Itneg is a
South-Central Cordilleran dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
found in 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 ...
,
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 ...
. This language and
Ilocano are spoken by the
Itneg people
The Itneg people also known as "Tinguian" or "Tingguian" are an Austronesian ethnic group indigenous to the Philippines. They are part of the broader Cordilleran or Igorot group, despite the Itnegs themselves not identifying as such. The Itneg p ...
(sometimes also referred to as the "Tingguian people") in
Abra.
Several ethnic-Itneg dialects are
taxonomically part of the neighboring
Kalinga language
Kalinga () is a dialect continuum of Kalinga Province in the Philippines, spoken by the Kalinga people, alongside Ilocano. The Banao Itneg variety is not one of the neighboring Itneg languages.
Dialects
Ronald Himes (1997) divides Kalinga in ...
.
Locations and dialects
''
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 the following locations for each of the five Itneg languages.
*Binongan Itneg:
Licuan-Baay
Licuan-Baay, officially the Municipality of Licuan-Baay (; ), is a municipality in the province of Abra, Philippines. According to the 2020 census it has a population of 4,566 people.
Geography
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority ...
,
Abra. 7,500 speakers.
*Inlaod Itneg: a few villages in
Peñarrubia,
Lagangilang,
Danglas, and
Langiden municipalities,
Abra. 9,000 speakers.
*Maeng Itneg:
Luba,
Tubo, and
Villaviciosa municipalities,
Abra. 18,000 speakers.
*Masadiit Itneg:
Sallapadan
Sallapadan, officially the Municipality of Sallapadan (; ), is a municipality in the province of Abra, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 6,389 people.
Geography
The Municipality of Sallapadan is located at . Ac ...
,
Bucloc, and
Boliney municipalities,
Abra; also in the western border strip of
Kalinga Province. 7,500 speakers. Dialects are Masadiit Boliney and Masadiit Sallapadan.
*Moyadan Itneg:
Abra. 12,000 speakers.
However, Ronald Himes (1997)
recognizes two dialects for Itneg, namely Binongan (eastern) and Inlaod (western).
Phonology
Itneg languages almost sound the same with Ilocano, Pangasinan, and other Igorot languages.
Vowels
Itneg speakers use 5 vowel sounds: , , , , .
Consonants
Itneg 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 Itneg speakers have "a hard tongue".
Itneg is also one of the Philippine languages which is excluded from - allophony.
References
Languages of Abra (province)
South–Central Cordilleran languages
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