Kapampangan, Capampáñgan, or Pampangan, is an Austronesian language, and one of the eight major languages of the Philippines. It is the primary and predominant language of the entire province of Pampanga and southern Tarlac, on the southern part of Luzon's central plains geographic region, where the Kapampangan ethnic group resides. Kapampangan is also spoken in northeastern Bataan, as well as in the provinces of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, and Zambales that border Pampanga. It is further spoken as a second language by a few Aeta groups in the southern part of Central Luzon. The language is known honorifically as ('breastfed, or nurtured, language').
Kapampangan is assigned the ISO 639-2 three-letter code pam, but not an ISO 639-1 two-letter code.
Classification Kapampangan is one of the Central Luzon languages of the Austronesian language family. Its closest relatives are the Sambalic languages of Zambales province and the Bolinao language spoken in the towns of Bolinao and Anda in Pangasinan. These languages share the same reflex of the proto-Malayo-Polynesian *R.Himes, Ronald S. "The Central Luzon Group of Languages." Oceanic Linguistics, vol. 51, no. 2, 2012, pp. 490–537. JSTOR, . Accessed 27 Nov. 2022.
History Kapampangan is derived from the root word ('riverbank'). The language was historically spoken in the Kingdom of Tondo, ruled by the Lakans.
A number of Kapampangan dictionaries and grammar books were written during the Spanish colonial period. wrote two 18th-century books about the language: (first published in 1729) and (first published in 1732). Kapampangan produced two 19th-century literary giants; was noted for and , and playwright wrote in 1901. "Crissotan" was written by Amado Yuzon, Soto's 1950s contemporary and Nobel Prize nominee for peace and literature, to immortalize his contribution to Kapampangan literature.
Aurelio Tolentino is also considered a pioneer of writing literature in the Kapampangan language, alongside Juan Crisostomo Soto, during the late Spanish and American rule. Tolentino, having been in and out of prison between 1896 to 1907 due to him being a Katipunero and political writings, is remembered as one of the first nationalist dramatist of the Philippines. Some of his significant works include his Ing Buac Ning Ester, a novel published in three parts published from 1911 to 1915, and his Napun, Ngeni at Bukas. These works were later translated to Tagalog.
Geographic distribution Kapampangan is predominantly spoken in the province of Pampanga and southern Tarlac (Bamban, Capas, Concepcion, San Jose, Gerona, La Paz, Victoria and Tarlac City). It is also spoken in border communities of the provinces of Bataan (Dinalupihan, Hermosa and Orani), Bulacan (Baliuag, San Miguel, San Rafael, San Ildefonso, Hagonoy, Plaridel, Pulilan and Calumpit), Nueva Ecija (Cabiao, San Antonio, San Isidro, Gapan and Cabanatuan) and Zambales (Olongapo City and Subic).
The language has also speakers outside Central Luzon, particularly in nearby Metro Manila and as far as Palawan and Mindanao. In Mindanao, a significant Kapampangan-speaking minority also exists in Cagayan de Oro, Davao City, South Cotabato (specifically in General Santos and the municipalities of Polomolok and Tupi) and Sultan Kudarat (specifically in Isulan). Other areas outside Central Luzon w/ Kapampangan speakers are Ilocos Region and Cagayan Valley, with largest concentrations in Pangasinan, Cagayan, and Isabela.
According to the 2000 Philippine census, 2,312,870 people (out of the total population of 76,332,470) spoke Kapampangan as their native language. As of 2020, the language is ranked to be the eighth leading language spoken at home in the Philippines with only 639,687 households still speaking the language.
Phonology Standard Kapampangan has 20 phonemes: 15 consonants and five vowels; some western dialects have six vowels. Syllabic structure is relatively simple; each syllable contains at least one consonant and a vowel.
Vowels Standard Kapampangan has five vowel phonemes: , a close back unrounded vowel when unstressed; allophonic with , an open front unrounded vowel similar to English father when stressed , an open-mid front unrounded vowel similar to English bed , a close front unrounded vowel similar to English machine , a close-mid back rounded vowel similar to English forty , a close back rounded vowel similar to English flute
There are four main diphthongs: , , , and . In most dialects (including standard Kapampangan), and are reduced to and respectively.
Monophthongs have allophones in unstressed and syllable-final positions: becomes in all unstressed positions. Unstressed is usually pronounced , as in English bit and book respectively (except final syllables). In final syllables can be pronounced , and can be pronounced . ('these') can be pronounced / or /; ('bought') can be pronounced or ; ('to us' [except you]) can be pronounced or ; can be pronounced or , ('dusk') can be pronounced or . ('he said, she said, they said, it was said, allegedly, reportedly, supposedly') can be pronounced or ; ('book') can be pronounced or ; ('who') can be pronounced or ; ('to me') can be pronounced or , and ('cricket') can be pronounced or . Unstressed are usually pronounced , respectively (except final syllables).
Consonants In the chart of Kapampangan consonants, all stops are unaspirated. The velar nasal occurs in all positions, including the beginning of a word. Unlike other languages of the Philippines but similar to Ilocano, Kapampangan uses /h/ only in words of foreign origin.
BilabialDental /AlveolarPalatalVelarGlottal Nasal Stopvoicelessvoiced Fricative Tap/Trill ~ Approximant
tends to lenite to between vowels. and are allophones in Kapampangan, and sometimes interchangeable; can be ('Where are the books?'). A glottal stop at the end of a word is often omitted in the middle of a sentence and, unlike in most languages of the Philippines, is conspicuously absent word-internally; hence, Batiáuan's dropping of semivowels from its very name. The vowel it follows is then lengthened.
Stress Stress is phonemic in Kapampangan. Primary stress occurs on the last or the next-to-last syllable of a word. Vowel lengthening accompanies primary or secondary stress, except when stress occurs at the end of a word. Stress shift can occur, shifting to the right or left to differentiate between nominal or verbal use (as in the following examples): ('should, ought to') → ('deed, concern, business') ('gather, burn trash') → ('trash pile')
Stress shift can also occur when one word is derived from another through affixation; again, stress can shift to the right or the left: → ('company') → ('melt, digest')
Sound changes In Kapampangan, the proto-Philippine schwa vowel merged to in most dialects of Kapampangan; it is preserved in some western dialects. Proto-Philippine is ('to plant') in Kapampangan, compared with Tagalog , Cebuano and Ilocano ('grave').
Proto-Philippine merged with . The Kapampangan word for 'new' is ; it is in Tagalog, in Ilocano, and in Indonesian.
Grammar
Kapampangan is a VSO or Verb-Subject-Object language. However, the word order can be very flexible and change to VOS (Verb-Object-Subject) and SVO (Subject-Verb-Object). Just like other Austronesian languages, Kapampangan is also an agglutinative language where new words are formed by adding affixes onto a root word (affixation) and the repetition of words, or portions of words (reduplication), (for example: ('child') to ('children')). Root words are frequently derived from other words by means of prefixes, infixes, suffixes and circumfixes. (For example: ('food') to ('to eat') to ' ('eating') to ('being eaten')).
Kapampangan can form long words through extensive use of affixes, for example: , 'a group of people having their noses bleed at the same time', , 'everyone loves each other', , 'can speak Kapampangan', and , 'until to fall in love'. Long words frequently occur in normal Kapampangan.
Nouns Kapampangan nouns are not inflected, but are usually preceded by case markers. There are three types of case markers: absolutive (nominative), ergative (genitive), and oblique.
Unlike English and Spanish (which are nominative–accusative languages) and Inuit and Basque (which are ergative–absolutive languages), Kapampangan has Austronesian alignment (in common with most Philippine languages). Austronesian alignment may work with nominative (and absolutive) or ergative (and absolutive) markers and pronouns.
Absolutive or nominative markers mark the actor of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb. Ergative or genitive markers mark the object (usually indefinite) of an intransitive verb and the actor of a transitive one. It also marks possession. Oblique markers, similar to prepositions in English, mark (for example) location and direction. Noun markers are divided into two classes: names of people (personal) and everything else (common).
+Case markers AbsolutiveErgativeObliqueCommon singularing -ng, ningkingCommon pluralding, ringringkaringPersonal singulari(y)-ngkangPersonal pluraldi, ririkari
Examples: ('The man arrived.') ('Juan saw Maria.') ('Elena and Roberto will go to Miguel's house.') ('Where are the books?') ('I will give the key to Carmen.')
Pronouns Kapampangan pronouns are categorized by case: absolutive, ergative, and oblique.
Absolutive (independent)Absolutive (enclitic)ErgativeOblique1st person singular, , , 1st person dual, 1st person plural inclusive, , , , 1st person plural exclusive, , , 2nd person singular2nd person plural, , , 3rd person singular, , 3rd person plural,
Examples ('I wrote.') ('I wrote to him.') ('He [or she] wrote me.') ('He [or she] has arrived.') Note: 'He arrived (or arrives)'; 'He has arrived.' ('Tell it to me.') ('Who called you?') ('They are reading.') ('They eat pigs too?')
Genitive pronouns follow the word they modify. Oblique pronouns can replace the genitive pronoun, but precede the word they modify.
; ; ('my house')
The dual pronoun and the inclusive pronoun refer to the first and second person. The exclusive pronoun refers to the first and third persons.
('We [dual] do not have rice.') ('We [inclusive] do not have rice.') , ('We [exclusive] do not have rice.')
Kapampangan differs from many Philippine languages in requiring the pronoun even if the noun it represents, or the grammatical antecedent, is present.
(not ; 'Ernie arrived'). (not ; 'Maria and Juan are reading'). (not ; 'José wrote you').
Special forms The pronouns and have special forms when they are used in conjunction with the words ('there is/are') and ('there is/are not').
('He is in Pampanga'). , ('The doctors are no longer here').
Both and are correct. The plural form ('they are') is and . Both and are correct in the plural form. The singular forms are and .
Pronoun combinations Kapampangan pronouns follow a certain order after verbs (or particles, such as negation words). The enclitic pronoun is always followed by another pronoun (or discourse marker: ('I saw you'). ('He wrote to me').
Pronouns also combine to form a portmanteau pronoun: ('I saw her'). ('I will give them money').
Portmanteau pronouns are not usually used in questions and with the word : ('Do you see him?') , ('He likes that, too').
In the following chart, blank entries denote combinations which are deemed impossible. Column headings denote pronouns in the absolutive case, and the row headings denote the ergative case.
+Pronoun order and forms (1 sing.)(2 sing.)(3 sing.)(1 dual)(1 incl.)(1 exclusive)(2 plural)(3 plural)(1 sing)() – – – () ()(2 sing)() – – –(3 sing)()(1 dual) – –() – – –(1p inc) – – –() – –(1p exc) – – –() () ()(2 p) – – –()(3 p) () () () () () () ()()
Demonstrative pronouns Kapampangan's demonstrative pronouns differ from other Philippine languages by having separate forms for singular and plural.