Senior Citizens & the Endangered Isinay Language (Part 1)

This illustration of senior citizens was done by DANTE N. PECSON of Agno, Pangasinan.

Confessions of an Accidental Word Collector

IF YOU COULD do just one more good thing before your inevitable date of expiry as a human being comes, what would it be?

Don’t look now, friend, but I have two  ̶  planting indigenous trees and saving an indigenous language from extinction.

Seemingly unrelated concerns, these. But they are what I have been trying to pour my heart and soul on  ̶  oh well, these past several months for the former and since 2008 for the latter.

They are the reasons why I could not often click “like” to the “selfies” and other postings of friends on Facebook. And probably they would one of these days be good reasons to take a few days off from baby-sitting my first grandchild.

This advocacy on indigenous trees (such as pagsahingin, kabuyaw, dalayap, duhat, arosip, balimbing, and bignay) is familiar territory to many of my fellow foresters. But this thing about saving a language in distress is certainly virgin territory to a great majority of those in my line of work.  

Well, to be blunt about it, I didn’t exactly go out looking for one uncharted territory to explore.

What happened was this:

In October 2007, while on a bus from Cubao to Baguio -- and fresh from almost two weeks of sleepless nights putting the finishing touches to the completion report of a World Bank-assisted project that sought, among other things, to pump-prime some 120 LGUs in the Bicol, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, and Caraga regions to be managers of their forest and marine resources -- I almost followed fellow middle-aged foresters who got assigned, as it were, to “the great forests up there.”

As it developed, however, I’m still here.

While recuperating in the Baguio Medical Center, the images of my hometown and my farm-bound townmates were part, so to speak, of my well-wishers.

They seemed to be saying: “Hey, look, you almost worked yourself to death for the benefit of people you don’t even know... You had projects to improve local governance and natural resources in Bicol, the Visayas, and Mindanao. Pero ang bayan mo, di mo man lang mabisita, di mo man lang mawisikan ng kahit ano.”

To cut the story, my pricked conscience made me resolve to visit my hometown as soon as I got strong enough.

And sure enough, my townmates (mostly elderly Isinays) who were able to recognize this Prodigal Son were only too happy to see me again. Parang movie ni Fernando Poe Jr. -- "Ang Pagbabalik ng Lawin."

Not only that. When I had regained dependable use of my heart and limbs, para akong nakawalang baka. I immediately visited my childhood barrio, climbed the hills I used to play on as a boy, and took repeated dips in the river where my barrio playmates (a number of them already gone) and I learned how to catch fish, play with carabaos, identify local flora and fauna, and to swim.

Before I knew it, I was setting foot on carabao trails, wooded nooks, muddy fields, and mountain streams in the outskirts of town many of which had been integral parts of my childhood but which I only took for granted half a century ago. One little exploration led to another…  and another... and another... Pretty soon, friends and relatives who I got reacquainted with came to think I already pulled out my stakes somewhere and moved back to Dupax.

By way of preparation, right after getting out of the hospital and thinking of what to do when I went to my hometown, I rehearsed my Isinay, the better, I thought, to get closer to my townmates when I got home.

Along with doing muni-muni on what possible projects I could possibly suggest to the Municipal Mayor and his Sangguniang Bayan to look into, I imagined myself living full-time in Isinay country once again, using the same sing-song tone of making statements in Isinay, complete with the correct pronunciation of circumflexed words and expletives in Isinay.

From nouns, I moved on to adjectives, verbs, common expressions, curse words, and interjections. Also synonyms, antonyms, colloquialisms, contractions, syncopations, borrowings, and corruptions.

And then ― eureka!  ̶  it hit me that my native language has no dictionary to be proud of yet. How about spending part of my sunset years coming up with a dictionary in Isinay?

Right there and then, I vowed to myself to make one.

So that’s how I stumbled into this territory that as far as I know no other Filipino forester has yet explored, much less claimed a stake.

(CONTINUED IN PART 2)

Aniru and Other Cold-Weather Memories of Dupax

THE early-morning 8 to 12⁰ Celsius temperature that we have been experiencing in Baguio this January brought back memories of what children in my part of Isinay land did when the weather was tungnin podda (very cold).

Easily the frontrunner in my recall was the practice of aniru, which simply involved staying near an open fire to keep warm and avoid being manggopas (shiver due to the cold temperature).

Photo I took when my sister's grandchildren came from Dupax to Baguio in December 2010 and joined my nephew Dustin and niece Haina (two bigger kids on the right) in doing the aniru at the basement of our house.

Called inudo (or panaginudo) in my other mother language Ilocano, the practice of aniru taught us kids then with valuable know-how that had to do with trees and the use of fire.

For instance, the aniru taught us which trees shed their leaves during the cold months – starapple, eucalyptus, santol, pomelo, and mango. Thus, we knew where to go pick up dried leaves or sweep fallen leaves into a file and build fire to burn them.

We also got to learn how to manungutung (start the fire) using as kindling material rice hay, wood shavings, corn husks, or dried dipterocarp bark from the sawmill. Related to this, we learned to be careful enough not to make the fire so big or so close to the tree as to make it stop producing aromatic leaves for the fire.

It was usually the darauway (elder people) and other early-rising members of the family who would start the fire for the aniru. But quite often it was part of child play then especially during weekends when we didn’t have to worry about being late in school or going to class smelling of burnt leaves and grass-scented smoke.

Unlike today, there were no ukay-ukay sweaters for us children in Isinay land then.  Neither did we have cold-weather clothing sent home via balik-bayan boxes by relatives earning a living as OFWs in Hong Kong or in the USA.

Thus, the aniru may have played a huge part in making lesser endowed kids survive nippy weather in the 1960s.

Apart from getting warm, a side event then was the insenso we boys who went to the dawn masses during Christmas, played with during aniru time. This toy consisted of a tin can with holes on the sides and which we filled with burning charcoal sprinkled with the powdered resin of the tree we call antong (anteng in Ilocano, pagsahingin in Tagalog), and equipped with a long string to imitate the gadget the priest and his sacristan used to "smoke" each other during the mass. 

The aniru fire also came in different forms.

One form was the open fire where a large panga (tree branch) is burned on one end such that smaller kids could sit ala-horsey-horsey on the unburned part. Often we would take advantage of the smoldering embers to roast kamote (sweet potato), mait (corn), and occasional pindang (dried meat).

Another form was the outdoor dali-an (stove usually consisting of three stones fixed on the ground) where a coffee pot or a large kaldero (cauldron) containing water for someone’s bath is set to boil. Aside from coffee, at times what’s cooking in the stove may be seyor (food for the pigs), often chopped gabi stalks and tubers, green papayas, or the wild herb imbayang (tigi in Ilocano, Amorphophallus campanulatus in scientific parlance).

And another came in a pile of green leaves, grass and twigs purposely allowed to produce lots of smoke to drive away mosquitoes or, if set under a flowering mango or avocado tree, to rid the tree’s canopy of pests. Isinays call this process of smoking out fruit flies and other tree pests manuuv (agsuub in Ilocano). Yes, it is an organic way of pest control that I recall my father used to do in early December mornings when as a family we still proudly owned a gigantic and prolific-fruiting mango tree.

Alas, when I went home to Dupax last week, I didn’t see anyone doing the aniru anymore. One reason for this is that many households don’t anymore have loonta (frontyard or backyard) with trees or wood for such method of warding off the cold.

So to cope with the tungnin, children prefer to man-piut (curl up) in their beds or stay nan-amumun (covered from head to toe in their blankets) while their elders or capable siblings go for a brisk walk to the Benay bridge and back.

Isinays in Hong Kong (Part 2)

IN A PREVIOUS post, I wrote about the formation of a group of Isinays in Hong Kong that call themselves ISINAY TRIBE - HONGKONG.

Last July 28, the prevalently ladies group celebrated its First Anniversary. Its President, Rose Sierra, asked me to write a message for the occasion, and I came out with the following note that I sent via Facebook:

CONGRATULATIONS IRA^YU LOM-AN AN ISINAY SINA HONG KONG, IIVA! 

SAYANG, MU SIRIYE LAN 1986-87, 1991-93, ON 1997-98 OTYA, YA MARAWUM DOMO^ TAY UMALIN MI-UHLUNG, MI-AN, MI-INUM, MITAHTAHE, MIKANTA, MISING-AW, ON MITATAWA IRA^YU. 

O A TOY SI DARAREN TAW-ON YA OVERSEAS FILIPINO WORKER PISYA TIYE UWA YUWAR... OT DOTDOT AN MANSERU WA^ SINA HONGKONG. 

AMPAYLAMU ATDI... ON AMPAYLAMU MARI TAU TAY NAN-IILA ON NAN-AABRASA SI PERSONAL, PANGGI^NAAR YA AMUNGLAN DAMDAMA MOT AN MAN-AAMIGOS TAU. 

MAMPAGAYHAYA AMPAY AN DIYOY SI ATTUN ORGANISASION YUN ISINAY.

 SEGUN SI PANRIS-RESEARCH UWAR, YOUR ORGANIZATION IS A HISTORY-MAKING EVENT AS THIS IS THE FIRST TIME EVER THAT THERE IS A FORMALLY ORGANIZED GROUP OF ISINAYS -- NOT ONLY OUTSIDE ARITAO, BAMBANG, AND DUPAX, BUT ALSO OUTSIDE THE PHILIPPINES -- THAT IS PROCLAIMING TO THE WORLD THAT THERE ARE BEAUTIFUL AND GOOD-MANNERED PEOPLE CALLED ISINAYS AND WHO SPEAK A LANGUAGE CALLED ISINAY! 

MAVILAY AYU LOM-AN!!!

In-ator daratyen miembros si Isinay Tribe - HK ri mamisar an pantumimi^ da siren Hulio 28 an panselebrar dat Maun-unan Aniversaryo ra an uhlung si Isinay siri Hong Kong. Areeyan an miembros ya I-Bambang on Irupaj.

Pushed by the smooth flow of words above, I fired this follow-up note:

Eh, iiva an maseserot on guapo an dioy sina Hongkong, iganap yu man tay daratye: 

1) I HAVE HIGH HOPES AND CONTINUE TO LOOK UP TO THE ISINAY TRIBE OF HONGKONG AS MODEL ORGANIZATION FOR OTHER ISINAYS IN OTHER LANDS (SUCH AS SINGAPORE, EUROPE, MIDDLE-EAST, NORTH AMERICA) FAR FROM ISINAY COUNTRY. 

2) PASOREYON, PASNEYON, PAATUNGON, ON PAABBIRANGON YU TAY OTYA RI PAN-ARU, PANGISA^SAIT, ON PAN-INDARA^DA YUWAR SI OSAT-OSA SINA HONGKONG... TAMON YU MOT DI UGALE YAR AN MASE^SELAT TOY SANAT MAMERDIT BONA^ TAUWAR AN ISINAY. 

3) OSA LOHOM RI ORAWO AR IRA^YU, IIVA: MU UMULI AYU MOT SI BEVEYOY TAUWAR ARITAO-BAMBANG-DUPAJ, IVIYANG ON PAREEYON YU OTYA RI INADAL YUWAR SINA OVERSEAS AN MAVVES AN SKILLS/EXPERIENCES/VALUES/KNOWLEDGE -- TA WEYMU UMASENSO ON SUMEROT TAY RI VILAY TAUWAR SIRI BEVEYOY TAUWAR AN ISINAY!

In turn, Rose (who also founded the Isinay Global Association group in Facebook) in turn posted this message in her FB page:

Pinavle an iiva, misalamataj si innuyuar an nansakripisyo si saten ugmu^ tau... Simple get-together beyaw ot mangi-ator si gayjaya si pusu tauar...  Ditau Uweri! Neyapuan tau ot isompal tau payla! Apu tauar Diyos si manuvvet ira^yu!!! Mavilay taun Bona si Isinay situ Hongkong!!!!

According to Rose, the gathering to mark their anniversary was held at Causeway Bay. The guest speaker was Madam Josie Pingkihan, the president of the Cordillera Alliance.

For the latter, I sent one last note to Rose:

ADING ROSE, IT MAY BE OF INTEREST TO YOUR SPEAKER FROM THE CENTRAL CORDILLERA, THAT THE ISINAY LANGUAGE (OF THE SOUTHEASTERN CORDILLERA) HAS A LOT OF SIMILARITIES TO THE KANKANAEY, IBALOY, BONTOK, AND IFUGAO LANGUAGES. 

I DISCOVERED THIS THROUGH MY READING THEIR DICTIONARIES (AND BY LISTENING TO MY WIFE TALK WITH HER EASTERN BONTOC RELATIVES, AND ONE OF MY BAYAWS TALK IN MAYOYAO IFUGAO). 

IT IS ONLY SAD THAT WHILE THESE CENTRAL CORDILLERA LANGUAGES ARE VERY SAFE BECAUSE THE POPULATIONS OF THEIR SPEAKERS ARE STILL IN THE 50,000 TO 100,000 RANGE, THE ISINAY LANGUAGE TODAY IS IN DANGER OF GOING EXTINCT -- UNLESS BOLD MEASURES TO SAVE IT IS DONE NOW! -- AS IT IS SPOKEN BY ONLY AROUND 5,000 PEOPLE (MANY OF THEM IN THEIR SENIOR YEARS IN SOUTHERN NUEVA VIZCAYA). 

IT IS GREAT THAT ISINAYS LIKE YOU WHO ARE FAR FROM HOME ARE DOING THEIR BEST TO KEEP OUR NATIVE TONGUE AND CULTURE ALIVE AND FIGHTING! CONGRATULATIONS FOR STARING THE BALL ROLLING, ADING!

Rose Sierra's reply:

Salamat Uwa Charles si darasen information an inviyang Mu.. boon lojom an para bisitas miyar beyaw ot lalo mot la ira^mi ...makunkuna nga isinay ...salamat podda!

 

June 1 Hailstorm in Isinay Country

IN THE EVENING of June 2, I received a text message from Dupax that went this way:  

"Kmsta nan uran si cristal ohavan ya ajon an lahay itong ya nan DEYYU means crystal". (How are you it rained crystals yesterday and old man Itong said DEYYU means crystal).

The text came from Boni Calacala, my Isinay-word-hunting buddy in Dupax who often accompanies me in my day-long excursions in my farm in Sinagat and other still sparsely populated upstream parts of town.

I had an inkling that the Itong that Boni mentioned was Uwa Itong Campo. Now in his seventies, the guy once served a prison term in his twenties (perhaps the first Isinay to be in Muntinlupa) allegedly for shooting a hunting companion whom he mistook for a laman (deer).

Just to make sure, I texted Boni back with this: "Siran diyen itong? Salamat. Besan u lohom dingnge nen NANDEYU. Situ ya nandiyumarim lohom." (Who is that Itong? Thanks. It's only now that I hear such NANDEYU. Up here we had showers only.)

Indeed, it was my first time to hear that deyyu is the Isinay term for the ice crystals that fall once in a blue moon especially when it hadn't rained for a long time.

I have to check again next time I go to Dupax. But all along I thought the Isinay for hail was uraru, a word that my pure-Ilocano mother (who learned Isinay by osmosis) would utter each time our sim  (galvanized-iron) roof would go "takatak-takitik" with the distinct sound of solid particles falling.

When I mentioned the hailstorm news to my daughter Leia, she said that her cousin Ayla did indeed post a photo of hail in Facebook.

The way the crystals looked in the photo, they were bigger than the ones that I used to see as a kid. Back then, households had no refrigerators yet as there was yet no electricity in Dupax. Thus, the occurrence of hailstorms was big news as the ice bits they brought were the only cold things we Isinay kids got to touch outside the shaved ice of the halo-halo during fiestas or the "scramble" of Ama Kusep Dumaing.

Back then also, there was a belief among both Isinay and Ilocano folks in my town that the ice crystals turned into arrabas (worms that devoured farm crops, particularly riceplants and leafy vegetables). It was a belief that probably originated from the observation that such pest worms came out after a hailstorm.

Well, I can't help but laugh at that bit of folkloric almanac now. But it was indeed a belief that prevailed alongside another funny item that I also used to hear when I was little: adult tilapias turned into rats!

Dupax Isinay Words Associated with Baby Care

FUNNY HOW I am able to resurface Isinay words and remember certain customs even if I’m far from Isinay land and even if what I’m doing is not exactly word hunting. 

A case in point are the following words many of which you no longer hear spoken in the increasingly Tagalized homes in Dupax del Sur, and which came to mind while I was dancing and humming with my grandchild Amihan in my arms one morning:

• Mangahayam – agaw-awir in Ilokano, baby sit in English. 
• Mangaban – agubba in Ilokano, kargahin o kalungin in Tagalog, carry in one’s arms in English. 
• Manlallay – agdayyeng in Ilokano, hum in English. 
• Baliwaway – duayya in Ilokano, uyayi in Tagalog, lullaby in English. 
• Man-alinsaru – agsaiddek in Ilokano, sinisinok in Tagalog, having hiccoughs in English. 
• Pasusuwon – pasusuen in Ilokano, magpadede in Tagalog, breastfeed in English. 
• Beberon – bote in Ilokano, tsupon in Tagalog, feeding bottle in English. 
• Mamador – mamador­ in Ilokano and Tagalog, pacifier in English. 
• Gamit – lampin in Ilokano and Tagalog, baby blanket in English. 
• Bonete – buniti in Ilokano, bonete in Tagalog, bonnet in English. in Ilokano, in Tagalog, in English.
• Ipasoy-ang – ipainit in Ilokano, paarawan in Tagalog, sun in English. 
• I-ayur – iyindayon in Ilokano, iduyan in Tagalog, swing in a hammock in English.
• Teyor – segget in Ilokano, am in Tagalog, boiled-rice soup in English. 

I also remembered paraphernalia used for infants in Dupax, some of which I may have used myself: 

1. Ayur – indayon or dagidagi in Ilokano, duyan in Tagalog, craddle in English. This came in three forms – boat-shaped (basically an elongated basket commonly woven out of split bamboo), blanket (tied on both ends, hung between two posts or such strong support, and equipped with a two-feet-long bamboo stick placed on the middle of the blanket to widen the space of the baby and prevent him/her from suffocating), and the open hammock (commonly made of rattan and sturdy enough to be used by the mother with the baby in her arms).
2. Laawe – galunggalong in Ilokano. No English nor Tagalog equivalent. This is basically a kiddie chair that allows the infant to be propped with a pillow on his back and his legs dangling while he is able to watch his mother or baby sitter and in turn and be watched by the latter while she is doing the laundry or other household chores. The chair is fastened to a long rattan leader the other end of which has a hook to enable the whole thing to be hang on a tree branch when used outdoors.
3. Andador – andador in Ilokano and Tagalog, baby-walker in English. My baby sisters and other kids in Dupax used to have a conical shaped thing made of rattan poles where the kid learning to walk is placed then summoned by the mother with outstretched arms to come near. In my case, I remember my grandfather made me a bamboo contraption complete with wheels that I pushed and pushed in the bare yards of my grandparents' house in I-iyo (now Palabotan) when I was little.

Related to this,  the following are some customs observed not only by Isinays but also Ilocanos, Tagalogs and Igorots as regards attending to infants:

1. putting a tiny bit of cloth or paper on the forehead of the baby to stop his/her hiccup (alinsaru in Isinay, saiddek in Ilocano, sinok in Tagalog)
2. chewing solid food and putting it on the mouth of the infant; the process is called igeheyan in Isinay ingalngalan in Ilokano, inguyaan in Tagalog. The practice is reminiscent of how birds feed worm or grasshoppers to their young ones –called mangirolot in Isinay (agiduol in Ilocano, mouth-to-mouth or rather beak-to-beak feading in English). Hindsight makes me suspect that this yukky practice of adults feeding babies and kids with pre-chewed food must have caused many an infant to inherit TB and other such ailments then.