Northern Philippine languages

Northern Philippine
Geographic distribution:	Luzon
Linguistic classification:	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Northern Philippine
Subdivisions:	Batanic Central Luzon Northern Luzon Northern Mindoro

The Northern Philippine languages are the languages of central and northern Luzon, and the small islands between Luzon and Formosa, including Ilokano, Pangasinan, Kapampangan, and the Yami language of Taiwan.

The Northern Philippine languages are a long-established group which has often been taken to be more a geographic convenience than linguistic reality. However, a 2008 analysis of the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database^[1] fully supported the unity of the languages as a family. It also provided a low level of support (at 60% confidence) that the Batanic branch is closest to Northern Luzon. The Northern Mindoro branch was not included in the analysis.

Classification

• Batanic languages (4 languages between Luzon and Formosa)
• Northern Luzon languages (40 languages, including Ilokano)
  • Ilokano
  • Northern Cordilleran languages (15 languages)
  • Meso-Cordilleran languages (25 languages)
• Central Luzon languages (5 languages, including Kapampangan)
  • Kapampangan (spoken in Pampanga)
  • Sambalic languages (spoken in Zambales)
  • Sinauna
• Northern Mindoro languages (or North Mangyan; 3 languages)

References

1. ^ Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database