A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis Of Job Application Letters In Philippine English And American English

PHILIPPINE JOURNALOF
LINGUISTICS
VOLUME 46 DECEMBER 2015
PUBLISHED BY THE LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF THE PHILIPPINES
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ISSN 0048-3796

PHILIPPINE JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS
Aims and Scope
The Philippine Journal of Linguistics, the oficial
scholarly journal of the Linguistic Society of the
Philippines, is an international peer-reviewed
journal of research in linguistics. Published
once a year in December, it aims to serve as
a forum for original studies in descriptive,
comparative, historical, and areal linguistics.
Although its primary interest is in linguistic
theory, it also publishes papers on the application
of theory to language teaching, sociolinguistics,
psycholinguistics, anthropological linguistics,
and the like. Papers on applied linguistics
should, however, be chiely concerned with the
principles that underlie speciic techniques rather
than the mechanical aspects of such techniques.
Articles are published in English, although papers
written in Filipino, the national language of the
Philippines, will occasionally appear. Since the
Lingusitic Society of the Philippines is composed of
members whose paramout interest is the Philippine
languages, papers on these and related languages
are given priority in publication. This does not
mean, however, that the Journal will limit its scope
to the Austronesian language family. Studies on any
aspect of language structure are welcome.
Issue Editors
Alejandro S. Bernardo
Judith Ma. Angelica S. Claustro
Marilu R. Madrunio
Veronico N. Tarrayo
Camilla J. Vizconde
University of Santo Tomas, Philippines
Copy Editor
Veronico N. Tarrayo
Board of Editorial Consultants
Maria Lourdes S. Bautista
De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
Kingsley Bolton
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Maya Khemlani David
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Andy Kirkpatrick
Grifith University, Gold Coast, Australia
Hsiu-chuan Liao
National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
Curtis McFarland
Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
Randy J. Lapolla
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Andrew Moody
University of Macau, Macao SAR, China
Ricardo Ma. Nolasco
University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City
J. Stephen Quakenbush
SIL International
Lawrence A. Reid
University of Hawai’i, Honolulu
Masayoshi Shibatani
Rice University, Texas, USA

Philippine Journal of Linguistics
Volume 46
CONTENTS
ARTICLES PAGE
Linguistic Analysis of Trading Agreements: 1
Insights for Plain Writing in Philippine Contracts
Pia Patricia P. Tenedero
Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, 14
and Itneg Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte
Agnes Catalan-Francisco
Modal Must in Philippine Editorials: A Corpus-based Study 39
Rodrigo Concepcion Morales
Linguistic Politeness of the World: Strategies Used by Organizers 50
of Youth International Conferences in Writing Rejection Letters
Kereen Ria C. Genteroy and Veronico N. Tarrayo
A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of Job Application Letters 68
in Philippine English and American English
John Paul O. Dela Rosa, Rachelle B. Lintao, and
Maria Grace D.Dela Cruz
Miete or Mitte? A Preliminary Study of Vowel Length Contrasts 89
in Filipino Learners of German as a Foreign Language
Frances Antoinette C. Cruz

1
Linguistic Analysis of Trading Agreements: Insights
for Plain Writing in Philippine Contracts
University of Santo Tomas
Manila, Philippines
Email: piapatriciatenedero@gmail.com
Abstract
APhilippine bill has been put forward with the view to simplify legal documents, a timely initiative in
the advent of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, which portends heightened importance of business
contracts. In consonance with the global effort to apply plain writing, this paper examines four linguistic
features of ive online trading agreements. Using corpus stylistics and informed by principles of pragmatics
and readability, the analysis conirms that the examined trading agreements possess the traditional legal form
characterized by the use of impersonal noun references; modal verbs, particularly shall; legal archaisms; and
long sentences. While the Plain Writing for Public Service Act of 2013 is pending ratiication, it appears that
stock broker companies in the Philippines have already begun with their efforts to simplify their consumer
contracts. Benchmarking on USA Plain English Laws, the study also proposes some guidelines to make
trading agreements objectively comprehensible to nonspecialist users.
Keywords: Plain writing, linguistic features of contracts
1. Introduction
The imminent implementation of the ASEAN
EconomicCommunity(AEC)in2015presentspotential
prospects for economic growth among its member
countries. To realize its vision of full integration into
the global economy, one of its priority initiatives is
developing electronic transactions through e-ASEAN
(The ASEAN Secretariat, 2014). This report portends
the expansion of Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) in relation to ASEAN market
integration, which broadly encompasses online trading
in securities, an investment activity that has been
opened to the Philippine market, albeit less pervasive
in comparison with the stock market activity of
other nations (Dayag, Lagamayo, Lim, Miranda, &
Syson, 2014). Such projection suggests the increased
importance of online trading agreements as legal
inancial contracts that legitimize trading of securities
via the Internet by individual investors. Consequently,
making such contracts more reader-friendly to
consumers becomes an urgent matter compelling law
practitioners to apply standards of Plain English to
cater to clients of different levels of literacy.
An online trading agreement is an example of
a legal document that is often described as complex
and unintelligible, particularly to a lay person with
no formal training in the language of law (Holt &
Johnson, 2010). The complexity of such a document
is attributed to the linguistic features that characterize
its form and structure. Coulthard and Johnson (2010)
listed 12 linguistic features of contracts, including
binomial expressions, cohesion, complex prepositions,
impersonal noun phrase, legal archaisms, modality,
negation, nominalization, passive constructions,
sentence length, and specialized legal lexis. Tiersma
(2012) identiies these features as impediments to
effective communication of important legal and
inancial information to nonexpert users or nonlawyers.
To address this linguistic barrier, concerned
legislators turn to the Plain English movement that
started in 1979 as an effort to minimize, if not remove,
legalese and bureaucratic language (Stoop & Churr,
2013). Leading this initiative, the United States of
America has enacted the Plain Writing Act of 2010,
also known as United States Public Law 111-274,
which mandates federal agencies to produce legal
documents that are “clear, concise, well-organized, and

follow other best practices appropriate to the subject
or ield and intended audience” (U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, 2014, n.p.). This law has served
as the benchmark for other countries that likewise
acknowledge the merits of using words economically
to communicate critical information. In New Zealand,
companiesthatstrictlyadheretoPlainEnglishstandards
are recognized in the WriteMark Plain English Awards
(Dickens, 2014). Hong Kong, United Kingdom, and
Australia have also come up with guidelines for creating
clear product disclosure and initiatives to enhance the
general inancial literacy of investors (Godwin, 2009).
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, Senator Grace Poe
authored the Plain Writing for Public Service Act of
2013,abillthatislargelybasedontheU.S.PlainWriting
Act of 2010 in recognition of its beneits to the public
(Poe, 2013). While the bill is still pending ratiication,
the Philippines is already recognized as one of the
nearly 800 member countries of the Plain Language
Association International, an organization that actively
endorses the use of plain language, particularly in the
context of legal discourse (Plain Language Association
International, 2009).
Assessing the readability of texts has been a
research interest since the 1920s when readability
formulas were irst developed to quantify elements
of writing such as average number of syllables in
words and average number of words in sentences to
determine how easily the text can be comprehended
(Rajapakse & Rameezdeen, 2007). Advancement in
computerized grammar and style-checking software
programs and web tools has helped popularize
readability formulas, including Flesch Reading Ease
Scores (FRES) and Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level; all of
which measure surface features of the text and typically
assign school grade level based on the perceived text
dificulty. The Flesch benchmark considers ‘65’ as
“the Plain English Score”; this means a text that can
be comprehended by 8th
and 9th
graders is the norm
for plain writing standards (Ross & Scott, 1996, as
cited in Rajapakse & Rameezdeen, 2007). However,
a critical limitation of these formulas is their inability
to account for qualitative considerations, such as the
reader’s prior knowledge of and interest in the subject
matter of the material. Researchers agree that these
factors contribute signiicantly to the assessment
of the comprehensibility of the text since the inal
assessment rests on the intended audience (Schriver,
2
1989, as cited in Pitler & Nenkova, 2008; Zakaluk &
Samuels, 1988 as cited in Rajapakse & Rameezdeen,
2007). Notwithstanding these restrictions, numerical
descriptions of text features provide an opportunity to
evaluate text comprehensibility in an objective manner.
In consonance with the prevailing effort to
simplify legal documents, this paper examines four
linguistic features of online trading agreements in
the Philippines where, similar to Chauhaan’s (2013)
observation in India, English appears to be the main
language of law, particularly in written discourse even
if it is “not the language of the common man” (p. 333).
Speciically, the study attempts to answer the following
questions:
1. What are the lexical and syntactic traits of the
selected online trading agreements in terms
of impersonal references, modal verbs, legal
archaisms, and sentence length?
2. What indications, if any, of plain writing standards
are manifested in the corpus?
3. What language guidelines can be recommended
to make the contracts more comprehensible to
nonlawyer investors?
2. Method
This study applied corpus stylistics in analyzing
four linguistic features of ive online securities trading
agreements. Corpus stylistics studies the relative
frequency of particular linguistic items and uses
quantitative data to draw conclusions about the language
features that characterize a particular text type and the
possible inluences on readers’ perceptions (Carter,
2010; Craig, 2004). The linguistic features examined
were selected based on the framework of Coulthard and
Johnson (2010). The original inventory of 12 linguistic
features was narrowed down to four—impersonal and
personal references, modal verbs, legal archaisms, and
sentence length. These four surface features of contracts
were selected on the basis of their quantiiability using
word count tools that are readily accessible on the
Internet. As such, the procedure can easily be replicated
as a simple test of readability, albeit nonconclusive. The
decision to include three lexical features (pronoun use,
modality, legal archaisms) and one syntactic feature
(sentence length) was also anchored on Pitler and
Nenkova’s (2008) assertion that combining lexical,

3
syntactic, and discourse features strengthens the
predictability of how readable a given text is.
The chosen lexical and syntactic features were
quantiied using www.wordcounttools.com, a web tool
that reports word count statistics, including average
sentence length and keyword density of the top 500
frequently used words in the corpus. Manual tagging
and the “Find” function of Microsoft Word were
also used to determine the frequency of noun-phrase
impersonal references, legal archaic expressions, and
the pronoun I in the corpora. These supplementary
methods were applied to address the limitation of the
selected web tool, which does not report frequency
percentage of phrases and one-letter words.
The corpus for this research consisted of ive
online securities trading agreements (OSTA), also
known as online trading service agreement, available
online through the oficial websites of online stock
brokers in the Philippines. Table 1 provides the
information about the corpora source.
There are 10 recognized online stock broker
companies in the Philippines (Canaoay, 2013).
However, only the ive mentioned provide ready access
to their OSTA; the other companies withhold the said
document to non-investors.
The frequency data were then examined in
light of pragmatic considerations, such as levels of
formality and speech acts, to shed light on the functional
signiicance of the formal features of the corpora. To
assess the indications of plain writing in the samples and
to provide insights on the possible contract drafting style
guidelines,threePlainEnglishLaws(PELs)intheUnited
States of America were used as references, particularly
the 1980 Connecticut Plain Language Law, the 1993
Pennsylvania Plain Language Consumer Contract Act,
and the 1998 Washington Plain English Handbook.
3. Results and Discussion
To address the research questions, the selected
lexical and syntactic traits of the corpora are described.
In general, the predominant styles noted indicate the
initiative of stock broker companies in the country to
apply plain writing standards albeit the absence of a
Philippine law sanctioning its practice. Benchmarking
on the identiied PELs, the discussion also proposes some
guidelines to make legal documents, such as OSTA,
more easily comprehensible to nonspecialist users.
3.1 Lexical and Syntactic Features of OSTAs
3.1.1 Terms of Reference
Coulthard and Johnson (2010) explained that
the use of impersonal third-person references in legal
documents makes the message appear more general and
creates “social distance between sender and receiver”
(p.11). As can be seen in Table 2, all the corpora used
impersonal noun-phrase references, the most common
of which is “this Agreement,” referring to the online
securities trading agreement, used at least 12 times in
each corpus. Another notable recurrence is the use of
“online trading facility” to refer to the service offered
by the company. This phrase was evident in three out
of ive corpora with nearly equivalent frequencies. It
is also observed that “the broker” is used alternately
with an acronym of the company name such as ASC,
ACEC, COL, and FMSBC. Hence, the nonuse of a
company-name acronym explains the extensive use of
“the broker” in the irst corpus.
These observations suggest that the samples
generally adhere to the traditional legal standard for
writingcontracts,whichinsistsontheuseofanobjective,
impersonal, and detached tone, characteristic of formal
levels of communication. Perhaps, such a style more
Table 1. Corpora source
Corpus Online Stock Broker Website
1 AB Capital Securities, Inc. http://www.abcapitalsecurities.com.ph/
2 Abacus Securities Corporation http://www.abacusonline.com.ph/
3 Accord Capital Equities Corporation http://www.philstocks.ph/
4 Col Financial (formerly CitiSecurities, Inc.) http://www.colinancial.com/
5 First Metro Securities Brokerage Corporation http://www.irstmetrosec.com.ph/

4
effectively sends the message that contracts are matters
of high import. While this pragmatic function aptly
justiies the use of impersonal references, repetition
of these nouns or noun phrases within a sentence can
make comprehension challenging for nonlawyer users.
Consider the given extracts:
ACEC may terminate my/our account
for violations of the Agreement of this
Agreement, other Agreement as indicated
in the Philstocks.ph Website, or any grounds
prescribed by the PSE, SEC or any applicable
law. (Extract from corpus 3)
The risk attendant to the use of the Online
Trading Facility shall be for my account in as
much [sic] as the use of the Online Trading
Facility is electronically [sic] and system
generated. (Extract from corpus 5)
Tiersma (1999) and Zaharia (2009) cited
precision to rationalize the avoidance of pronoun use in
such constructions. Also, not using pronouns gives the
document a more authoritative quality. While pronouns
are helpful cohesive devices, they may be misused
leading to ambiguous reference and sexist language.
The problem of vague reference is said to be especially
true with the use of third-person personal pronouns
(Zaharia, 2009) such as he/she, it, its, they, them, their.
These reasons support the continued use of impersonal
references in contracts as noted in the corpora.
3.1.2 Modality
Modal verbs are another characteristic feature
ofcontracts(Coulthard&Johnson,2010;Stygall,2010).
The word-density igures shown in Table 3 conirm this
as shall, may, and will are uniformly used in the ive
corpora. Shall is particularly used more frequently than
the other modal verbs with the exception of corpus 3,
where will relects a higher frequency. The tendency to
Table 2. Impersonal references in selected online trading agreements
Noun Reference Corpus 1 Corpus 2 Corpus 3 Corpus 4 Corpus 5
Account Owner/s - 10 - - -
ASEC - - 64 - -
ASC - 168 - - -
Client - - - 84 -
COL - - - 94 -
FMSBC - - - - 6
Online Trading Facility 15 16 - - 15
the Broker 81 1 - - 4
the OSTA - - - 24 -
the Agreement 12 25 22 17 15
Trade Settlement Account - - - - 11
Online Trading Service - - - - 5
Table 3. Modal verb use in selected online trading agreements
Modal verb Corpus 1 Corpus 2 Corpus 3 Corpus 4 Corpus 5
Shall 33 (0.9%) 88 (1.7%) 3 (0.1%) 58 (2.1%) 72 (1.3%)
May 16 (0.4%) 42 (0.8%) 20 (0.9%) 19 (0.7%) 42 (0.8%)
Will 32 (0t9%) 22 (0.4%) 40 (1.7%) 4 (0.1%) 37 (0.6%)
Can 5 (0.1%) 3 (0.0%) 1 (0.0%) - 4 (0.0%)
Must 5 (01% - 1 (0.0%) 2 (0.0%) -

favor the use of shall may be attributed to the force it
gives a statement, which helps to emphasize the nature
of contracts as binding legal agreements.
Kakzhanova (2013) explained that while shall,
may, will, as well as must, are all categorized as “forcing
modals” or those that compel a person to realize an
action, they vary in the force of their compulsion.
Shall is considered most forceful as it suggests strong
determination and obligation for an action to be done. It
is a language feature of directives, which are statements
that leave the addressee no other option but to follow
(Trosborg, 1991).
3.1.3 Legal Archaisms
In addition to avoidance of personal pronouns
and excessive use of shall, another distinctive style
in legal contracts is the preponderance of jargon and
technical terms. Included in this specialized language
are archaisms, which are “upper-register language”
that originated from Law Latin and Law French as
exempliied by such words as de facto (meaning, “in
fact”) and in casu (meaning, “in the present case”)
(Mattila, 2012). When the Anglo-Saxons rose to power,
there was a gradual shift from French and Latin to
English. Accordingly, legal documents originally in
French or Latin were translated into English. However,
when the lawyers and clerks could not ind exact English
equivalents for technical expressions, they resorted
to borrowing. This explains why, despite the abolition
of Law French and Law Latin in legal proceedings in
1731, the inluence of these two languages persisted in
the form of antiquated expressions in legal documents
(Tiersma, 2012). Examples include archaic morphology
(e.g., sayeth, withnesseth), native expressions beginning
with here and there (e.g., therein, hereunder, thereof,
thereto), and other verbs (e.g., darraign), nouns
(e.g., surrejoinder), adjectives (e.g., aforesaid), and
prepositions (e.g., pursuant to, prior to, anterior to) that
are considered legalisms or lawyerisms (Stanojevic,
2011). To avoid linguistic lapses, lawyers and clerks
have opted to preserve such phrasing in legal documents,
which are subject to rigorous scrutiny. This practice,
which originated in England, was subsequently adopted
by the American legal system and its colonies (Tiersma,
1999), including the Philippines. It is, therefore, not
surprising to ind a number of archaisms in the examined
local corpora, as relected in Table 4.
5
Table 4. Legal archaisms in selected online trading agreements
Archaism Corpus 1 Corpus 2 Corpus 3 Corpus 4 Corpus 5
foregoing 2 3 - 1 2
hereater 2 2 1 - 2
hereby 9 27 1 13 14
herein 2 9 1 3 4
hereof 6 4 - - 3
hereto 1 1 - - -
hereunder - 4 - 1 1
hereunto - - - 1 -
prior to 5 2 4 2 6
pursuant to 1 4 - - 2
thereater - 1 - - -
thereby 1 2 - 1 1
therein 1 1 - 1 2
thereof 2 15 2 4 5
thereon - 2 - 1 1
thereto 2 4 2 4 2
thereunder - 2 - - -
whereof - - - 1 -

6
As can be seen, the most commonly used
archaic expressions are the adverbs hereby and
thereof, used 64 and 28 times, respectively, across the
ive corpora. Other common but less frequently used
expressions are herein, prior to, and thereto. A marked
contrast is observable between corpus 2 and 3 with
the former having the most number of archaisms (83
in total) and the latter, the least (11 in total). Tiersma
(1999) contends that using archaic words, as in the case
of the corpora, does not contribute to the precision of
the language of the contract. He further attributes the
insistence of its use to monetary incentives on the part
of lawyers, whose services are availed to assist in the
interpretation of this specialized language.
3.1.4 Sentence Length
Movingbeyondlexicalfeatures,Trosborg(1991)
maintains that syntactic qualities of legal documents
present considerable dificulties in comprehending
legal English. One fundamental syntactic feature is
sentence length, which is easily associated with sentence
complexity. In comparison with other technical writings,
legal discourse is notable for lengthy and complex
sentence structures, such as the extract below.
For the purpose of selling, buying or
performing other acts as stated herein, I hereby
irrevocably appoint and constitute ASC, its
oficers, employees or successors-in-interest
and/or assigns, as well as any sub-agent,
broker, attorney-in-fact it may appoint for
that purpose, as my true and lawful attorney
with full power and authority to buy or sell,
lend or borrow securities, or otherwise act
for any of my account(s) whether carried
individually or jointly with others, to agree
upon the price of said securities, execute bills
of sale, receipts, assignments of all my rights,
title and interest to the purchaser(s) thereof or
such other instruments in writing or documents
as may be necessary and to deliver or accept
delivery of the corresponding stock certiicates
and/or which ASC may directly or indirectly
do or cause to be done in accordance with
the powers herein conferred all of which are
hereby deemed ratiied by me in all respects for
this purpose. ASC shall be entitled to rely on
any instruments, notices and communications
which it believes to have originated from me
and I shall be bound thereby.
While all ive corpora contain at least one
considerably long sentence, the given extract from
corpus 2 stands out with 183 words. If the Flesch
standard, which gives a zero rating to a text that has
an average of more than 37 words per sentence, is
used to assess the sample statement, the text is easily
categorized as postgraduate level or “very dificult to
read” (Ross & Scott, 1996, as cited in Rajapakse &
Rameezdeen, 2007). But considering the exact average
sentence length ratings of the corpora shown in Table 5,
it may be assumed that all ive corpora have relatively
acceptable readability levels, albeit varying in degree
of comprehensibility.
It appears that corpus 3, registering the smallest
average sentence length, is the most readable sample in
the group. However, this case seems more an exception
rather than the norm as three other corpora show ratings
higher than 22 words per sentence. This noted trend
suggests that the examined legal documents generally
subscribe to the traditional form of contracts, which are
noted for protracted constructions.
3.2 Indications of Plain Writing
While the use of impersonal noun references is
rather expected in trading agreements, it is interesting
to ind irst and second personal pronouns in nearly all
of the corpora, with the exception of corpus 4. Table 6
shows that irst-person plural pronouns (we, us, our)
are the most commonly used in all four corpora. This is
followed by irst-person singular pronouns (I, me, my,
myself), which are evident in three samples. Meanwhile,
Table 5. Average sentence length in selected online trading agreements
Average Sentence
Length
Corpus 1 Corpus 2 Corpus 3 Corpus 4 Corpus 5
24.1 22.4 11 18.7 22.8

7
the use of second-person pronouns (you, your, yours) is
less frequent and is noted only in corpus 1 and 5.
Comparing the density and variety of personal
references in the samples examined shows that corpus 5
registers the most number of personal pronouns ranging
from irst-person plural and singular to second-person
references. Such lexical richness, which is apparent in
this corpus as far as terms of reference is concerned,
seems unusual but implies an effort among stock broker
companies in the Philippines to produce more readable
contracts that comply with Plain English standards.
To claim that the samples that used irst and
second personal pronouns are more readable than those
that did not is supported by the contention that pronoun
use “is perceived as more desirable than the use of
deinite noun phrase” (Gordon et al., 1993; Krahmer
& Theune, 2002, as cited in Pitler & Nenkova, 2008,
p. 188). Readability studies argue that using pronouns
contributes to text coherence and facilitates the reader’s
prediction of idea connectedness (Elsner & Charniak,
2008; Nenkova & McKeown, 2003; Siddharthan, 2003,
as cited in Pitler & Nenkova, 2008). In effect, personal
references in a traditionally complex formal document
make the text less intimidating. Conversely, using
multiple noun-phrase constructions “requires readers
to remember more items” (Pitler & Nenkova, 2008, p.
190), thereby, making the text more challenging to read.
The linguistic merits of using personal
pronouns in contracts are also acknowledged by the
1980 Connecticut Plain Language Law, the 1993
Pennsylvania Plain Language Consumer Contract Act,
and the 1998 Washington Plain English Handbook. The
Connecticut statute stipulates that [contracts] “must use
personal pronouns, the actual or shortened names of the
parties to the contract, or both, when referring to those
parties” (Stoop & Churr, 2013, p.538). Similarly, the
Pennsylvania Act speciies that, “when the contract
refers to the parties to the contract,” the reference
should use “personal pronouns, the actual or shortened
names of the parties, the terms ‘seller’ and ‘buyer’ or
the terms ‘lender’ and ‘borrower’” (Grim, Biehn, &
Tatcher, 2008, para. 6). These recommendations are
justiied comprehensively by the Ofice of Investor
Education and Assistance of the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (1998), stating that the use of
personal pronouns “dramatically improves” the clarity
of the document, thereby, aiding in comprehension.
Personal references clearly state the provisions that
apply to the reader investor and to the stock broker
company, allow the company to converse with the
reader in a more straightforward manner, and help
keep sentences shorter. Contrary to lawyers’perception
that pronouns tend to cause ambiguous and sexist
references, the Washington handbook claims that using
Table 6. Personal references in selected online trading agreements
Pronouns Corpus 1 Corpus 2 Corpus 3 Corpus 4 Corpus 5
I - 110 54 - 139
me - 43 19 - 60
my - 94 55 - 125
myself - 3 - - -
we 2 - 56 - -
us 3 5 20 - 3
our 5 2 52 - 4
you 98 - - - 120
your 74 - - - -
yours 1 - - - -
they 2 - 1 - -
them 1 2 - - -
their 7 4 - 2 5
it 9 19 2 4 20
its 16 33 10 16 2

8
this part of speech may, in fact, help avoid abstractions
through the use of concrete and familiar vocabulary
and prevent the “he or she” dilemma through the use
of irst- and second-person pronouns, which are not
gender-speciic.
3.2.2 Modality
On the matter of verb modality in contracts, the
PELs do not prescribe speciic verbs for use in the terms
of agreement. The general recommendation is simply
to use simple and active verb forms (Stoop & Churr,
2013). Using this guideline as reference requires a close
examination of the voice of the modal-verb phrases. A
cursory review reveals the use of active voice in some
modal-verb constructions, as shown in the extracts.
You shall explicitly agree to be bound by the
bylaws, constitution …. (Extract from corpus 1)
I may terminate my Online Account by….
(Extract from corpus 2)
Client shall use COL’s service only in
accordance with…. (Extract from corpus 4)
I shall notify you within…. (Extract from
corpus 5)
These active form samples, however, do not
signify the absence of passive constructions. Although
not quantiied in this research, passive modal-verb
phrases are also noted in the corpora, indicating only a
partial effort on the part of OSTAdrafters to apply plain
writing norms.
To address the problem of ambiguity because
of the use of archaic expressions, the Connecticut PEL
advises the use of “everyday words.” Likewise, the
Pennsylvania PEL provides two speciic guidelines
to encourage the use of more familiar as opposed to
antiquated language:
(3) The contract should not use technical
legal terms, other than commonly
understoodlegalterms,suchas“mortgage,”
“warranty” and “security interest.”
(4) The contract should not use Latin and
foreign words or any other word whenever
its use requires reliance upon an obsolete
meaning. (n.p.)
Based on the frequency data presented in
Table 4, Table 7 below shows the total number of legal
archaisms noted in each corpus.
The minimal use of legal archaisms noted
in corpus 3 insinuates some awareness on the part of
contract drafters of the need to use words that more
people can easily understand. Meanwhile, the other
OSTAs need further effort to reduce legal archaisms in
the contract phrasing.
On the matter of sentence length, Stoop and
Churr (2013) mention two speciic guidelines from the
Connecticut statute: “(a) the average number of words
per sentence must be fewer than 22; and (b) no sentence
in the contract may exceed 50 words” (p. 538).
Revisiting the values in Table 5 reveals that
corpus 1, 5, and 2 fail the irst objective test. Having
average sentence lengths of 24.1, 22.8, and 22.4,
respectively, they clearly exceed the prescribed 22-word
limit. Only corpus 3 and 4 satisfy the standard, with the
former registering the most manageable sentence length
with an average of 11 words per sentence.As illustrated
by corpus 3, it is feasible for OSTAs to present terms of
agreement in shorter, easier-to-comprehend sentences.
The second guideline requires a more
comprehensive sentence-level scrutiny of the text
to ensure that every statement contains less than 50
words. Using the Word Count function in Microsoft
Word, a cursory review of the samples shows that all
Table 7. Total legal archaisms in selected online trading agreements
Corpus 1 Corpus 2 Corpus 3 Corpus 4 Corpus 5
34 83 11 33 45

9
ive corpora contain at least one sentence violating the
50-word limit. Hence, there is less evident indication
of plain-writing initiative in this aspect of contract
sentence construction.
3.3 Suggested Plain English Guidelines
Benchmarking on the American statutes,
Philippine OSTAs may beneit from more extensive
use of personal pronouns. Doing so may help make the
contract more reader-friendly and help avoid needless
repetition of impersonal noun references, which can
also be addressed by using synonyms. Applying these
recommendationsmayyieldclearerrevisions,asfollows:
ACEC may terminate my/our account for
violations of this Agreement and other
legal arrangements as indicated in the
Philstocks.ph Website, or any grounds
prescribed by the PSE, SEC or any
applicable law. (Revision of extract from
corpus 3)
The risk attendant to the use of the Online
Trading Facility shall be for my account
inasmuch as its use is electronic and
system-generated. (Revision of extract
from corpus 5)
On the related matter of point of view or the
perspective used in presenting the provisions of the
contract, corpus 2, 3, and 5 used irst-person references
(I, me, my, we) while corpus 1 opted for the second-
person perspective (you, your). As to which point of
view is more effective depends largely on the desired
tone. Using the irst-person point of view makes
the contract more personalized, emphasizing the
active accountability of the investor for entering the
said agreement. In contrast, the second-person view
underscores the imperative nature of the contract. Stock
broker companies may decide between the two options
and apply the corresponding point of view consistently
in the contract.
3.3.2 Modality
While the active form is applicable in modal-
verb constructions, the PELs’ recommendation to
“use simple verbs” appears challenging because the
multimodality of the commonly used verbs shall and
will may make the verbs more complex than simple.
Consider the given extracts:
I hereby agree that this Agreement and all
the terms thereof shall be binding upon my
heirs, executors, administrators, personal
representatives and assigns. (Extract from
corpus 2)
All the terms thereof will be binding upon
my/our heirs, executors, administrators,
personal representatives and assigns.
(Extract from corpus 3)
The extracts show different ways of stating the
contract clause for succession in case of the account
owner’s death. It is evident that corpus 3 used will
whereas corpus 2, as well as the other corpora, used
shall. Perhaps, the intent behind this lexical deviation is
to simplify the language of the contract. However, some
readers may associate futurity rather than modality
with the use of will. If thus construed, the action
implies a temporal rather than directive force; that is,
the provision is understood to be a consequential action
that automatically transpires rather than one that is
consciously followed by the investor. This illustration
supports Kakzhanova’s (2013) assertion that using
either shall or will may potentially confuse readers
since these verbs could serve as “pure indicators of
tense, pure indicators of modality, or both at once” (p.
2534). Reid (2015) also observes this inconsistency
in the designation of words of obligation and further
suggests caution in the use of shall.
To avoid this confusion, Tiersma’s (1999)
suggestion to use must or is (be verb) in place of shall
may be considered. Unlike shall, the modality of must
is more deinitive, expressing purely obligation or
necessity. While Trosborg (1991) observed that must
is notably absent or rare in legal texts, it remains an
alternative for more lucid contracts. In some cases,
the modals and be verbs may even be omitted as
the main verb seems to already capture the essence
of the speciied action. In any case, the assertion

10
of the obligation to strictly abide by all the terms of
agreement is already stated in the introduction (also
called commencement) and reiterated in the closing
section (also called testimonium) of the contracts. If the
suggested verb modiications are applied, statements
become shorter, more direct, and clearer, as illustrated:
All the terms thereof are binding upon
my/our heirs, executors, administrators,
personal representatives and assigns.
(Revision of extract from corpus 3)
Using more precise modal verbs or avoiding
them altogether helps satisfy the given guideline.
Anchoring on the PELs, the comprehensibility of the
examined contracts may be enhanced through a careful
review of the documents’ modality and subsequent
revisions guided by the pragmatic function of modal
verbs.
The suggested remedy to the vagueness of
archaisms is the substitution of shorter, more common
words. The replacements listed below are based on the
suggestions of Stanojevic (2011) and Zaharia (2009),
and deinitions from the 2014 Merriam-Webster
Dictionary.
Archaism Replacement Archaism Replacement
foregoing previous pursuant to under/ in
accordance
with
hereater after/ afterwards thereafter afterwards
hereby here/ (omit the
word)
thereby so/ thus
herein here/ in this
Agreement
therein there
hereof of this thereof of that/ of it
hereto to this document thereon on that
hereunder here/ under that thereto to that/ to it
hereunto to this thereunder under that
prior to before whereof with/ by which
When these replacements are applied, the
resultant statements may appear less intimidating to
nonspecialist readers of the contract, as illustrated:
Extract Revision
It is hereby further agreed
that the terms and conditions
printed on this Agreement
form part thereof as fully as
if they were stated at length
over your signature(s)
hereto afixed and they are
therefore unconditionally
agreed to. (Extract from
corpus 1)
It is further agreed that the
terms and conditions printed
on this Agreement form
part of it as fully as if they
were stated at length over
your signature(s) afixed to
this document and they are
therefore unconditionally
agreed to.
The guidelines stipulated in the Connecticut
PEL may serve as a helpful objective benchmark to
provide concrete controls in the length of sentences
in contracts. This will evidently require rewriting
statements for conciseness. While such a revision may
result in longer documents because of the necessity to
cover all legal considerations, it will ultimately serve
the purpose of contracts, which is for the parties to
the agreement to have a common understanding of
the terms of the contract. Without such “meeting of
the minds,” the courts reserve the right to render such
contract “unconscionable” or invalid (Scheibal, 1986,
p. 59).
In brief, this study suggests the use of irst
and second personal pronouns, must instead of will or
shall to express obligation, shorter and more common
words in place of legal archaisms, and an average of
22 words per sentence. Aside from the USA PELs that
originated these guidelines, the test of plain English in
Canada conducted by Masson and Waldron (1994, as
cited in Cambell, 1999) and a similar comprehension
study in New Zealand by Cambell (1999) provide
empirical evidence that applying these plain-language
conventionsmakethedocumentsmorecomprehensible.
Proof of this is the number of “propositions or idea
units correctly recalled and paraphrased” by nonlawyer
readers (p. 340). The author has not encountered
research disproving these indings, although some
studies question if simply following these prescriptions
already satisies the requirement for plain English
writing (Candlin, Bahtia, & Jensen, 2002; Loughran
& McDonald, 2014; Scheibal, 1986). Whether it is
better to give general or speciic guidelines for PELs
remains debatable and is perhaps a matter for the better
judgment of state legislators.

11
Clearly, terms of reference, modality, legal
archaisms, and sentence length are only a few of the
readability measures considered in assessing the
comprehensibility of contracts to potential investors
with limited knowledge of legal language. While not
all-inclusive, the analysis provides insight into the
current status of Philippine contracts, particularly
OSTAs, and possible directions for the implementation
of plain writing standards in the country.
4. Conclusion and Recommendations
Overall, the study conirmed that the examined
trading agreements possess traditional legal form
characterized by the use of impersonal noun references;
modal verbs, particularly shall; legal archaisms; and
long sentences. While the Plain Writing for Public
Service Act of 2013 is pending ratiication, it appears
that some stock broker companies in the Philippines
have already begun with their efforts to simplify their
consumer contracts. This initiative is evidenced by the
use of irst- and second-person pronouns, the use of
active voice in modal-verb phrases, the minimal use of
legal archaisms, and the ideal average sentence length
of 11 words. Benchmarking on the related stipulations
in the Connecticut and Pennsylvania PELs and the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Plain
English Handbook, the following guidelines are, thus,
recommended as measurable bases for plain writing in
Philippine contracts:
1. Use irst and second personal pronouns and the
shortened names of the parties to the contract
when referring to those parties.
2. Use must to express obligation. An alternative
is to remove the modal verb and use a be verb
instead since the force of command is already
expressed in the introduction and the closing
sections of the contract.
3. Replace legal archaisms with more familiar
words.
4. Limit the average sentence length to 22 words.
Ensure that no sentence is more than 50 words
long.
Whether the implementation of these guidelines
effectively simpliies contracts without sacriicing the
necessary legal content requires testing. The results
of such an examination may inform the Philippine’s
position on the issue of speciic versus general statutes
for the application of plain English. Another related
issue is concerned with how compliance with the PEL
will be ensured. Who will be responsible for checking
that all legal contracts follow the policy stipulations?
What sanctions will be served for noncompliance?
These questions must be considered in drafting the
implementing rules and regulations of the Philippine bill.
Whilethepresentstudyofferssomepreliminary
conclusions regarding the use of plain English in
contracts, other important limitations are evident. The
prescriptive approach is easily subject to questions of
practicality, generalizability, and effectiveness. Is it
necessary and feasible to rewrite all OSTAs to apply
the given guidelines? Are these suggestions acceptable
to all legal and nonlegal stakeholders? Will these
revisions in the OSTAs guarantee easier understanding
of the legal documents by Filipino nonlawyers? These
questions, which are beyond the scope of this research,
are opportunities for further investigation.
In addition, the indings of this study may be
further enriched by a stylistic and descriptive evaluation
of other lexical and syntactic features of contracts,
including word lists, prepositional phrases, negation,
nominalization, passive constructions, and clause
embeddings. To account for the aspects of readability
that cannot be measured mathematically, qualitative
assessments of the readability of OSTAs through focus
group testing can be done. This approach can help
explore the nonquantiiable factors that determine the
readability of a document such as reader vocabulary,
level of interest, and prior knowledge.
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of this article.
13

14
Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte
Cavite State University
Indang, Cavite, Philippines
Email: ac_francisco29@yahoo.com
Abstract
This study looked into the morphological and lexical variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as spoken in Ilocos Norte in terms of nouns, pronouns and deixis, verbs, adjectives, and negation
and interrogatives. These three language varieties that coexist with Ilocano, the lingua franca of Ilocos
regions, are spoken in ten municipalities in Ilocos Norte, particularly in three major areas where indigenous
communities are located, namely, Carasi, Dumalneg, and Nueva Era. Such an analysis was done to initially
describe the morphological and lexical variations of languages spoken by the three groups of indigenous
people (IP) of Ilocos Norte, and to help provide the Province, particularly the National Commission on
Indigenous People-Ilocos Norte Provincial Ofice (NCIP-INPO), a reference material for future studies on the
linguistic proile of the IP. Data were gathered through a 158-item lexical test among 90 participants, with 30
each from the three IP groups. Responses were analyzed following Dita’s (2011) structural analysis of Ibanag
nominal markers and Ruffolo’s (2004) morphophonemic analysis of Ibaloy. Based on the morphological
and lexical analysis made, reduplication pattern (CV and CVC) is commonly used to denote plurality of
nouns across the three language varieties. While ISA uses daya as a plural marker, ITE uses adu a and dia.
While ISA and ISE are lexically different from each other in terms of the use of gender-speciic nouns, ITE
is lexically closer to Ilocano. All personal pronouns across the three languages differ. While ITE possessives
follow the same morphological process as ISE, the latter was found to be somewhat similar with Ilocano
possessives. All of the deictic demonstratives were encoded entirely differently across the three languages.
ISA, ISE, and ITE inlect their lexical verbs by reduplication, phonemic substitution, and afixation. The three
language varieties have monomorphemic as well as derived adjectives just like their Ilocano counterparts.
Most quantiication terms and interrogatives were found to be varied across the three languages. Among the
language varieties, ISA was found to be morphologically and lexically different from ISE and ITE.
Keywords: Morphological features, lexical variations, Philippine language
1. Introduction
In the Philippines where there are 192 living
languages, which make up 2.70 percent of the 1,221
living Austronesian languages in the world, 181 are
classiied as indigenous, and 11 immigrant (Ethnologue
– Languages of the World, 2012). Northern Philippines,
particularly the Ilocos regions, has its regional lingua
franca, which is Ilocano, and a number of minority
languages worth-documenting. Such minority languages
include the Itneg language, which, according to De los
Reyes and De los Reyes (1987), is spoken by the Itneg
people who reside in Luzon. Based on different accounts
on Itneg as an indigenous group in Ilocos Norte, it
can be inferred that Itneg people speak three language
varieties, namely, Itneg Tingguian, Isneg Yapayao,
and Isnag. As per 2012 IP community census, a total
population of 10,609 Itneg tribe members, including
leaders and/or elders, was noted (National Commission
on Indigenous Peoples-Ilocos Norte Provincial Ofice,
2013). Some of them are legitimate residents of the
municipalities of Bangui, Dingras, Marcos, Pagudpud,
Solsona, Vintar, Carasi, Dumalneg, Adams, and Nueva
Era (The Tingguian Ethno-history, 2012; NCIP-INPO,
2013). Although articles have been published locally
and nationally on the sociolinguistic mapping of these
indigenous groups, an initial morphological and lexical
description of the aforementioned language varieties is
essential to the NCIP-INPO and the province of Ilocos
Norte as a whole for proiling and documentation

purposes. The indings of this study, therefore, could
serve as a springboard to further documentation of these
indigenous communities in Ilocos Norte and to map out
their language proile.
1.1 Review of Related Literature
In northern Philippines, several ethnolinguistic
groups have inhabited the Cordillera region for more
than ive centuries. They have developed independent
communities, which are politically and economically
autonomous from each other (Prill-Brett, 2007). These
major ethnolinguistic groups are distinguished as Isneg
and/or Isnag of Apayao, Itneg Tingguian of Abra and
Ilocos Sur, Kalinga, Bontok, Ifugao, Kankana-ey, and
Ibaloy. However, the Itneg Tingguian, Isneg Yapayao,
and Isnag in Ilocos Norte have not been included in
the list of major ethnolinguistic groups in Northern
Philippines as seen in Figure 1.
As relected in the ethnolinguistic map of
Northern Philippines, indigenous communities can be
found within the borders of Kalinga (Isnag), Apayao
(Isnag), Abra (Itneg), and Ilocos Sur (Inlaod Itneg).
However, based on the map, Isneg Yapayao, the
language spoken by those IP in Dumalneg, is not among
those language families in Northern Luzon. It is clear,
therefore, that not all indigenous communities speaking
minority languages located in Ilocos Norte have been
recognized by Ethnologue (2012). In the accounts
of Valera (2010), out of approximately 12 million
indigenous Filipino citizens, a little more than one
million of them and a total of 110 ethnolinguistic groups
including the Isneg Yapayao, the Itneg Tingguian, and
the Isnag, are located in the Ilocos region. This puts the
three IP communities out of record, which eventually led
the present study to investigate their language focusing
primarily on its morphological and lexical properties.
In the study of Dita (2011) on the morphological
characteristicsofnounsinIbanag,itwasfoundthatnouns
contain various derivational afixes. The derived nouns
consist of the following: abstract, locative, comitative,
reciprocal, ownership, origin, instigator, and designation.
Morphosyntactically, nouns in Ibanag refer to names of
persons, places, animals, things, events, or ideas, which
canbepluralizedthroughreduplicationprocessorthrough
the particle ira. It was also found that these items can be
preixed, sufixed, circumixed, or inixed to form other
categories of nouns that can function as agents, patients,
15
themes, or locatives in a sentence. Ruffolo (2004), on the
other hand, described selected aspects of the grammar of
Ibaloy, a member of the Northern Philippines subgroup
of Austronesian languages spoken on the island of
Luzon in the Philippines. In her study, the phonological
and morphological processes involved in Ibaloy were
given attention. Based on the results, it was found that
several morpho-phonemic processes apply to words
when they take part in particular word-derivational
processes. Ibaloy has an elaborate derivational system.
Nouns typically occur underived as monomorphemic
words. Verbs are typically derived with a system of
afixes. Different categories of verbs and nouns are
identiied on morpho-syntactic criteria. Using Ruffolo’s
approach to describing the Ibaloy language in terms of
its morpho-phonemic features and incorporating Dita’s
(2011) lexical description of Ibanag, the present study
focused only on the major processes involved in the
morphological and lexical features of Itneg, Isneg, and
Isnag, and eventually compared these features from one
language to another.
Figure 1. The ethnolinguistic map of Northern
Philippines (Ethnologue, 2012)

16
1.2 Statement of the Problem
This study was conducted to describe the
morphological and lexical variations of Isnag, Isneg
Yapayao, and Itneg Tingguian in terms of:
1.2.1 Nouns
1.2.2 Pronouns and Deixis
1.2.3 Verbs
1.2.4 Adjectives
1.2.5 Negation and Interrogatives
1.3 Framework for Analysis
Since the researcher’s primary aim is to look
into the morphological and lexical variations of the
three language varities as spoken in the province of
Ilocos Norte, only the major processes involved in the
morphological and lexical features of the language
were described using, in part, Dita’s (2011) structural
analysis of Ibanag nominals and Ruffolo’s (2004) lexical
description of Ibaloy as framework. However, only
grammatical items such as nouns, pronouns and deixis,
verbs, adjectives, negation, and interrogatives were
included for analysis. This limitation aims to provide
initial data for further description of the three language
varieties in question.
2. Method
2.1 Research Design
The quantitative-qualitative approach was
utilized in this study. Through a pilot-tested 158-
item lexical test (see Appendix A) focusing on nouns,
pronouns and deixis, verbs, adjectives, negation,
and interrogatives, and informal interview with the
participants, responses were subjected to analysis. At
least two raters or evaluators were identiied from each
tribe through the help of NCIP-INPO for the validation
of the responses.
2.2 Sources of Data
To establish ease of access to the target
participants, the NCIP-INPO identiied respective tribe
leaders and council of elders from each group who served
as the preliminary source of data for the semi-structured
interviews and initial surveys. However, members of each
tribe of different age groups regardless of title or position
in the tribe were purposively identiied as participants
in the lexical test. Hence, the participants from each of
the three IP communities were chosen based on three
age groups: (1) Young-aged group (30 years old and
below), (2) Middle-aged group (31-59 years old), and
(3) Old-aged group (60 years old and above). Such age
grouping was done to achieve a full representation of the
tribe members and to have a comparison of the responses
across generations. At the initial stage of the study, it was
decided upon by the researcher that each age group should
be composed of ten (10) representatives, or a total of 30
participants from each of the three research sites, thereby,
having a total of 90 respondents. However, because of
nonavailability of demographic details of the tribe members,
adjustments in the number of respondents for each age group
were made (see Table 1).
The lexical test is designed in such a way that
the Tagalog/Filipino and Ilocano versions of the wordlist
are given. Items included in the test on nouns were those
basic sight words, as well as lora and fauna present in the
research communities such as dahon (leaf), ilog (river),
kalabaw (carabao), kamote (sweet potatoes), among
others. Thirty (30) items were given in this particular
portion of the lexical test, focusing on the singular and
Table 1. Distribution of participants per IP community
IP
COMMUNITY
AGE GROUP
Young-aged (30 years
and below)
Midde-aged (31-
59 years)
Old-aged (60 years
and above)
TOTAL
Isnag 16 12 2 30
Isneg Yapayao 7 18 5 30
Itneg Tingguian 12 14 4 30
TOTAL 35 44 11 90

17
plural forms of the items given. This was followed by
items focusing on the gender of nouns (16), body parts
(16), reciprocal nouns (5), comitative nouns (5), instigator
nouns (5), and locative verb + -an nouns (5), for a total
of 82 items. The rest of the items were on pronouns and
deixis, verbs, adjectives, negation, and interrogatives. All
respondents from each tribe took the lexical test in written
form where they were expected to give the ISA, ISE, or
ITE equivalents of the listed words. Two raters from each
tribe were then tapped for the validation of the responses.
2.3 Data-gathering Procedure
Indigenous Peoples or Indigenous Cultural
Communities, such as those situated in Ilocos Norte,
are governed by the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act
(IPRA) recognizing the fact that these communities
have developed independent communities, which are
politically and economically autonomous from each other
(Prill-Brett, 2007). Previsit and ocular inspection of the
research sites were done upon issuance of the Free, Prior,
Table 2. Number of nouns in Isnag
TAGALOG (TAG) ILOCANO (ILO) ISNAG (ISA)
SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL
1. bulaklak mga bulaklak sabong sabsabong sabong sabsabong
2. dahon mga dahon bulong bulbulong adun ad-adun
3. ilog mga ilog karayan dagiti karayan apayaw ap-apayaw
4. bundok mga bundok bantay banbantay bantay banbantay
5. puno mga puno kayo kaykayo ayo ay-ayo
6. sanga mga sanga sanga sansanga panga pang-panga
7. gulay mga gulay nateng natnateng inalpan in-inalpan
8. ugat mga ugat urat ur-urat ugat ug-ugat
9. lupa mga lupa daga dagdaga lusa lus-lusa
10. ulap mga ulap ulep ul-ulep angap ang-angap
11. kamote mga kamote kamutig kamkamutig amosi am-amosi
12. saging mga saging saba sabsaba dupat dupdupatan
13. sanga mga sanga sanga sangsanga panga pangpanga
14. bagyo mga bagyo bagyo dagti bagyo annag an-annag
15. bigas mga bigas bagas bagbagas baggat bagbaggat
16. kalabaw mga kalabaw nuang nunuang nuang daya nuang
17. kabayo mga kabayo kabalyo kabkabalyo kabalyo daya kabalyo
18. manok mga manok manok manmanok ano an-ano
19. langgam mga langgam kuton kutkuton uton ut-uton
20. ibon mga ibon tumaytayab dagti tumaytayab ano an-ano
21. kambing mga kambing kalding kalkalding kalding kalkalding
22. aso mga aso aso as-aso ato at-ato
23. baboy mga baboy baboy babbaboy aboy ab-aboy
24. isda mga isda ikan ik-ikan begal beg-begal
25. hipon mga hipon udang ud-udang lasi las-lasi
26. bayawak mga bayawak banyas banbanyas banyas banbanyas
27. ahas mga ahas uleg ul-uleg ba-lat babalat
28. usa mga usa ugsa uugsa ukta uk-ukta
29. paru-paro mga paru-paro kulibangbang kulkulibangbang kulibangbang kulkulibangbang
30. pugad mga pugad umok um-umok umo um-umo

18
and Informed Consent (FPIC). Through the help of the
NCIP-INPO, the researcher sought permit to conduct the
study from respective municipal mayors and Department
of Interior and Local Government (DILG) oficers.
The lexical test was conducted with the help of
the Community Development Oficer who acted as the
facilitator, assigned staff of the NCIP-INPO, and in
coordination with the DILG oficer from each of the
three municipalities. Each of the three communities has
its own leader, locally known as the “panglakayen” who
acted as the host throughout the data-gathering stage
and was responsible in convening the participants. It
was indeed a great opportunity to have tapped the NCIP-
INPO staff as facilitators because some of them are
speakers of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, or Itneg Tingguian.
In fact, two of them served as raters or evaluators in
the written lexical test. An informal interview after the
written test was randomly conducted for the validation
and clariication of responses.
Table 3. Number of nouns in Isneg Yapayao
TAGALOG (TAG) ILOCANO (ILO) ISNEG YAPAYAO (ISE)
1. bulaklak mga bulaklak sabong sabsabong sabong sabsabong
2. dahon mga dahon bulong bulbulong dun duddudon
3. ilog mga ilog karayan dagiti karayan wangwang wangwangwang
4. bundok mga bundok bantay banbantay bantay banbantay
5. puno mga puno kayo kaykayo kayo kaykayo
6. sanga mga sanga sanga sangsanga sanga sangsanga
7. gulay mga gulay nateng natnateng tagalimpa tagtagalimpa
8. ugat mga ugat urat ur-urat ugat ug-ugat
9. lupa mga lupa daga dagdaga lutak lutlutak
10. ulap mga ulap ulep ul-ulep ulap ul-ulap
11. kamote mga kamote kamutig kamkamutig kamutig kamkamutig
12. saging mga saging saba sabsaba bagat bagbagat
13. sanga mga sanga sanga sangsanga sanga sangsanga
14. bagyo mga bagyo bagyo dagiti bagyo bagiw bagbagiw
15. bigas mga bigas bagas bagbagas baggas bagbaggas
16. kalabaw mga kalabaw nuang nunuang nuang nunuang
17. kabayo mga kabayo kabalyo kabkabalyo kabalyo kabkabalyo
18. manok mga manok manok manmanok manok manmanok
19. langgam mga langgam kuton kutkuton kuton kutkuton
20. ibon mga ibon tumaytayab dagiti tumaytayab ballit balballit
21. kambing mga kambing kalding kalkalding kalding kakalding
22. aso mga aso aso as-aso aso as-aso
23. baboy mga baboy baboy babbaboy baboy babbaboy
24. isda mga isda ikan ik-ikan ikan ik-ikan
25. hipon mga hipon udang ud-udang lagdaw laglagdaw
26. bayawak mga bayawak banyas banbanyas banyas banbanyas
27. ahas mga ahas uleg ul-uleg baklat bakbaklat
28. usa mga usa ugsa uugsa ugsa ug-ugsa
30. pugad mga pugad umok um-umok umok um-umok

19
3. Results and Discussion
3.1 Nouns
3.1.1 Number of Nouns
It can be worth noting that most Philippine
languages, including Ibanag and Ibaloy which are
both Cordilleran languages, encode plurality of nouns
by the use of a determiner before a head noun and
reduplication (Dita, 2011; Ruffolo, 2004). Tables 2, 3,
and 4 contain the list of nouns in Tagalog and Ilocano
with their Isnag (ISA), Isneg Yapayao (ISE), and Itneg
Tingguian (ITE) equivalents.
Rubino’s (1997) indings on how Ilocanos
encode plurality of nominals show that the most
common process is through reduplication and the use of
the determiner dagiti. Dita’s (2011) analysis on Ibanag
nominal markers revealed that the use of the plural
marker ira and reduplication are the two processes of
Table 4. Number of nouns in Itneg Tingguian
TAGALOG (TAG) ILOCANO (ILO) ITNEG TINGGUIAN (ITE)
1. bulaklak mga bulaklak sabong sabsabong ballad adu a ballad
2. dahon mga dahon bulong bulbulong addon adu a addon
3. ilog mga ilog karayan dagiti karayan wangag dia wangag
4. bundok mga bundok bantay banbantay binaer dia binaer
5. puno mga puno kayo kaykayo kayo kaykayo
6. sanga mga sanga sanga sangsanga panga dia panga
7. gulay mga gulay nateng natnateng sisida dia sisida
8. ugat mga ugat urat ur-urat ugat dia ugat
9. lupa mga lupa daga dagdaga ginet dia ginet
10. ulap mga ulap ulep ul-ulep angep dia angep
11. kamote mga kamote kamutig kamkamutig ketla dia ketla
12. saging mga saging saba sabsaba bagat dia bagat
13. sanga mga sanga sanga sangsanga panga pangpanga
14. bagyo mga bagyo bagyo dagiti bagyo anneg dia anneg
15. bigas mga bigas bagas bagbagas baggas adu a baggas
16. kalabaw mga kalabaw nuang nunuang nuang adu a nuang
17. kabayo mga kabayo kabalyo kabkabalyo kabayo kabkabayo
18. manok mga manok manok manmanok anok an-anok
19. langgam mga langgam kuton kutkuton ubo dia ubo
20. ibon mga ibon tumaytayab dagiti tumaytayab sibot sibsibot
21. kambing mga kambing kalding kalkalding kalding dia kalding
22. aso mga aso aso as-aso aso as-aso
23. baboy mga baboy baboy babbaboy aboy ab-aboy
24. isda mga isda ikan ik-ikan begal begbegal
25. hipon mga hipon udang ud-udang lagdaw laglagdaw
26. bayawak mga bayawak banyas banbanyas siley silsiley
27. ahas mga ahas uleg ul-uleg baklat bakbaklat
28. usa mga usa ugsa uugsa ugsa ug-ugsa
30. pugad mga pugad umok um-umok sukbot suksukbot

20
noun pluralization in Ibanag. In the list in Table 2, it is
evident that reduplication is commonly used to denote
plurality of nouns in Isnag (ISA), as in:
(1) Sabong - Sabsabong
‘lower’ - ‘lowers’
(2) Adun - Ad-adun
‘leaf’ - ‘leaves’
Further, when the irst syllable of the noun
has a consonant (C) and a vowel (V), then the CV
reduplication pattern is formed, as can be seen in (2).
If the irst syllable with (CV) is followed by a (C),
then the CVC reduplication pattern is formed as in (1).
Another way on how plurality is encoded in Isnag is the
use of a determiner (DET) which is daya, as used in:
(3) Nuang - Daya nuang
‘carabao’ - ‘carabaos’
(4) Kabalyo - Daya kabalyo
‘horse’ - ‘horses’
It was not explained further, however, by the
respondents why daya as a determiner was used only for
nuangandkabalyotodenoteplurality.Oneofthemnarrated
during an informal interview that they use daya only when
they refer to more than one bigger form of animal.
Lexically, only six or 20 percent of the 30
words have the same Ilocano equivalent. This only
shows that Isnag is lexically different from Ilocano,
which is the lingua franca in Ilocos Norte. The use
of reduplication to indicate plurality in Isnag, in a
way, conforms to indings on the plural markers used
in Ilocano and Cordilleran languages such as Ibanag
and Ibaloy. The plural marker, daya, however, needs
further investigation as to its extent and context of use,
which the present study failed to look into. Having its
own lexical equivalents, Isnag may possibly grow as a
language spoken by the IP communities in Ilocos Norte
despite its close encounter with Ilocano.
Isneg Yapayao (ISE), on the one hand, has the
same way of encoding plurality in nominals, that is,
reduplication pattern, both CV and CVC, as seen in the
following examples:
(5) Ugat - Ug-ugat
‘root’ - ‘roots’
(6) Tagalimpa - Tagtagalimpa
‘vegetable’ - ‘vegetables’
Table 5. Gender of nouns across L1 communities
ITEM
NO.
TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG
TINGGUIAN
1 tatay/ama/itay tatang/ama/tata ama ama ama
2 kuya manong parsut/agi manong kaka
3 uncle/tito/tiyo uncle/uliteg ulitag uncle/ulitag ulteg
4 lolo apo lakay/lolo/lolong akay kakay apo
5 binata baro bagbago bago bagbago
6 bayaw bayaw/kayong tayug bayaw/kayong kayong
7 hipag ipag ipag kayong ipag
8 tiya/tita/auntie auntie/ikit ikit ikit ikit
9 ate manang parsut/agi manang manang/kaka
10 lola lola/lila/apo baket ako apo apo baket
11 dalaga balasang balbalasang balasang balbalasang
12 nanay/inay/ina nanang/nana/ina ina ina ina
13 babae babai babay babay babey
14 lalaki/lalake lalaki lalahi lalaki lalake
15 inahin upa gaggana upa gagunak
16 tandang kawitan awitan kawitan kawitan

21
The use of the determiner dagiti in Ilocano
plurals, however, was not evident in ISE. In terms
of lexicon, 18 or 60 percent of the 30 words are the
same with Ilocano, both singular and plural. This
shows that ISE is closer to Ilocano language in terms
of lexicon compared to ISA. Isneg Yapayao, unlike
Isnag, seems susceptible to gradual assimilation into
the Ilocano language. This could be brought about
by intermarriage and high incidence of migration
of ISE speakers to nearby Ilocano communities
to pursue education and to look for jobs. The town
of Dumalneg, where ISE speakers are located, is
relatively more accessible than the town of Carasi
where ISA communities could be found.
Itneg Tingguian also follows the reduplication
patterns, CV and CVC, in forming the plurals of nouns.
It is interesting to note, however, that there are two
determiners used to encode plurality. These are adu a
and dia, as used in the following examples:
(7) Ballad - Adu a ballad
‘lower’ - ‘lowers’
(8) Baggas - Adu a baggas
‘rice’ - ‘much rice’
(9) Sisida - Dia sisida
‘vegetable’ - ‘vegetables’
(10) Ubo - Dia ubo
‘ant’ - ‘ants’
Notice that the determiners adu a and dia
are used before a count noun and a mass noun. In a
conversation with one of the respondents, it was
revealedthattheyusethesedeterminersinterchangeably
and in no particular type of noun for that matter.
When it comes to lexicon, only 20 percent (6 out 30
words) had the same Ilocano equivalent. Again, this
shows that ITE is lexically different from the Ilocano
language. Nueva Era, compared to Dumalneg and
Carasi, is biggest in terms of population size. Eight of
its barangays are occupied by ITE speakers alongside
Ilocano communities. Its vulnerability as an exclusive
language of the ITE tribes seems higher compared
to Isnag. Having the plural markers, adu a (a plural
marker variant of adu of the Ilocanos) and dia, could
somehow make the Itneg Tingguian different from
Isnag and Isneg Yapayao.
Comparing these three languages, ISA turned
out to be morphologically and lexically different
from ISE and ITE, having seven (7) out of 30 lexical
items that are totally different, i.e., ayo (‘tree’), dupat
(‘banana’), baggat (‘rice’), ato (‘dog’), lasi (‘shrimp’),
balat (‘snake’), and ukta (‘deer’). ISE and ITE had
the same lexicon for the said nouns. ISE and ITE had
only four (4) items differently labelled from each other
and that of ISA. There were four instances, however,
when these three languages encoded items similarly
like ugat (‘root’), kalding (‘goat’), nuang (‘carabao’),
and kulibangbang (‘butterly’). Eleven (11) items or
37 percent of the total number of words were encoded
differently among the three languages. This implies
that ISA, ISE, and ITE have different labels for the
basic sight words listed. More so, these three language
variants pose different levels of variations vis-a-vis the
Ilocano language because of geographical location and
accessibility, and perhaps the instrumental value of
these IP languages. This aspect of the three languages
in question, however, needs further scrutiny.
3.1.2 Gender of Nouns
Gender-speciic nouns in Philippine languages,
especially Tagalog, are borrowed from Spanish.
Masculine gender nouns usually end with o (e.g., hijo,
tito), while feminine gender ones end with a (e.g., hija,
tita). However, there are also kinship terms and titles
that have local counterparts.
It is common among the three languages
that Tatay or Ama (‘father’) and Ina (‘mother’) are
also called Ama and Ina, respectively. However, the
difference lies in the phonological aspect of the words
ama and ina. For Tagalog speakers, the primary stress
lies on the second syllable. But for ISA, ISE, and ITE,
the primary stress falls on the irst syllable. Except
the terms ama, ikit, and ina, all other terms have their
ISA, ISE, and ITE equivalents. Even among these
three languages, gender-speciic nouns are encoded
differently, as in the following examples:
(11) ISA - Parsut/Agi
ISE - Manong
ITE - Kaka
‘older brother’
(12) ISA - Gaggana
ISE - Upa
ITE - Gaguna
‘hen’

22
There are those words, however, that are encoded
almost similarly, with slight difference in phonemes, as in:
(13) ISA - Babay
ISE - Babay
ITE - Babey
‘female’, ‘girl’
(14) ISA - Lalahi
ISE - Lalaki
ITE - Lalake
‘male’, ‘boy’
From the wordlist in Table 5, ISA and ISE
are lexically different from each other in terms of the
use of gender-speciic nouns, while ITE is lexically
closer to Ilocano. Interestingly, ISA had the same
feminine-masculine term for kuya (‘older brother’)
and ate (‘older sister’), i.e., parsut/agi. Out of 16
gender-speciic terms, ive (5) of them were found to
be lexically different (e.g., kuya ‘older brother’, lolo
‘grandfather’, lola ‘grandmother’, lalaki ‘male’, and
inahin ‘hen’). Based on the indings, Itneg Tingguian,
whichisspokenalongsideIlocano,ismostlexicallyakin
to Ilocano. This could be attributed to the community
set-up of the ITE speakers; that is, based on irst-hand
observation during the data-gathering, ITE households
do not occupy a barangay exclusively for them. Thus,
assimilation of the Ilocano kinship terms and gender-
speciic titles may take place.
Table 6. Body parts and their ISA, ISE, and ITE equivalent
ITEM
NO.
TINGGUIAN
1 mata mata kilkilab mata mata
2 mukha rupa muhat bagong rupa
3 kamay ima ima ima ima
4 talampakan dapan taha dapan dapan
5 kilay kiday iday kiday kiday
6 paa saka dapan saka saka
7 ilong agong igong igong agong
8 baywang siket bihat awak awang
9 tuhod tumeng utod buwal tumang
10 likod bukot addag salli ukod
11 daliri ramay kamay ramay kurimeng
12 bituka bagis sinay bituka simay
13 balakang patong ubat purot patong
14 ugat urat ugat ugat ugat
15 nunal siding siding siding siding
16 tenga lapayag talinga talinga tenga
Table 7. Reciprocal nouns in ISA, ISE, and ITE
ITEM
NO.
TINGGUIAN
1 mag-asawa agasawa magatawa agasawa agakbang
2 magpinsan agkasinsin makpinsan agkapinsan agpinsan
3 magkapatid agkabsat magwagi agwagi agkabsat
4 magkapitbahay agkarruba makkelyan agkelyan agkarruba
5 magkaedad agkataeb magkadagon agkataab agkaarpad

23
3.1.3 Body Parts
In terms of body parts, ITEhad the most number
of items similarly encoded with Ilocano, having 62.5
percent of the total wordlist, while ISA had the most
number of items (87.5 percent) differently encoded
from Ilocano. This only means that ISA is lexically
exclusive from a more dominant language, Ilocano.
Such observation may clarify Jocano’s (1988, as cited
in Kobari, 2005) inding that the role of language among
indigenous ethnic communities in Mindanao is that it
is the only distinguishing element in ethnic cultures,
particularly those who occupy adjacent and contiguous
territories. Like the Isnag-speaking community in
Carasi, they want to maintain their language as their
distinction from nearby communities in Ilocos Norte.
Further, it was noted that ISA had the most
number(25%)oftermsforbodypartsdifferentfromISE
and ITE; ISE did not show any instance where its terms
for body parts are different from at least one of the other
two languages. Out of 16, there were seven (44%) terms
encoded differently among the three languages. These
were mukha (‘face), baywang (‘waist’), tuhod (‘knee’),
likod (‘back’), daliri (‘inger’), bituka (‘intestine’), and
balakang (‘thigh’). This means that the three languages
have their own terms for body parts.
3.1.4 Reciprocal Nouns
Only ive (5) reciprocal nouns were included
in the wordlist; however, the result was suficient to
draw implications in terms of the morphological and
lexical features of ISA, ISE, and ITE. In ISA, the preix
(PREF) mag- and mak- are added to the root word
(RW) to form reciprocal nouns, as in:
(15) Magatawa
Mag- atawa
PREF RW
‘couple’, ‘husband and wife’
(16) Makkelyan
Mak- kelyan
PREF RW
‘neighbors’
For ISE and ITE, the preix ag- is added to the
root word, similar to that of the noun reciprocals in
Ilocano. Interestingly, resulting reciprocal nouns across
three languages were encoded differently, as shown in
the following examples:
(17) ISA - Magatawa
ISE - Agasawa
ITE - Agakbang
‘couple’/‘husband and wife’
(18) ISA - Magkadagon
ISE - Agkataab
ITE - Agkaarpad
‘of the same age’
Again, this shows that each language has its own
lexical term despite similarities in derivational process.
3.1.5 Comitative Nouns
Comitative nouns are those that refer to
persons in which something is accomplished with their
existence or company. In Tagalog and Ilocano, this
is formed by adding the preix ka- to the root word.
Given the word, kasama, the preix ka- is attached to
sama to mean ‘company’. Comitative nouns can show
associations such as spatial relations, membership,
origin, activity, occupation, among others.
Table 8. Comitative nouns in ISA, ISE, and ITE
ITEM
NO.
TINGGUIAN
1 kamag-anak kabagian magkabagian kabagian aggayyam
2 kaklase kaklasi magkaiskol kaklasi agkaeskwelaan
3 kapitbahay karruba akelyan kelyan karruba
4 kapatid kabsat agi agi kabsat
5 kausap kasasao kasarsarita kasasao kapatpatang

24
For ISA, there are two ways on how to form
comitative nouns. One is by adding the preix (PREF)
mag- and the inix (INF) ka- to the root word, as shown
in the example below:
(17) Magkabagian
Mag- kabagian
PREF INF RW
‘relatives’
Another way is by adding the preix ka- to the
root word, as shown in this example:
(18) Kasarsarita
Ka- sarsarita
PREF RW
‘someone you speak with’
Still another way is by having the entire word
encoded differently, as in Agi (‘sibling’) and Akelyan
(‘neighbor’).
For ISE and ITE, the preix ka- is also added
to the root word to form comitative nouns. There are
likewise terms encoded differently from their Ilocano
counterparts. However, for ITE, the preix ag- is used,
as shown in this example:
(19) Aggayyam
Ag- gayyam
PREF RW
‘relatives’
This inding only shows that ISA has the
most distinctive way of forming comitative nouns
compared to ISE and ITE, and Ilocano as well. Again,
this could be explained by the fact that the town of
Carasi is secluded from other municipalities where ISA
speakers get more in tact and solid because of fewer
incidences of intermarriage, emigration, and migration.
As revealed by one of the key informants during the
informal interview, ISA women prefer to marry men
from their own tribe, particularly those whose cultural
beliefs are the same with theirs.
3.1.6 Instigator Nouns
Instigator nouns in Ilocano and Ibanag are formed
by adding the base word to the preix para- and the preix
taga- for Tagalog. In an instigator noun, someone is
designated or employed to perform the action encoded
by the base word (Dita, 2011). At times, however, as a
native speaker of Ilocano, the researcher may use para-
and taga- as preixes for instigator nouns interchangeably
without changing the meaning of the resulting word. Such
Table 9. Instigator nouns in ISA, ISE, and ITE
ITEM
NO.
TINGGUIAN
1 tagawalis parawalis paraaged parasagad tagakaged
2 tagaluto paraluto tagapoton paraapoy tagauto
3 tagahugas parainnaw tagaugat paralisaw tagalisaw
4 tagalinis paradalus tagaaner paradalus tagadalus
5 tagalaba paralaba tagalaba parapas-ak tagalaba
Table 10. Locative pag- -an nouns in ISA, ISE, and ITE
ITEM
NO.
TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG TINGGUIAN
1 lutuan paglutuan pagisaangan paglutwan paglutuan
2 hugasan paginnawan pagugatan paglisawan paglisawan
3 higaan pagiddaan pagiddaan pagiddaan pagiddaan
4 tulugan pagturugan patudugan pagtudugan pagtudugan
5 liguan pagdigusan pagdigutan pagdigusan pagdigusan

25
observation was found true to ISA, as in:
(20) Para- aged
PREF ‘to sweep’
‘sweeper’
(21) Taga- poton
PREF ‘to cook’
‘cook’
For ISE, the preix para- is exclusively used to
form instigator nouns, while ITE uses taga-. Once more,
ISA was found lexically different from ISE and ITE.
3.1.7 Locative pag- -an Nouns
Locative nouns in Ibanag, according to Dita
(2011), are morphologically derived by adding the base
word to the sufix -an and other various preixes. These
afixes when attached to the base word would refer to
a place associated by the action encoded by the base
word. In Tagalog, these are called locative verb +-an
nouns. An example of this would be:
(22) TAG - Lutuan
Luto + -an
RW SUF
‘place for cooking’
For ISA, ISE, and ITE, the preix pag- and the
sufix -an were commonly used to form locative nouns,
as shown the following examples:
(23) ISA - Pagisaangan
Pag- isaang - an
PREF ‘cook’ SUF
(24) ISE - Paglutwan
Pag- luto -an
PREF ‘cook’ SUF
(25) ITE - Paglutuan
Pag- luto -an
PREF ‘cook’ SUF
Table 11. Personal pronouns in ISA, ISE, and ITE
ITEM
NO.
TINGGUIAN
1 ako siak iya yakan iyak
2 kami dakami dahami dakami dikkami
3 ikaw sika ihaw ikaw ikow
4 kayo dakayo dahayo dakayo dikayo
5 sila isuda baggida aggidu igida
6 siya isuna baggina agginu igina
Table 12. Possessive pronouns in ISA, ISE, and ITE
ITEM
NO.
TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG TINGGUIAN
1 akin/ko bagik/kukuak uwa bagik/kuak kuak
2 iyo bagim/kukuam uwam bagim/kuam kuam
3 kanila bagida/kukuada uwada bagidu/kuadu kukuada
4 inyo bagiyo uwano bagiyo/kuayo kuano
5 amin bagimi uwami bagimi kuami
6 kanya bagina uwana kuanu kukuanayan

Notice that since ISE and ITE have the root
word luto, which ends with a vowel sound for ‘cook,’
ISE replaces /o/ with /w/ when adding the sufix -an,
while ITE changes the phoneme /o/ with /u/. In an
interview with some ISE respondents, they conirmed
that they practice the same in other locative nouns. For
ITE, this is also evident in their sample text, “A Guide
to Conversational Tingguian Dialect,” where the sufix
-an is added to root words that end with a vowel /o/, as
seen in the following examples:
(26) Magustuak
Ma- gusto -ak
PREF ‘like’ GEN.1s
Ma- ‘like’ ‘I’
‘I like’
(27) Pagletratuan
Pag- letrato -an
PREF ‘picture’ SUF
‘a place for taking pictures’
Lexically, ISA differed in two (2) items from
ISE and ITE. However, there was only one lexical item
where the three languages differed from one another.
3.2 Pronouns and Deixis
This section of the lexical test focuses on
personal and possessive pronouns as well as deictic
demonstratives. The personal pronouns given here
are limited to independent pronominal forms: irst,
second, and third person, and singular, dual, and
plural number, which are mostly used as topics and,
thus, occur in a pre-predicate position (Ruffolo, 2004).
26
Table 13. Deictic demonstratives in ISA, ISE, and ITE
ITEM
NO.
TINGGUIAN
1 ito daytoy todi id odi/idi
2 mga ito dagitoy todayo didiya didi
3 iyan dayta heyan yan oyan
4 mga iyan dagita todayan dayan odian
5 iyon daydiay hetoni kuyo ditoni
6 mga iyon dagidiay hedayan kuyudo ditonida
7 dito ditoy iddi id/diya idi
8 diyan dita itonni yan noyan
9 doon idiay antonni tonyu annan/itoney
Table 14. Lexical verbs in ISA, ISE, and ITE
ITEM
NO.
TINGGUIAN
1 kakain mangan magnabaw mangan mangan
2 kumain nangan nagnabaw nangan nangan/nanganin
3 kumakain mangmangan madama magnabaw mangmangan mangan tidon
4 kumain nang kumain nangnangan tada nga magnabaw nangnangan mangan kayo ngas
5 maligo ka na. agdiguskan. magdigot angin. agdigus ken. weka agdigusin.
6 naliligo ka na? agdigdigus kan? magdigdigot a? agdigdigus ken? maweka agdigusin?
7 naligo ka na? nagdiguskan? nagdigot angin? nagdigus ken? nagdiguskan?
8 punta ka dito. umayka ditoy. umangka annod. umayku kaid. umbet ka idi.
9 pumunta ka dito? immayka ditoy? umangkanto annod? immayku kaid? inumbet ka idi?

Personal pronouns mainly encode information about
case, number, and person. As many authors claim, all
Philippine languages have three number distinctions:
singular, dual, and plural. Possessives also include irst,
second, and third cases, while deictic demonstratives
include proximal, medial, and distal forms.
3.2.1 Personal Pronouns
Allpersonalpronounsacrossthethreelanguages
differ. ISA and ITE slightly differ in the phoneme /k/ for
the irst person singular (1S), i.e., iya and iyak (‘I’). For
the irst person plural (1P), ISA and ISE slightly differ
in the phoneme /k/ and /h/ as in dahami and dakami
(‘we’), respectively. The phoneme /h/ in ihaw (2S) for
ISA makes it different from ikaw and ikow for ISE and
ITE, respectively. The rest of the personal pronouns are
encoded differently for ISA, ISE, and ITE.
3.2.2 Possessive Pronouns
It can be seen in Table 12 that ISA possessives
basically derive from the morpheme /uwa/ and undergo
cliticization processes. ISE, on the other hand, is
somewhat similar with Ilocano possessives, except
with kuano (3S, ‘his/hers’). ISE possessives derive
from the morpheme /kua/ and /bagi/, which in Ilocano
literally stands for ‘possession’. ITE possessives
follow the same morphological process as ISE, only
that the former undergoes reduplication as in kukua
(‘possession’), a term that can be used interchangeably
with kua in Ilocano. This is exempliied in kukuada (3P,
‘theirs’) and kukuanayan (3S, ‘his or hers’). Generally,
ISA is lexically different from ISE and ITE.
3.2.3 Deixis
This part analyzes deictics according to
their morphological features and their meanings.
Morphologically, deictic demonstratives are all
complex forms. According to Ruffolo (2004), Ibaloy
distinguishes three deictic forms relecting three
separate degrees of distance. The irst is used to refer to
entities located near the speaker, termed as “proximal”.
The second refers to entities located near the addressee
or not too far away, here named “medial”. These
entities are usually visible. The third refers to entities
located away from both the speaker and the addressee,
here named “distal”. These entities are usually located
further away than the medial ones and are usually not
visible. Table 13 summarizes the deictic demonstratives
in ISA, ISE, and ITE.
Items 1 to 6 are nominative deictic determiners
with their singular and plural forms. Items 7 to 9 are
deictic forms relecting the three degrees of distance.
Interestingly, all of these deictic demonstratives are
encoded entirely different across three languages.
For ISA, todi (‘this’), todayo (‘these’), and
todayan (‘those’, medial distance) contain a common
morpheme /to/ representing nominative deictic
determiners. Hetoni (‘that’, distal form) and hedayan
(‘those’, distal) are singular and plural, respectively.
Deictic forms itonni (‘there’, medial) and antonni
(‘there’, distal) contain the morpheme /tonni/.
For ISE, id can be used to mean ‘this’ and
‘here’;yanforboth‘that’and‘there’formedialdistance.
Dayan is used to demonstrate ‘those’ for medial
distance, while kuyo (‘that’, distal form) and kuyudo
(‘those’, distal form). It seems that morphologically,
ISE is more complex compared to ISA.
For ITE, the phonemes /o/ and /i/ are common
among the nominative deictic determiners (e.g. odi/idi
‘this’, oyan ‘that’, odian ‘those’, medial, idi ‘here’).
Overall, these three languages have their own
set of deictic expressions used.
3.3 Verbs
Verb is the name given to a particular
class of words sharing certain grammatical and
semantic characteristics. Since no two languages are
grammatically identical, verbs as a class must differ
from language to language, but they have enough
commongrammaticalfeaturesacrosslanguagestomerit
such shared features (Allerton, 2006). In Philippine
languages, some authors have attempted analyzing
the valency and tense/aspect as well as the transitivity
features of verbal clauses in Ilocano (Rubino,1997),
Ibaloy (Ruffolo, 2004), and Subanon (Daguman, 2004)
to name a few. These studies, however, highlighted
different features of the said languages. In this study,
the researcher primarily focused on the lexical features
of each of the three languages. Adopting Ruffolo’s
(2004) verb categorization where Ibaloy main verb
clauses are classiied according to the transitivity of
their head, only the inlection of the lexical or main
27

verb kain (‘eat’) used in the future (FUT) aspect,
past (P) tense, and present progressive (PresP) across
the three languages was considered for analysis (see
items 1, 2, 3, and 4 in Table 14). Meanwhile, the verb
ligo (‘take a bath’) was analyzed focusing on how it
is used in sentence types (see items 5, 6, and 7), and
punta (‘come’) in items 8 and 9, respectively. Sentence
types here refer to either imperative or interrogative.
Still, the purpose of limiting down to imperative and
interrogative types is to complement the observation
made in the inlection of the lexical verb in items 1 to 3.
For the lexical verb kain (‘eat’), ISA encoded
it differently as nabaw, while ISE and ITE had the
same root as pangan. In terms of aspect, ISA uses the
preix mag- to signal future action, while ISE and ITE
substituted the phoneme /p/ from the root word pangan
with the phoneme /m/ to denote futurity. To show past
action, ISA substituted the preix mag- with nag- ;
ISE and ITE both changed the phoneme /p/ of the root
word pangan to /n/, as in nangan (‘ate’). The three
languages, however, have different ways in forming
their present progressive. ISA, in this particular aspect,
uses an aspectual auxiliary, which can carry either an
imperfective, continuative, or progressive aspect.
The aspectual auxiliary, according to Ruffolo
(2004), attracts any second-order constituent part of the
main or lexical verb. In this case, ISAuses the aspectual
auxiliary, madama (‘currently’or ‘presently’) preceding
the main verb magnabaw (‘eating’). ISE, on the other
hand, uses the CVCC reduplication of mangan (‘to
eat’) to come up with a progressive verb mangmangan
(‘currently eating’). ITE uses an aspectual auxiliary,
but this comes after the main verb as in mangan
(‘eating’) and tidon (‘presently’) to mean mangan
tidon (‘’presently eating’). However, this can only be
true to lexical constructions and not when used in a
complete sentence, as revealed by the respondents. For
item number 4, the continuative aspect of kain (‘eat’),
which is kumain nang kumain (‘ate again and again’),
is analyzed. Here, ISE uses the CVCC reduplication
of nangan (‘ate’) as in nangnangan (‘ate again and
again’). ISA and ITE used the aspectual auxiliary,
tada nga and kayo ngas, respectively. Again, such
construction is applicable only to lexical constructions
or short responses.
For item 5, an imperative is given where the
main verb used is ligo (‘take a bath’). Still, the preix
mag- in ISA imperative is used to show that the action
has to be done by the receiver in the future. This
conforms to the use of the preix mag- in ISA lexical
terms to show future action. ISE and ITE, on the other
hand, uses the preix ag- to begin their imperatives, as
in agdigos (‘take a bath’). Such construction, however,
can also be used in lexical constructions or short
responses, e.g., aggapas (‘to harvest’), agsala (‘to
dance’). Similarly, the preix nag- is used to denote past
actions when used in interrogatives, as in ISA nagdigot
angin, ISE nagdigus ken, and ITE nagdiguskan, to mean
‘Have you taken a bath?’ The same observation on the
lexical construction for item 1 applies to imperatives
as can be seen in item 8. Another lexical construction
for ISE and ITE is a phoneme substitution to show past
actions. The following examples explain this:
(28) ISE - /U/mayku - /I/mmayku
FUT=ku - P=ku
‘to come’ - ‘came’
ITE - Umbet - Inumbet
FUT - P
‘to come’ - ‘came’
28
Table 15. Dimension adjectives in ISA, ISE, and ITE
ITEM
NO.
TINGGUIAN
GLOSS
1 malaki dakkel dahal dakkal dakkel ‘big’
2 maiksi ababa ababba appasi bebbet ‘short’
3 mahaba atiddog adaddo annadu deddo ‘long’
4 malapad akaba nawagnad akaba lempad ‘wide’
5 masikip nailet nagilat nailat nagilet ‘narrow’
6 malalim nauneg adallam alinam nalungog ‘deep’

In general, ISA, ISE, and ITE inlect their
lexical verbs by reduplication, phonemic substitution,
and afixation. Lexically, these three languages,
especially ISA, are encoded differently in terms of
verbs.
3.4 Adjectives
This section analyzes one of the open word
class categories, the adjectives. In an article published by
Liao (2004), he asserted that seemingly adjective items
in Philippine languages are stative verbs for the very
reason that these words share a characteristic of verbs,
which is afixation. Ruffolo (2004) likewise argues that
Ibaloy does not have adjectives; it has only stative verbs.
However, modiiers in Ibaloy, for Ruffolo (2004), are
in the form of a relative clause since Ibaloy is a head-
initial (or right-branching) language. In a noun phrase,
modiiers typically follow the noun they modify. In a
clause, verbal complements, adjuncts, and modiiers of
the predicate typically occur after the predicate. But then,
Rubino (1997) strongly claims that there is a separate
lexical class of adjectives in Ilocano, having functions
as predicate or modiiers to nouns, nouns, and verbs.
Additionally, only a few of these Ilocano adjectives are
monomorphemic, including adjectival concepts and
color terms, and physical attributes as well.
For an English lexicon to be labelled as an
adjective, it must meet a set of criteria; that is, it can occur
both in the NPand VPposition; it can occur in attributive
function; it can be pre-modiied by the intensiier ‘very’;
and it can take a comparative and superlative form
(Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, & Svartvik, 1985). Given
the following categories of adjectives, I focused my
discussion on the morphological features of dimension
adjectives, comparative adjectives, superlative
adjectives, and quantifying adjectives in ISA, ISE, and
ITE using four (items 1 to 4) monomorphemic and two
(items 5 and 6) derived (preix na-) Ilocano adjectives,
as shown in Table 15.
3.4.1 Dimension Adjectives
Based on the entries in Table 15, only ITE has
an Ilocano borrowed word for ‘big’ dakkel although
ISA and ISE are slightly phonologically different from
ITE (i.e., ISA - dahal; ISE - dakkal). It is also observed
from the given examples that the three languages have
29
Table 17. Superlative adjectives in ISA, ISE, and ITE
ITEM
NO.
TINGGUIAN
GLOSS
1 pinakamalaki kadakkelan daddaddahal kadaklan kadakkelan ‘biggest’
2 pinakamaiksi kaababaan ab-abab-ba kaapasian kabebbetan ‘shortest’
3 pinakamahaba kaatiddugan ad-adaddo kaanudnan kadadduan ‘longest’
4 pinakamalapad kaakabaan nawagwagnad kaakabaan kalempyadan ‘widest’
5 pinakamasikip kaiiletan nagilgilat kailatan kagigiletan ‘narrowest’
6 pinakamalalim kauunegan ad-adadallam kaalinaman kalulungugan ‘deepest’
Table 16. Comparative adjectives in ISA, ISE, and ITE
ITEM
NO.
TINGGUIAN
GLOSS
1 mas malaki dakdakkel daddahal dakdakkal dakdakkel ‘bigger’
2 mas maiksi ab-ababa ab-ababba ap-apassi bebbebbet ‘shorter’
3 mas mahaba at-atiddog ad-adaddo an-annadu deddeddo ‘longer’
4 mas malapad ak-akaba nawagwagnad ak-akaba lemlempad ‘wider’
5 mas masikip nail-ilet nagilgilat nail-ilat nagilgilet ‘narrower’
6 mas malalim naun-uneg ad-adallam al-alinam nalunglungog ‘deeper’

A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis Of Job Application Letters In Philippine English And American English

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