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 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 of Il ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

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

Ati people The Ati are a Negrito ethnic group and indigenous peoples in the Visayan Islands of the Philippines. Their small numbers are principally concentrated on the islands of Boracay, Panay and Negros. They are genetically related to other Negrito eth ...

also speak Kinaray-a 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 (language ...

. It differs markedly from the

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

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 Province, Sulu. They are also the most populous, including T ...

. Inati shows some unique

sound change In historical linguistics, a sound change 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 chan ...

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 Austronesia ...

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

*ə > Inati (as in the Central Luzon languages), 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 (; ; ; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Iloilo City, the regional center of Western Visayas and politically independen ...

(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 () 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 to describe any object that i ...

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

Capiz Capiz (), officially the Province of Capiz (Capiznon language, Capiznon/Hiligaynon language, Hiligaynon: ''Kapuoran sang Capiz''; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the central part of the Western Visayas Regions of the Philippines ...

(308): Dumarao (308) *

Aklan Aklan, officially the Province of Aklan, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. Its capital and largest town is Kalibo. The province is situated in the northwest portion of Panay, Panay Islan ...

(740+): Buruanga (?), Malay (740) * Guimaras (789): Buenavista (189), Jordan (237), Sibunag (178), Nueva Valencia (185) *

Negros Occidental Negros Occidental (; ), officially the Province of Negros Occidental (; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Negros, Negros Island. Its capital is the city of Bacolod, of which it is geographically s ...

(309): Isabela (309) *

Romblon Romblon (, , ), officially the Province of Romblon, is an archipelagic province of the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. Its main components include Romblon, an archipelagic municipality of the same name that also serves as the provi ...

: Odiongan and Calatrava on Tablas Island, 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 (; ; ), is a municipality in the province of Antique, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 52,685 people, making it the third most populous municipality in the province o ...

(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 Barotac Viejo, officially the Municipality of Barotac Viejo (, ), is a municipality in the province of Iloilo, Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in S ...

(500 people) *Aklan **Barangay Sabang, Buruanga, Aklan (4 households, 15 people) **Barangay Jesuna,

Nabas, Aklan Nabas, officially the Municipality of Nabas ( Aklanon: ''Banwa it Nabas''; Hiligaynon: ''Banwa sang Nabas''; ), is a municipality in the province of Aklan, Philippines. Nabas serves as the arrival gateway of Boracay Airport. According to the 2 ...

(3 households, 20 people) **In Malay, Aklan: 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'' 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 comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

'' reports two dialects for Ati: Ati at ''

.'' Malay (not to be confused with Malay,

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 ...

.) and Barotac Viejo Nagpana.

states that Barotac Viejo Nagpana is the prestige dialect.

Phonology

* The consonants in parentheses are not phonemic.

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