Kapampangan - Definition and Overview

Kapampangan is one of the languages of the Philippines. The native speakers of Kapampangan are found in the provinces of Pampanga and Tarlac. Speakers can also be found in Bataan and Bulacan. Kapampangan is one of the eight major ethno-linguistics groups in the country.

Language Name: Kapampangan. It has also been called Pampanga, Pampango, Pampangan, or Pampagueño, but the name Kapampangan has been used most often in the linguistic literature, and is also preferred by native Kapampangans.

Location: Kapampangan is spoken mainly in Pampanga province and southern Tarlac, but also in parts of Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, and Bataan provinces, Central Luzon, the Philippines.

Family: Austronesian language family, Malayo-Polynesian branch, Western Malayo-Polynesian subbranch, Northern Philippine, Bashiic-Central Luzon-Northern Mindoro, Central Luzon, Kapampangan.

Related Languages: Kapampangan is classified as one of the Northern Philippine languages, although this classification is by no means definitive, since Kapampangan is not similar to TAGALOG to the south, nor to ILOCANO to the north in many respects.

Dialects: There are at least two major dialects; in the western dialect, final -ay has frequently changed to -e, final -aw to -o (Forman 1971a). Anicia Del Corro has worked on Kapampangan dialects in the 1980’s, and classified the dialects into Northern, Eastern, Central, Western, and Southern. Both Forman (1971a) and Gonzalez (1981) think that there are only minor differences among the dialects.

Number of Speakers: 2 million (Ethnologue, 13th edition, 1997, SIL).

Origin and History: Little is known about the pre-Hispanic history of the language, except the existence of a Kapampangan syllabary (Forman 1971a). The first recorded pedagogical grammar in Kapampangan was Arte, Vocabulario, y Confesionario Pampango by Diego Ochoa (circa 1580). Augustinian friar Diego Bergaño wrote several important works, including Arte de la Lengua Pampanga (1729) and Vocabulario de la Lengua Pampanga en Romance (1732). One remarkable style of Kapampangan literature is called the crissotan, named in honor of famous playwright and poet Juan Crisostomo Soto (1867-1918), which is a debate in Kapampangan verse (Zapanta-Manlapaz 1981).

Orthography: Generally, the Tagalog-based orthography is used for writing Kapampangan, although the Spanish-based orthography may sometimes be considered authentic and preferred. In addition, one may find minor spelling variations mostly due to personal preferences. The Tagalog alphabet consists of the following letters (in alphabetical order): A B K D E G H I L M N NG O P R S T U W Y.

Basic Phonology

Kapampangan has the following consonants and vowels shown in the tables by their orthographic symbols. The voiceless velar stop may get voiced and fricativized between vowels in some words (e.g. kéka ‘2SG oblique pronoun’). The glottal stop is not always indicated in writing or publication, but in this overview, it is represented with a grave accent (`) on the final syllable, or a circumflex accent (^) if the word has final stress.

Consonants:

Bilabial Dental Alveo-Palatal Velar Glottal Stops voiceless voiced p b t d k g - [] Fricatives s h Affricates voiceless voiced ts, ch, ty, ti [] dy, di [] Nasals m n ng [] Lateral l Flap r Glides w y

Vowels:

Front Central Back Hi i u Mid e o Low a

Two pairs of vowels, [i, e] and [u, o], may be contrastive or may be alternants in the same word (e.g. ku ‘1SG pronoun’ vs. ko ‘2PL pronoun’; kuya ~ koya ‘elder brother’). The mid variants [e] and [o] may occur word-finally in interrogative or exclamatory utterances (e.g. E ku balù. ‘I don’t know’ vs. E me balò? ‘Don’t you know him?’). Stress in Kapampangan is contrastive. A stressed vowel is pronounced long unless it is in the final closed syllable (e.g. /masá:kit/ ‘difficult’ vs. /ma:sakít/ ‘sick’).

Basic Morphology

Kapampangan verbs can be classified either as intransitive or transitive, depending on what affixes and enclitic pronouns they take. Verbs derive for focus (see Basic Syntax) and inflect for aspect. There are three aspects in Kapampangan; contingent (contemplated, future), perfective (completed, past), and imperfective (incompleted, progressive, present). The following are most frequently used affixes (Forman 1971a, Mirikitani 1971). (CV = reduplication of the first syllable of a root)

CONTINGENT PERFECTIVE IMPERFECTIVE Intransitive affixes Actor focus -um- -in- CV- mag- mig-, meg- ma:g- maN- meN- ma:N- ma- me- ma:- Transitive affixes Patient focus i- -in- CV- (zero) -in- CV- -an -in- CV- -an Directional focus -an -in- (-an) CV- (-an) pag- -an pig- -an pa:g- -an paN- -an piN- -an, peN- -an pa:N- -an Beneficiary focus (i)pag- pig- (i)pa:g- (i)paN- piN-, peN- (i)pa:N- Instrumental focus (i)paN- piN-, peN- pa:N-

There are irregular verbs that conjugate through the vowel alternations and reduplication of the first syllable.

CONTINGENT PERFECTIVE IMPERFECTIVE Examples -a- -i-, -e- CV- makó - mekó - mámakó (‘leave’) -u- -i- CV- muntá - mintá – mumuntá (‘go’)

Other notable verbal affixes include aptative (abilitative, accidental or coincidental actions), distributive (states or actions distributed over space, time, or participants, e.g. repetitive actions), and causative affixes (see Example Sentences below).

CONTINGENT PERFECTIVE IMPERFECTIVE Aptative Intransitive maka- meka- ma:ka- makapag- mekapag- ma:kapag- makapaN- mekapaN- ma:kapaN- makapa- mekapa- ma:kapa- Transitive a- a- a- Distributive Intransitive maN- meN- ma:N- Transitive paN- (-an) peN- (-an) pa:N- (-an) Causative Intransitive magpa- migpa- ma:gpa- Transitive papa-, pa- pe:pa-, pe:- pa:pa-, pa:-

Adjectives may be monomorphemic or formed with a root and affixation. A large number of adjectives are formed by adding the prefix ma- (plural manga-). The comparative degree is marked by mas, borrowed from Spanish (e.g. mas maragul ‘bigger’). Superlative adjectives are formed with the prefix peka- (pekamaragul ‘biggest’). Adjectives may be intensified by the prefix ka-, in place of ma- (karagul ‘so big’), or by the repetition of an adjective (Matas yang matas. ‘He/She is very tall.’) Case marking in Kapampangan is on an ergative/absolutive basis (Mithun 1994). Absolutive forms (better known as topic, nominative or subject in Philippine linguistics) are used to mark the only core argument in an intransitive clause and a more patient-like argument in a transitive clause. Ergative (or genitive) forms are used to mark a more agent-like argument in a transitive clause and a possessor in an NP. Nouns may be case-marked (absolutive, ergative or oblique) or not case-marked (indefinite bare nominal). Case-marked nouns may be modified by one of the following prenominal articles (= case markers, deteminers). Note that the absolutive singular form ing often gets contracted to an enclitic =ng in natural speech.

Articles

ABS ERG OBL Common nouns SG PL ing, =ng ning king, keng deng/reng reng karing Personal names SG PL i =ng kang di/ri ri kari

There are enclitic personal pronouns (absolutive and ergative) and free pronouns (absolutive and oblique). The enclitics usually occupy the second-position of the clause and the NP. Some pronouns have shortened variants.

Personal pronouns

ABS (clitic) ABS (free) ERG (clitic) OBL (free) 1SG ku yáku, áku ku kanáku, káku 2SG ka íka mu kéka 3SG ya íya na kaya 1DUAL kata íkata ta kékata 1PL.INCL katámu, támu, katá, tá íkatámu, ítamu, íkatá, ítá támu, tá kékatámu, kékatá 1PL.EXCL kami, ke íkami, íke mi kékami, kéke 2PL kayu, ko íkayu, íko yu kékayu, kéko 3PL la íla da/ra karéla

Enclitic combinations (ergative + absolutive) may often be fused, as shown in the table below: ERGATIVE ABSOLUTIVE ABS.3SG (ya) ABS.3PL (la) ERG.1SG (ku) ke, kya ko ERG.2SG (mu) me, mya mo ERG.3SG (na) ne, nya no ERG.1DUAL (ta) te, tya to ERG.1PL.INCL (tá) (táya) (tála) ERG.1PL.EXCL (mi) mya (mila) ERG.2PL (yu) ye, ya yo ERG.3PL (da/ra) de/re, dya/rya do/ro

E.g. Íkit ke (saw ERG.1SG+ABS.3SG) ‘I saw him/her/it’; Á-pangan ke itá=ng bútol. (APTATIVE-eat ERG.1SG+ABS.3SG that.ABS=LK seed) ‘I accidentally ate the seed’; Kanínu me pa-gawâ?( who.OBL ERG.2SG+ABS.3SG CAUS-make) ‘Who will you ask to make it?’ Kapampangan has a three-way spatial demonstrative system (proximal = near the speaker; medial = near the listener; distal = far from both). However, spatial demonstrative adverbs distinguish two degrees of distals (visible vs. invisible).

Demonstrative pronouns

ABS ERG OBL Proximal SG PL iní déni/réni niní daréni kaníni karéni Medial SG PL iyán dén/rén niyán darén kanyán karén Distal SG PL itá déta/réta nitá daréta kaníta karéta

Demonstrative adverbs

LOCATIVE (here, there, over there) DIRECTION (to this/that place) TEMPORAL Proximal kéni kaníni (immediate future) Medial kén kanyán (future) Distal (visible) kéta kaníta (past) Distal (invisible) karín

Basic Syntax

Like other Philippine languages, Kapampangan is a predicate-initial language, i.e. verbs and adjectives usually occupy the initial position, but various elements may also appear initially when they function as a predicate (e.g. NPs and question words) or for discourse-pragmatic reasons. Pronominal and adverbial clitics usually occupy the second position of a clause and an NP. Unlike many other Philippine languages, Kapampangan pronominal clitics are almost always obligatory. In the following example, the third-person singular absolutive pronoun ya is coreferential with i Dan.

Masantíng ya i Dan. handsome ABS.3SG ART.ABS.SG Dan ‘Dan is handsome.’

Here are some examples of the noun phrase. (LK = linker, which is realized either as =ng (after vowels, n, and the glottal stop) or a): ing kótse ku (ART.ABS.SG car ERG.1SG) ‘my car’; ing báyu ku=ng kótse (ART.ABS.SG new ERG.1SG=LK car) ‘my new car’; iní=ng anák na=ng Jun (this.ABS.SG=LK child ERG.3SG=ART.ERG.SG Jun) ‘this kid of Jun’s’; ing dimdám ku kang Aida (ART.ABS.SG heard ERG.1SG ART.OBL.SG Aida) ‘what I heard from Aida’. The morphology of the verb indicates the semantic relationship between the predicate and the absolutive argument. Thus, in a patient focus construction, for example, the absolutive argument is semantically a patient, and the verbal predicate takes appropriate patient focus affixes. The following are examples of each focus construction. (The underlined argument is absolutive.)

Actor focus (AF) Mámangan ya=ng manúk. eating.AF ABS.3SG=LK chicken ‘He/She is eating chicken.’ (Root: kan ‘eat’)

Patient focus (PF) Kakanán ke ing manúk. eating.PF ERG.1SG+ABS.3SG ART.ABS.SG chicken ‘I am eating the chicken.’ (Root: kan ‘eat’)

Directional focus (DF) Dínan me=ng péra itá=ng anák. give.to.DF ERG.2SG+ABS.3SG=LK money that.ABS.SG=LK child ‘(You) give some money to that kid.’ (Root: din ‘give’)

Beneficiary focus (BF) Pangadî me. pray.for.BF ERG.2SG+ABS.3SG ‘(You) pray for him/her/it.’ (Root: adî ‘pray)

Instrumental focus (IF) Penyúlat ke ing lápis. wrote.with.IF ERG.1SG+ABS.3SG ART.ABS.SG pencil ‘I wrote with the pencil.’ (Root: súlat ‘write’)

Negation is expressed by the predicate-initial e.

E ra na ta burí. NEG ERG.3PL already ABS.1PL.INCL like ‘They don’t like us any more.’

Both existence and possession are expressed by the existential particles atin, ating or atiu (‘there is, be present, have’) and alâ (‘there is not, be absent, do not have’).

Atíng métung a árì a maburí king kwéntu. EXIST one LK king LK fond ART.OBL.SG story ‘There was a king who likes (to hear) stories.’

Alá=ng pámangan keng balé. NEG.EXIST=LK food ART.OBL.SG house ‘There is no food in the house.’

Alá yu. NEG.EXIST ABS.3SG ‘He is absent.’ (The special third-person form yu is used instead of ya)

Atín ya=ng kapatád a laláki i Tony. EXIST ABS.3SG=LK sibling LK man ART.ABS.SG Tony ‘Tony has a brother.’

Contact with other Languages

Like many other Philippine languages, Kapampangan has a considerable number of Spanish and English loanwords. It is common to use Spanish, English and Tagalog words in daily Kapampangan conversation. One such example from natural conversational data is: I-seal ke ságulì. ‘I will just seal it first.’

Common Words

man: laláki (PLURAL la:lá:ki) woman: babái (PLURAL ba:bá:i) flower: sampága tree: dútung water: danúm sun: aldó three: atlú fish: asán long: makábà good: máyap yes: wa no: alî big: máragul small: malatî bird: áyop dog: ásu town: balén house: balé

Example Sentences:

(1) Atín ku=ng balíta=ng tínggap ku nápun. EXIST ABS.1SG=LK news=LK received ERG.1SG yesterday ‘I have news that I received yesterday.’

(2) E ku bálu=ng dínatang ka kéni. NEG ERG.1SG know=LK came ABS.2SG here ‘I didn’t know that you came here.’

(3) Nung bísa kayú=ng mulí atád da kayú. if want ABS.2PL=LK go.home escort ERG.1SG ABS.2PL ‘If you want to come home, I can take you (home).’ (The first-person singular ergative pronominal form is da only when combined with the second-person pronouns ka and kayu.)

(4) Kítang da nung nánu=ng milyári kayá. asked ERG.3PL COMP what=ART.ABS.SG happened OBL.3SG ‘They asked what happened to him.’

(5) Magpa-ragúl ya=ng kamátis. CAUS-big ABS.3SG=LK tomato ‘He grows tomatoes.’ (causative)

Efforts to Preserve, Protect and Promote the Language

Throughout the region, children still learn Kapampangan as the first language, but in urban cities, such as San Fernando and Angeles, and nearby towns, children are being taught to speak Tagalog to cope with pre-school and primary school education. The pioneering organization promoting the perpetuation of Kapampangan literature and the research on Kapampangan history and language is the Akademyang Kapampangan (AKKAP), founded in 1937 by Zoilo J. Hilario, Monico R. Mercado and Amado M. Yuzon. AKKAP’s periodical is titled Ing Susi (‘The Key’). Today, there are many individuals and various groups interested in preserving and promoting Kapampangan language and culture. One of such groups is the Batiauan Foundation, whose mission is to launch and fund projects aimed against the decline in the prestige and use of the Kapampangan language. Kapampangan people’s efforts are also centered on some web sites (e.g. Kapampangan Homepage: www.balen.net). (I owe to Dave Nepomuceno and Mike Pangilinan much of the sociolinguistic information here.)

Select Bibliography

Bergaño, Diego. 1732 [1860]. Vocabulario de la lengua Pampanga en romance. Manila: Imprenta de Ramirez y Giraudier. Forman, Michael L. 1971a. Kapampangan grammar notes. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Forman, Michael L. 1971b. Kapampangan dictionary. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Gonzalez, Andrew B. 1981. Pampangan: Towards a meaning-based description. Pacific Linguistics, Series C - No. 48. Canberra: Department of Linguistics, The Australian National University. Mirikitani, Leatrice T. 1971. Speaking Kapampangan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Mirikitani, Leatrice T. 1972. Kapampangan syntax. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Mithun, Marianne. 1994. The implications of ergativity for a Philippine voice system. Voice: Form and function, ed. by Barbara Fox and Paul J. Hopper, 247-77. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Zapanta-Manlapaz, Edna. 1981. Kapampangan literature: A historical survey and anthology. Quezon City, Metro Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press. Zorc, R. David. 1992. Grammatical outline. Kapampangan reader: Philippine language series, by Alma M. Davidson and Leonardo Aquino Pineda, ed. by Pamela Johnstone Moguet, ix-xxviii. Kensington, MD: Dunwoody Press.

Acknowledgements: I would like to thank all the people who have been very generous in sharing their knowledge and expertise about their native language with me, especially Connie V. Diaz, Dave Nepomuceno, Edwin N. Camaya, and Mike R.M. Pangilinan. This research has been supported by a grant from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture (Grant-in-Aid for Encouragement of Young Scientists).