Kankanaey Language - Phonology

Phonology

Of particular interest is the very common occurrence of what could be best thought of as a stressed schwa in many words. In fact, the e in Kankanaey is to be pronounced as this sound, and not as the e in words like bet or wet. This sound is usually unstressed and of a very short duration in English, as an intermediary sound between consonant clusters, such as that between the /B/ and the /L/ in the word table, or between the /T/ and the /L/ in title. This sound value is similarly found in a few other Northern Luzon languages like Ilocano and Pangasinan.

Some words with this sound are as follows:

emey/umey - to go

entako - let's go (a contracted form of emey tako)

ed - a particle equivalent in function to the relative pronoun where

ipe-ey - to put (something somthihg) maga - to shake loose (as in loosening a stick or post)

eng-gay - only, finish

• Cover of the Kankanaey Hymnal.

• An open page of the Kankanaey Hymnal.

• A pile of Kankanaey Hymnal in the Church of Saint Mary, an Episcopal Church in Sagada, Mountain Province, Philippines.

• The 23rd Psalm in the Kankanaey Psalter.