Central Bontok language

Central Bontok (or Kali) is a language of the Bontoc group from the Philippines. The 2007 census claimed there were 19,600 speakers.^[1]

Central Bontok
Central Bontoc
Bontoc, Bontoc Igorot, Kali
Native to	Philippines
Region	Cordillera Administrative Region
Native speakers	20,000 (2007 census)[1]
Language family	Malayo-Polynesian Northern Luzon Meso-Cordilleran South-Central Cordilleran Central Cordilleran North-Central Cordilleran Nuclear Cordilleran Bontok-Kankanay Bontok Central Bontok
Language codes
ISO 639-3	lbk
Glottolog	cent2292

Distribution

Ethnologue reports the following locations for Central Bontok:

Cordillera Administrative Region: Mountain Province: Bontoc municipality, Bontoc ili, Caluttit, Dalican, Guina-ang, Ma-init, Maligcong, Samoki, and Tocucan villages.

Dialects

Ethnologue reports 5 dialects for Central Bontok: Khinina-ang, Finontok, Sinamoki, Jinallik, Minaligkhong and Tinokukan.^[1]

Similarities

Ethnologue reports that the language is similar to other Bontoc languages, These languages are: North Bontok, Southwest Bontok, South Bontok, and East Bontok.

Phonology

Consonants

The Guinaang dialect of Central Bontok has the following inventory of consonant phonemes:^[2]

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	plain voiceless	p	t		k	ʔ
	aspirated voiceless				kʰ
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
Affricate			ts
Fricative		f	s			h
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Approximant			l	j	w
Rhotic			ɾ

Originally (as documented in the mid 20th century), the sounds pairs [b ~ f], [d ~ ts], [g ~ kʰ], [l ~ ɾ] were in complementary distribution and thus allophones of the phonemes /b/, /d/, /g/, and /l/, respectively (e.g. [ˈtsaɾa] for /ˈdala/ "blood"). With the introduction of loanwords from English, Ilokano and Tagalog, these contrasts have become phonemicized. The phoneme /h/ was also introduced in modern loanwords.