Ilokano Lessons

Book excerpt: The Philippines series of the PALI Language Texts, under the general editorship of Howard P. McKaughan, consists of lesson textbooks, grammars, and dictionaries for seven major Filipino languages. Ilokano is an Austronesian language. It ranks third among the major languages of the Philippines, being spoken by just over 12 percent of the population. Widely spoken throughout the Philippines, Ilokano is the dominant language of most of the provinces of Northern Luzon and is used as a lingua franca by non-Ilokano speakers in this area. Settlers have also carried the language to Mindoro and to several areas in Mindanao. Ilokano Lessons was developed under the auspices of the Pacific and Asian Linguistics Institute (PALI) of the University of Hawaii, and accompanies the Ilokano dictionary and the Ilokano reference grammar. The lessons in this text are supplemented by a series of appendixes consisting of vignettes of Ilokano life, songs, a glossary, and vocabulary lists.