Baguio hosts first int’l confab on Ilokano language

Language Trends

Pryce Quintos

BAGUIO CITY -- There are about 9.1 million speakers of the Ilokano language, the third most spoken language in the Philippines, mostly from the Northwestern area of Luzon. These speakers have migrated to different places in the country and the world. Ilokano language, then, is used not only nationally but also internationally.

In a move to broaden the discourse on Ilokano language, the Nakem Conferences International and Nakem Conferences Philippines held the 9th Nakem International Conference and 1st International Congress on the Ilokano Language Oct. 23-25 here at Supreme Hotel.

With the theme “Panapagpapapaang (maipapapan) iti Ilokano ken Panangitag-ay iti Disikurso nga Ilokano”, the conference and congress was attended by participants from Spain, the Mainland United States, Japan, Hawaii, Thailand, and the Philippines.

The conference aimed to “discuss the repertoire of the Ilokano language as used in all the domains of Ilokano life, in both the private and the public spheres; synthesize the repertoire and formulate it as the basis for an intellectualized form of the language for the production of knowledge in both academic and non-academic settings; propose alternative forms of teaching Ilokano in all levels of academic life of the Ilokano students in order to prepare them for the professions; and establish the Academia Ilocana (or Ilocano Academy) that will oversee all efforts at developing the Ilokano language in all Ilokano communities all over the world.

One of the highlights of the conference and congress was the founding of the Academia Ilocana, or the Academy of the Ilokano Language.Among the invited keynote speakers wereDr.ItaruNagasaka of Hiroshima University, Japan; Dr. Alvin Gaerlan of California, United States; Dr. Julius Soria of the University of Hawaii; Dr. Aurelio Agcaoili of the University of Hawaii; Sra. Milagros Delia Caguioa Guran of Spain; Mr.Josefino C. Jimenez from Thailand; Chancellor RaymundoRovillos of University of the Philippines Baguio; Dr. Miriam Pascua of Mariano Marcos State University, and Dr. Francis Bringas, Department of Education Baguio Schools Division Superintendent.

“These speakers are experts in their own fields and they represent the variety of domains of knowledge and cultural practice in which Ilokano serves as the mediating instrument,” according to an earlier event announcement on panitikan.com.ph. “The fields cover tertiary education, the various social and public service professions, translation, heritage and foreign language education, second language acquisition, applied and theoretical linguistics, philosophy of language and indigenous studies, diaspora and exilic communities, religion, mass and social media, politics and public governance, business and entrepreneurship, research and knowledge production, cultural criticism, creative writing, entertainment, law and jurisprudence, medicine and public health, and cross-cultural relations.”

The event was sponsored by the University of Hawaii Ilokano Language and Literature Program and co-sponsored by the following universities: Mariano Marcos State University, Abra State Institute of Science and Technology; Apayao State College;  DepEd-Region I; Divine Word College of Bangued; Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University; Ifugao State University; Ilocos Sur Polytechnic State College; Kalinga-Apayao State College; North Luzon Philippines State College; Provincial Government of La Union; Nueva Vizcaya State University; Philippine State College of Aeronautics; PLT College; Quirino State University; Saint Louis University; Saint Mary’s University; University of Northern Philippines; University of the Philippines-Baguio; and University of the Philippines-Diliman.

The Nakem Conferences is a “cultural advocacy group of academics, creative writers, philologists, linguists, and advocates of emancipatory education.”