Philippine Negrito languages
languages of the Negrito peoples of the Philippines
The Negrito peoples of the Philippines speak various Philippine languages. They have more in common with neighboring languages than with each other, and are listed here merely as an aid to identification.
Classification
The following languages are grouped according to their geographic location, and not genetic classification.
Lobel (2013)
Lobel (2013) lists the following Black Filipino (i.e., Philippine Negrito) ethnolinguistic groups.
(Lobel (2010) lists the following Negrito languages that are spoken on the eastern coast of Luzon Island, listed from north to south.)
Dupaningan Agta (Northern Luzon branch)
Pahanan Agta
Casiguran Agta
Umiray Dumaget
Remontado/Hatang-Kayi
Inagta Alabat
Manide
Inagta Partido
Inagta Rinconada
Furthermore, Robinson & Lobel (2013) argue that Dupaningan Agta, Pahanan Agta, Casiguran Agta, Nagtipunan Agta, Dinapigue Agta, and Paranan do not belong to the Northern Cordilleran branch, but rather a new branch that they call Northeastern Luzon, which they consider to be a primary branch of the Northern Luzon (Cordilleran) group.
Zambales Mountains
Ayta Mag-indi
Ayta Mag-anchi
Ayta Abellen
Ayta Ambala
Ayta Bataan (a.k.a. Ayta Magbukun)
Southern Luzon
Inagta Rinconada
Inagta Partido
Manide
Inagta Alabat (and Inagta Lopez)
Southern Philippines
Inata (possibly 2 dialects)
Inati (Inete) (2 dialects)
Mamanwa
Batak (5–8 dialects)
Iraya (Mangyan)
Ata/Tigwa/Matigsalug Manobo
Extinct varieties
Mount Iraya Agta (a.k.a. East Lake Buhi Agta)
Dicamay Agta: spoken on the Dicamay River on the western side of the Sierra Madre near Jones, Isabela; reportedly exterminated by Ilokano homesteaders sometime between 1957 and 1974
Villa Viciosa Agta
Ethnologue adds the extinct and unclassified Katabaga of Catanauan, Quezon, southern Luzon. The language was originally listed by Garvan. Katabaga is in fact a misspelling of Katabangan, the name that the people use to refer to themselves.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Philippine Negrito languages” is languages of the Negrito peoples of the Philippines. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Philippine, Negrito and languages, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “languages of the Negrito peoples of the Philippines” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 9, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q30588132. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2013, 2010, 1957 and 1974.
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This entry incorporates text from “Philippine Negrito languages” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.