Itbayat language

Itbayat
Ibatan
Itbayaten
Native to	Philippines
Region	Itbayat Island
Ethnicity	Ivatan people Yami people
Native speakers	(3,500 cited 1996 census) [1]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Batanic Yami–Itbayat Itbayat
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	itba1237
Itbayat and the other Batanic languages

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

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'). ^[2]

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/. ^[2]

Grammar

Pronouns

The following set of pronouns is found in the Itbayat language. ^[2]

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.