The Southern Cordilleran languages are a group of closely related languages within the Northern Luzon subgroup of the Austronesian language family. 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.
Internal classification The subgroup was first proposed by Zorc (1979). Himes (1998) classifies the Southern Cordilleran languages as follows:
Southern Cordilleran Ilongot West Southern Cordilleran Pangasinan Nuclear Southern Cordilleran Ibaloi (including Iwak) Karao Kalanguya
Reconstruction
Proto-Southern Cordilleran has been reconstructed by Himes (1998).
Phonology
VowelsFrontCentralBackClose *i *ɨ *uOpen *a
ConsonantsBilabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalStopvoiceless *p *t *k *ʔvoiced *b *d *gFricative *s Nasal *m *n *ŋLateral *lApproximant *w *y
Vocabulary The comparison table (taken from Himes (1998) and Zorc (1979)) 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 'day' 'water' Southern Cordilleran innovations Ilongot Pangasinan Ibaloi PSC PAn Meaning () 'ginger' () 'run' () 'foot' () 'his/her' () 'tree' () 'person'
References
External links "Southern Cordilleran" at Ethnologue, 23rd ed., 2020.