ILOCANO

Ilocano (Ilokano) is the third most-spoken native language of the Philippines. Distinct from the Tagalog language, Ilocano is NOT a mere dialect.

Spoken by as many as seven million Filipinos as their first language, Ilocano is a language of its own.

Like most languages in the Philippines, Ilocano is an Austronesian language.

The modern Ilokano alphabet comprises 28 letters, typed out below in their capital and small forms.

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Ññ NGng
Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz

Modern Ilocano has two dialects, which are differentiated only by the way the letter e is pronounced. In the Amianan (Northern) dialect, there exist only five vowels while the Abagatan (Southern) dialect employs six.

A non-Tagalog word that is frequently searched on our site is ukinam, which is an Ilocano curse word.

Anya kadi ti kayat mo?
What do you want?

binángkal: kumot na may makukulay na guhit

tarigagay = purpose