Basco and the southern towns is in Itbayat. ('pig') in Basco and the southern towns is in Itbayat. ('nest') in Basco is in the southern towns and in Itbayat. ('tail') in Basco is in the southern towns and also in Itbayat. Ivatan and Filipino words are sometimes combined, as in the Ivatan word . It is derived from (Filipino) and (Ivatan), literally 'someone who knows', which were then compounded to form the word . This is the result of the influence of non-Ivatans who tend to speak the language and were then eventually adopted. Examples of metathesis in Ivatan include for ('stairs') and for ('going up'). Ivatan slang includes examples such as , coined from – literally 'we’ll meet again later', and , coined from , literally 'where are you going'. These are results of shortening Ivatan phrases or sentences into one or two words, depending on usage. Common Ivatan expressions have various origins such as: or Literally: 'God reward you with goodness' or 'God bless you'Usage: Used to show gratitude to someone Literally: 'May God remain with you'Usage: Used by the person who is leaving Literally: 'May God go with you'Usage: Used by the person who is staying behind Phonology /u/ can also be lowered to . Vowels [e] and [o] only occur in loanwords from Spanish, Ilocano, and Tagalog. /h/ can also be heard as a velar fricative . Ivatan is one of the Philippine languages that do not exhibit []-[d] allophony. Grammar Pronouns The following set of pronouns is found in the Ivatan language. Cultural terms of the Ivatan people Phrases Ivatan words Etymology Coined words are two words combined to form one new word. Similarities with other Philippine languages Similarities with the Tao language Accommodation Approval and disapproval Colors Days of the week Direction Cardinal numbers Writing system Ivatan is written using the Latin alphabet. As Ivatan is primarily a spoken language and seldom used in written form, there is currently no consistent way of writing the language and different conventions may be used by different writers. An orthography devised for use in public schools by the Department of Education uses the full 26-letter Latin alphabet, with three extra letters, ch, ñ, and ng. The schwa sound, or uh, is normally represented by the letter e as in , 'di-yos-ma-ma-huhs', and 'pa-luhk'. References External links Ivatan Language Packet The Ivatan Affiliation with the Yami of Taiwan