication that a spatial or temporal relationship exists.

Examples

Simple greetings/questions/phrases

Sentences

Gaddang Tagalog English
Nenay inaccannu singcabbulan? Ano ang kinain mo kanina?What did you eat a while ago?
Nenay inaccan diaw sin kabbulan? Ano ang kinain ninyo kanina ?What did you,(all) eat?
Nenay inaccan nu? Ano ang kinain mo? What did you eat?
Nenay a "rainbow" ci gaddang? Ano ang salitang "rainbow" sa gaddang? What is the word "rainbow" in Gaddang?
Paddatang na manggan kamin. Pagdating niya, kumakain kami. We were eating when he came.
Nu dimatang baggina, de nanggan kamin. Kung dumating sana siya, nakakain sana kami. I (We) hope that by the time he would have arrived, we would have eaten.
Mem manggan. Huwag kang kumain. Don't eat.
Mangngan ka.Kumain ka na! Eat!
Inquac yan! / Accuac yan! Akin yan! That's mine!
Kanggaman cu icca. / Anggamman ta ka. Mahal kita. I love you.

Below are examples of Gaddang proverbs and riddles. Note the Ilokano and even Spanish loan-words.

Inaccan na lammag ca. (Translated: "eaten by alligator" ha,ha!)

Nu boliarancu ay mabbebed - abanacio. (If I open it, it gossips - a fan.)

Si liek a mangngan, mabattuac; ackabalin cu mangngan, mabisinnac - caldero. (Before a meal, I'm full; afterward I'm hungry - a pot.)

References

  1. Gaddang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Gaddang". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. About Region II
  4. Welcome to Nueva Vizcaya
  5. Dioscese of Bayombong
  6. Philippine Census
  7. Philippine Peoples: Gaddang
  8. Kodachi

External links

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