Region Luzon, Philippines ISO 639-3 ibl | Ethnicity Ibaloi people Glottolog ibal1244 | |
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Native speakers (110,000 cited 1990 census) Language family Austronesian
Malayo-Polynesian
Philippine
Northern Luzon
South–Central Cordilleran
Southern Cordilleran
Pangasinic
Benguet
Ibaloi | ||
The Ibaloi language (also called Inibaloi) belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages family. It is closely related to the Pangasinan language, spoken primarily in the province of Pangasinan, located southwest of Benguet.
Ibaloi is spoken in central and southern Benguet Province and in western Nueva Vizcaya Province. Dialects are Daklan, Kabayan, Bokod (Ethnologue).
Ibaloi phonemes are similar to those found in other Philippine languages with a few exceptions. Many variants of the Ibaloi tongue have naturally occurring /f/, /dʒ/ and /v/, as in sifa (interrogative who), ibjag (to lose one's grip on something or someone, to let go) and divit (a traditional wrap-around skirt). /ʃ/ is also commonly heard in the La Trinidad valley and nearby areas, as in shima (a particle usually equivalent to the prepositions in, on, or to depending on the sentence construction), but may be occasionally heard as /tʃ/ in some communities.