Ilocano language

Ilocano
Ilokano
Iloko, Iluko, Pagsasao nga Ilokano
Native to	Philippines
Region	Northern Luzon and most parts of Central Luzon
Ethnicity	Ilocano people Filipino Americans (Filipinos in Hawaii)
Native speakers	9.1 million (2015) Third most spoken native language in the Philippines
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Northern Philippine Northern Luzon Ilocano
Writing system	Latin (Ilocano alphabet), Ilokano Braille Historically Baybayin
Official status
Official language in	Regional language in the Philippines Official provincial language in La Union
Regulated by	Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino
Language codes
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3
Glottolog	`ilok1237`
Linguasphere	`31-CBA-a`
Area where Ilokano is spoken according to Ethnologue Striped areas are Itneg-Ilokano bilingual communities in Abra province
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Ilocano (also Ilokano; /iːloʊˈkɑːnoʊ/; Ilocano: Pagsasao nga Ilokano) is the third most-spoken native language of the Philippines.

An Austronesian language, it is related to such languages as Malay (Indonesian and Malaysian), Tetum, Chamorro, Fijian, Maori, Hawaiian, Samoan, Tahitian, Paiwan and Malagasy. It is closely related to some of the other Austronesian languages of Northern Luzon, and has slight mutual intelligibility with the Balangao language and the eastern dialects of the .

In September 2012, the province of La Union passed an ordinance recognizing Ilokano (Iloko) as an official provincial language, alongside Filipino and English, as national and official languages of the Philippines, respectively. It is the first province in the Philippines to pass an ordinance protecting and revitalizing a native language, although there are also other languages spoken in the province of La Union, including Pangasinense and Kankanaey.

Ilocano, like all Philippine languages, is an Austronesian language, a very expansive language family believed to originate in Taiwan. Ilocano comprises its own branch within the Philippine Cordilleran language subfamily. It is spoken as first language by seven million people.

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Wikipedia