Abstract
The Philippines has a rich folk song tradition, for songs mark every stage in the life of every Filipino from the
moment he is born to the time he dies and is buried. Folk singing has an enduring place in his life. This study made
use of the qualitative method of research to determine the types of Ilocano folk songs in Cagayan and to analyze its
major components specifically its text,context and performance to explicate the interrelationships of these
components and describe the rules of their co-occurrence and restriction, and to describe the attitudes of the Ilocano
community towards folk singing as a way of speaking.In a similar fashion, the children are forced to follow the
prescribed actions or movements, and they have the option of teaching the group songs that they have learnt on their
own or that they have heard from others.
On the other hand, folk singing is not merely the act of singing songs; rather, it is a complicated activity that requires
the right text, context, participants, and performance, as well as the right combination of these factors. It is a pattern
of behavior that involves choices on various aspects that are made by people, most of the time without their
conscious awareness.
In a similar vein, there is a need to document and analyze the Ilocano folk songs using Hymes' model on the
ethnography of speaking. This model focuses on the major components-text, context, and performance-and their
sub-elements. This is necessary due to the fact that the majority of people do not know the language devices or
structures that are contained in their songs
Keywords
text, context, performance, folk singing, Ilocano children folk song