Ibaloi language

The Ibaloi language (also called Inibaloi) belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages family. It is closely related to the Pangasinan language, spoken primarily in the province of Pangasinan, located southwest of Benguet.

The phonemes are similar to those found in other Philippine languages with a few exceptions. Many variants of the Ibaloi tongue have naturally occurring /f/, /dʒ/ and /v/, as in sifa (interrogative who), ibjag (to lose one's grip on something or someone, to let go) and divit (a traditional wrap-around skirt). /ʃ/ is also commonly heard in the La Trinidad valley and nearby areas, as in shima (a particle usually equivalent to the prepositions in, on, or to depending on the sentence construction), but may be occasionally heard as /tʃ/ in some communities.