IN ONE BIG Faculty Room of a university where the individual tables are separated only by open-top dividers, two conversations are audible – from tables #6 and #7, to wit in:
CUBICLE TABLE #6: Hello, Mare! Apay tatta ka laeng? (Transl: “Hello, co-godmother! Why only now?”).
WEN NGARUD! (“YES! Indeed”). Only now. Mighty busy the past days, that’s why.” Both smile.
AGTUGAW KA MARE. Kumusta? Makomikom kan sa iti adu nga negosyom ah? (Transl: “Be seated. So, how’s everything? You’re too busied by your many-business enterprises, it appears?”). Et cetera. Almost simultaneously, another conversation is happening at cubicle Table #7, and to wit:
‘MAKOMIKOM MA IYAI ya pafel. But, promise me: you won’t use any fake Identification Card (ID) again. Okay?’
[THE FIRST SENTENCE in the above discourse paragraph translates: we’ll crumple this paper now.” It is in Nabaloi.
[OBVIOUSLY, THE CONVERSATION is between a Faculty Member mother, and her son. They just came from the Dean of Men’s Office – it was later learned: on Notice to the Parent – of the son-student caught entering the University Main Gate using a fake ID. in
[THE EARLIER-CITED Conversation – at CT#6, the Discourse interchange was between two older women – co-godmothers or Kumares, and friends]. Further
BOTH CONVERSATIONS WERE heard and recorded in Dairy Notes by the Listener or Auditor – yours truly, then sitting in nearby Cubicle Table #8 (CT # 8), circa: 1998. Said conversations are presented here in the near ‘Historical Present’, Amongka Sudsod, for better effect.
OUR FOCUS NOW is on the term or word: Makomikom – used both: in CT # 6 by two women using the Iluko (Baguio or Cordi) language; and in CT # 7 by a mother and son, using Nabaloi.
AS BORNE BY the accompanying transliterations in English, the meanings are not the same; nay, not even ‘parallel’. Technically, they’re Cognates – or False Cognate ones, in the Sentence, even in the Discourse level. But
DO YOU WONDER how these may interest, or challenge – and excite(!) the listening – or overhearing ‘audience’ – as well as the Discussants or speakers themselves? You know – you hear a familiar word, or expression you normally use in your own ‘native tongue’ or language; you are jolted, and you listen some more – and you exclaim whisperingly: ‘no, that’s not my language they’re using! Must be another one! I wonder..!
AND NOW, SUPPOSE further that you speak natively Iluko – or you use or ‘understand (a little)’ of it, as a second-language auditor or discussant, and you hear on radio:
‘IMMATUNAN MO NGO shan. Wara’y naisukat ja Lebbong Mini-hardware!’ by a testifying satisfied customer, and (or but) the other day you heard an announcer doing Ads – on the same Mini-hardware at Lebbong, and often ending with the statement:
“KUKUA KEN IMATUNAN ni Julius Van Lamps, etc.” (Transl: Owned and managed…”). Note: this imatunan is the Iluko of the participial adjective ‘managed’, while in Supra (above-cited) earlier, the immatunan… translates to the Simple Future Assertive: ‘You shall recognize.’ i.e. from Nabaloi
AND YOU’LL BE fascinated even more – if you’re familiar with ‘Sound-Shifts’, i.e. from Nabaloi to Iluko; or, vice-versa, as in Liklikam ti~ =INT Il. Avoid~; but ‘False’ cognates (-or cognates falsely) with: Dikdikim e~ =INT Nab. Spy first on~. Note: initial Il. /L/ Sound Shifts to Nab. /D/; and another example:
RABAKEM TI RIGRIGAT ko ~ =INT Il. “[you] can’t just take lightly my hardships~” but False cognates with Dabak mon siged ita naipol-og =INT Nab. “Slice well the roasted sacrificial [animal] offering.” Finally, you may ask:
“AND WHAT ABOUT ‘True Cognates’ – do these obtain as well between Iluko and Nabaloi?” Our answer: ‘but why yes! Right you are! Let’s give you some samples, now:
IL. BINUSBOS = INT “have spent” cf. Nab. “have brought out counting”; or, Il. Sonata nga innak isagot~ =INT “a song I’m dedicating~” cf with Nab. Sai isagot toha ni obda~ =INT “So, he/she will recommend/help you find a job~”, et cetera.
BUT AGAIN, THE non-Nabaloi or non-Iluko, ‘neutral’ observer/analyst/auditor shall perhaps be facing the Proverbial wall of ‘which from which?’ – from Iluko to Nabaloi? or, vice-versa? Or, are they just plain, true/near-true Cognates and, that’s it? Ayo, ayo, ino!
