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Ilocano

Austronesian Languages

Iloco, or Ilocano, is an Austronesian language primarily spoken in the Philippines by the Ilocano people. It is one of the eight major languages of the Philippines with about 11 million speakers and ranks as the third most widely spoken native language.

Facts
ISO 639-3 Code
ilo 2
Speaker Count
8,700,000 2
2020 estimate, first-language (L1) speakers; the infobox also gives a second-language total of 2 million (2000) and an overall total of 11 million (2022), not captured here.
Status
Living 2
Wikipedia article on Ilocano: a currently spoken living language with an active native-speaker population; checked 2026-09-27.
Attested From (Year)
from 1601 3
Region
Northern Luzon which includes the Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region and Cagayan Valley, as well as many areas in Central Luzon, and certain parts of Mindanao 2
Classification
Language Kind
Safe 1
Official Status
Recognized Regional or Minority Language 1
Connections

In Family

Malayo-Polynesian, Language Families
Source Wikipedia: Ilocano Language
Northern Luzon languages, Language Families
Source Wikipedia: Ilocano Language

Written In

Latin Script, Scripts

Ilocano is standardly written in the Latin alphabet.

In the Other Atlases

Found In

Australia

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Source Glottolog
Sources
1. Glottolog: Iloko (Glottolog languoid ilok1237)
Glottolog
  • Endangerment, AES status
    AES status: not endangered
  • Endangerment
    Statutory language of provincial identity in northwest Luzon Island, other areas (1991, ACFLC Section 3(f)).
View the Source
2. Wikipedia: Ilocano Language
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Lead section
    It is one of the eight major languages of the Philippines with about 11 million speakers and ranks as the third most widely spoken native language. Iloco serves as a regional lingua franca and second language among Filipinos in Northern Luzon, particularly among the Cordilleran (Igorot) ethnolinguistic groups.
  • Infobox, ISO 639-3
    ilo
  • Article text
    The Iloco language is primarily spoken in Northern Luzon with 8.7 million native speakers and about 2 million as second language, where the highest concentration of Iloco speakers remains in their home provinces in Ilocos Region, totaling approximately three million. As of the 2020 census, Iloco speakers account for 5.8% of the Philippine population, or 3,083,391 individuals, with the majority residing in the Ilocos Region.
  • Infobox, Region
    Northern Luzon which includes the Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region and Cagayan Valley, as well as many areas in Central Luzon, and certain parts of Mindanao.
  • In Family: Malayo-Polynesian, Infobox, Language family
    Malayo-Polynesian
  • In Family: Northern Luzon languages, Infobox, Language family
    Northern Luzon
View the Source
3. Omniglot: Ilocano language, alphabet and pronunciation
OmniglotLanguage at a glance
Quote, Language at a glance
First written : 17th century
View the Source
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