BY ‘VERSION’, WE mean, “any expression, sentence, phrase, or word specifically-used or unique to a particular Nabaloi-speaking area, be it a municipality, barangay, Sitio, Purok – or a number of any of them. Please confer with our earlier discussions of: dialect, accent, variety, etc. (Supra).
EACH ‘VERSION’ PIECE to be herein discussed shall be provided with its corresponding ‘Standard Form (SF)’ as well as other parallel and/or approximate versions, if there be any. Let’s start with
THE KABAYAN INTERJECTION, Oyye! The (=) Equivalent Standard Forms (SF) are: Appo ah! or Agwili! [In the Dalupirip-Poblacion belt areas, they say: Egwiili! for this].
OYYE! IS USED to express: awe, admiration, or even ‘belief’, in something seen, heard, or relayed as in: Oyye! dinmaw gayam ded US si Boyak? (Transl: “Oyye! So, Boyak went to the USA?”). Next ‘Version’.
THE PHRASE, SAHEI charo! Heard and recorded from a Wangal (La Trinidad) ‘native’ Ibaloi speaker c. 1974). Said phrase translates: “one (small) pot!”, from the original whole sentence of: Ara.. kinan ko y sahei charo! (Transl: “EXPR.. I ate one (small) pot!”); he meant: a pot of rice. (He was responding to a fellow worker asking for ‘extra rice’).
THE EQUIVALENT SFs are: ~saxei ja kansharo, or ~sahei ya kancharo. Note therefore that from the Standard or ‘Commonly-used’ forms, the Wangal ‘version’ commits two syncopes (i.e. the deletion of the adjunct ja/ya; plus the omissions of the first syllable kan- from the SF Nabaloi word for “pot” – which is kancharo or kansharo).
OUR SENTENCE-LEVEL ‘VARIETY’ Example is: Nagu, apay on essi itan shiman? Ag onpila-pilat iratan na kelasi ni mula shima shaddin shiman.. (tep) ene-eney! (Transl: “Why, you think that will grow there? Those kinds of plants cannot grow there simply there.. (because) it’s sandy!”).
[OUR EXAMPLE IS from the Bingaan ‘variety’ – used or spoken in Binga and Suburbs, in Banao, Adonot, and Shegsheg (Brgy. Ambuklao, Bokod); and in Sitios Camesong, Marooc, etc. (Brgy. Loakan, Itogon].
THE EQUIVALENT STANDARD Form would be Ngantoi, apay on bengis etan shiman? Man dikkat eratan na kelasin mulan onbengis shima bo-dai shiman.. (tep) ene-eney! (Transl: “SAME as the English translation of the Bingaan ‘version’, except that there are obvious ‘Housekeeping Rules’ applied – because of some inner idiosyncracies of the language and/or its ‘varieties’.
STANDING MORE CONSPICIOUSLY are the vocabulary contrasts, viz. Nagu vs. Ngantoi, on essi vs. on bengis, on pila-pilat vs. man dikkat (onbengis), and shaddin vs. bo-dai.
[OFTEN, THESE ‘VARIETY’ or ‘Version’ contrasts elicit curiosity, amazement, even pleasurable amusement, among: the speaker, listener, and audience when done in open spaces or gatherings.. “What did he say?” or, “how did he say it again for cannot grow?” or, “how funny, my first time to hear that word: on essi, for ‘grow’.. all along I’ve been hearing, on bengis; or [even directly to the speaker, one in the audience may ask, point blank]: “Sir, is your Ibaloi ‘pure’, ‘mixed’, or what – if I may ask?”
THE ‘VERSIONS’ ARE very specifically located or identified – usually in smaller areas, Sitios or puroks.
THE ‘VARIETIES’ ARE heard, used, or spoken in wider, beyond-boundary areas often than not, defying not only municipal but even provincial limits.
THE ‘AGLUNTINIZED’ ONE-STREAM Expression Singtohuno..? of Poblacion, Itogon for instance is also used in Barangays Tinongdan and Dalupirip – both of Itogon, and neighbouring to Poblacion; but further it is heard in the Sitios of Barangay Fianza, San Nicolas, Pangasinan.
SAID EXPR ‘VARIETY’ is translatable to: “it is a wonder.. how could it/that be?” and derived from the Standard Form: Pesing to kono. And ‘Version’?
ONE ‘VERSION’ UNIQUE only to Upper and central Loakan is the insertion of the English (?) word ‘style’, to substitute for the ‘native’ Nabaloi word pesing (method, way, way how, etc.) as in the sentence: Jet nganto ngata y style to? The Standard Form which most other Ibalois use is: Jet, nganto ngata y pesing ni (ha)man?
TRUE, ‘VERSIONS’ ABOUND in the Nabaloi tongue; but surprisingly enough: this does not hamper them to carry on a smooth, successful Conversation or Communication, despite their ‘versions’ respective, unbriddedly employed during the Interchange of a Discourse or Dialogue in Nabaloi or Ibaloi! Ara, nete!
