Welcome to Pangasinan!
Pangasinan Gallery
Pangasinan is an Austronesian spoken in the Philippines by about 1.5 million people.
Pangasinan is known for having the tastiest and juiciest milkfish or ‘bangus’, and a month-long festival is held through Milkfish cook fests and street parties.
The Pangasinan language is spoken in and around Pangasinan province of the Philippines.
The Hundred Islands is a popular Philippine National Park comprised of about 123 islands in Alaminos, Pangasinan.
Pangasinan is an Austronesian language with many interesting linguistic properties!
Kaleskes (left) is a carabao innard soup from Dagupan, Pangasinan. Pigar pigar (right) is deep fried beef and liver with cabbage.
The Colorum uprisings were Filipino uprisings against the Americans. This monument depicts the Pangasinan leader Pedro Calosa.
Pangasinan has many sayings that reflect important aspects of the culture.
The name Pangasinan is derived from a word meaning "where salt is gathered". This picture is from Dasol, Pangasinan, Philippines.
Photo Credits:
Pangasinan language icon created by Kaye Ocampo
Pangasinan language map created by Liam McFadden
Salt production: Photo from the Municipal Government of Dasol, Pangasinan
Colorum Uprisings: "3672Trenchera, Tayug, Pangasinan 45" by Judgefloro, licensed under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication
Bangus festival: "Bangus Festival Gilon Gilon ed Baley" by Jdcedit is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
The Hundred Islands: "Pangasinan Hundred Islands" by Robert Anton Pimentel Aparente
is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
Kaleskes and Pigar Pigar: "Pigar-Pigar on the right and Kaleskes on the left" by Jdcedit is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
Tupig: by Judgefloro is in the public domain
Pangasinan Overview
Expand your understanding of the Pangasinan language and people by exploring the following modules.
- Basics
Language names, family, geography, speakers, ethnicities, and status
Pangasinan
[‘paŋ.ɡa.si.nan]
- Derived from the word Panagasinan [paˈnag.aˌsi.nan] meaning where salt is gathered.
- The term also refers to the province of Pangasinan and its people.
- Pangalatoc [ˈpaŋˌɡala.tuk] is a derogatory term, meaning ‘a Pangasinan whose head is shaken’.
- This term has been so overused to the point where many Pangasinan people unknowingly use it to refer to themselves.
- Austronesian
- Philippine
- Southern Cordilleran
- Philippine
- Austronesian
Spoken in and around the province of Pangasinan, Philippines
Spoken in the province of Pangasinan, Philippines.
Estimate of about 1.5 million speakers, out of the province’s total population of 2.65 million.
- Pangasinense
A small number of Pangasinan speakers come from the following ethnicities living in and around Pangasinan province:
- Ilocano
- Kapampangan
- Tagalog
EGIDS Level
Level 2, Provincial: Pangasinan is used at a provincial level. Local media outlets and some government services are offered in Pangasinan. Most Pangasinan speakers speak Tagalog and English as they are the languages of instruction. Ilocano is also widely spoken, as it is the most widely-spoken language in Pangasinan.
- Language
Writing system, linguistic typology, notable linguists
Pangasinan used multiple local variations of the Baybayin before the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. Today, Pangasinan uses the Filipino alphabet.
The Filipino Alphabet
Aa | Bb | Cc | Dd | Ee | Ff |
Gg | Hh | Ii | Jj | Kk | Ll |
Mm | Nn | Ññ | NGng | Oo | Pp |
Rr | Ss | Tt | Uu | Vv | |
Ww | Xx | Yy | Zz |
|
|
The Baybayin Writing System: Pino et al. (2021)
- Nasals assimilate to voiceless stops following them.
- Glottal stops after nasals and before vowels get deleted.
- No word-initial consonant clusters.
- The initial /s/ of independent demonstratives can be dropped in any environment.
- Possessive pronouns /ko/ and /mo/ become affixed -k and -m when preceded by vowels.
(Benton 1971)
Pangasinan Consonants
Note: There is a phonetic glottal stop but it has been argued to be non-phonemic
Pangasinan Vowels
- VSO Word order and generally head-initial
- Word formation includes affixation and reduplication
- Topic markers to indicate the subject of a sentence
- Articles are rarely used except for emphasis
- Independent demonstratives are used to link a spatial relationship with the speaker or addressee
- (Benton 1971)
- Obligatory marking of verbs with voice affixes
- (Chen and McDonnell 2019)
- Subject or ‘Pivot’ markers can be relativized
- Object or ‘Non-Pivot’ markers and Adjuncts or ‘Obliques’ cannot be relativized
- (Bondoc 2020)
These are some notable linguists who have worked on Pangasinan. This is not an exhaustive list!
Victoria B. Anderson
Richard A. Benton
Francisco C. Rosario, Jr.
Pangasinan is second to Ilocano as the most spoken first language in the province of Pangasinan.
Tagalog and to some lesser extent, English, are also spoken in the province.
Pangasinan had extensive contact with Spanish from the 16th and 19th centuries.
- Spanish is no longer used in the province in the present day.
Pangasinan has no substantial dialect divisions.
It is a common misconception that the Pangasinan is a dialect of the Tagalog language. It is not – it is a language of its own.
- Context
Historical and current context of the language
Austronesian people arrived and settled by the Lingayen Gulf.
They gave the name “Pangasinan” to their new home because of their proficiency in salt-making.
By 8th century A.D., these people began trade with China, India, and Japan.
1572 – 1898: The province of Pangasinan falls under Spanish rule.
Spanish is introduced into the province.
Spanish never really managed to “dominate” the Philippine languages at any point due to the high amount of linguistic diversity in the region
The Spanish orders (other than the Jesuits) were opposed to teaching their language to the locals (presumably to keep them out of power), and only a select few Filipinos were allowed into the Spanish schools.
By 1870 only around 2.6% of people there spoke Spanish
Pangasinan remained under Spanish rule until 1898.
August 1899: While living in Pangasinan, the Manila-born poet Jose Palma writes a poem that becomes the lyrics for “La Marchia National Filipina”, composed by Julian Felipe.
This would later be translated to Tagalog and become the national anthem of the Philippines.
November 1899: The province of Pangasinan falls under American rule.
1901 – 1902: The first public secondary school is opened in the city of Lingayen, Pangasinan, with some American teachers as educators.
English is taught and introduced in the province.
1904 – 1941: English becomes the main language of instruction in the Philippines.
Tagalog, Visayan, Ilocano, Bicolano, Pangasinan, and Pampanga are recognized as “media of instruction”
A few years later, only Tagalog was used in schools other than in the primary grades (English was the main medium of instruction in sixth grade and above with Tagalog as auxiliary)
Note: There have been multiple efforts by the Philippine government to establish a single “national language” based on one or more “dialects” (or languages) in the country
1930s: Filipino, which is based in Tagalog, is adopted as the national language of the Philippines.
In 1935 (at the writing of the first constitution) it was stated that the National Assembly would work on establishing a common language based on the Tagalog “dialect” (implying all the languages in the Philippines are dialects of each other)
Local non-Tagalog governments (namely the Bisayans) viewed this proposal as a covert takeover by Tagalogs, especially when said lingua franca (dubbed “Pilipino” in 1959) struggled to be recognized
Tagalog continued to be the main language of instruction throughout the country
1973: The 1973 constitution retained English and Filipino as the two official languages of the Philippines.
There was enough resistance to Tagalog-based Pilipino that it was rejected as the new national language in the new constitution.
There was a promise to develop a new language based on all Philippine languages/dialects called “Filipino”
1986: When Filipino was declared the official language , the bill responsible for developing it (which was to be the national language of instruction) was not passed; to non-Tagalogs it was clear that this “new language” was going to be another assertion of Tagalog
Some regions (e.g., in Cebu, where Bisayan is mostly spoken) refused to use FilipinoSG in their own schools, preferring their local ones.
Late 2010s – present: The Pangasinan language is reintroduced in the classroom.
Several schools begin to adapt the MTB-MLE approach (Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education)
- Pangasinan as the language of instruction
- Samples
Samples of phrases and texts in the language
Phrase | English translation |
‘hello’ | ‘hello’ |
‘babye’ [babaij] | ‘goodbye’ |
‘salamat’ [salamat] | ‘thank you’ |
‘on’ [on]
| ‘yes’ |
‘andi’ [andɪ] | ‘no’ |
‘antoy ngaran mo’ [antuj ŋaran mo] | ‘What’s your name?’ |
‘Siak si … ’ [ʃak si] | ‘I am . . .’ |
‘kamusta la’ [kamusta la] | ‘How are you?’ |
‘ayos met labat’ [ajos mət labat] | common response to ‘How are you?’ |
‘bari bari’ [bari bari] | Used when walking past vegetation or ant colonies to say ‘Excuse me’ to elementals or spirits |
‘labi ed sikayo’ [labid sikajo] | ‘Good evening to you’, used when passing by a group of adults
|
- Mangan tayo ‘let’s eat!’
sonito 133 (2007) by Santiago B Villafania, from the collection “Esaes ed Kareenan” (Whispers in Silence)
sinmabog so atomo ya berso ed libo-libo ‘ran uniberso
tan saray iskripton alibata ed impankasakey na salita
tuldek a kinmidiam so liwawa ed andeket a muling na Kristo
dia ed sakey igsa o bengatla linmesa’y kosmos tan ganagana
sagradon ilalam na amalsa so otel na bilay dia ed talba
tan dia ed sakey kirem na mata nayarin naandin amin iya
a singa kaerep na liwawa a singa kauyos na linawa
Translation/interpretation (translated by Rikki Ocumen)
The atomo verse exploded in the thousand universes
And this alibata script in the repetition of speech
A dot that flickered the light in the dark forehead of Christ
Here at one time or in anything at all passed the cosmos and consciousness
Blessed imagination that centers the blame on life in entirety
And here in one blink of an eye it’s possible that everything will become nothing
Like the dimming of light, like the sundering of light
- Culture
Culture, food, literature, and more
Kaleskes (on the left) is a hot soup originating from Dagupan, Pangasinan. It is made with carabao meat innards. Pigar pigar (on the right) is made by deep frying slices of beef and liver and serving with cabbage and spices.
Tupig is a sweet rice cake made in Pangasinan and the neighbouring provinces of Ilocos and Tarlac. It is made by roasting or baking glutinous rice and coconut wrapped in banana leaves.
Malinak la’y labi is a classic Pangasinan song about love, peace, and sorrow at night.
Malinak la’y labi (1987) by Asin
Malinak la’y labi oras la’y mareen
Mapalpalna’y dagem katekep to’y linaew
Samit da’y kugip kon binangonan kon tampol
Lapu’d say limgas mo sikan sika’y amamayoen.
Lalo la bilay no sika la’y nanengneng
Napunas lan amin so ermen ya agbibiten
No nanunotan ko la’y samit da’y ugalim
Ag ta ka nalingwanan angga’d kauyos na bilay…
Malinak la’y labi oras la’y mareen
Mapalpalna’y dagem katekep to’y linaew
Samit da’y kugip kon binangonan kon tampol
Lapu’d say limgas mo sikan sika’y amamayoen.
Lalo la bilay no sika la’y nanengneng
Napunas lan amin so ermen ya agbibiten
No nanunotan ko la’y samit da’y ugalim
Ag ta ka nalingoanan angga’d kauyos na bilay…
Also check out this cover of Malinak la’y labi with English subtitles
Luyag Ko Tan Yaman, the official Provincial hymn of Pangasinan
Sekder ka dan dayew mi
Pangasinan ya pinabli
Deen mo tan iyaliguwas
Piugagep ko lawas
Diad pusok Pangasinan
Agka nalingwanan
Luyag ko ya niyanakan
Peteg takan yaman
Matuwan aliguas mo natay anengneng la
Pasimbaloy ginmapo la
Say pankakasakey natay nalilikna
Lapud panamablid sika
Say dayat mo napnoy dakep tan say yaman
Sekder na kapalandeyan
Kareenan tan santing mo Pangasinan
Pablien tan lawas bantayan
Lawas takan intanduro Pangasinan
Aroen ka tan bayuboan
Panangampupom ya walan abangonan
Ikikinon kod siopa man
Pangasinan Luyag Mi Tan Yaman
The province of Pangasinan is known for having the tastiest and juiciest milkfish or ‘bangus’.
A month-long festival is held through Milkfish cook fests and street parties.
‘Gilon Gilon’ is a bangus (milkfish) harvest dance performed by hundreds of dancers during the Bangus Festival. Watch a ‘Gilon Gilon’ performance in Dagupan, Pangasinan.
- Leonarda C. Carrera. Matuan panangaro. (Dagupan City: Amor Cico, 1983).
- Real act of loving
- Maria C. Magsano. Colegiala Dolores. Komaduan tomo. (Dagupan City: Pangasinan Review Press, 1950).
- Second Tomo
- Maria C. Magsano. Duksay Kapalaran. (Dagupan City: Pangasinan Review Press, 1959).
- Violence of Fate
- Maria C. Magsano. Samban Agnabenegan: sakey a kombilay. (Dagupan City: Pangasinan Review Press, 1954).
- Service that one cannot turn away from: one in my life
- Emmanuel S. Sison. Tales from the Land of Salt – A glimpse into the history and the rich folklores of Pangasinan. (Makati: Elmyrs Publishing House, November 2005).
- Juan C. Villamil. Diad Lawak na bilay. (Dagupan City: J.C. Villamil, 1978).
- In this vastness of life
- Juan C. Villamil. Siak tan sika. (Dagupan City, 1978).
The Hundred Islands is a Philippine National Park comprised of about 123 islands in Alaminos, Pangasinan.
- Credits and References
References, image credits, and how to cite this profile
Anderson, Victoria B., & Anderson, James N. (2007). Pangasinan—an endangered language? Retrospect and prospect. Philippine Studies, 55(1), 116–44. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42633901
Benton, Richard Anthony. (1971). Pangasinan reference grammar. Hawai’i, USA: University of Hawaii Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv9hvs53
Bondoc, Ivan Paul M. (2022). Relativization asymmetries in Philippine-type languages: a preliminary investigation. The Archive, 1(1-2). https://www.journals.upd.edu.ph/index.php/archive/article /view/8482
Chen, Victoria, & McDonnell, Bradley. (2019). Western Austronesian voice. Annual Review of Linguistics, 5(1), 173–195. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-011718-011731
Himes, Ronald S. (1998). The Southern Cordilleran group of Philippine languages. Oceanic Linguistics, 37(1), 120-177. https://doi.org/10.2307/3623282
Fulgencio-Español, Elaine. (2019, April 14). Bangus Festival Kicks off in Dagupan City. ABS-CBN News. https://news.abs-cbn.com/life/04/14/19/bangus-festival-kicks-off-in-dagupan-city
Pino, Rodney, Mendoza, Renier, & Sambayan, Rachelle. (2021). A Baybayin word recognition system. PeerJ Computer Science, 7, e596. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.596
Steinhauer, H. (2005). Colonial history and language policy in insular Southeast Asia and Madagascar. In Adelaar, Alexander, & Himmelmann, Nikolaus P. (Eds.), The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar (pp. 65-86). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Pangasinan language icon created by Kaye Ocampo
Pangasinan language word cloud created by Kaye Ocampo
Pangasinan saying icon created by Lucy Meanwell
Pangasinan language map created by Liam McFadden
“Saltfarm” by Homboy, licensed under under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Colorum Uprisings: “3672Trenchera, Tayug, Pangasinan 45” by Judgefloro, licensed under the Creative CommonsCC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication
Bangus festival: “Bangus Festival Gilon Gilon ed Baley” by Jdcedit is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license
The Hundred Islands: “Pangasinan Hundred Islands” by Robert Anton Pimentel Aparente
is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Kaleskes and Pigar Pigar: “Pigar-Pigar on the right and Kaleskes on the left” by Jdcedit is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Tupig: by Judgefloro is in the public domain
The Baybayin Writing System: Pino, Rodney et al. “A Baybayin word recognition system.” PeerJ. Computer science vol. 7 e596. 16 Jun. 2021, doi:10.7717/peerj-cs.596
The content of this profile was created by Rikki Ocumen. To cite:
Ocumen, Rikki. 2023. Pangasinan. In Ozburn, Avery (ed.), The Language Profiles Project. Available online at https://languageprofiles.ca/home/pangasinan/.
We would also like to acknowledge Lucy Meanwell, Liam McFadden, Kaye Ocampo, and Gianna Giovio Canavesi.
The map was created by Liam McFadden.
Pangasinan datasets
Find Pangasinan datasets for use in Linguistics courses
Notice for Screen Reader Users: We invite and encourage you to use the downloadable datasets for an optimal experience. Please find download links at the top of each dataset section.
- Velar nasals (phonetics)
- Nasal assimilation (phonology)
- Loanwords (phonology)
- Free variation (sociolinguistics)
- Possessives (phonology, morphology)
- Movement (syntax)
- Islands (syntax)
You can download the editable dataset documents by looking in the corresponding subsection.
Pangasinan velar nasals
ŋaran | ‘name’ |
ŋalŋal | ‘to chew’ |
ŋipən | ‘teeth’ |
ŋirijət | ‘to show the teeth when smiling’ |
ŋiləb | ‘toothless’ |
ŋisiw | ‘to hiss, to whistle’ |
ŋojŋoj | ‘running mucus or saliva’ |
ŋalaŋala | ‘the inside of the throat’ |
- Velar nasals appear in the onset position
Phonology: environment, distributions
Phonetics: velar nasals
Source: Rikki Ocumen
Pangasinan nasal assimilation and stop deletion
Listen to benefactive forms:
Listen to future forms:
Listen to involuntary forms:
Benefactive | Future | Involuntary | Gloss |
ikətkətan | maŋətkət | akakətkət | ‘bite’ |
ikərəwan | maŋərəw | akakərəw | ‘ask for something’ |
ikuruŋan | maŋuruŋ | akakuruŋ | ‘crawl’ |
ikablitan | maŋablit | akakablit | ‘touch’ |
ilakoan | manlako | akalako | ‘sell’ |
ilagarian | manlagari | akalagari | ‘cut with a saw’ |
ikutkutan | maŋutkut | akakutkut | ‘dig’ |
ilurujan | manluruj | akaluruj | ‘joke’ |
ipatɪran | mamatɪr | akapatɪr | ‘trip’ |
ipaltogan | mamaltog | akapaltog | ‘shoot’ |
iturukan | maŋuruk | akaturuk | ‘penetrate’ |
ibasigan | manbasig | akabasig | ‘smash’ |
igərgəran | mangərgər | akagərgər | ‘slice’ |
idaləman | mandaləm | akadaləm | ‘snitch’ |
ibatikan | manbatik | akabatik | ‘flee’ |
ilikasan | manlikas | akalikas | ‘be aware of’ |
- Nasals assimilate the place of following voiceless stops
- /n/ alternates with {m, ŋ}
- Nasals do not alternate to the place of following voiced stops
- Voiceless stops are deleted after nasals
- {p, t, k} alternates with ∅
- Assimilation applies before deletion
- The benefactive is expressed with a circumfix
Phonology: alternation, rule ordering, assimilation, deletion
Morphology: circumfix
Source: Rikki Ocumen
Pangasinan loanwords
Pangasinan word in IPA | English Gloss | Spanish Gloss | Spanish word in IPA (assuming seseo dialect) |
sais | ‘six’ | ‘seis’ | sejs |
ʃɛtɛ | ‘seven’ | ‘siete’ | sjete |
nuwebe | ‘nine’’ | ‘nueve’ | nweβe |
diʃembre | ‘December’ | ‘diciembre’ | ðisjemβɾe |
kutʃɛ | ‘car’ | ‘coche’ | kotʃe |
mansanas | ‘apple’ | ‘manzana’ | mansana |
mirijɛnda | ‘afternoon snack’ | ‘merienda’ | meɾjenða |
unano | ‘very short’ (Spanish also: ‘dwarf’) | ‘enano’ | enano |
hwebes | ‘Thursday’ | ‘jueves’ | xweβes (or hweβes) |
pamilja | ‘family’ | ‘familia’ | familja |
med͡ʒas | ‘sock’ (Spanish also: ‘medium; average’) | ‘media’ | meðja |
d͡ʒos | ‘god’ | ‘dios’ | ðjos |
pasenʃa | ‘sorry’ (Spanish: ‘patience’/’be patient’) | ‘paciencia’ | pasjensja |
ispɪrɪmento | ‘experiment’ | ‘experimento’ | ekspeɾimento |
bakuna | ‘vaccine’ | ‘vacuna’ | bakuna |
kanʃʊn | ‘song’ | ‘canción’ | kansjon |
- Spanish labial and dental fricatives become stops in Pangasinan (fortition)
- except when followed by a glide
- example: ðisjemβɾe –> diʃembre
- Palatalization of fricative+glide sequences
- ðj→ d͡ʒ
- sj → ʃ (exception: pasjensja → pasenʃa)
- cluster reduction: ispɪrɪmento
- epenthesis before glides: mirijɛnda, nuwebe
- must happen after palatalization
Phonology: loanword adaptation, epenthesis, cluster reduction, palatalization, fortition, ordering
Source: Rikki Ocumen (Pangasinan), Gianna Giovio Canavesi (Spanish)
Pangasinan free variation
saja | aja | ‘this’ |
saraja | araja | ‘these’ |
satan | atan | ‘that’ (near addressee) |
saratan | aratan | ‘those’ (near addressee) |
saman | aman | ‘that’ (yonder) |
saraman | araman | ‘those’ (yonder) |
ija | ja | this |
iraja | raja | these |
itan | tan | that (near addressee) |
iratan | ratan | those (near addressee) |
iman | man | that (yonder) |
iraman | raman | those (yonder) |
- The initial /s/ of independent demonstratives can be dropped in any environment without any changes in meaning
- Older speakers are more likely to keep the [s]
- The initial /i/ of basic demonstratives can be dropped, particularly when preceded by vowels, without any changes in meaning.
- Older speakers are more likely to keep the [i]
Phonology: free variation
Sociolinguistics: age
Source: Rikki Ocumen
Pangasinan possessives
salik | ‘my foot’ |
sapatos ko | ‘my shoes’ |
limam | ‘your hand’ |
ules mo | ‘your bedsheet’ |
agik | ‘my sibling’ |
ninong ko | ‘my uncle’ |
kaarom | ‘your friend’ |
lamisaan mo | ‘your table’ |
- Possessive pronouns /ko/ and /mo/ become affixed /-k/ and /-m/ when preceded by vowels.
- Note: o is *not* the epenthetic vowel in Pangasinan.
Phonology: phonologically-conditioned allomorphy
Morphology: phonologically-conditioned allomorphy
Source: Rikki Ocumen