Abellen language
| Abellen | |
|---|---|
| Ayta Abellen | |
| Native to | Philippines |
| Region | Tarlac |
| Ethnicity | 5,000 Aeta (2008?) |
|
Native speakers
|
3,000 (2008) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | aben1249 |
Abellen, Abenlen, Aburlin, or Ayta Abellen, is a Sambalic language. It has about 3,500 speakers and is spoken in a few Aeta communities in Tarlac province, Philippines Ayta Abellen itself is part of the Sambalic language family in the Philippines and is closely related to not only the 5 other Ayta dialects, but also the Botolan dialect of Sambal.
The Ayta Abellen people are historically a semi-nomadic people. Also known as Negritos, they are said to be descendants of the earliest inhabitants of the Philippines, dating back to the late Era. The Ayta Abellen are distinguishable by their curly black hair, and darker skin tone as compared to other Filipinos. Since their language is similar to Austronesian languages, there is a theory of an Austronesian migration that occurred. In this theory, there were two different migrations, one from the southern coast of Sundaland eastward and from Wallacea to Mindanao, causing there to be a separation of Ayta people and the Mamanwa for about 20,000 to 30,000 years. Prior to the Austronesian migration, there was not much similarity between the original languages of the Negritos.
After the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the 1990s, some of the Ayta Abellen have rellocated from the mountains and have intermarried and mixed in with the local Ilocano people. As a result, there are Ilocano loan words in the language. Much of the population also speaks Ilocano as a second language along with Tagalog as well. They Ayta people rely on natural resources, however, due to shrinking forests, it has become harder to sustain that life style. This problem along with diseases, and its remoteness from modern health care centers are correlated with the higher death rate as compared to birth rate in the Ayta Abellen people
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Wikipedia