Kankanaey language
| Kankanaey | |
|---|---|
| Kankana-ey | |
| Native to | Philippines |
| Region | Northern Luzon |
| Ethnicity | Kankanaey people |
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Native speakers
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(240,000 cited 1990 census – 2003) |
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Austronesian
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| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously: kne – Kankanaey xnn – Northern Kankanaey itt – Maeng Itneg |
| Glottolog | kank1245 |
Area where Kankanaey (including Northern Kankanaey, but not Maeng Itneg) is spoken according to Ethnologue
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Kankanaey (also spelled Kankana-ey) is a South-Central Cordilleran language under the Austronesian family spoken on the island of Luzon in The Philippines primarily by the Kankanaey people. Alternate names for the language include Central Kankanaey, Kankanai, and Kankanay. It is widely used by Cordillerans, alongside Ilocano, specifically people from the Mountain Province and people from the Northern part of the Benguet Province. Kankanaey has a slight mutual intelligibility with the Ilocano language.
Ethnologue lists Mankayan-Buguias, Kapangan, Bakun-Kibungan, and Guinzadan as dialects of Kankanaey. Northern Kankanaey is listed as a separate language.
Kankanaey proper is spoken in north Benguet, southwest Mountain, southeast Ilocos Sur, northeast La Union, southeast Ilocos Sur, southwest Mountain, and southwest Ifugao provinces. Northern Kankanaey is spoken in western Mountain Province, Ilocos Sur Province (Quirino, Cervantes, Gregorio del Pilar, San Emilio municipalities), and Abra Province (Tubo municipality).
This language should not be confused with a related, but different, language in the Sagada area called **Kankanay**. Of particular phonological interest is the very common occurrence of what is called the "barred i" in IPA. It is the unrounded, high mid vowel on the IPA chart. The letter /e/ in Kankanaey is to be pronounced as this sound, and not as the e in words like bet or wet. This is also one of the vowels in a few other Northern Luzon languages like Iloko and Pangasinan.
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Wikipedia