Nouns
The nouns appear to undergo slight change to indicate gender, number, or case. To indicate sex the noun is followed by the word for woman or man—as, a′-su fa-fay′-i (female dog), or a′-su la-la′-ki (male dog). The same method is employed to indicate sex in the case of the third personal pronoun Si′-a or Si-to-di′. Si′-a la-le′-ki or Si-to-di′ la-la′-ki is used to indicate the masculine gender, and Si′-a fa-fay′-i or Si-to-di′ fa-fay′-i the feminine.
The plural form of the noun is sometimes the same as the singular. Plural number may also be expressed by use of the word ang-san (many) or am-in′ (all) in addition to the noun. It is sometimes expressed by repetition of syllables, as la-la′-ki (man), la-la-la′-ki (men); sometimes, also, by the prefix ka together with repetition of syllables, as li-fo′-o (cloud), ka-li′-fo-li-fo′-o (clouds). There seems to be no definite law in accordance with which these several plural forms are made. When in need of plurals in this study the singular form has always been used largely for simplicity.
Pronouns
The personal pronouns are:
| I | Sak-ĭn′ |
| You | Sĭk-a′ |
| He, she | Si′-a and Si-to-di′ |
| We | Cha-ta′-ko and Cha-ka′-mi |
| You | Cha-kay′-yo |
| They | Cha-i-cha and Cha-to-di′ |
Examples of the possessive as indicated in the first person are given below:
| My father | A-mak′ |
| My dog | A-suk′ |
| My hand | Li-mak′ |
| Our father | A-ma′-ta |
| Our dog | A-su′-ta |
| Our house | A-fong′-ta |
Other examples of the possessive are not at hand, but these given indicate that, as in most Malay dialects, a noun with a possessive suffix is one form of the possessive.
Scheerer[3] gives the possessive suffixes of the Benguet Igorot as follows:
| My | k, after a, i, o, and u, otherwise ’ko |
| Thy | } m, after a, i, o, and u, otherwise’mo |
| Your | |
| His | } io |
| Her | |
| Our (inc.) | ’tayo |
| Our (exc.) | ’me |
| Your | ’dio |
| Their | ’cha or ’ra |
These possessive suffixes in the Benguet Igorot language are the same, according to Scheerer, as the suffixes used in verbal formation.
The verbal suffixes of the Bontoc Igorot are very similar to those of the Benguet. It is therefore probable that the possessive suffixes are also very similar.
It is interesting to note that in the Chamorro language of Guam the possessive suffixes for the first person correspond to those of the Igorot—my is ko and our is ta.