Documentation of Ibatan

Babuyan Claro, an island in the northern Philippines, is home to a dynamic multilingual community of people proficient in at least three languages – Ibatan, the local language, Ilokano, the regional lingua franca, and Filipino, the national language. This project documents Ibatan within this multilingual landscape, which continues to shape the language. Language choice and use for Ibatan’s 2,500 first- and second-language speakers reflects participation in social networks that maintain connections across the island. A sociolinguistically-informed documentation that considers speakers’ linguistic repertoires provides an understanding of the emergence, development and current use of Ibatan through processes of language continuity and change.

Primary Investigator: Maria Kristina S. Gallego
Fund Source: Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (Grant ID IGS0359)

Publications

Gallego, M. K. S. (2023). The Structural Consequences of Lexical Transfer in Ibatan. In Klamer, M. & Moro, F. (Eds.) Traces of Contact in the Lexicon (pp. 348-391). Brill.

Gallego, M. K. S. (2022). Lexical sources for Ibatan. In dela Peña, W. (Ed.) The Legacy of Consuelo J. Paz: A Festschrift, pp. 71-89. University of the Philippines Center for International Studies.

Gallego, M. K. S. (2020). Ibatan of Babuyan Claro (Philippines) – Language Contexts. Language Documentation and Description, 17, 87-110.

Gallego, M. K. S. (2020, September 10). On sociolinguistic fragility, language vitality, and changing patterns of multilingualism: The linguistic landscape of Babuyan Claro. Endangered Languages Archive.