The Gaddang people were identified as
I-gaddang (likely meaning 'brown-colored people') by the Spanish in the early 1600s, and differentiated from the
Igorots of the highlands by physique, skin color, homelands, and lifestyle. Mary Christine Abriza wrote "The Gaddang are found in northern Nueva Vizcaya, especially Bayombong, Solano, and Bagabag on the western bank of the Magat River, and Santiago, Angadanan, Cauayan, and Reina Mercedes on the Cagayan River for Christianed groups; and western Isabela, along the edges of Kalinga and Bontoc, in the towns of Antatet, Dalig, and the barrios of Gamu and Tumauini for the non-Christian communities. The 1960 census reports that there were 25,000 Gaddang, and that 10% or about 2,500 of these were non-Christian." Distinct versions of Gaddang may be heard down the valleys of the Magat and Cagayan on the Asian Highway 26 (the Pan-Philippine Highway) through
Nueva Vizcaya into
Isabela after leaving
Santa Fe, where its use is infrequent, and successively through
Aritao,
Bambang,
Bayombong,
Solano,(including Quezon & Bintawan), and
Bagabag. By the time you arrive in
Santiago City, in-migration due to the economic development of the lower
Cagayan Valley over the last century means you now must search diligently to hear Gaddang spoken at all. •
Santa Fe, near Dalton Pass, and San Roque (now Mabasa barangay of
Dupax del Norte) are reputed originally to have been settled by immigrants from Ilocos and Pangasinan in the latter part of the 19th century. Neither has a large community of Gaddang-speakers. •
Aritao was originally
Isinai (with
Ibaloi and
Aeta minorities), Kayapa is inhabited by
Ibaloi farmers and
Kankanaey-speaking merchants, while
Bambang and
Dupax were
Ilongot (also locally called Bugkalot); the Gaddang as spoken in these areas incorporates vocabulary and grammar borrowed from these unrelated languages. • The provincial capital and university town of
Bayombong also has an Ilokano-speaking majority (as well as a significant
Ifugao minority), however Bayombong has a long history of recognizing the municipality's Gaddang-speaking roots. Despite growing disuse of Gaddang as a language of public and general daily life, Gaddang is often heard at social gatherings in traditional , such as "Ope Manke Wayi". Many participants are not, in fact, native speakers; they are often ethnic Ilokanos, Tagalogs, and even non-Filipinos. • In urban
Solano, Gaddang is now rarely used outside the households of native speakers, and the many regional variants are unreconciled. Nueva Vizcaya's largest commercial center in 2013, Solano is effectively an Ilokano-speaking municipality. • The
Bagabag variant of Gaddang is frequently described by residents of the province as the "deepest" version. Some related families in
Diadi and the adjoining Ifugao Province municipality of
Lamut also continue to speak Gaddang. • Gaddang-speakers and the linguistically-related
Ibanag-speaking peoples were historically the original occupants of what is now the Cagayan Valley province of
Isabela, most of which was carved-out from Nueva Vizcaya in 1856. Rapid agricultural development of the new province spurred a wave of Ilokano immigration, and after 1945 the cities of
Santiago City,
Cauayan and
Ilagan City (originally the Gaddang town of Bolo) became major commercial and population centers. Presently, nearly 70% of the 1.5 million residents of Isabela identify themselves as Ilokano, and another 10% as Tagalog. 15% call themselves Ibanag, while the remaining 5% are Gaddang- or
Yogad-speakers. ==Phonology==