Dusá: Pangasinan's Exquisite Language of Violence and Punishment

Dusá: Pangasinan's Exquisite Language of Violence and Punishment

The verbs used in Pangasinan to refer to violent movements and punishing actions are wonderfully varied and specific as well.

In general, dusá or dinusá means punish or punished. Pairap roughly means gulpi in Tagalog or to give a thorough beating in English. Garote (from the Spanish garrote) indicates a strong punishment of an indefinite kind, like a particularly strong whipping. Ambon means gang up on someone.

Boxing actions include the following. Buntal means suntok, "to give a blow, to knock with fists." A synonym is puniti. Bulasok means to hit one's stomach with the fist. Bugbog means to give multiple blows. Dalugos means to attack suddenly like a dog. Other words that sound as threatening are: banitog, inan (lagyan or put), ikdan (bigyan or give), kulatog, dapigas, ispat/spot (a fairly modern slang word), tira, tabiog.

Sikil is to elbow or poke, jab, or thrust someone's torso hard using one's elbow.  

As for whipping, lewet means to whip, often on the buttocks (lewet-tumbong). A synonym is pasasyok. Bakbak means whip on the buttocks, a term used for little kids. Siplat means to hit with a stick. Sitdak is another synonym. Palaldis means to hit with a stick quite heavily. Simbo-simbo sounds equally ominous. Pairap means repeated beating or whipping. Other synonyms are: basibas, basig (one is hit with anything that the hitter gets his/her hands on), tiro, sipok-sipok, litog-lipak... Saspak, salpak, pasaspak, palalpak, and lipalpak are used to refer to hitting somebody's bottom (often an unruly child's) with one's hand.

When pushing, tulak means to push in general, just like in Tagalog, but with the stress on the second syllable. Pulisay means a sudden jerking motion away from the body or hands, as if to eject or reject.

As for pulling, there is the word lakanat, which means to forcefully pull toward oneself. Or that it means to gang up on someone.

When hitting the head, tagkol means to hit the head using the forefinger's knuckle. A synonym is pisak, as in pisakan ko'y ulom. Tugtog means to push the head on the wall or something hard. Bambo mean bang the head with a hard object. Kutos means to forcefully poke the head with a finger or fingers. Other synonyms with shades of meaning are: aldabis, dapeyeng, tangol, pangol, simpangol, ampik, istangol.

Lapinit is to "wring one’s ear as expression of disgust or to drag someone by his ear."

When pushing the face over something, subsob is used to mean to scrunch the face on a surface. Kesneg or apakesneg is pushed to the ground with one's bottom hitting it.

Ngurangor or ngurngor means to scrunch or scrub the face on a surface (as in the floor) like an eraser. Guragor means to rub, as in the face on a surface. 

When scratching something, guyames is used to mean scratch and grip at something like a cat would. Gurisdis is used to mean scratch using lines and curves in different directions. Gurlis or gulis means to scratch with a line. 

When slapping the face, tampal is used for sampal or full-blown slap on the face. Dampil is a partial slap on the face. Dapigas is a synonym.

When pulling the hair in anger, gunot is used. Gunot-gunot indicates repeated action.

When hitting the back, batneg, dasneg, dapmeg, or datmeg are used.

When aiming at someone, usually with a deadly weapon, patuyong is used to refer to the action.

When choking or strangling, tikel is used.

When throwing or stoning, tupak is used.

When hitting something slightly, sipeg is used, but when hitting unintentionally, sipay is preferred.

When dragging someone or something on the floor, gayugor means drag on the floor, while gayugoy means pull from the floor without lifting. Ipasagar also means pull from the floor without lifting.

When pinching, karot means to pinch and twist the skin using the forefinger and thumb. Kuldit means to pinch and twist the skin extra-finely using the forefinger and thumb.

When squishing or crunching something, lames is used, but gumes is used to mean squish firmly.

When hitting in general, natgeng, nakna, and nala are often used to mean something was badly hit. When hitting with a knife, bolo or machete, sikbat means hack, tegteg means chop, while tartar means mince or chop finely. When hitting with the leg, depak means kick. Its synonyms are dempak, sipa, and dampalis.

With hitting with an instrument, words for the instrument are used as verb as well to refer to what the instrument is intended for, so pekpek means hit hard with any solid object. Paspas is used when hitting with a far lesser force. Palasipas is to paspas (whip or hit) repeatedly. Dos por dos (from the Spanish) means hit with a 2"x2" wooden bar (construction material). Turok, tinurok or duyok means pierce or pierced, as when using a pointed stick, while deyeng is used when referring to the use of a needle. There are, of course, as many verbs as instruments used to inflict pain: saksak, sinaksak; boriki, binoriki; lolor, linolor; paltog, pinaltog; palsot, pinalsot; paltik, pinaltik; salbatana, sinalbatana; ispin, inispin; wasay, winasay; pana, pinana; tupak, tinupak.

When giving the death blow, gedep or agedep are used to mean kill or killed/died. Patey means to kill. Naragas refers to the wish for someone to die.

These highly specialized words can easily be construed or dismissed as the enabling language of verbal abuse and physical abuse. On the other hand, they are also indicative of a precolonial warrior culture.