An Isinay Word Hunter's Story (Part 2)

PART 2. SOMETHING’S GOING WRONG WITH ISINAY

I DELIBERATELY USED as introduction those word-aerobics on Isinay for two reasons.

The first is to enable you to have a tamtam (taste) of the Isinay words that I have been collecting and cataloguing for more than opat an taw-on mot (four years now). The second is to give you an idea of the nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, interjections, conjunctions, and phrases (along with the thoughts, practices, and worldviews associated with them) that are in extreme danger of being irretrievably forgotten unless remedial measures are done very soon.

Full-fledged linguists (including my fellow “feeling linguists”) may have other views, but those words are indeed just a trickle of the vocabulary that we who care for small indigenous languages, and Isinays in particular, would stand to mawayir (lose) if they are not reactivated, documented, housed in accessible repositories such as dictionaries, and used to the max in the revitalization of the language NOW!

Note how I wrote NOW! The all caps and the exclamation point are meant to emphasize the urgent need for strategic and substantial moves to reverse the fast deteriorating situation of Isinay as a language. When this language dies, with it will disappear the biggest evidence of our being Isinays.

How I stumbled into the serious but very exciting mission of trying to build what would probably be the most (if not the first) comprehensive list of Isinay words ever made, is an interesting story. But let me first make sutsur how I discovered that something is going wrong with Isinay.

You see, as a Baguio-based free-lance consultant for more than three decades now, I got into this little habit of going home to Dupax at least once in every two months, especially if I’m not out of the country. I don’t know if other darauway (elderly people) feel the same, but this urge of going back again and again to the beveyoy an ni-anaa^ (town where I was born) has intensified when I became a senior citizen. Yes, this may be similar to birds coming home to umahab (roost) at the end of the day.

If you ask why I love to go back home again and again to my birthplace, I’d probably admit to being nasingngen (fed up) with the traffic, pollution, congestion, and faces in Metro Manila and elsewhere… and I’ll probably add that I’m now often meyongngaw (nostalgic) for the faces, places, sounds, colors, and myriad other things that had been part of my happy in-aunga (childhood) in Isinay land.

Always a huge part of my homecomings is to recharge and reload (like a cellphone) with the Isinay language and all things Isinay. 

The latter includes food (e.g. tangpat, ame, sappilan, itluh si eha)[1] and the verbal ways of stressing points during conversation (e.g. Dahom, attepaw mot pora danumar siri wangwang! Wara mot si maemu an dalah siri, ampaylamu ahdaw asta ahasit, nayyir mot podda… beyandahar darin golden kuhol a si dimmee. Nawayir mot ampay eyas on ayu war dari an pi^busan si danum siri daya. Ayyu-ayyu beveyoy tauwar!)[2]

It was through these on-and-off re-acculturation in the Isinay world, readjusting my tongue to the Isinay language, and resurrecting my memories of boyhood in Isinay country, that I discovered a very sad thing: Many if not most children in Dupax today do not speak Isinay anymore.

Correlated to this, many Isinay parents/grandparents/uncles/aunts/teachers today also often don’t use their native language anymore when they talk to their children or even to their fellow adults.

If it is of any comfort, many children also don’t speak the rival language – Iloko or Ilocano – anymore (or at least the way we Ilocano-Isinay hybrids easily switched codes between pure Isinay and pure Ilocano when we were young).

I got a good example of this in the summer of last year when I was in Dupax and went to renew my love affair with the river of my youth in Palobotan, in the near upstream part of town. I had just dipped my sweating Baguio-acclimatized body in the knee-deep water when a man and three kids arrived on board a tricycle.

To make a short story shorter, I overheard the father say something to his kids about where to find basikul (edible snail) and tohong (tadpole). Mabves niye (that’s fine), I mumbled to myself. Moments later, however, when the kids were frolicking on the water, I heard one of them say to her sibling: “Yucky ka, luppa ka nang luppa. Ipulong kita ke Papa!”

You got it. Children in Dupax today (I’m not sure if this is also the case in Aritao and Bambang) now use Tagalog or a conglomeration of Tagalog, English, Ilocano, and Isinay. I need not go far for another example. Living with my mother are her four apun si puwoh (apo sa tuhod) aged between 4 and 11. If you speak with them in Ilocano, they might understand you even if they could hardly swallow saluyot. But try talking to them in the most basic Isinay – for example: “Ituyong yu mot niye TV yar. Eyan yu saharar ta saharan yu daratye intetah yuwar.” (Enough TV already.  Get the broom and sweep these things you scattered.) – and you only get blank stares.

Indeed, in supposedly Isinay podda (pure Isinay) homes today, the prevalent language you hear is TV-derived Tagalog. Even in the school where I learned by osmosis how to speak fluent Isinay, I once watched what I thought were Isinay boys playing Tarzan with a low-hanging branch of a mango tree. I heard them speak not one word in Isinay. Only Tagalog. Of course, with the sing-song Isinay accent.

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[1] Tangpat refers to the tips/shoots of the rattan; ame refers to the worm-like flowers of the tree called himbabao in Tagalog, alukon or baeg in Iloko; sappilan is the river fish goby called bunog in Iloko, biyang-bato in Tagalog; itluh si eha are the eggs and nymphs of the tailor ant, abuos in Iloko.

[2] Literal translation: “Wind, the water in the river has become very shallow! No more can one catch snakehead fish there, even shrimps and crabs, they’re no more… only the pesky golden snails have become plentiful. The forests and trees upstream where the water originates are gone, that’s why. What a pity for our community!”

An Isinay Word Hunter's Story (Part 1)

LET THE ISINAY FOREST SING AGAIN:

AN ISINAY WORD HUNTER'S SUTSUR

Part 1: Isinay Word Aerobics

WHAT’S THE ISINAY for “good morning”?  How about “good afternoon” and “good evening”?

For the Nature-inclined, how do you call in Isinay the following: rainbow, fullmoon, shower, mountain, anthill, forest, river, waterfall, vine, deer, python, goby, tadpole, turtle, cicada, preying mantis, tailor ant, bumble bee, honeybee, May beetle, rhinoceros beetle, dragonfly, firefly, baby butterfly?

A little more challenging: What do you call, in Isinay, a single woman who got pregnant? an adopted child? a bachelor? elderly people? a person with crab mentality?

Some more: 

What’s the difference between idong and eteng? indong and e-eng? innaru and seung? mapayit and maesom? mandeya and mandereya? kumáw and kùmaw? ba^ba^ and ba^ba^ a?

Can you translate this into Isinay? “Sangkabirokan, sangkaapuyan” (this is the Ilocano version of the Tagalog phrase “isang kahig, isang tuka”).

One last quiz, an Isinay lojlojmo^ (riddle): “Balinom tuutu^… balinom tuutu^…  Andiye tiye?”

Don’t look now, but I’m sure if you pose these word challenges to Isinays today, many of them would scratch their heads for the answers. 

Chances are they would turn to one another or approach a much dauway (older) Isinay and say “Ande tay re?” (Ano na nga iyon?) probably followed by “Naveyanduh, tinamaat mot!” (Walanghiya, ba’t ba nalimutan ko na!).

Oh well, time was when many of these exercises were part of our bevoy (games) in Dupax . 

We used to engage in them as kids – along with such normal stuff then as climbing bayawas trees, playing tuttut (hide-and-seek) on moonlit nights, chasing atittino^ (dragonflies), defying grandmothers’ warnings not to mambevoy (play) outdoors during namalintur (high noon), challenging one another to step on the dalimajon (termite mound or anthill) or point at the tavungeyon (rainbow) and see if our “bird” and tannuru (index finger) would respectively go crooked, and bringing maesom an sompalo (sour tamarind) along with asin on lara (salt and chili) to school for snacks or as gift to our favorite maestra.

I’m revealing my tinaw-on (age), but that was in the 1960s when my mentors at the Dupax Central Elementary School were teaching me the three Rs (reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic) plus GMRC, vegetable gardening, basic carpentry, making sahar (broom) out of tahtah (buri palm) or coconut fronds, pulling poot (puriket, amorseco) weeds that used to carpet the school yard, on dee tay (et cetera).

Those were the years when the half-Ilocano in me was still learning, mostly from full-blooded Isinay playmates, to mamba^ba^ (speak) in Isinay – but sadly not including how to write it.

[1] Handout for the UP Baguio-St. Mary’s University-DepEd seminar-workshop on Revitalizing Indigenous Languages: Using Indigenous Languages as Medium of Instruction, held 22-23 April 2013 at St. Mary’s University, Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. (Note: “Sutsur” is the Isinay word for story.)

[1] The author, a Baguio-based forester, thesis editor, ecotourism and natural resources management consultant, science-writing coach,and blogger (http://isinay-bird.blogspot.com and http://isinayworld.blogspot.com), is a native of Dupax del Sur, Nueva Vizcaya, and married to a Bontoc Igorota with whom he has three children, all graduates of UP. You can reach him by e-mail (charlzcastro@yahoo.com) or through Facebook.

 

 (CONTINUED ON PART 2)

An Isinay Word Hunter's Story (Prelude)

ONCE IN A while the dictionary maker's heart in me skips a few beats to accommodate certain moments of joy that come, like rain in the afternoon when temperatures almost reach boiling point, just when I thought I was running low on chances to pour out my innards as a word collector.

Such an occasion came again last April 22 when I served as resource speaker in the three-day Seminar-Workshop on Revitalizing Indigenous Languages: Using Indigenous Languages as Medium of Instruction. Sponsored as part of the extension services of UP Baguio's College of Arts and communication, the seminar was held at Saint Mary's University in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya.

The seminar was attended by some 320 public school teachers from all over Nueva Vizcaya. Unfortunately, when I asked for a show of hands from among the participants who among them came from the Isinay towns of Aritao, Bambang, and Dupax, I only saw maseserot an mamaestra from Bambang and one from Kayapa but no one from Aritao and Dupax.

Naturally, I wondered out loud why. When I texted my sister later, she said probably the Department of Education's memo enjoining the teachers to attend the seminar may not have reached the concerned public school authorities in Dupax.

Anyway, in case my fellow Isinays would wish to know what I shared as first of the four speakers, I'm going to post in Isinay Bird the handout I prepared which was part of the seminar kit distributed to the participants.

The title of my paper was LET THE ISINAY FOREST SING AGAIN: AN ISINAY WORD HUNTER'S SUTSUR.

The handout was a 12-page single-spaced material. During the seminar proper, however, I presented a condensed and photo-flavored PowerPoint version. As in the case of a novel being different from the movie version, I thought I should share the former and insert some of the photos I used in the PowerPoint version.

Here's the photo I used for the title page of the latter:

A typical scene in upstream Dupax del Sur, Nueva Vizcaya. I shot this photo from the mountain road above the irrigation dam at Dalihan, Brgy. Palobotan. The river comes from the merging of Navetangan River on the left and the Carolotan River flowing from the blue mountains in the far background. The wooded hills are part of Birayan and Lohban.

By the way, sutsur is the Isinay word for "story".

 

(NEXT: PART 1 OF THE PAPER "LET THE ISINAY FOREST SING AGAIN")

Isinays in Hongkong

IF ONE DAY soon you get to visit Hongkong and you would find that the name "Isinay" is no longer Greek there or sounding like that of a grotesque-looking creature from outer space, give credit to a group of Filipinos in that cosmopolitan community that calls itself the ISINAY TRIBE OF HONGKONG.

The first concrete evidence I got of the Isinay group's existence was when the following photo of its members (along with Nueva Vizcaya Congressman Carlos Padilla and his better half Ruth) appeared on Facebook:

The photo was taken during the AMMUNGAN FESTIVAL in Hongkong, spearheaded by the Nueva Vizcaya International Association.

I thought the Isinay Hongkong group would go the way dry cogon burns -- hot and bright at first, but fizzles out a few moments later, and quicker than you can spell out ningas-kugon.

As if to prove, however, that Isinays are made of tougher (and more beautiful) raw material, it developed that the "tribe" persisted. You could just imagine the effort made by these overseas workers from Aritao, Bambang and Dupax to find a common time to meet and decide on issues confronting them.

Alas, amidst odds and ends, they went on working as a family, the members sharing whatever resources they could, be they money, help on sewing the sashes/uniform, words of encouragement, or food.

The result was not perfect, as some members admitted they need more practice.

And yet, for many days after the Holy Week, the stream of action pictures they posted on Facebook (exemplified by the one below) showed sterling evidence of their solidarity and daring able to post -- happy and proud as happy and proud can be!

I have only my best wishes that the mostly women members of the group would be able to sustain their being cooperative. Definitely this Isinay group in Hongkong is making history as the first ever full-bodied and fullfledged organization of Isinays outside Isinay country, outside the Philippines.

Lest you think that its members merely "flock together like birds of the same feather", consider this Facebook note by one of its founders, Rose Sierra (of Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya):

"DITAU WERI" (sitayu met laeng, awan sabsabali). Iiva on kaisinayan, dyoy tau situ ta wemu maipaila an ditaun Isinay yaj dyoy si pansin uujmu tau... iAritao a man, iBambang a man, o mu iRupaj a man yaj dyoy taun mangitajdoj si tribu tauar an ISINAY... Saten grupo tau yaj osapay si urumar an organization. Saten grupo tau yaj naitadoj pangikavelang (to show our respect) si de^dee tauar on atdi pay si ancestors tauar. We are here to protect our tribe, we are here to preserve and to promote our culture, von? We are so lucky an dyoy taut tu Hongkong toy situn lugar si pansindaramuan di urumar tay an tribun ni^bus si opatar an suung si Pilipinas.. von sosto!! :)

By some twist of fate, Rose earlier asked (through personal messaging in Facebook ) if I could join their  Hongkong group at Facebook and if I could serve as one of its advisers.

Like when I just returned to UP Los Baños in 1993 after a two-year stint with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and from out of the blue some guys from India wrote to say they want me to be their thesis adviser, I usually treat such invitations with silence.

This one from the Isinays of Hongkong was, however, a different creature.

And so, as they say in Tagalog, di na ako nagpatumpik-tumpik pa. Without even asking to see a copy of their bylaws or other such papers that attest to the whats and wherefores of the organization, I replied yes.

My "appointment" coincided with the group's being invited to participate in the Cordillera Day in Hongkong. As its members were at the time still planning what Isinay culture-related matters to present, I immediately put myself to work by suggesting, among other things, that whatever they are going to show, they should not forget to make the audience laugh.

Alas, the cascade of excited and congratulatory notes that came out on Facebook showed that what the Isinay ladies and a few Isinay gentlemen of Hongkong did was to march in smart clothes in what their photos show as very joyful mood. The finale was their singing a contemporary Isinay song of homesickness (composed by Jun and Kitkit Guzman of San Diego, California) to the tune of Fraulein.

I quickly typed a message on Rose Sierra's timeline, asking for a sutsur (story) of the results of their participation. It didn't take long before I received this obviously excited reply:

We were all excited waiting for our turn to sing our Beveyoy an Dopaj when dark clouds and tiny rain drops started falling, ot uddi nansorom di tiyempoar. Madajet di gi^na miyar osyan marin makakansyon but after few minutes the rain totally stopped and just on time when the emcee announced "Let's welcome the Isinay Tribe of Nueva Vizcaya!" I saw the gayjaya in our faces.. one comment from the audience said "Napatahimik nyo ang audience." Yes, because it was their first time to hear the word ISINAY, it was their first time to see Isinay people and it was their first time to hear our ba^baj... and it was OUR first time to come out and show to the Hongkong dojap our bona^ and our very own ISINAY TRIBE Hongkong.

Now, the group plans to show an Isinay wedding next time. Its Vice President, Neneng Reyes Bue, has in fact asked me for the lyrics of the Isinay wedding song Anino^.

Even as I have yet to see the full version of the video of the group's Cordillera Day performance, I can't wait to find out how the mamariit on beveyuntahu an Isinay (Isinay ladies and gentlemen) of Hongkong perform another show of Isinay beauty and solidarity to foreign audiences.