Itbayat language

The Itbayat language or Itbayaten (also known locally by elders as Ichbayatèn) is an Austronesian language, in the Batanic group. It is spoken primarily in Itbayat, a municipality in Batanes, Philippines.

Itbayatèn
Ichbayatèn
Ichbayatèn
Native to	Philippines
Region	Itbayat Island
Ethnicity	Ivatan people
Native speakers	(3,500 cited 1996 census)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Batanic Itbayatèn Language–Itbayat Itbayatèn
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	itba1237
Itbayat and the other Batanic languages

Phonology

Vowels

/a, ɜ, i, o/

Vowels are contrasted between long and short vowels, for example as seen in the words tokod ('support') and tookod ('a kind of yam').

Consonants

Itbayat consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	t͡ʃ	k		ʔ
	voiced	b	d	d͡ʒ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	(f)	s				h
	voiced	v			ɣ	ʁ
Approximant			l	j	w
Trill			r

• /f/ is only used in loanwords but tends to become /p/.

Grammar

Pronouns

The following set of pronouns is found in the Itbayat language.

Itbayat pronouns

			Nominative		Genitive		Locative
			free	bound	free	bound
1st person	singular		yaken	ako	ñaken	ko	jaken
	dual		–	ta	–	–	–
	plural	inclusive	yaten	ta	ñaten	ta	jaten
		exclusive	yamen	kami	ñamen	namen	jamen
2nd person	singular		imo	ka	nimo	mo	dimo
	plural		imiyo	kamo	nimiyo	miyo	dimiyo
3rd person	singular		–	–	niya/ña	na	dira
	plural		sira	sira	nira	da	dira

References

1. Ivatan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Yamada, Yukihiro (2002). Itbayat–English Dictionary (PDF). ELPR Publications Series A3-006. hdl:10108/75457.

Further reading

• Yamada, Yukihiro (2014). A Grammar of the Itbayat Language of the Philippines. Himeji, Japan.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)