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'Kapampangan' is one of the eight major languages of the Philippines.

Contents

History

Classification

Geographic distribution

Sounds

Vowels

Consonants

Stress

Phonology

Historical sound changes

Grammar

Nouns

Pronouns

Special forms

Pronoun combinations

Demonstrative pronouns

Verbs

Ambiguities and irregularities

Conjugation chart

Enclitic Particles

Existential

Interrogative Words

Loan Words

Examples

Some Common Phrases

Numbers

Traditional Children's Song

See also

External links

History

The word ''Kapampangan'' or ''Capampañgan'' 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''.
Two 19th-century Kapampangan writers are hailed as being the equivalent of William Shakespeare in Kapampangan literature. 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 M. Yuzon to immortalize his contribution to Pampanga's Literature.

Classification

Kapampangan is a Northern Philippine language within the Austronesian language family.
The position of Kapampangan among the Northern Philippine language family is not 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 Tarlac. It is also spoken in the provinces of Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Bataan, and Zambales.
The Philippine Census of 2000 states that 2,312,870 out of 76,332,470 people speak Kapampangan as a native language.

Sounds

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

Before the arrival of the Spanish, Kapampangan had three vowel phonemes: , , and ; some dialects also had . This was later expanded to five vowels with the introduction of Spanish words.
They are:

★ an open front unrounded vowel similar to English "f'a'ther"

★ an open-mid front unrounded vowel similar to English "b'e'd"

★ a close front unrounded vowel similar to English "mach'i'ne"

★ a close-mid back rounded vowel similar to English "f'o'rty"

★ a close back unrounded vowel similar to English "fl'u'te"
There are four main diphthongs; , , , and . Though in most dialects, they are reduced to only two.

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
Stops	Voiceless	p	t		k	-
	Voiced	b	d		g
Affricates	Voiceless			(ts, tiy)
	Voiced			(diy)
Fricatives			s	(siy)
Nasals		m	n		ng
Laterals			l
Flaps			r
Semivowels		w		(y)

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.

Phonology

★ is raised slightly in unstressed positions

★ In some western accents, is a separate phoneme as in (roof) and (deep). However, this sound has merged with /a/ for most Kapampangan speakers.

★ Unstressed is usually pronounced as in English "b'i't"

★ At the end of a word and declarative sentences, and are pronounced .

★ However, in exclamatory and interogatory statements, is raised to . So, ''nanu ini?'' becomes ''nanu ine?'' (Translation: what is this?) and ''Me keni!'' necomes ''Me kene!''(Translation: Come here!)

★ At the end of a word and declarative sentence, and are pronounced

★ However, in exclamatory and interogatory statements, is raised to . So, ''ninu i Pedru?'' becomes ''ninu i Pedro?'' (Translation: who is Pedro?) and ''Silatanan na ku!'' becomes ''Silatanan na ko!'' [Translation: (He) wrote me!]

★ Unstressed is usually pronounced as in English "b'oo'k"

★ The diphthong is pronounced in many Kapampangan accents, especially the standard one.

★ The diphthong is pronounced in many Kapampangan accents, especially the standard one.

★ has a tendency to become between vowels as in German "ba'ch'"

★ and are sometimes interchangeable as and are allophones in Kapampangan. 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.

Historical sound changes

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

Grammar

Nouns

While Kapampangan nouns are not inflected, they are 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 Carmen the key."

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	karela

Examples:
Sinulat ku.

"I wrote."
Silatanan na ku.

"(He) wrote me."
Dinatang ya.

"He has arrived."
Sabyan me kaku.

"Tell me it."
Ninu ing minaus keka?

"Who called you?
Mamasa la.

"They are reading."
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) do not have rice."
Ala tamung nasi.

"We (you and I and someone else) do not have rice."
Ala keng nasi.

"We (someone else and I, but not you) do not have rice."
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 are 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.

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."
Portmanteau pronouns are not usually used in questions and while using the word ''naman''. Furthermore,
Akakit mya? (instead of ''akakit me?'')

Do you see him?
Buri nya naman yan. (instead of ''buri ne naman yan'')

He likes this one, on the other hand.
The chart below outlines the permitted combinations of pronouns. There are blank entries to denote combinations which are deemed impossible.
The column headings (i.e., yaku, ika, etc.) in bold denote pronouns in the absolutive case while the row headings (i.e., 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	ke kya	-	-	-	da ko da 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	mi ya	-	-	(ing sarili mi)	da ko da 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	da ka	de dya	da kata	da katamu	da ke da kami	da ko da kayu	do da 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 is not 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, they will 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 are fragrant."
Ninu ing lalaking ita?

"Who is that man?"
Me keni.

"Come here."
Ati ku keti.

"I am here."
Mangan la keta.

"They will eat there."
Ninu ing anak niyan?

"Who is the child of that?"
Oyta ya pala ing salamin mo!

"So that's where your glasses are!"
E ku pa menakit karen.

"I haven't seen these yet."
Manyaman la ren./Manyaman la den.

Those are delicious.
Oreni adwang regalo para keka.

"Here are 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 is 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 is ''-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 do not 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 (i.e., ''-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 is 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. means "will speak" while means "is speaking".

Conjugation chart

Below is a chart of the basic Kapampangan verbal affixes.

	Infinitive & Contemplative	Progressive	Completed
Actor Focus1a	-um-	CV-	-in-
Actor Focus1b	-	CV-	-in- -i-
Actor Focus1c	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

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 gagawa?

“What is he doing?”
'Ninu' means ''who''.
Ninu la reng lalake?/Ninu la deng lalake?

“Who are those men?”
Ninu i Jennifer?

“Who is Jennifer?”
'Nukarin' means ''where'' but is used to inquire about the location of an object and not used with verbs.
Nukarin ya ing drayber?

“Where is the driver?”

Note: ''Drayber'' is the Kapampangan phonetic spelling of “driver.”
Nukarin i Henry?

“Where is Henry?”

Loan Words

Many Kapampangan words have been borrowed from foreign languages, like Spanish such as ''swerti/swerte'' (from ''suerte'', luck), ''krus'' (''cruz'', cross), ''kwartu/kwarto'' (from ''cuarto'', room), ''peru/pero'' (from ''pero'', but), and ''berdi/berde'' (from ''verde'', green); Chinese such as ''susi/suse'' (from ''xu-xi'', key) and ''sungkî/sungkê'' (from ''sung-ki'', uneven); and Sanskrit such as ''karma''.

Examples

Some Common Phrases

★ Komusta na 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 mo! - You are so handsome!

★ Wa - Yes

★ Ali - No

★ Mekeni (from 'Ume ka keni'). - Come here.
Kaluguran da ka - I love you

Numbers

1	isa (for simple counting)/metung (for describing the quantity of the object)
2	adwa
3	atlu/atlo
4	apat
5	lima
6	anam
7	pitu/pito
8	walu/walo
9	siyam
10	pulu/pulo (for simple counting), apulu/apulo (for describing the quantity of the object)
11	pulu’t isa/pulu at isa (for simple counting), pulu’t metung/pulu at metung (for describing the quantity of the object) (onsi/onse, Spanish numerals are used above 10)
12	pulu’t adwa/pulu at adwa (dosi/dose)
13	pulu’t atlu/pulu’t atlo OR pulu at atlu/pulu at atlo (tresi/trese)
14	pulu’t apat/pulu at apat (katorsi/katorse)
15	pulu’t lima/pulu at lima (kinsi/kinse)
20	benti/bente
30	trenta
100	syentu/syento
1,000,000	isang milyón

Traditional Children's Song

Atin ku pung singsing

Metung yang timpukan

Amana ke iti

King indung ibatan

Sangkan keng sininup

King metung a kaban

Mewala ya iti,

E ku kamalayan.


Ing sukal ning lub ku

Susukdul king banwa

Pikurus kung gamat

Babo ning lamesa

Ninu mang manakit

King singsing kung mana

Kalulung pusu ku

Manginu ya keya.


English Translation:


I once had a ring

With a beautiful gem

I inherited this

From my mother

I stored it as well as I could

In a hopebox

But it just suddenly disappeared

I didn't notice.


The heartache inside me

Is as high as the sky

My crossed hands (as I pray)

Are upon the table

Whoever would find

That inherited ring

My poor heart (that's aching)

Shall forever worship him/her.

See also

★ Languages of the Philippines

External links

★ 10 ICAL Paper - Orthography Dispute

★ 10 ICAL Paper - Diacritical Marks

★ 10 ICAL Paper - Transitivity & Pronominal Clitic Order

★ Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database

★ Bansa.org Kapampangan Dictionary

★ Kapampangan lessons, uses Bacolor (Spanish) spelling

★ eK! (electronic Kabalen) - a Kapampangan journal of ideas

★ Filipino Children Songs

★ Dying languages

★ State can still save Kapampangan