| Southern Alta | |
|---|---|
| Kabulowan, Kabuluwan | |
| Native to | Philippines |
| Region | Luzon |
Native speakers | (1,000 cited 1982)[1] |
Austronesian
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | agy |
| Glottolog | sout2905 |
| ELP | Southern Alta |
 Area where Southern Alta is spoken according to Ethnologue | |
Southern Alta (also known as Kabuloan Dumagat,[2] Kabuluen, Kabulowan or Kabuluwan, Kabuluwen, Ita, Baluga, Pugot), is a distinctive Aeta language of the mountains of northern Philippines. Southern Alta is one of many endangered languages that risks being lost if it is not passed on by current speakers. Most speakers of Southern Alta also speak Tagalog.[1]
Southern Alta is not particularly close to Northern Alta or to other languages of Luzon. Both Northern and Southern Alta have a significant proportion of vocabulary that is unique to each other, however, they are also very different from the other. Many Southern Alta also interact primarily with Tagalog speakers, sharing similarities between both languages.[3] Tagalog is a more widely spoken language in the Philippines, using an alphabet that has five vowels and fifteen consonants. Although Southern Alta and Tagalog share similarities, Southern Alta still remains a very distinct language that constitutes at least one coordinate branch of the large Meso-Cordilleran group of Northern Luzon languages.[4] The Southern Alta are also commonly referred to Kabuluwan, which may associate them with the Bulu, a small river flowing west past Malibay in Northern Bulacan Province.
As a critically endangered language, Southern Alta has very few speakers. Currently, Southern Alta has a population of 1,000 speakers.
- ^ a b Southern Alta at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Abreu 2018was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Reid, Lawrence A. (1991). "The Alta Languages of the Philippines" (PDF). In Harlow, Ray (ed.). VICAL 2, Western Austronesian and Contact Languages. Papers from the Fifth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics. Linguistic Society of New Zealand. pp. 265–297.
- ^ Lawrence, Reid A. (2013). "Who Are the Philippine Negritos? Evidence from Language". Human Biology. 85 (1).