Casiguran Dumagat Agta

{{short description|Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines}}

{{distinguish|Kasiguranin}}

{{use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Casiguran Agta

|altname=Casiguran Dumagat

|states=Philippines

|region=Luzon

|ethnicity=Agta

|speakers=610

|date=1989

|ref = e18

|familycolor=Austronesian

|fam2=Malayo-Polynesian

|fam3=Philippine

|fam4=Northern Luzon

|fam5=Northeastern Luzon

|fam6=Southern

|dia1=Nagtipunan Agta

|iso3=dgc

|glotto=casi1235

|glottorefname=Casiguran-Nagtipunan Agta

}}

Casiguran Dumagat Agta, also known as Casiguran Agta (after the endonym Agta, the name which the people call themselves and their language), is a Northeastern Luzon language spoken in the northern Philippines. It is spoken by around 610 speakers,{{Cite journal |last=Headland |first=Thomas N. |date=2003 |title=Thirty endangered languages in the Philippines. |url=http://arts-sciences.und.edu/summer-institute-of-linguistics/work-papers/_files/docs/2003-headland.pdf |journal=Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, University of North Dakota |volume=47 |access-date=2017-12-07 |archive-date=2017-12-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215003508/http://arts-sciences.und.edu/summer-institute-of-linguistics/work-papers/_files/docs/2003-headland.pdf |url-status=dead }} most of whom live in the San Ildefonso Peninsula, across the bay from Casiguran, Aurora.

The language was first documented in 1936 by Christian missionaries. There are many surviving works of [https://floramalesiana.biowikifarm.net/wiki/Vanoverbergh,_Maurice_(or_Morice) Father Morice Vanoverbergh] that document the language. Although the language has gone through rapid cultural change since his early work, the Father's writings still give a window of insight into what the language and the culture of the people was.{{Cite journal|last=Headland|first=Thomas N.|title=The Casiguran Dumagats Today and in 1936|date=1975|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29791218|journal=Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society|volume=3|issue=4|pages=245–257|jstor=29791218|issn=0115-0243}} Since then it has been continually documented by the late SIL linguists Thomas and Janet Headland.{{sfn|Lobel|2013|p=88}} A New Testament translation was published in 1979, titled Bigu a Tipan: I mahusay a baheta para ta panahun tam.{{Cite book |url=https://www.bible.com/versions/1170-dgcnt-bigu-a-tipan-i-mahusay-a-baheta-para-ta-panahun-tam |title=Bigu a tipan: I mahusay a baheta para ta panahun tam |date=1979 |via=bible.com |publisher=Wycliffe |language=en |access-date=2017-11-15}} Among the languages spoken by Philippine "Negrito" populations, Casiguran Dumagat Agta has been one of the most extensively studied.{{sfn|Lobel|2013}}{{page needed|date=July 2024}}

Casiguran Dumagat is closely related to Dupaningan Agta, Pahanan Agta (near Palanan town), Paranan (the non-Agta language of Palanan town), and Dinapigue Agta. A speech variety called Nagtipunan Agta was discovered by Jason Lobel and Laura Robinson in Nagtipunan, Quirino in 2006.{{sfn|Lobel|2013|p=88}}{{sfn|Robinson|2008|page=55}} Casiguran Agta has a big influence of loanwords on another local language Kasiguranin.

Casiguran Agta has been described as having eight vowel sounds, compared to the usual four in most Philippine languages.{{sfn|Robinson|2008|p=21}}