Ilokano grammar
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Ilokano grammar, akin to many of the Philippine languages, is very different in many resepects from European languages like English.
Ilokano has word classes such as nouns, verbs and adjectives found in a canonical grammar. Yet, Ilokano has particles. Particles have no inherent meaning on their own, but are useful in altering the sentence or phrase in which they occur. One particle in particular, the ligature, is common to Philippine languages. It use is to link constituents of a sentence as a unit.
In English morphology, there are prefixes and suffixes. In addition to those, Ilokano has what are called infixes. Sometimes, prefixes and suffixes come in pairs, called "circumfixes".
Ilokano verbal morphology is rather complex and uses a system of Philippine-type focus.
Contents |
[edit] Word Classes
[edit] Determiners
Ilokano has two subsets of determiners. Articles are similar to the in English. Demonstratives are those words that point out something, this and that.
Ilokano determiners show only two cases, core and oblique, unlike Ilokano pronouns which show three: absolutive, ergative and oblique. In fact, core can function as absolutive or ergative.
[edit] Articles
Ilokano has two sets of articles, common and personal. Personal articles are used with persons, names and titles. Common articles are used with all other nouns.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Core | ti [1] | dagiti |
| Oblique | iti | kadagiti |
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Core | ni | da |
| Oblique | kenni | kada |
Kinship terms, such as mother or uncle can take either set of articles. Preceded by the common article, the term is more generalized or conceptual. On the other hand, preceeded by a personal article, the reference is more specific. The speaker refers to someone in particular.
Napan ti ama idiay eskuelaan ti anakna. The father went to his child's school.
Napan ni amam idiay eskuelaan ni kabsatmo. Your father went to your sister's/brother's school.
Such can also be said of titles or offices.
Nakitak ni maestra idiay padaya. I saw teacher at the party. (referring to the speaker's teach in school or some other specific person)
Nakitak ti maestra idiay padaya. I saw a teacher at the party. (any teacher)
[edit] Demonstratives
Similar to the articles, demonstratives distinguish two cases (core and oblique) and two numbers (singular and plural). Like Spanish or Japanese, Ilokano has a three-way distinction regarding space. But, Ilokano has another set that refers to object or events not visible to either the speaker or the listener. In total, Ilokano demonstratives have a five-way distinction.
[edit] Spatial Demonstratives
Ilokano distinguishes the following levels of proximity:
- Proximal: Near the speaker, this
- Medial: Near the listener, that
- Distal: Removed from both speaker and listener, yonder
| Number | Case | Proximal | Medial | Distal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Core | daytoy ('toy) | dayta ('ta) | daydiay ('diay) [1] |
| Oblique | iti daytoy
kadaytoy |
iti dayta
kadayta |
iti daydiay
kadaydiay |
|
| Plural | Core | dagitoy | dagita | dagidiay |
| Oblique | kadagitoy | kadagita | kadagidiay |
[edit] Non-Visible Demonstratives
The Non-Visible series refers to objects and events that are not visible to either the speaker or the listener. Quite possibly, what is referred to occurred in the past.
- Recent Past: Refers to things or events that are not visible to the speaker or the listener at the moment of the speech event.
- Remote Past: Refers to persons who have passed away, things that no longer exist or events that occurred long ago.
| Number | Case | Recent | Remote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Core | daytay ('tay) | daydi ('di) |
| Oblique | iti daytay
kadaytay |
iti daydi
kadaydi |
|
| Plural | Core | dagitay | dagidi |
| Oblique | kadagitay | kadagidi |
Demostratives are linked to their noun or noun phrases with the ligature a/nga.
Dayta a lalaki That man
But, the forms in parentheses above, do not require a ligature.
'Ta lalaki That man
Examples:
Nagtagtagainepak iti daydi nga apong. I dreamt of grandmother.
Nabirukam 'tay kuartam? Did you find your money?
[edit] Pronouns
[edit] Personal Pronouns
Ilokano personal pronouns distinguish three cases: absolutive, ergative, and oblique. They also distinguish three numbers: singular, dual and plural.
The only person that distinguishes a dual number is the first. It includes only the speaker and only one listener. If there are more persons addressed, then the fist person plural inclusive is more appropriate. Non-native speakers of Ilokano who are not familiar with this concept will tend to confuse the first person plural inclusive tayo with ta. For example, in a situation where the speaker and the listener are taking leave, a native would say Intan whereas the non-native would say Intayon.
The first person plural encodes inclusivity. The first person plural inclusive refers to the speaker and at least two listeners. On the other hand, the first person plural exclusive refers to the speaker and others. It does not include the person(s) spoken to.
Personal pronouns in the absolutive case have two forms: independent and enclitic. Independent pronouns are not attached to any word; they can be sentence predicates as well. On the other hand, enclitic pronouns must attach to the preceding word, whether a noun or a verb. When attached to a noun, they indicate possession, to a verb, they indicate the agent of the verb.
Oblique pronouns usually express conveyance to someone. They also mark the patient role (direct object) of verbs cast in the agent focus. Additionally, they can be used to denote someone's home.
| Absolutive | Ergative | Oblique | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Enclitic (-ak)[2] | Enclitic (-ko)[3] | Independent | |
| 1st person singular | siák [4] | -ak [5] | -k(o) [6][7] | kaniák |
| 1st person dual | datá, sitá [4] | -ta | -ta | kadatá |
| 2nd person singular | siká [4] | -ka | -m(o) [6] | kenká |
| 3rd person singular | isú(na) | -Ø [8] | -na | kenkuána |
| 1st person plural inclusive | datayó, sitayó [4] | -tayó | -tayó | kadatayó |
| 1st person plural exclusive | dakamí, sikamí [4] | -kamí | -mi | kadakamí |
| 2nd person plural | dakayó, sikayó [4] | -kayó | -yo | kadakayó |
| 3rd person plural | isúda | -da | -da | kadakuáda |
Examples of independent absolutive personal pronouns:
Siák ti gayyem ni Juan. "I am Juan's friend."
Dakamí ti napan idiay Laoag. "It was us who went to Laoag."
Sikayo ngay? "What about you? (plural) "
Examples of enclitic absolutive personal pronouns:
Gumatgatangak iti saba. "I am buying bananas."
Agawidkayonto kadi intono Sabado? "Are all of you going home on Saturday?"
Examples of possessive use of the enclitic personal pronouns:
Napintas ti balaymo. "Your house is beautiful."
Ayanna daydiay asok? "Where is my dog?"
Examples of ergative enclitic personal pronouns:
Basbasaenda ti diario. "They are reading the newspaper."
Intedna kaniak. "He gave it to me."
Examples of oblique personal pronouns:
Imbagam kaniana! "You told her!"
Adda kadakuada. "He is at their house."
[edit] Enclitic Personal Pronoun Sequences
Enclitic personal pronoun sqeunces occur with goal oriented or transitive verbs, verbs that take both an agent and an object to complete its meaning. Enclitic personal pronouns may or may not combine when they occur in sequence, in the order of agent (in the ergative case, or -ko series) and goal (in the absolutive case, or the -ak series).
| Agent | Patient | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Sing. | 2nd Sing. | 3rd Sing. | 1st Dual | 1st Plur. Excl. | 1st Plur. Incl. | 2nd Plur. | 3rd Plur. | |
| 1st Sing. | [9] | -ka | -k(o)Ø [8] | - | - | - | -kayo | -k(o) ida |
| 2nd Sing. | -nak | [9] | -m(o)Ø [8] | - | -nakami | - | - | -m(o) ida |
| 3rd Sing. | -nak | -naka | [9]/-naØ [8] | -nata | -nakami | -natayo | -nakayo | -na ida |
| 1st Dual | - | - | -taØ [8] | [9] | - | - | - | -ta ida |
| 1st Plur. Excl. | - | -daka | -miØ [8] | - | [9] | - | -dakayo | -mi ida |
| 1st Plur. Incl. | - | - | -tayoØ [8] | - | - | [9] | - | -tayo ida |
| 2nd Plur. | -dak | - | -yoØ [8] | -data | -dakami | - | [9] | -yo ida |
| 3rd Plur. | -dak | -daka | -daØ [8] | -data | -dakami | -datayo | -dakayo | [9]/-da ida |
Notes
- The 3rd person is assumed when it is a patient. In other words, it appears as a zero morpheme. If there is a need for emphasis, then isuna, an idependent absolutive personal pronoun, may be used, for example, Nakitak isuna, I saw him.
- Ida never combines with any of the pronouns. As a result, other enclitics may occur between the agent and ida, for example, Nailutuannan ida, He cooked for them already.
- -ko and -mo forms only occur when more enclitics, such as the future particle, are added, Ipankonto ida, I will send them.
- -na appears to signal a singular agent regardless of person, where as, -da signals a plural agent.
- Some combinations do not exist, for example, 1st person singular agent and a 1st person plural patient. Typically, these non-existent forms are those where the agent is among the patients.
[edit] Reflexive
[edit] Nouns
Nouns are classed into the Common or Personal subclasses. The Personal nouns are introduced by the personal article ni. They may be introduced by ti, the common article, if the speaker is making a generalization or conceptualizing. All other nouns, the common nouns, are introduced by ti.
[edit] Plural
Nouns can be made plural by using the appropriate form of the article. Plurality can be indicated in the noun form, but adds the nuance of distribution.
[edit] Adjectives
[edit] Root Adjectives
Root adjectives are not derived from any other roots and are characterized as not having any of the common derivational affixes, such as a-, na-, etc. Many root adjectives denote physical characteristics. A great number of them, especially, denote physical abnormalities.
Example bassit small dakkel big baro new daan old (applied to inanimate objects) baket old (applied to animate females) lakay old (applied to animate males) buttiog having a pot-belly (applied to men) tuleng deaf pangkis cross-eyed/cock-eyed
[edit] Derived Adjectives
- Na-
- Ma-
- Atiddog
[edit] Adjective degrees
- Positive
- Comparative
- Superlative
- Intensive
- Moderate
[edit] Verbs
Although other word classes in Ilokano are not as morphologically diverse in forms, verbs are about as morphologically complex as the classic Indo-European languages of Latin, Ancient Greek or Sanskrit.
[edit] Adverbs
[edit] Locatives
Locative correspond to here and there. They have a three-way distinction similar to the demonstratives: proximal, medial and distal. They can be used with nouns to specify location. In addition, they can replace a noun phrase in the oblique case that concerns location.
| Space | Form | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| Proximal | ditoy | here |
| Medial | dita | there |
| Distal | idiay
sadiay |
there or yonder (obs.) |
Examples:
Napan iti balay. He went to a house.
Napan idiay balay. He went to that house (over there). He went to the house.
Napan idiay. He went there.
[edit] Manner
Ilokano has a set of adverbs that reference manner according space. They are a combination of kas "like/as" and the abbreviated determiner forms 'toy, 'ta and 'diay.
| Space | Form | Gloss |
|---|---|---|
| Proximal | kastoy | like this, this way |
| Medial | kasta | like that, that way |
| Distal | kasdiay | like that, that way |
Examples:
Kinitak a kastoy. I looked at him like this.
Apay sinuratmo a kasta? Why did you write it that way?
Nagsala a kasdiay. She dance like that (over there, like she is dancing).
[edit] Numbers
[edit] Cardinal
[edit] Ordinal
[edit] Distributive
[edit] Morphology
[edit] Syntax
[edit] Typology
Ilokano employs a predicate-initial structure. Verbs and adjectives occur in the first position of the sentence, then the rest of the sentence follows.
[edit] Noun Phrases
[edit] Verb Phrases
[edit] Existential
[edit] Clauses
[edit] Coordination
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Diay may be used in place of ti if the speaker would like to be more specific.
- ^ The series of absolutive enclitics is sometimes referred to as the -ak series, a name derived from the form of the first person singular.
- ^ The series of ergative enclitics series is sometimes referred to as the -ko series, a name derived from the form of the first person singular.
- ^ a b c d e f These forms are a combination of the obsolete variant of the personal article si and the absolutive enclitic form.
- ^ When the enclitic particle -(e)n is attached, the form becomes -akon indicating that it once was -ako.
- ^ a b The final o is lost when the precending word ends in a simple vowel and when there are no following enclitics. Compare the following:
- Asom Your dog
- Asomonto It will be your dog.
- ^ When attaching to either of the suffixes, -en or -an, the -n of the suffix is lost.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i The 3rd person singular has no ending or form; it is inferred by context.
- ^ a b c d e f g h In situations where the agent and the patient are the same, the agent remains the same, but the patient is one of the relfexive pronouns that correspond to the agent.
