Language name and location: Northern Alta, Philippines [Refer to: Ethnologue]

语言名称和分布地区: 北部阿尔塔语, 菲律宾吕宋岛东北部奥罗拉省Bayanihan 地区

1. issah

21.   duwa ʔapulo at ʔissah

2. duwa

22.   duwa ʔapulo at dua

3. tatlo

23.   duwa ʔapulo at tatlo

4. ʔapat

24.   duwa ʔapulo at ʔapat

5. limma

25.   duwa ʔapulo at limma

6. innem

26.   duwa ʔapulo at ʔanim

7. pito

27.   duwa ʔapulo at pito

8. walo

28.   duwa ʔapulo at walo

9. sijam

29.   duwa ʔapulo at sijam

10. sapulo

30.   tatlo ʔa pulo

11. labin ʔissah

40.   ʔapat ʔa pulo

12. labin dalawa

50.   limma ʔa pulo

13. labin tatlo

60.   ʔanim ʔa pulo

14. labin ʔapat

70.   pito ʔa pulo

15. labin limma

80.   walo ʔa pulo

16. labin ʔanim

90.   sijam ʔa pulo

17. labin pito

100.  issa ʔa nɡadden 

18. labin walo

200.  duwa ʔa nɡadden

19. labin sijam 

1000. issa ʔa liːbo

20. duwa ʔapulo

2000. duwa ʔa liːbo

Linguist providing data and dateː Dr. Alexandro García-Laguía, Linguist teaching Spanish at Instituto Cervantes and Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, July 24, 2014.

提供资料的语言学家: Dr. Alexandro García-Laguía, 2014 年 7 月 24 日

Other comments: Northern Alta has a decimal system spoken by the Negrito people with 200 speakers. Northern Alta (also called Edimala) is a distinctive Aeta language of the mountains of northern Philippines. It is not close to Southern Alta or to other languages of Luzon.

1- No monolingual Alta speakers have been found so far. The speakers I have worked

    with are all bilingual with Tagalog, and speak Tagalog most of the time. Code

    switching is very extended in daily life. The data provided here is provisional

    (specially the stress position, the stress syllable is underlined), and has to be checked

    with at least a few more speakers of the language in order to be conclusive.

2- The Northern Alta phonological system has not been established yet, therefore no

    phonemic chart is added.

3- The data was elicited from two different speakers. Both had to take their time when

    providing numerals beyond ten. When asking the numbers from thirty to ninety, the

    first speaker provided the number thirty in Tagalog, and forty to ninety were

    provided in Spanish.

4- The second speaker, whose recording is the one provided here, could give the

    numbers but in some cases needed the help of her friend. For example, when

    recording the number two, the language assistant provides the Tagalog form dalawa

    and then is corrected by another speaker, giving the proper Alta form duwa. The

    same problem is found in the number twelve where the speaker proposes labin

    dalawa, instead of the expected labin duwa.

The same problem happens with the number six. The speaker gives an alta form innem (e is a schwa), but inconsistently provides ?anim (probably the Tagalog form) for sixteen and sixty.

            16 labin ?anim

            60 ?anim ?a pulo

5- It is not clear at this point if hundreds, tens and units form one or several

   phonological and grammatical words.

6- The tens and the units are linked by the linker at:

                        23: duwa ?apulo at tatlo

    The connector can be attached to the tens as it can be heard in the recording:

                        24: duwa ?apulot ?apat

More information about these phonological changes will be provided after studying them in depth.

7- Considering the form for number 1: issah, the form issah ?a li:bo should be expected

    for the number one thousand, the aspiration however disappears, probably due to

    the following glottal stop.