One Surface, Several Analyses

Ilokano words can combine a base, word-forming affixes and attached pronouns or particles. Recognizing familiar letters is only the first step: check the complete word and its role in the clause. In the modern KWF spelling used here, short personal pronouns attach to their hosts, with an explicit exception for ida. Hyphens used to name affixes are analytical labels, not instructions to insert hyphens into ordinary words.

Lexical kayo means “tree” or “wood”; attached -kayo identifies plural or respectful “you.” Compare Dakkel ti kayo, where ti introduces a noun, with Agawidkayo, where the ending identifies the actor.

Similarly, Basaenmo contains the reading base, patient-focus suffix -en and actor -mo. In Rabiin, the final -n instead marks “now/already” on a temporal noun. Neither ending determines the other’s meaning. Ordinary spelling may omit stress accents, so context and pronunciation can also distinguish lexical readings.