180 The Philippine Journal of Science 1921 
1,048 souls. It is to be conceived as a district comprehending, 
besides Balbalasang proper, a number of “rancherias” or set- 
tlements (phophoyoi) . The following were indicated to me as 
belonging socially, though not necessarily politically, to Bal- 
balasang, and as speaking with little difference the same dialect: 
Pasual. Kallagan. Talagan. Malibkong. 
Pattekyan. SaAtan. Photlok. Phulayayau. 9 
Inilagan. Sisik-an. Phyanagan. 
The chief peculiarity of pronunciation that strikes the ear 
of the traveler who enters the Balbalasang district from the 
west is the sound which I represent by ph and which before a 
becomes phy. From a comparison of the word phyayasang 
above quoted with Ilk. balasang maiden it may be seen that ph 
replaces other Phil, b, and that the second y in that word stands 
for other Phil. 1. Similar examples are: Ilk. bato stone, Bal. 
phyato; Tag. gubat forest, Bal. kinophyat same meaning; Ting. 
banug a certain eagle, Bal. phyanug. The sound here in ques- 
tion is a pure bilabial, transitional from a stop to a fricative, 
and in so far difficult to judge correctly as not only its position 
in the word and the sounds preceding and following it are apt 
to make it fluctuate from p over pf to /, but also different 
speakers do not all produce it in exactly the same way . 10 On 
the question whether it is in all cases unvoiced — as I give to 
understand by the uniform writing ph — I must reserve a judg- 
ment which could be given only after a more extended investi- 
gation than was possible to me. I may say, however, that before 
u this sound approaches either pf or / so closely that I was 
tempted to write, for instance, uppfu (young of animal) for 
upphu, nadfus (finished) for naaphus, and others similarly. 
This fluctuating sound is also found in the dialects of Ginaang 
and Salegseg where it shows again some modifications. 
Another notable feature of Bal. phonology, found likewise 
in Gin. and Sal., is a velar stop lying, in strength, between g 
'Names here given are as locally pronounced; outsiders pronounce 
them somewhat differently. 
10 Though different in origin, this sound appears to be very similar to 
the one described! by Conant in his F and V in Philippine languages, Bu. 
Sci. Div. Ethn. Publ. 5 2 (1908) 139; treating of the faulty pronuncia- 
tion of p by individual Filipino children from various tribes, the author 
says that “the sound is produced by expelling the air through the lips 
when closed, but so relaxed that a very slight explosion is immediately 
followed by an almost imperceptible spirant, the result being a pf sound, 
the constituent elements of which are so blended as to be hardly dis- 
tinguishable from each other.” 
