Kapampangan language Totally Explained

Everything about Kapampangan Language totally explained

Kapampangan is one of the major languages of the Philippines. The language is also called Pampango, Capampangan, Pampangueño, and Amanung Sisuan. The latter literally means "breastfed language" and is analogous to the term "native language."

History

The word Kapampangan is derived from the rootword pampang which means "river bank."
   Very little is known about the language prior to the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century.
   In the 18th century, two books were written by Fr. Diego Bergaño. He authored Vocabulario de la lengua Pampanga and Arte de la lengua Pampanga.
   The Kapampangan Language produced two literary giants in the 19th century. Father Anselmo Fajardo was noted for his works Gonzalo de Córdova and Comedia Heróica de la Conquista de Granada. Another writer, Juan Crisostomo Soto, was noted for writing many plays. He authored Alang Dios in 1901. The Kapampangan poetical joust "Crissotan" was coined by his fellow literary genius Nobel Prize nominee for peace and literature in the 50's, Amado Yuzon to immortalize his contribution to Pampanga's Literature. Currently, the use of Kapampangan, even in areas where the language has traditionally been spoken, is in decline.

Classification

Kapampangan is a Northern Philippine language within the Austronesian language family.
   The position of Kapampangan among the Northern Philippine language family isn't clear. It's been grouped by SIL as a member of the geographically disjointed Bashiic-Central Luzon-Northern Mindoro language subfamily. This includes languages like Ivatan (spoken north of Luzon), Yami (spoken on Orchid Island, near the southeast coast of Taiwan, and closely related to Ivatan), and Iraya of the island of Mindoro.
   Kapampangan's closest relatives are the Sambal languages of Zambales province and the Bolinao language spoken in the city of Bolinao, Pangasinan.
   Most, if not all, of these languages share the same reflex of the Proto-Austronesian consonant *R, which is /j/ in those languages.

Geographic distribution

Kapampangan is primarily spoken in the provinces of Pampanga and in the southern towns of the province of Tarlac (Bamban, Capas, Concepcion, San Jose, Gerona, La Paz, and Tarlac City). It is also spoken in isolated communities within the provinces of Bataan (Abucay, Dinalupihan, Hermosa, and Samal), Bulacan (Plaridel, Pulilan, and Calumpit), Nueva Ecija (Cabiao), Zambales (Olongapo and Subic) and the city of Manila.
The Philippine Census of 2000 stated that a total of 2,312,870 out of 76,332,470 people spoke Kapampangan as their native language.

Phonology

Standard Kapampangan has 21 phonemes: 15 consonants and five vowels. Some western dialects of Kapampangan have six vowels. Syllable structure is relatively simple. Each syllable contains at least a consonant and a vowel.

Vowels

Kapampangan is complete in vowel phonemes, they are:

/a/ an open front unrounded vowel similar to English "father"
/ɛ/ an open-mid front unrounded vowel similar to English "bed"
/i/ a close front unrounded vowel similar to English "machine"
/o/ a close-mid back rounded vowel similar to English "forty"
/u/ a close back rounded vowel similar to English "flute"

In addition to those, some dialects also had /ə/. In some western accents, there's a sixth monophthong phoneme /ɯ/, a close back unrounded vowel, found in for example [atɯp] "roof" and [lalɯm] "deep". However, this sound has merged with /a/ for most Kapampangan speakers.
There are four main diphthongs; /aɪ/, /oɪ/, /aʊ/, and /iʊ/. However, in most dialects, including standard Kapampangan, /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ are reduced to /ɛ/ and /o/, respectively.
The monophthongs have allophones in unstressed and word-final positions:

/a/ is raised slightly in unstressed positions except final syllables

Unstressed /i u/ are usually pronounced [ɪʊ] as in English "bit" and "book" respectively, except final syllables.

At the end of a word and declarative sentences, /ɛ/ and /i/ are pronounced [i], and /o/ and /u/ are pronounced [u].

However, in exclamatory and interogatory statements, /ɛ/ and /i/ are pronounced [ɛ], and /o/ and /u/ are pronounced [o]. Examples:

"What is this?" is Nanu ine?, not *Nanu ini?
"Come here!" is Me kene!, not *Me keni!
"Who is Pedro?" is Ninu i Pedro?, not *Ninu i Pedru?
"(He) wrote me!" is Silatanan na ko!, not *Silatanan na ku!

Consonants

Below is a chart of Kapampangan consonants. All the stops are unaspirated. The velar nasal occurs in all positions including at the beginning of a word.
Unlike other Philippine languages, Kapampangan lacks the phoneme /h/.

		Bilabial	Dental / Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		(ng) ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p	t	(ts, tiy) tʃ	k	- ʔ
Stop	voiced	b	d	(diy) dʒ	g
Fricative			s	(siy) ʃ
Flap			r
Approximant			l	(y) j	w

/k/ has a tendency to lenite to [x] between vowels.

[d] and [ɾ] are allophones in Kapampangan, and thus sometimes interchangeable. So, Nukarin la ring libro? can be Nukarin la ding libro? (Translation: Where are the books?)

A glottal stop that occurs at the end of a word is often omitted when it's in the middle of a sentence.

Stress

Stress is phonemic in Kapampangan. Primary stress occurs on either the last or the next-to-last syllable of a word. Vowel lengthening accompanies primary or secondary stress except when stress occurs at the end of a word.

Historical sound changes

In Kapampangan, the Proto-Philippine schwa vowel *ə has merged to /a/ in most dialects of Kapampangan. It is preserved in some western dialects. For example, Proto-Philippine *tanəm is tanam (to plant) in Kapampangan. Compare with Tagalog tanim and Cebuano tanom.
Proto-Philippine *R merged with /j/. For example, the Kapampangan word for "new" is bayu while in Tagalog it's bago and baro in Ilokano.

Grammar

Nouns

While Kapampangan nouns are not inflected, they're usually preceded by case markers. There are three types of case markers: absolutive (nominative), ergative (genitive), and oblique.
   Unlike English and Spanish which are nominative-accusative languages, Kapampangan is an ergative-absolutive language. It's a common misconception that Kapampangan is frequently spoken in the passive voice.
   Absolutive or nominative markers mark the actor of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb.
   Ergative or genitive markers mark the object (usually indefinite) of an intransitive verb and the actor of a transitive one. It also marks possession.
   Oblique markers are similar to prepositions in English. It marks things such as location and direction.
   Furthermore, noun markers are divided into two classes: one for names of people (personal) and the second for everything else (common).
   Below is a chart of case markers.

	Absolutive	Ergative	Oblique
Common singular	ing	-ng, ning	king
Common plural	ding ring	ring	karing
Personal singular	i	-ng	kang
Personal plural	di ri	ri	kari

Examples:
Dinatang ya ing lalaki.
"The man arrived."
   Ikit neng Juan i Maria.
"John saw Maria."
   Munta la ri Elena at Robertu king bale nang Miguel./Munta la di Elena at Robertu king bale nang Miguel.
"Elena and Roberto will go to Miguel's house."
   Nukarin la ring libro?
"Where are the books?" Ibie ke ing susi kang Carmen.
I will give the key to Carmen.

Pronouns

Kapampangan pronouns are categorized by case: absolutive, ergative, and oblique.

	Absolutive (Independent)	Absolutive (Enclitic)	Ergative	Oblique
1st person singular	yaku, aku	ku	ku	kanaku, kaku
2nd person singular	ika	ka	mu	keka
3rd person singular	iya, ya	ya	na	keya, kaya
1st person dual	ikata	kata, ta	ta	kekata
1st person plural inclusive	ikatamu, itamu	katamu, tamu	tamu, ta	kekatamu, kekata
1st person plural exclusive	ikami, ike	kami, ke	mi	kekami, keke
2nd person plural	ikayo, iko	kayu, ko	yu	kekayu, keko
3rd person plural	ila	la	da ra	karela

Examples:
Sinulat ku.
"I wrote."
   Silatanan na ku.
"(He) wrote me."
   Dinatang ya.
"He has arrived." [Note:Dinatang ya = "He arrived" or "He arrives"; He has arrived = Dinatang ne]
   Sabyan me kaku.
"Tell me it." [Idon't know how to explain this; more proper translation is: tell it to me or to some effect "advise me"}
   Ninu ing minaus keka?
"Who called you?
   Mamasa la.
"They are reading."
   Mamangan la ring babi?/Mamangan la ding babi?
"Are the pigs eating?" (literally: "Eating they the pigs?")
   Genitive pronouns follow the word they modify. Oblique pronouns can take the place of the genitive pronoun but they precede the word they modify.
   Ing bale ku.
Ing kakung bale.
"My house."
   The dual pronoun ikata refers to only the first and second persons.
   The inclusive pronoun ikatamu refers to the first and second persons. It may also refer to a third person(s).
   The exclusive pronoun ikamí refers to the first and third persons but excludes the second.
   Ala tang nasi.
"We (you and I) don't have rice." [the word "you" here maybe plural or singular]
   Ala tamung nasi.
"We (you and I and someone else) don't have rice." [thisis the same as above; "tang" is only a shortcut of "tamung"]
   Ala keng nasi.
"We (someone else and I, but not you) don't have rice." [thethird person maybe singular or plural, that is, "we" may refer to "He/She and I" or "They and I"]
   Furthermore, Kapampangan stands out among many Philippine languages in requiring the presence of the pronoun even if the noun it represents, or the grammatical antecedent, is present.
   Dinatang ya i Erning. (not *dinatang i Erning)
"Ernie arrived."
   Mamasa la ri Maria at Juan./Mamasa la di Maria at Juan. (not *mamasa ri Maria at Juan/mamasa di Maria at Juan)
"Maria and Juan are reading."
   Silatanan na kang José. (not *silatanan kang José)
"José wrote you."
   As a comparison, it would be akin to saying *dumating siya si Erning, *bumabasa sila sina Maria at Juan and *sinulatan ka niya ni José in Tagalog.

Special forms

The pronouns ya and la have special forms when they're used in conjunction with the words ati (there is/are) and ala (there is/are not).
   Ati yu king Pampanga. (not *Ati ya king Pampanga)
"He is in Pampanga."
   Ala lu ring doktor keni./Ala lu ding doktor keni. (not *ala la ring doktor keni/ala la ding doktor keni)
The doctors are no longer here.
   Note: for some speakers of Kapampangan (possibly certain dialects), all of the above forms can be used:
Both "ati yu" and "ati ya" are equally right. Plural form ("they are") is "atilu" and "atila".
Both "ala la" and "ala lu" are correct in the plural form. Singular form is "ala ya" and "ala yu"

Pronoun combinations

The order and forms in which Kapampangan pronouns appear in sentences are outlined in the following chart.
   Kapampangan pronouns follow a certain order following verbs or particles like negation words. The enclitic pronoun is always first followed by another pronoun or discourse marker.
   Ikit da ka.
"I saw you."
   Silatanan na ku.
"He wrote to me."
   However, the following constructions are incorrect: *ikit ka da and *silatanan ku na Also, pronouns combine to form one portmanteau pronoun.
   Ikit ke. (instead of Ikit ku ya)
"I saw her."
   Dinan kong pera. (instead of Dinan ku lang pera.)
"I will give them money." [Actually"Dinan ku la..." is correct; "kong..." is a shortcut of "ku lang..."]
   Portmanteau pronouns are not usually used in questions and while using the word naman. Furthermore,
   Akakit me? (instead of akakit me?)
Do you see him?
   Buri nya naman yan/buri ne murin yan. (instead of buri ne naman yan)
he likes that, too
   The chart below outlines the permitted combinations of pronouns. There are blank entries to denote combinations which are deemed impossible.
   The column headings (for example, yaku, ika, etc.) in bold denote pronouns in the absolutive case while the row headings (for example, ku, mu, etc.) denote pronouns in the ergative case.

yaku
1 s ika
2 s ya
3 s ikata
1 dual ikatamu
1 p inc. ikami
1 p exc. ikayo
2 p ila
3 p
ku
1 s (ing sarili ku) da ka
ra ka ke
kya - - - da ko (ra ko)
da kayu (ra kayu) ko
ku la

mu
2 s mu ku (ing sarili mu) me
mya - - mu ke
mu kami - mo
mu la

na
3 s na ku na ka ne
nya
(ing sarili na) na kata na katamu na ke
na kami na ko
na kayu no
nu la

ta
1 dual - - te
tya (ing sarili ta) - - - to
ta la

tamu
1 p inc. - - ta ya - (ing sarili tamu) - - ta la

mi
1 p exc. - da ka
ra ka mi ya - - (ing sarili mi) da ko (ra ko)
da kayu (ra kayu) mi la

yu
2 p yu ku - ye
ya - - yu ke
yu kami (ing sarili yu) yo
yu la

da
3 p da ku (ra ku) da ka (ra ka) de (re)
dya da kata (ra kata) da katamu (ra katamu) da ke (ra ke)
da kami (ra kami) da ko (ra ko)
da kayu (ra kayu) do (ro)
da la (ra la)
(ing sarili da)

Demonstrative pronouns
Kapampangan's demonstrative pronouns are outlined in the chart below.
   This particular system of demonstrative pronouns differs with other Philippine languages by having separate forms for the singular and plural.

Absolutive Ergative Oblique Locative Existential
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural

Nearest to speaker
(this, here) ini deni
reni nini dareni kanini kareni oyni oreni keni

Near speaker & addressee
(this, here) iti deti
reti niti dareti kaniti kareti oyti oreti keti

Nearest addressee
(that, there) iyan den
ren niyan daren kanyan karen oyan oren ken

Remote
(yon, yonder) ita deta
reta nita dareta kanita kareta oyta oreta keta

The demonstrative pronouns ini and iti (as well as their respective forms) both mean "this" but each have distinct uses. Iti usually refers to something abstract but may also refer to concrete nouns. For example, iting musika (this music), iti ing gagawan mi (this is what we do). Ini is always concrete and never abstract. For example ining libru (this book), ini ing asu nang Juan (this is Juan's dog).
   Furthermore, in their locative forms, keni is used when the person spoken to isn't near the subject spoken of. Keti, on the other hand, when the person spoken to is near the subject spoken of. For example, two people in the same country will refer to their country as keti however, that'll refer to their respective towns as keni. Both mean here.
   Nanu ini?
"What's this?"
   Mangabanglu la rening sampaga./Mangabanglu la dening sampaga.
"These flowers smell good."
   Ninu ing lalaking ita?
"Who is that man/guy?"
   Me keni/munta ka keni.
"Come here."
   Ati ku keti/atsu ku keni/atyu ku keni.
"I am here."
   Mangan la keta.
"They will eat there."
   Ninu ing anak a yan?
"Who is that child?"
   Uyta/Oyta ya pala ing salamin mo/mu!
"So that's where your glasses are!"
   E ku pa menakit makanyan/makanini.
"I haven't seen one of these before"
   Manyaman la ren./Manyaman la den.
Those are delicious.
   ayni/Areni/Oreni la reng adwang regalo para keka.
"Here are the two gifts for you."
Verbs
Kapampangan verbs are morphologically complex and take on a variety of affixes reflecting focus, aspect, mode, and others.
Ambiguities and irregularities
Speakers of other Philippine languages find Kapampangan verbs to be more difficult than their own languages' verbs due to some verbs belonging to unpredictable verb classes as well as ambiguity with certain verb forms.
   To illustrate this, let's take the rootword sulat (write) which exists in both Tagalog and Kapampangan. For example:

susulat means "is writing" in Kapampangan but "will write" in Tagalog.

sumulat means "will write" in Kapampangan but "wrote" in Tagalog. This form is also the infinitive in both languages.

sinulat means "wrote" in both languages. However in Kapampangan it's in the actor focus but object focus in Tagalog The object-focus suffix -an represents two types of focuses. However, the only difference between the two is that one of the conjugations preserves -an in the completed aspect while it's dropped in the other conjugation. Take the two verbs below:
� bayaran (to pay someone): bayaran (will pay someone), babayaran (is paying someone), beyaran (paid someone)

� bayaran (to pay for something): bayaran (will pay for something), babayaran (is paying for something), binayad (paid for something)

Note that other Philippine languages have separate forms. For example, there's -in and -an in Tagalog, -on and -an in Bikol and in most of the Visayan languages, and -en and -an in Ilokano. This is due to historical sound changes concerning Proto-Philippine /*e/ mentioned above.
   There are a number of actor-focus verbs which don't use the infix -um- but are usually conjugated like other verbs that do. For example, gawa (to do), bulus (to immerse), terak (to dance), lukas (to take off), sindi (to smoke), saklu (to fetch), takbang (to step), tuki (to accompany), etc. are used instead of *gumawa, *bumulus, *tumerak, *lumukas, *sumindi, *sumaklu, *tumakbang, *tumuki,
   Many of the verbs mentioned in the previous paragraph undergo a change of their vowel rather than use the infix -in- (completed aspect). In the actor focus (for example, -um- verbs), this happens only to verbs having the vowel /u/ in the first syllable. For example, the verb lukas (to take off) is conjugated lukas (will take off), lulukas (is taking off), and likas (took off) (rather than *linukas).
   This change of vowel also applies to certain object-focus verbs in the completed aspect. In addition to /u/ becoming /i/, /a/ becomes /e/ in certain cases. For example, dela (brought something) and not *dinala, semal (worked on something) and not *sinamal, and seli (bought) and not *sinali.
   Furthermore, there's no written distinction between the two mag- affixes in writing. Magsalita can either mean is speaking or will speak. There is an audible difference, however. [mɐgsaliˈtaʔ] means "will speak" while [ˌmaːgsaliˈtaʔ] means "is speaking".

Conjugation chart

Below is a chart of the basic Kapampangan verbal affixes.

	Infinitive & Contemplative	Progressive	Completed
Actor Focus^1a	-um-	CV-	-in-
Actor Focus^1b	-	CV-	-in- -i-
Actor Focus^1c	m-	mVm-	min- me-
Actor Focus²	mag-	mág-	mig-, meg-
Actor Focus³	ma-	má-	ne-
Actor Focus⁴	maN-	máN-	meN-
Object Focus¹	-an	CV- ... -an	-in- -i- -e-
Object Focus² Benefactive Focus	i-	iCV-	i- -in- i- -i- i- -e-
Object Focus³ Locative Focus	-an	CV- ... -an	-in- ... -an -i- ... -an -e- ... -an
Instrument Focus	ipaN-	páN-	piN-, peN
Reason Focus	ka-	ká-	ke-

Enclitic Particles

1. ba: used optionally in yes-and-no questions and other types of questions. 2. daw/raw: reporting or hearsay particle that expresses that the information is second-hand; he said, she said, they said, it was said, allegedly, reportedly, supposedly. 3. din/rin: inclusive particle that adds something to what was said before; also, too. 4. iká: expresses hope, unrealized condition (with verb in completed aspected), used in conditional aspects. 5. itá: expresses uncertainty and unrealized idea; perhaps, probably, seems. 6. kahit, man: even, even if, even though. 7. kung: condition particle that expresses unexpected event; if. 8. lang: limiting particle; only, just. 9. na and pa

na: now, already, yet, anymore.

pa: still, else. 10. namán: used in making contrasts and softens requests and emphasis. 11. nanu ita: expresses cause; because, because of. 12. ngâ: used in affirmations or emphasis and also softens imperatives; indeed. 13. palá: realization particle that expresses that the speaker has realized and/or suddenly remembered something. 14. po: politeness particle.

Existential

Interrogative Words

Komustá is used to inquire how something is (are). It is frequently used as a greeting meaning How are you? It is derived from the Spanish ¿cómo está?. Komustá na ka?
“How are you?”
   Komustá ya ing pasyente?
“How is the patient?” Nanu means what.
   Nanu ya ing gagawan mu?
“What are you doing?” Ninu means who.
   Ninu la reng lalake?/Ninu la deng lalake?
“Who are those men?”
   Ninu i Jennifer?
“Who is Jennifer?” Nokarin means where but is used to inquire about the location of an object and not used with verbs.
   Nokarin ya ing drayber?
“Where is the driver?”
Note: Drayber is the Kapampangan phonetic spelling of “driver.”
   Nokarin ya i Henry?
“Where is Henry?”

Loan words

Kapampangan has a plethora of Spanish loan words, given its more than three hundred years of occupation. Among a few examples are suerti from Spanish suerte (luck), kurus from cruz (cruz), karni from carne (meat), and korsunada from corazonada.
Due to the influence of Buddhism and Hinduism from the surrounding islands, Kapampangan also acquired words from Sanskrit. A few examples are:

kalma "fate" from Sanskrit karma

damla "divine law" from Sanskrit dharma

mantala "magic formulas" from Sanskrit mantra

upaya "power" from Sanskrit upaya

lupa "face" from Sanskrit rupa

sabla "every" from Sanskrit sarva

lawu "eclipse" from Sanskrit rahu

galura "giant eagle (a surname)" from Sanskrit garuda

laksina "south (a surname)" from Sanskrit dakshin

laksamana "admiral (a surname)" from Sanskrit lakshmana Kapampangan also contains a lot of Chinese especially from Cantonese and Hokkien. Examples are:

ápû 阿婆 "(maternal) grandmother"

impû 外婆 "(paternal) grandmother'

ingkung 外公 "(paternal) grandfather"

atchi 阿姉 "eldest sister"

Examples

Some Common Phrases

Kumusta ka? - How are you?

Masalese ku pu. - I'm fine.

Mayap ku pu. - I'm good.

Nanung lagyu mu? - What is your name?

Malagu kang talaga. - You are really beautiful

Kasanting mu! - You are so handsome!

Wa - Yes

Ali - No

Mekeni (from 'Ume ka keni'). - Come here.

Kaluguran da ka - I love you

Tabalu keka - literally "I don't know with you" (expression)

Eku balu- I don't know

Mako na ku - I've to go

Mangan ta na, Mangan tamu-Let us eat now, Let us eat

Numbers

Further Information

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