Remontado, also known by the autonym Hatang-Kayi and in the literature as Kabalat, Remontado Dumagat, and the erroneous names Sinauna/Sinaunang Tagalog, is a Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in Tanay, Rizal, General Nakar, Quezon (including in Paimahuan, Limoutan), Rodriguez, Rizal and Antipolo, in the Philippines. It is one of the Philippine Negrito languages. It is a moribund language.
Terminology The language is referred to by various terms in linguistic literature. The speakers refer to their language as ('this language') while Remontado is the most common term in English literature used to refer to both the community and their language. (meaning 'ancient' or 'old' in Tagalog) is a term used in some literature that originates after the language's discovery in the 1970s but has never been used by the speakers of the language themselves.
Remontado Agta has also been used but this is also erroneous as speakers of this language are never referred to as Agta.
Classification Reid (2010) classifies the language as a Central Luzon language, just like Kapampangan and Sambal.
Distribution The Remontado Dumagat were traditionally found in the mountains around the boundary between Barangay Sampaloc in Tanay, Rizal, and General Nakar, Quezon.
Today, Remontado is spoken in the following five villages, where it is only spoken by elderly people over the age of 50. Two of the villages are in Barangay Santa Inez, Tanay, Rizal, and three of the villages are in Barangay Limutan, General Nakar, Quezon. Minanga (Sentro), Barangay Limutan, General Nakar, Quezon Sitio Sari, Barangay Limutan, General Nakar, Quezon Sitio Paimuhuan, Barangay Limutan, General Nakar, Quezon Sitio Nayon, Barangay Santa Inez, Tanay, Rizal Sitio Kinabuan, Barangay Santa Inez, Tanay, Rizal
Grammar + Hatang Kayi Case Markers Nominative Genitive Oblique Common i (non-past, generic)ta (proximate)ya (nonpast/specific/referential)pu (past/specific) id kad Personal singular si in kan plural ra rará kannára
References