By Purita S. Licas, PNA and U.S. News Agency / Asian

The language that used to be the dominant minority language in the Cagayan Valley Region is now being threatened and is on its way to extinction, according to a local study.

Joseph Dayag, publications coordinator of the St. Paul University Philippines (SPUP) here, in his dissertation paper for a doctoral degree, cited language preference among the Ybanags themselves (speakers of the Ibanag language) as the cause of the near death of the language.

“If nothing is done, the language’s death will be inevitable and the next generations will never know about its existence,” Dayag said.

In his study “Language Loyalty Among the Ibanags of Cagayan: Basis for a Proposed Ibanag Language Development Program” conducted in the seven Ibanag-speaking towns of Cagayan, Dayag said similar situation was experienced just before the Irraya, another minority language in the province, died out.

The Ibanag and the Irraya are among the 30 languages and dialects in the province before the Spaniards came to Cagayan in the 16th century.

Espousing that language is an inherent part of any culture, Dayag said linguists around the world agree that minority languages are threatened by language extinction or death in the future, and if no intervention is introduced, the extinction of minority cultures is likely to happen in the next decade.

The Living Tongues Institute estimates that between one-half to two-thirds of the world’s languages are endangered which translates to the death of one language every 14 days.

Researchers earlier noted that Filipinos from the countryside appear to abandon their indigenous languages as they assimilate both the dominant languages and the culture they are exposed to.

In Tuguegarao City alone, the so-called Premier Ibanag City, the number of Ibanag speakers continue to dwindle as children and their Ibanag parents have assimilated the national language — Filipino.

“If the people maintain and preserve their culture by using their mother tongue, they maintain and preserve their culture as they pass this successfully to the next generation,” said a noted local journalist, Estanislao Caldez in his 100 Essays of Walsi.

The study of Dayag likewise revealed that among the Ibanag adults, the language is now seldom used in the workplace and at home, and that only a few send their messages through text in the language.

Majority of those interviewed suggested that the education department revive the use of Ibanag textbooks in the grades for the Ibanag children to appreciate their own tongue.

“It’s really a dying language. Only last December, I sent text messages to my friends and relatives to greet them for the season and they almost cried when they read my message in Ibanag,” Engr. Reynaldo Lingan of nearby Solana town said.

While English and Filipino were made the official media of communication in the Philippine academic landscape, indigenous languages, especially those spoken by fewer than one million speakers, are facing the threat of extinction or death.

Ibanag, Dayag insisted, is one of those indigenous languages being slowly displaced by English and other dominant Philippine languages like Filipino and Ilocano.

The study added that, as a result, gone are the days when pupils were taught in Ibanag, encouraged to speak and write in Ibanag, and persuaded to peruse over Ibanag reading materials.

“Gone now are the days when primary books depict the distinctive scenery, culture and tradition of Cagayan, especially those of the Ibanag folk,” Dayag said of his research findings.

The observation on the rarity of Ibanag use is also felt among the local officials of Tuguegarao City.

Vice Mayor Danilo Baccay said “the Ibanag language is getting lost in the cultural milieu of the city so that we need to restore it as our dominant language, preserve it so that we can be proud of it again”.