How do you say "water"???

English like a native 

Linda Grace Cariño December 1, 2012

“LINDS, say water,” commanded my friend Lisa. I complied.

“Again,” she insisted. And again I complied. Then added, “Why?”

“Again.”

“Water. What is this about?”

Lisa laughed. We were out walking somewhere in Baguio, catching up on each other after rediscovering us, both teaching at the U.P. at Baguio circa 1980 or thereabouts. Lisa and her sister Ana had spent childhood summers with my family on Kisad. It was great to pick up as young teachers 20 or so years later.

And finally, she blurted out: “You’re the only one from Baguio I know who says wohter,” as in pronounced correctly.

Me: “What do you mean?”

“Everyone else says wahter.”

“Wahter?” Me again.

“Yah. Wahter.”

“Hmm. Well, you say water.”

“Wahter,” said she. And both of us cracked up.

From that day, I listened carefully to how Baguio people pronounce the word. And true enough, I soon came to conclude that a good number of us do say wahter, my now late father included. When he was alive, he was particular -- picky, even -- about having ice-cold water available at all times. The stuff had to be around for harmony to reign in the house. He was always saying, “Get me some ice-wahter.”

English spoken among Baguio natives is a dialect all its own. Though it is basically American-accented, perforce of history, thrown into it are a lot of odd bits of Ilocano, the Baguio kind. Ilocano (Iloco, actually) as it is spoken in Baguio is different from the way it is spoken in the flatlands. It is “hard” – transliterated from the Ilocano natangken – as against the lowland “wet”: nakabasbasa aya. 

My ear first attuned to this wetness one summer in Santa, the Ilocos, in the house of a friend named Jackie Bello. They didn’t say wen with the guttural schwa sound we use, but stretched it out, weeen. They also said aya every other word: wen aya, haan aya, apan tayo, aya. That and la. Wen la. Napanen la. Inakon la. In Baguio, we say wen, napanen, inakon. And with that schwa sound in heavy evidence. Not for us those long, stretched out vowel sounds.

So then, one of the Ilocano words which figures in Baguio English is this word ngarrud, found in our conversations like it was part of the English dictionary. Said, of course, to stress a point. So it’s yes ngarrud, not just yes, if you already said yes and they keep asking.

There’s also man, as in: get man the pen. Nonono -- man here doesn’t mean a person at all. It means something like the Tagalog nga: get nga the pen, a little word there to punctuate the request, much like that Malay tack-on, la. Get the pen la. Okay, la. Very good, la. Surely itself the origin of the Ilocano la.

Then there’s this other word, ngay. Used, for example, when a decision has to be made, like in "What ngay (are we going to do)? How’s that ngay?” I suppose that a loose translation into English could be from ngay to then: What then? How’s that, then?” Ngay can also figure in an argument. A could accuse B of eating all the ice cream, for instance: You ngay. You ate all the ice cream. You’re so rawet. That last word means greedy. And ngay there means: what about you -- you’re a fine one to talk.

Another little word is met, a hard met now, not a wet one. It means something akin to the Tagalog naman. For example, in answer to the question: Did you mail the letter already? The answer could be: Yes met, as in, need you ask? Or you could be told: Your boyfriend is such a schmuck. To say: No met, means that he’s actually alright. Or someone could say: I’m surprised so-and-so actually delivered, and you could answer: What met do you think of him? Naman.

Besides having incorporated those little words into the local English, I find that the Baguio native stands rare among his/her countrywo/men as a one who says s/he is going downtown. Non-native speakers (a little joke there) say they’re going “to Baguio” (hweeer?), to “the plaza” (Theater? -- thinks the native), to the “bayan” (Bayan Park?) when they’re going to town. (To be continued)

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/opinion/2012/12/01/carino-english-native-256097