Southern Cordilleran languages

The Southern Cordilleran languages are a group of closely related languages within the Northern Luzon subgroup of the Austronesian language family.^[1][2] They are spoken in an area stretching from the southern shore of Lingayen Gulf to the highlands of Quirino province. The most widely spoken Southern Cordilleran language is Pangasinan, one of the eight major languages of the Philippines.

Southern Cordilleran
Geographic distribution	northern Luzon
Linguistic classification	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Northern Luzon Meso-Cordilleran Southern Cordilleran
Language codes
Glottolog	sout2907

Internal classification

The subgroup was first proposed by Zorc (1979).^[3] Himes (1998) classifies the Southern Cordilleran languages as follows:^[2]

• Southern Cordilleran
  • Ilongot
  • West Southern Cordilleran
    • Pangasinan
    • Nuclear Southern Cordilleran
      • Ibaloi (including Iwak)
      • Karao
      • Kalanguya

Reconstruction

Proto-Southern Cordilleran
Reconstruction of	Southern Cordilleran languages
Reconstructed ancestors	Proto-Austronesian Proto-Malayo-Polynesian Proto-Philippine Proto-Northern Luzon

Proto-Southern Cordilleran has been reconstructed by Himes (1998).^[2]

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	*i	*ɨ	*u
Open		*a

Consonants

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	*p	*t		*k	*ʔ
	voiced	*b	*d		*g
Fricative			*s
Nasal		*m	*n		*ŋ
Lateral			*l
Approximant		*w		*y

Vocabulary

The comparison table (taken from Himes (1998)^[2] and Zorc (1979)^[3]) illustrates the correspondences between the Southern Cordilleran languages, including inherited vocabulary as well as Southern Cordilleran innovations.

Comparison table

Words inherited from Proto-Austronesian (PAn)
Ilongot	Pangasinan	Ibaloi	PSC	PAn	Meaning
ma:go	a:gɨw	ʔágɨw	*ʔa:gɨw	*qaləjaw	'day'
dɨ:nom	danúm	čánom	*dánum	*daNum	'water'
Southern Cordilleran innovations
Ilongot	Pangasinan	Ibaloi	PSC	PAn	Meaning
ʔa:gɨt	agát	ʔagát	*ʔágat	(*laqia)	'ginger'
bɨsik	batík	bɨtík	*bɨtík	(*laRiw)	'run'
tɨɣí	salí	sɨdí	*sɨlí	(*qaqay)	'foot'
-to	-tu	-to	*-tu	(*nia)	'his/her'
kɨyó	kiyɨ́w	kiyɨ́w	*kɨyɨ́w[a]	(*kaSiw)	'tree'
tóʔo	tuʔú	túʔu	*túʔu[b]	(*Cau)	'person'
*kɨyɨ́w is an irregular reflex of PAn *kaSiw *túʔu is an irregular reflex of PAn *Cau