113. IRRAYA: LOST IDENTITY, NEAR EXTINCT DIALECT

IRRAYA: LOST IDENTITY, NEAR EXTINCT DIALECT

Troy Alexander G. Miano, DPA

21 February 2020

 

 

Today, February 21^st, the world celebrates International Mother Language Day. Since the year 2000, this special day promotes linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. However, according to the United Nations, “every two weeks a language disappears taking with it an entire cultural and intellectual heritage. At least 43% of the estimated 6,000 languages spoken in the world are endangered. Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world.”

 

It reminds me of my childhood days whenever I go home for vacation in Isabela, I hear different dialects. My maternal grandparents would converse in Ilocano. My grandfather would sometimes speak Kapampangan to fellow Pampango merchants in our municipality. The two household help would communicate in Itawis since both were from Burgos town. An uncle speaks Yogad and a number of barangaymates are Kalingas and they spoke their own dialect. My cousins in Ilagan would visit us and chat in Ibanag while I continue to talk in my traditional Tagalog language, now officially known as Filipino. Unknown to many, Isabela province has another distinct language which is now dying. The vanishing tongue is the Irraya.

 

My first encounter with the term “Irraya” was with the book entitled “The Province of Isabela” published by the Provincial Government in 1981 under the instructions of Governor Faustino N. Dy, printed by J. Corsino Press in Manila and edited by Mr. Alejandro A. Cadiente, Mrs. Aurora B. Singson-Tabangay and Msgr. Marino D. Gatan, PhD.  When I started to research and scribble the “Chronological History of Isabela” in 2011, I stumbled on a secondary source, the book entitled “Cagayan Valley and Eastern Cordillera” authored by Rev. Fr. Pedro V. Salgado and published by Rex Commercial, where the word “Irraya” was mentioned and expounded. The Dominican Salgado’s primary sources were the archives of the Dominican missionaries assigned in Cagayan Valley from 1581 to 1898.

 

According to Rev. Fr. Salgado, La Irraya (Addaya and Yrraya in other manuscripts) region comprised the vast area from Tuguegarao in Cagayan province up to the present Gamu town in Isabela province. Irraya was also the term used for the native’s name and their dialect. Irraya is an Ibanag word which means “upriver”. The first Irraya settlements christianized by the Dominican missionaries were Pilitan, Abbuatan, Batavag and Bolo. However, the Irraya Revolt of 1621 disintegrated the villages. After two years, another settlement was formed in Maquila from the remnants of old Bolo and Pilitan. This was the forerunner of Cabagan pueblo. In 1646, the town site was transferred to what is now San Pablo town where a big Church edifice was built. The continuous evangelization of Cagayan Valley reached the Irraya region particularly Pueblo de San Pablo de Cabagan. The missionaries had a hard time preaching since they came across different dialects as they moved upstream the great river. From their base in Lal-lo, where the seat of the Diocese of Nueva Segovia was located, dialects like Ibanag, Malaueg, Itawis, Gaddang and Irraya including Apayao and Kalinga, were encountered. To fast track the spread of Christianity, the church authorities ruled to have an official language for the whole of Cagayan Valley. Since the seat of the diocese was in Lal-lo and the missionaries had already learned the native dialect of the area, Ibanag was chosen as the official lingua franca of the Christianized settlements of the valley. Everybody was enjoined to speak Ibanag and those who were caught by authorities speaking other patois were punished.

 

The authorities discouraged or forbade the natives to speak Irraya due to its similarity to the language of the "pagans" which at that time were the Kalingas. Whenever Irraya folks enter the poblacion, none would speak Irraya, for they would be considered despicably as a "Kalinga" or as "ignorant persons" who were living in the mountains. Since then, the Irraya tongue gradually disappeared from the Cabagan psyche and the entire region. Today, no one speaks Irraya regularly. There are; however, a few barrios in Cabagan wherein the Ibanag dialect gets interspersed with Irraya. Some older Cabagueños could still remember phrases and sentences in Irraya but never realized that the words are Irraya.

 

In 2016, I personally made my own researches and interviews on the Irraya. I visited the two remaining barangays whose residents can still speak and understand the language as mentioned by the historian Salgado. Located in the northwestern part of historic Cabagan across the mighty Cagayan River, the villages of Tallag and San Bernardo still have the remnants of the language. The adjoining barrio of Aggub and the twin barangays of Casibarag Norte and Sur in the poblasyon still have residents who have grasp of Irraya words since many of them are relatives of the dwellers of Tallag.

 

One of the oldest residents of Tallag, Mrs. Magdalena Fugaban Guingab-Aggabao, shared all Irraya phrases she can remember with the aid of her relatives. In San Bernardo, Mrs. Lesmarie C. Dela Cruz and Mrs. Lelita V. Mamauag led the imparting of Irraya words and sentences. After a day long conversation, I came to the conclusion that the Ibanags of today are the actual descendants of the Irrayas of yesteryears. In short, they are the Irrayas. It was only the strict order of the Dominican authorities which changed the identity of the Irrayas to Ibanag. The lost identity is now found. However, it would be near impossible to convince the Ibanag country from Tuguegarao to Naguilian to change their identity. But the dialect can still be saved by documenting and encouraging the residents to continue using and transfer to the next generation the ailing language.

 

It is interesting to document the remaining Irraya terms. Allow me to share some of the Irraya phrases with the translation in Ibanag, Filipino and English: Ammeng mastang (Ari ka matannug/ Huwag kang maingay/ Don’t be noisy), Umey ko lagapping saw (Umay ka labbi tawe/ Punta ka muna dito/ Come here), aggalufang (gaba/ banga/ jar), Anni dabarramang! (Anni ngana mabba!/ Ano ba naman yan!/ What is that?), araralam (adallang/ sobrang malalim/ too deep), Anniyaakkanammu? (Anni y ikannu?/ Anong ulam niyo?/ What is your viand?), Anni kurukurugan nu senno (Ari mu kurugan yayya/ Huwag kang maniwala sa kanya/ Don’t believe him/her), Sinnikang? (Sinni ka?/ Sino ka?/ Who are you?), Sitawadde mu? (Awang tu adde na/ Walang hangganan/ Where does it end?), Anni ya kukukwan nu niyyang? (Anni kwannu ngatung?/ Ano ang ginagawa niyo?/ What are you doing?). It is also interesting to note that the phrases and sentences are pronounced and executed in an elongated tone. Furthermore, these almost extinct unique words are mostly used whenever one would like to keep the dialogue to family members or close associates so the other listeners would be dismembered from the conversation. Moreover, Irraya terms are unconsciously used whenever one is angry or annoyed and it is usually mixed with Ibanag phrases.

 

The United Nation reports that today, after over 20 years, “there is growing awareness that languages play a vital role in development, in ensuring cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue, but also in strengthening co-operation and attaining quality education for all, in building inclusive knowledge societies and preserving cultural heritage, and in mobilizing political will for applying the benefits of science and technology to sustainable development.” In the Province of Isabela, a number of individuals particularly from the academe, are making researches not only to save the Irraya language but also other dialects like the Gaddang and Yogad.

 

After the interviews were made, a resident in San Bernardo commented that she is elated that she knows Irraya and that she is proud to be an Irraya. I smiled.