Ilocano language

Ilocano
Ilokano
Iloko, Iluko, Iloco, Pagsasao nga Ilokano, Samtoy, Sao mi ditoy
Native to	Philippines
Region	Northern Luzon, many parts of Central Luzon and a few parts of the Soccsksargen region in Mindanao
Ethnicity	Ilocano
Native speakers	6,370,000 (2005)[1] 2 million L2 speakers (2000)[2] Third most spoken native language in the Philippines[3]
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine Northern Luzon Ilocano
Writing system	Latin (Ilocano alphabet), Ilokano Braille Historically Kur-itan
Official status
Official language in	La Union[4]
Recognised minority language in	Philippines
Regulated by	Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino
Language codes
ISO 639-2	ilo
ISO 639-3	ilo
Glottolog	ilok1237
Linguasphere	31-CBA-a
Area where Ilokano is spoken according to Ethnologue[5] Striped areas are Itneg-Ilokano bilingual communities in Abra
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Ilocano (also Ilokano; /iːloʊˈkɑːnoʊ/;^[6] Ilocano: Pagsasao nga Ilokano) is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines, primarily by Ilocano people and as a lingua franca by the Igorot people and also by the native settlers of Cagayan Valley. It is the third most-spoken native language in the country.

As an Austronesian language, it is related to Malay (Indonesian and Malaysian), Tetum, Chamorro, Fijian, Māori, Hawaiian, Samoan, Tahitian, Paiwan, and Malagasy. It is closely related to some of the other Austronesian languages of Northern Luzon, and has slight mutual intelligibility with the Balangao language and the eastern dialects of the Bontoc language.^{[dubious – discuss][7]}

The Ilokano people had their indigenous writing system and script known as kur-itan. There have been proposals to revive the kur-itan script by teaching it in Ilokano-majority public and private schools in Ilocos Norte and Ilocos Sur.^[8]