March 29, 2024

STATED SIMPLY: PSYCHOLINGUISTICS is ‘the science/field where you combine Psychology and Linguistics’. And Nabaloi? It is ‘the language used or spoken, ‘since birth’ or natively by the Ibaloi Philippine group or ‘tribe’.
I ENROLLED AND finished Psycholinguistics I and II in my Graduate Studies some years ago, i.e. in English – with some applications here and there in other European languages; but I have yet to see some applications in our Philippine languages.
[THOUGH I WAS informed, it is possible perchance to obtain some materials of this field in the University of Hawaii, notably in Iluko]. Meanwhile, let’s now try some applications in Nabaloi.
AS IN ENGLISH, and in other languages: you, and/or I, can understand, comprehend, or ‘get’ the meaning, intention, ‘degree of seriousness’, etc., of what’s being said, by combining your Psychology and Linguistics ‘background’ or info, to wit: (and note these observations are none or hardly found in other languages – ‘local’ or foreign):
FIRST, THE ADJUNCT (or ‘particle’) ga/kha is placed anywhere in the sentence to signify: humility, respect, etc., of the part of the Speaker, e.g.
1.a) EDSHIIM KHA/GA EYAI.
1.b) EDSHIIM EYAI KHA/GA.
BOTH IN SENTENCE 1a) and 1b), kha/ga mean the English: ‘please’, ‘kindly’, ‘would you mind’, etc., so that, both may just be meant or understood as ‘Hold this please’, ‘kindly hold this’, et cetera; but when you say sentence
1. c) EDSHIIM EYAI! THE please-facteur is gone. The sentence becomes an Imperative/command; i.e. “Hold this!”; or, [even] “Hold this, or else..!”
SECOND, THE LENGTHENING of some vowel sounds; or else the ‘clipping’ of these, note:
2) AYSHI/ENSHI/ENCHI is same-and-one word. It is the existentialist Negative Expression to signify any or all of the following: “There is none”, “he/she is not (there/here)”, “he/she doesn’t”, and the like. Read further:
2. a) AYSHI Y KAONTULONG!
2. b) AYSHII Y KAONTULONG!
2. c) AAYSHI Y KAONTULONG!
IN 2.a), AYSHI is in normal, ordinary usage, thus: “No one/nobody/not one/ etc. helps!”
IN 2.b), AYSHII carries the meanings of “None/nobody at all, none.. not one even”, et cetera.
IN 2.c), AAYSHI carries with it: some confirmation of a statement earlier made, or an info given prior, so: “Indeed, nobody~”; or, “yes, it’s true: no one~”, and so on. Note: the additional meanings are carried or “brought about” by the lengthened vowels – even without the gestural/physio-supra segmentals of: plus-tone, volume or height, and so forth; in 2.a) and 2.b), the message is conveyed regardless whether the speaker is serene, speaking ‘normally’, or even smiling!
THIS MAY EXPLAIN (or correct?) on-spot the Spanish 18th century observation that ‘the languages of the Ygollotes “are full of inversions and deletions” – con muchas inversiones y sincopes’, and further concluding that these are ‘careless speakers’:
THIRD, SOME WORDS like Samanto, Ambahdo, etc. have ‘in-built’ implications – or further, deeper, simpler, etc. meanings. To illustrate:
SOMEBODY, A GROUP, or a Company says to you: Sell us this land of yours – with the payment we’re offering, you can buy another one double or triple its size, you see? And you reply:
SAMANTO AH! BAY-E yo ngo! (Literal: “It stays as is. Leave it be!”). However, the idiomatic translations shall, depend upon who is/are being addressed by the speaker – in however manner, tone, cadence, etc. the above sentence is being said; witness:
To an ‘equal’, it translates as:
a.1) “It’s not for any negotiation; so, we might as well stop talking about it.”
b) To a respected elder/friend/relative:
b.1) “You’re aware I haven’t gone yet for similar offers before; please understand, my decision is still the same.”
c) To strangers he never met, perhaps representing a company:
c.1) “There’s no deal I’m sorry. It’s not for sale or anything like it. Samman to!”
AH, THE WORDS, the prolonged vowel sounds, etc. even minus the actions and gesticulations, they still convey perfectly the messages in Nabaloi. Ayuhh! Ayuhh!