An Isinay Word Hunter's Story (Conclusion)

Conclusion: Fun with Isinay Words

I STARTED WITH some exercises on Isinay words in Part 1. For the benefit of those who had little success so far with those aerobics, I might as well end this presentation by giving the answers.

In Isinay, the basic greetings “good morning,” “good afternoon,” and “good evening” are literally and respectively translated as mabves an bi^bihat, mabves an mauhav, and mabves an lavi. However, you commonly hear traditional Isinay speakers use si bi^bihat, si mauhav, and si lavi.

In Dupax Isinay, a single woman who got pregnant is called namesang. An adopted child is inamong. A bachelor or unmarried man is beyuntahu. Elderly people are collectively called darauway. A person with crab mentality or one who does not want others to progress is considered mase^se^lat.

The words idong and eteng are both terms of endearment used by one to call a much younger person; idong is masculine, eteng is feminine. Indong is loin-cloth or G-string and e-eng is shirt or blouse.

Innaru is the paddle-shaped utensil used to laddle out illutu (boiled rice) whereas seung is the spoon-like utensil used to scoop out viand from the pot. In Ilocano, both are called aklo; in Tagalog, also both are called sandok.

Mapayit is bitter (napait in Ilocano, mapait in Tagalog) while maesom is sour (naalsem in Ilocano, maasim in Tagalog, aslom in Binisaya). Mapayit is one of the most misused Isinay words in Dupax as many speakers use it to mean the taste of a green sompalo (tamarind); the correct word should be maesom.

Be careful when you use mandeya and mandereya in a sentence. Mandeya is to have menstruation while mandereya means to bleed. There is one more sound-alike word, mandineya. Like the other two, it also pertains to blood; this one, however, means to cook dineya (dinardaraan in Ilocano, dinuguan in Tagalog).

How about kumáw and kùmaw? The former refers to a bowl (malukong in Ilocano, mangkok in Tagalog) while the latter refers to the stranger said to kidnap hardheaded boys, put them in sacks, bring them to where a bridge is being built, and pour their blood on the bridge to make it able to withstand typhoons and floods. Used until now to scare rural kids not to stray too far from home during summer, this bugaboo is called sipay or manunupot in Tagalog.

As for ba^ba^ and ba^ba^ a, the shorter one is the Isinay both for language and word while the latter is a command for someone to shut up or keep quiet.

The Ilocano “Sangkabirokan, sangkaapuyan” is “Sin-anapan, sinsi^meyan” in Isinay Dupax-Aritao.

“Balinom tuutu^… balinom tuutu^…  Andiye tiye?” is roughly translated into English as “If you invert it, you see a hole… if you invert it the other way, it’s still a hole… What is it?” The answer to this Isinay lojlojmo^ (riddle) is be-ang, a kitchen utensil usually made of split awwoy (rattan) or awwayan (bamboo) and woven in the form of a ring to stabilize banga (earthen pot) on flat surfaces or to make sajban  steady when carried on top of a woman’s head. (Sahban is called malabi in Ilocano and is a water container that looks like but is much larger than the banga).

By the way, I didn’t give the answers yet to the Nature-related items (that is, rainbow, … mountain, … forest, …baby butterfly). Honestly, I’m afraid my answers may differ from those among our participant teachers. The butterfly, for instance, may be kuyapyapon by those from Bambang, and kukkuyappon by those who are more at home with the Dupax-Aritao version of Isinay.

I have a proposition: why don’t we put this item on hold and use it as part of the “homework” for the participating teachers? I’m sure the outputs would be useful for those who handle Science and Math subjects. For example, when you describe to your pupils what insects are involved in pollination. Or when you teach Grade One kids how many or what animals crawl and which ones can fly.

If you so wish, we can also include naming the parts of an insect, parts of a plant, parts of the house, and parts of the human body – all in Isinay.

A bit more challenging, perhaps, is translating into Isinay Bambang or into Isinay Dupax-Aritao the poem All Things Bright and Beautiful (by Mrs. Cecil Frances Alexander) or Trees (by Joyce Kilmer).

If you want more excitement, let’s try to play around with Bahay Kubo. Should there be no time to translate the whole song for now, then at least we can make do with listing the Isinay names of the vegetables plus the turnip, peanut, garlic, onion, sesame and other plants immortalized in this classic Tagalog song for children.

Finally, may I please remind you that our outputs must be submitted – “finished or not finished” – at the end of the class or before we sing or say “Goodbye, dear teachers, goodbye!”

-oOo-

PUBLICATIONS CONSULTED

AHEARN, Laura M. 2012. Living Language: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology. West Sussex, UK: Wiiley-Blackwell.

CONSTANTINO, Ernesto. 1982. Isinay Texts and Translations. Tokyo: Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.

CRUZ, Celina Marie. 2010. The Revitalization Challenge for Small Languages: The Case for Isinai. Paper presented at the Linguistics Seminar. Cagayan de Oro City. Feb 2010.

HARRISON, K. David. 2007. When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World’s Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge. New York: Oxford University Press.

RYMER, Russ. 2012. Vanishing Voices. National Geographic. July 2012.

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Appendix 1

ANSWERS TO "WHAT'S THE ISINAY FOR RAINBOW..."?

(NOTE: The Isinay equivalents used here are Dupax-Aritao Isinay. Bambang Isinay has lexically or phonetically different terms.)

Rainbow is tabungeyon or tavungeyon. 

Fullmoon is tallivong. Shower is diyumarim. 

Mountain is baiyur. Anthill is dalimahon or dalimojon. 

Forest is eyas (related terms: watershed is nappu; brushland is gitaw). River is wangwang (and creek/brook/stream is wayil). 

Waterfall is peyasapas.Vine is waah. 

Deer is usa or laman. Python is ine^eyaddang (snake is iraw). 

Goby is sappilan (and the bigger one is guggur). 

Tadpole is tohong (frog is tadah). 

Turtle is ba-uu. 

Cicada is duluriyaw. 

Preying mantis is paspasusu but is also sometimes called parparahol. 

Tailor ant is eha. 

Bumble bee is ababbayung. 

Honeybee is iyu-an. 

May beetle is e-ve. 

Rhinoceros beetle is dumoh. 

Dragonfly is atittino^. 

Firefly is i^irong. 

Baby butterfly (or the crawling and leaf-eating stage in the life-cycle of butterflies and moths) is bangbangawan.

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Appendix 2 

 ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL

 by

Cecil Frances Alexander 

ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

ALL THINGS WISE AND WONDERFUL

THE LORD GOD MADE THEM ALL.

EACH LITTLE FLOWER THAT OPENS

EACH LITTLE BIRD THAT SINGS

HE MADE THEIR GLOWING COLORS

HE MADE THEIR TINY WINGS.

THE TALL TREES IN THE GREEN WOODS

THE MEADOWS WHERE WE PLAY 

THE RUSHES BY THE WATER

WE GATHER EVERY DAY.

THE PURPLE-HEADED MOUNTAIN
THE RIVER RUNNING BY
THE MORNING AND THE SUNSET
THAT LIGHTED UP THE SKY.
 

THE RIPE FRUITS IN THE GARDEN
 THE PLEASANT SUMMER SUN
THE VIOLETS BY THE ROADSIDE

HE MADE THEM EVERY ONE.

HE GAVE US EYES TO SEE THEM

AND LIPS THAT WE MIGHT TELL

HOW GREAT IS GOD OUR FATHER

WHO DOETH ALL THINGS WELL!

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Appendix 3

 TREES

by Joyce Kilmer 

I THINK THAT I SHALL NEVER SEE

A POEM LOVELY AS A TREE

A TREE WHOSE HUNGRY MOUTH IS PRESSED

AGAINST THE EARTH'S SWEET-FLOWING BREAST

A TREE THAT LOOKS AT GOD ALL DAY

AND LIFTS HER LEAFY ARMS TO PRAY

A TREE THAT MAY IN SUMMER WEAR

A NEST OF ROBINS IN HER HAIR

UPON WHOSE BOSSOM SNOW HAS LAIN

WHO INTIMATELY LIVES WITH RAIN

POEMS ARE MADE BY FOOLS LIKE ME

BUT ONLY GOD CAN MAKE A TREE.

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Appendix 4

BAHAY KUBO

BAHAY KUBO KAHIT MUNTI

ANG HALAMAN DOON AY SARI-SARI

SINGKAMAS AT TALONG

SIGARILYAS AT MANI

SITAW, BATAW, PATANI

KUNDOL, PATOLA

UPO AT KALABASA

AT SAKA MAYROON PANG

LABANOS, MUSTASA

SIBUYAS, KAMATIS

BAWANG AT LUYA

AT SA PALIGID AY PURO LINGNGA.