If Capul island is “forgotten” then the dialect spoken in this island is endangered. Its actually amongst the 10 extinct dialects in the Philippines.
Amazing enough, Inabaknon is not classified under the Visayan language along with Cebuano or Waray. It ‘s group with the Sama-Badjao language, a dialect mostly used in the islands southernmost part of Mindanao. This brought me to research on the origin of the Abaknon/Inabaknon language.
According to historians, Capul Island is inhabited by the Agtas (they look like the Aetas of Zambales, short, dark-skinned, curly-haired and pango) which I believe the original natives of the Philippines.
Totoog Point. Where the Capul Lightouse is erected
Followers of King Abak and the Mohammedan Conquest of the 13th Century
During the upsurge of the Mohammedan Conquest in te 13th century, the followers of King Abak, a ruler from Java, Indonesia resisted Islam as they have their own religion. They went off aboard 3 boats to the Sulu archipelago. From Sulu, they separated themselves and went on different directions, one group stayed in Sulu, another followed an easterly route and landed in the Marianas Island. While the last group sailed northward and found themselves into the island of Capul.
They settled there and adopted the island as their own. After sometime, they intermarried with the local Agtas. This intermarriage resulted to a fusion of cultures, languages that created Abaknon or Inabaknon.
Some Abaknon phrases I learned:
Mahalap al’law si kaam dimuan– Good day to all of you!
Nalong– Morning
Amudto– Noontime
Kuhap– Afternoon
Sangom– Evening
Mahalap nalong– Good morning (and so on)
Kawiri– Left
Kawanan– Right
Kakan– To eat
Tal’ok– To drink (usually alcoholic beverage)
Burak– Flower
Piripiti– Wet
Abadaw– Ouch!
If you want to learn some Inabaknon words, you can check this Inabaknon Dictionary
Secrets of Northern Samar is a series of blog posts that encourages intrepid travelers to try the out-of-the-usual-tourist-trail. This happened last February 2011, one of the no-plans-whatsoever trips I made. I have a ticket to Catarman and I just said to myself, go and let’s see what’s in it for me… So I found these:
Spectacular Biri Rock Formations / The Forgotten Capul Island / Abaknon: On the Brink of Extinction / Catubig: A Forgotten Heritage / Hammock-Hanging Adventure at UEP White Beach / Summary & Expenses
First time to heard Abaknon dialect. Looks like it has similarity to Muslim dialect. Amudto is noontime. I heard muslim friends saying Mapiya mudto sometimes.
ahh really ha? maybe because they stopper over at Sulu before the journey to capul. i corrected my previous post.
Wow! great discovery! Thanks for sharing this.
my pleasure sir ding! nice blog you have there, i hope to read more from you po!
more “EXPLORED” places pa
Kakan, amudto, and burak share the same meaning with one of Bicol’s dialect.. Perhaps there are more phrases that are common between the two.
yeah, siguro nga. and i think marami naring mixtures ng language between bicol, visayas and capul.
true, there are some words which have the same meaning with our neighboring islands/provinces even in far places like ilocano i think mangan have the same meaning with our dialect. thanks to the american linguist Mr. Mark Jocobson, his wife Susan and his family which studies our language and made a inabaknon dictionary for us and a bible in our dialect,the new testament was finished and the old testament is nearly done. our problem is the kids even us, 30-50yrs of age, some of the words that are used in a conversation before is no longer heard in the community and was replaced by either tagalog or English and other languages. and the phil government hasn’t been doing anything to preserve our dialect or the other distinct dialect as well.
hai.. naiiyak ako sa ganda… if only the wind can bring me there this very moment…then maybe, i can let out a happy sigh..
indeed nikki, ang ganda nya talaga! mag-beach kana, now na!
hai.. kung pwde lang talaga.. sana nasa bicol ako.. 🙁
mahalao kay niya makadiskubre si al.lingun na si mga taga capul
as long as our linguist scholars proficiently and thoroughly document this dialect It sure will be preserved for the next generation.
kaso puro na ata nag nursing/pt ang mga studyante ngayon haha,
but seriously lets not wait for foreign academes to research on this field, like most of our scientific explorations (geology, biodiversity, sociology, etc..) in our country.
natawa ako sa puro nursing comment nyo sir! nothing against them, but you hit the nail on its head, puro nga nursing.
just learned that they have their own bible in their dialect.
and i agree with you, i hope more liguists/scholars would research on this.
Ngayon kulang narinig and dialect na Abaknon…
Salamat po sa info..:)
Mahalap Kuhap Sir James.. 🙂 (Tama po ba?)
you’re a fast learner tripper!
my pleasure 🙂
Thank you for this post. And the link! I’ve been looking for Mr. Jacobson’s site for so long. And you just made me realize the need to nurture our language for the coming generations.
my pleasure sir! nice to know you have a blog too about abaknon.
i hope all my research are correct. please let me know if may corrections.
let’s nurture our heritage.
As I’m reading ur post & looking at the pix I suddenly missed my beloved CAPUL. It made me feel how proud I am to be an Abaknon or Capulenos. Thank u so much for this post, I’ve learned too the origin of it. More power to u !
As I’m reading ur post & looking at the pix I suddenly missed my beloved CAPUL. U made me feel how proud I am to be an Abaknon or Capulenos. Thank u so much for this post, I’ve learned too the origin of it. More power to u !
thanks jovy! you have a very nice place, ang ganda ng capul and rich ng heritage, i hope you can share it to others!
Good evening po Ate. I am a first year student po from MSU-GSC, and with relation po sa ginagawa po naming research about po sa mga abaknon, pwede ko po ba kayong ma-interview ate? Thank you po.
hi there…i am from Capul island..thanks for this link…it makes me realize how precious our island and dialect..
kodus to people like you….Mahaya salamat! Matabbol pa kunta grasya sa karawat mo..
my pleasure ellen!
Mahaya salamat din! Matabol pa kunta grasya sa karawat mo.
tnx for the link.Am a Capulenia.Sana naman ma preserve ang dialect namin.Kami na ang my kakaibang dialect..kami na..:)salamat gaud sito site:)
my pleasure po! i was amazed sa beauty ng dialect at isla nyo.
My appreciation for the link..That’s our dialect,indeed we are so proud of it!more power to you!!
thank you so much for letting me know, hope this was helpful.
Since I was a kid, I heard so much already about the Island of Capul and how you travel from Manila to Capul,but much to my regret I havent reached the Island, I heard our house helpers talk abaknon and learned some few but I didn’t realize that it’s at extinction, thank you for sharing and hope to reach the Island soon.
hope you see Capul really soon sir.
from Allen, there is a single trip to capul island, 12nn if the schedule didnt change
hi sir james.im from capul..thank you for featuring our place..CAPUL ISLAND…
pleasure is mine rhea, enjoyed my short stay at capul. kind locals!
Quite similar to Yakan, which I learned while I was in Basilan for a time.
“Mahalap al’law si kaam dimuan” in Yakan is “Hap ellum si kaam kemon.”
In Yakan, afternoon is kohap, and evening is sangem.
Makakan is food.
Interesting.
yep, because a datu who came from mindanao was the one who resettled in capul
salamat po sa pag discover for my beloved capul island…
e dios makagagahom e permi magbantay si kaaw..
Hi, thank you for visiting my place. I came from Northern Samar. I heard so many things about Bire, Catubig, and UEP. Actually I graduated from UEP.. I stayed there for 4yrs.
All I want to say is thank you. You appreciate the beauty of Northern Samar.
If you have some time to travel again in Northern Samar, Pls. also check Bangon Falls & Buenos Aires Beach, San Roman Cave (Victoria), Hot Spring (Rosario), and there are so many exciting places that u missed..
Thank You and Come Again.
hi grace! yep, i want to go back and explore deeper. thanks for the recommendations!
im an Abaknon…tnx for sharing this
Salamat kay Mr. James. Ngayon ko lang kasi nalaman ang history ng Capul. Na mismo taga-Capul di ko alam ito.
Mahaya pasalamat ko si kaaw, Sir James.
i love abaknon,cause my mother born there in capul
Inabaknon is not a dialect. It is a language po 🙂
Yan din nga ang sasabihin ko sana. It is a language. Period. DepEd should teach this language as mother tongue in Kinder and Primarys 1-3 to save their culture.
tama po kayo, dapat ituro sa kinder and primarys ang language na inabaknon.
. Ay i mahalap sumat tikang si Diyos?
Ruyag-nasiDiyosngaaginmalipayonikinabuhi-nasimga
aaatosiKalibutan.Aghimu-naikalibutannganidimuanato
sito,tungodkayaghigugma-naikaahaan.Matapit-naiyaan-
giwaparapagtagamasimasmahalapkabubuwasonsiaabi-
sansingnga.Ala-nanaidimuanmgarasonsipagantos.
D BasahoniSalmo37:37.
Ganagubyirnoimaglangpossipagwarasikasamok,bi-
nati,ngankamatayon.Peroaniyamahalapsumat.Gai-na
agawat,sallian-nanasiDiyosimgagubyirnu-nasiaasi
kalugaringun-nagubyirno.Akatagamtamiginsakupan-na
sitosikamurayawnganmasaggapammuho.
D BasahoniPagpakatuan21:4;Daniel2:44.
2. Ay kay impurtanti i mahalap sumat inaanto?
Awarahamokipagantoskonlimpyahan-nanasiDiyosi
kalibutansimaraatmgaaa.(2Tesalonica1:8)Sumiran-may
toanakka?Iallingun-nasiDiyosatabpangaagsumatsi
makangingirhatmgakamutanganngaakapatalaw simgaaa
inaanto.Imgapanhitaboagpakulawngamatapit-nagayod
angiwaiDiyos. D Basahoni2Timoteo3:1-5.
3. Ay i angay nga hinimu-ta?
AngayngaakatuanankitahiunongsiDiyospinaagisial-
lingun-na,iBibliya.Parihoynansisuratngatikangsimahi-
gugmaontatay.Agsumattosikitakonpinapaiipagkarawat
simasmahalappaagisipagkinabuhiinaantongankonpina-
paiaginmalipayonatosipitak sititakka.Maintutuodimu-
an,imaruyagngaagusisakaw siBibliya.Konpaundangkaw,
karimanmay sititakkapambihirakabubuwason.
D BasahoniLukas6:22,23;Pagpakatuan14:6,7.
first of all abaknon is a language in itself and not a dialect. second of all, it is not extinct..endangered maybe.. but not extinct. please do research properly. thanks though for featuring.
nice… I’m a capulino myself
I’m from catarman, northern samar, i graduated at university of eastern philippines. Before my graduation, i read some of theses of the said university. One of the theses i read talked about inabaknon. The researcher (which is now a doctor of arts in language & literature or DALL) is a capuleño. According to his thesis, the older capuleños speaks native inabaknon, while younger capuleños speaks inabaknon pero may halong ibang dialect – bisaya, waray, at tagalog. It is because many capuleños stayed outside the island. Some of them went to manila, others schooled at university of eastern philippines in catarman, while others married non-capuleño
Mahalap kuhap sir james pwd q po mahingi email mo para dun aq magsend ng message may mga tanong po aq about sa aking bayang sinilangan ang capul na kayong cguro ang makakatulong sakin maraming salamat po.