The Northeastern Luzon Subgroup of Philippine Languages

Abstract

This paper presents a survey of the languages of the northeastern part of the large northern Philippine island of Luzon—Dupaningan Agta, Pahanan Agta, Casiguran Agta, Nagtipunan Agta, Dinapigue Agta, Paranan, and Kasiguranin—the first five of which are spoken by Negrito Filipino groups. With the exception of Kasiguranin, these languages compose a subgroup called Northeastern Luzon. Evidence is presented to determine the internal and external relationships of these languages, including historical phonology, functors, and lexicon. It is argued that they are not members of the Northern Cordilleran subgroup, as has been previously suggested, but instead form a primary branch of the Northern Luzon (Cordilleran) subgroup.