In the beautiful island of Palawan dwells a small group of people that remains hidden from the public. They are the Agutaynon tribe that is believed to be staying mostly in the northern part of Palawan, particularly in the Agutaya Island, as well as in the municipalities of Roxas, San Vicente, and Brooke’s Point, and in some areas of Mindoro, Taytay, and Linapacan. Occasionally, some Agutaynons can also be spotted in Manila. Very little information is known about the Agutaynon people. This is because there are only a few of them in their tribe, and the area where they live is isolated from mainland Palawan. However, even if we only know a few things about them, recent reports suggest that they have begun embracing modernization, similar to other ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines. Despite the limited information about the Agutaynon available, we do know that their language Agutaynen is spoken by around 15,000 people. It falls under the same subgroup as that of Calamian Tagbanwa and is therefore lexically similar with it, as well as the Cuyonon language. Aside from the aforementioned locations of the Agutaynons, their language is also spoken in six of the smaller Cuyo Islands, namely Algeciras, Concepcion, Diit, Maracañao, Matarawis, and Quiniluban. It is also worth noting that they have long occupied Palawan Island, and their language falls under the Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian family, similar to almost all other languages in the Philippines. An interesting piece of information about Agutaynon is that aside from their official name, they also call themselves Palaweños, the same as with the Cuyunons. However, this has caused a mix of amusement and distress to the original tribal groups, such as the Palawan group, who outsiders call Palawano. The Agutaynons’ main religion is Roman Catholicism, with 90% of their population practicing it. Other minority religions in their tribe are Protestantism and ethnoreligion. As they are island dwellers, it is no surprise that their main form of livelihood is through fishing. Just like other tribes and groups in the Philippines, the Agutaynons have their own set of traditional beliefs, said to have been inherited from their ancestors and passed down throughout generations. A few of them include: someone who sings while eating is considered ridiculous and disrespectful as they put value in the food as grace from God; a girl who sings in front of the stove while cooking will marry a widower; a dead person’s coffin should be fitted to his exact measurements, or else someone will die next; when planting rice, one should not bite or chew any of the seeds because the rats will then eat the planted seed; store owners should not sell salt at night or it will melt; neither should they sell a sewing needle at night, otherwise it will get lost.
The majority of Agutaynen words which appear in this dictionary were collected on the island of Agutaya between the years 1990 and 2004. Therefore many of the example sentences reflect the way of life on the island and do not necessarily represent life in Agutaynen communities on mainland Palawan. Likewise, entries which describe traditional beliefs and practices do not necessarily reflect the current beliefs of all Agutaynens. Instead, an effort has been made to document the culture and language by including these traditional practices, archaic (old) words, and drawings of items unique to the culture, but which are rarely seen these days. The inclusion of English definitions, English translations of example sentences, and the English-Agutaynen Index will hopefully be of help to high school and college students, as well as others who wish to increase their knowledge of English. In recent years, some English and Tagalog words have found their way into the everyday vocabulary of Agutaynens and therefore are included in the dictionary, although with Agutaynen spelling. For example, the English word ‘bright’ (intelligent) is spelled ‘brait’. The Tagalog word ‘tubos’ (redeem) is spelled ‘tobos’. There are also numerous words of Spanish origin which appear in the dictionary. Since these words have been completely assimilated into the language, no attempt has been made to note their origin. Words for the dictionary were collected from a variety of sources including audio recordings of local stories, personal letters, native authored literature, hortatory, explanatory and narrative texts, elicitation of words in semantic domains, as well as everyday conversations with people. Even so, there are many more Agutaynen words which are not included in this volume. It is hoped that in the future the database can be expanded, along with the addition of Filipino/Tagalog equivalents. For now, it is hoped that this dictionary, together with the Grammar Sketch, will provide a small window through which both Agutaynens and non-Agutaynens can glimpse the beauty and uniqueness of the Agutaynen language.
The Agutaynens of San Vicente opens the year via Ayeg Festival, a celebration of culture and camaraderie of the first group of people that settled in the picturesque northern town of Palawan. Ayeg is an Agutaynen word that means ‘harvest’ and is a reflection of these indigenous tribes that are known for farming and fishing. The Ayeg Festival opens Thursday, January 9 and will last until Sunday, January 12 in Barangay New Agutaya of San Vicente. It will highlight cultural interactions through dance and music, along with socio-civic activities such as medical missions and jobs fair. Ayeg Festival Director and founding Chairman Alex Baaco told Palawan Daily News that the main reason behind the festival is to give tribute and honor successful Agutaynens who excelled in their chosen fields and were able to finish schooling. These numerous Agutaynens who come from different places in the country and in the world will be given citations on the last day of the festival. “Gusto namin maging inspiration sila sa ibang Agutaynen, na mabibigyan din sila ng pagkakilala kung mag-aaral sila ng mabuti,” Baaco said. Ayeg Festival 2020 is an initiative of the local barangay council of New Agutaya. They aim to gather the almost 10,000 Agutaynens in the whole of San Vicente during the four-day festivities, supported by the local government of San Vicente through the leadership of Mayor Amy Alvarez. They wish to make it big in the coming years and to declare it a non-working holiday in their area. “Kaya naging hapon ang opening kasi may mga periodical exam pa sa mga school, adjust na lang namin para makasama yung iba, pero next year sana ma-declare na sya ng walang pasok thru the help of Sangguniang Bayan,” Baaco explained. 
Comments
Post a Comment