View source for Abellen language

{{short description|Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Abellen
| altname = Ayta Abellen
|states=[[Philippines]]
|region=[[Tarlac]] and [[Botolan]]
|ethnicity=
|speakers=4,450 (2020)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://psa.gov.ph/system/files/phcd/PR_Statistical%20Tables_Language_030323_PMMJ_CRD.xlsx | title=Language/Dialect Generally Spoken at Home
| publisher=[[Philippine Statistics Authority]]| date= 3 July 2023| access-date=17 April 2025}}</ref>
|date=
|ref=
|familycolor=Austronesian
|fam2=[[Malayo-Polynesian languages|Malayo-Polynesian]]
|fam3=[[Philippine languages|Philippine]]
|fam4=[[Central Luzon languages|Central Luzon]]
|fam5=[[Sambalic languages|Sambalic]]
|iso3=abp
|glotto=aben1249
|glottorefname=Abenlen Ayta
}}

'''Abellen''', '''Abenlen''', '''Aburlin''', or '''Ayta Abellen''', is a [[Sambalic language]]. It has about 4,400 speakers and is spoken in a few [[Aeta]] communities in [[Tarlac]] [[Provinces of the Philippines|province]], [[Philippines]].<ref>Hammarstrom, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastion, eds. (2016). "Ayta Abellen"</ref> Ayta Abellen itself is part of the [[Sambalic language]] family in the Philippines and is closely related to not only the five other Ayta dialects but also the [[Botolan language|Botolan]] dialect of Sambal. ''[[Ethnologue]]'' reports 45 [[Monolingualism|monolinguists]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Ethnologue |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/abp}}{{Subscription required}}</ref>

== Geographic distribution ==
Abellen Ayta speakers can be found in the following locations:

*Maamot, [[San Jose, Tarlac|San Jose]], [[Tarlac Province]]<ref name=":0">[http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/abp Abellen] at ''[[Ethnologue]]'' (18th ed., 2015)</ref>
*Santa Juliana, [[Mayantoc]], [[Tarlac Province]]<ref name=":0" />
*[[Capas, Tarlac|Capas]], [[Tarlac Province]]<ref name=":0" />
*Sitio Loob-Bunga, Barangay Poon Bato, [[Botolan, Zambales]]

== History ==

=== Early history ===
The Ayta Abellen people are historically a semi-nomadic people. Also known as [[Negrito]]s, they are said to be descendants of the earliest inhabitants of the Philippines, dating back to the late [[Pleistocene]] Era.<ref name=":2">Reid, L. (1987).  [https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/32981/A27.1987.pdf?sequence=1 "The Early Switch Hypothesis: Linguistic Evidence for Contact between the Negritos and the Austronesians". ''Man and Culture in Oceania 3, Special Issue.'']</ref> The Ayta Abellen are distinguishable by their curly black hair, and darker skin tone as compared to other Filipinos.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2022-09-15 |title=An introduction to Ayta Abellen morphology and syntax |url=https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/52044 |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=SIL Global |language=en}}</ref> Since their language is similar to other [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]] languages, there is a theory of an Austronesian migration that occurred. In this theory, there were two different migrations, one from the southern coast of [[Sundaland]] eastward and from [[Wallacea]] to [[Mindanao]], causing there to be a separation of Ayta people and the [[Lumad|Mamanwa]] for about 20,000 to 30,000 years. Prior to the Austronesian migration, there was not much similarity between the original languages of the Negritos.<ref name=":2" />

=== Modern history and revitalization ===
After the eruption of [[Mt. Pinatubo]] in the 1990s, some of the Ayta Abellen have relocated from the mountains and have intermarried and mixed in with the local [[Ilocano people|Ilocano]] people.<ref>[http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/9669][http://www.ethnologue.com/18/language/abp Abellen] at ''[[Ethnologue]]'' (18th ed., 2015)</ref> As a result, there are [[Ilocano language|Ilocano]] loan words in the language.<ref name=":3" /> Much of the population also speaks Ilocano as a second language along with [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]] as well. The Ayta people rely on natural resources; however, due to shrinking forests, it has become harder to sustain that life style. This problem, along with diseases and remoteness from modern health care centers, is correlated with the higher death rate as compared to the birth rate among the Ayta Abellen people.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1akrbADrqi4 |title=AYTA ABELLEN.mov |date=2011-11-15 |last=Bill Curtis |access-date=2024-11-15 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

== Phonology ==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Consonants<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Stone|first1=Roger|last2=Nitsch|first2=Wilhelm|title=An Introduction to Ayta Abellen Morphology and Syntax|url=https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/13/35/02/133502601455394611419126052893004381512/Abellen_from_thesis.htm|access-date=2021-08-25}}</ref>
! colspan="2" |
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|
|{{IPA link|ŋ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Plosive]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t}}
|
|{{IPA link|k}}
|{{IPA link|ʔ}}
|-
!<small>voiced</small>
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Fricative]]
|
|
|
|
|{{IPA link|h}}
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Semivowel]]
|{{IPA link|w}}
|
|{{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Vowels
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! [[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}}
|{{IPA link|o}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|{{IPA link|a}}
|{{IPA link|ə}}
|}

{| class="wikitable"
!Phonemes
!Orthographic symbols
|-
|/p/
|P
|-
|/b/
|B
|-
|/t/
|T
|-
|/d/
|D
|-
|/k/
|K
|-
|/g/
|G
|-
|/ʔ/
|<nowiki>-</nowiki>
|-
|/h/
|H
|-
|/m/
|M
|-
|/n/
|N
|-
|/ŋ/
|Ng
|-
|/l/
|L
|-
|/w/
|W
|-
|/j/
|Y
|-
|/i/
|I
|-
|/a/
|A
|-
|/a/
|Ā
|-
|/«/
|E
|-
|/o/
|O
|}
<ref name=":4">Stone, R. '' ''(2013). ''Ayta Abellen Orthography Fact Sheet.''[Working Paper].  Retrieved from http://www.pnglanguages.org/asia/Philippines/show_work.asp?pubs=onlinehtml&id=928474551911&Lang=eng</ref>

Additionally, s, r, c (for [k]), j, among other phonemes, are used in loanwords and names.<ref name=":3" /> In the Sambal and Ayta languages, the glottal stop tends to replace a word final non-obstruent when proceeded by a stressed high central vowel.

== Grammar ==
Ayta Abellen shares the same [[Verb–subject–object word order|verb–subject–object]] sentence structure as other languages in the Philippines.<ref name=":3" /> It shares similar phonology with other Ayta dialects as well as Botolan Sambal. Not only does it share an identical pronoun system with other Sambalic languages, but between other Ayta languages, it is around 70% similar.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-15 |title=The Sambalic languages of Central Luzon |url=https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/25795 |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=SIL Global |language=en}}</ref> This language is a CV (consonant and vowel) and CVC language, although sometimes it is ambiguously a VC and V language. In this language, vowel deletion as well as consonant deletion are evident when words are combined.<ref name=":3" /> In this language, placement of [[Stress (linguistics)|stress]] can be unpredictable. Poly-syllabic words have primary stress whereas words with more than three syllables contain a secondary stress. However, suffixation also causes a shift in stress placement.<ref name=":3" />

== Writing system ==
Ayta Abellen is written using Latin text.<ref name=":4" /> Ilocano is a second language to much of the Abellen and the lingua franca of where many of the Abellen people reside, while Tagalog is the national language of the Philippines. Transcribers are trying to document the language in text that is similar to both Ilocano and Tagalog. Many of the hymnals used in the area are written in Botolan Sambal, and thus they are also trying to have Ayta Abellen orthography conform to it as well.<ref name=":3" />

==See also==
*[[Aeta people]]
*[[Ilocano people]]
*[[Languages of the Philippines]]
*[[Central Luzon languages]]

==References==
<references />{{ph-negrito-lang}}
{{sambalic languages}}
{{Philippine languages}}
{{Languages of the Philippines}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abellen Language}}
[[Category:Endangered Austronesian languages]]
[[Category:Sambalic languages]]
[[Category:Aeta languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Tarlac]]