Rainbow in Isinay Dupax

Perhaps the most photographed figures in Dupax del Sur today are these two sculptures in front of the  municipal hall. On the left of the photo is a tablet outlining who they are and what they are doing.

Even as they are said to be depicting hunters who went into such reclining position due to extra heavy meal of roasted venison, I have this notion that they were in fact looking at a strange celestial sight in the eastern horizon.

It could have been a fully formed and multiple colored rainbow. They may not have a name for it in Isinay back then and so the two guys had to invent a noun that pretty soon stuck to their mind. It was “tavungeyon.”

Try asking kids even of pure Isinay parents what’s the name in Isinay... you’re lucky if you can get 1 out of 3 kids blurting out the correct answer.

Or you may get a correct one but if you cross-check the answer with other Isinay speakers, you would be surprised how the pronunciations vary.

One would say “tabungeyon” while another would say tavungeyon, and still another would say “tawungeyon.”

Such varied pronunciations can imply one thing: we Isinays of today have lost track of the original word for rainbow given to it when our ancestors felt the need for a name.

And it could follow that many other words and expressions in Isinay are in such a quandary.

It is this need to minimize the bloodletting on the Isinay vocabulary that this isinaydupax blog hopes to attend to.