Since the Kankanay have been studied very little, the exact extent
of their culture area is not at present certain.
The Igorot of northern Benguet, and almost all of the people living
in Amburayan and southern Lepanto, speak the same dialect, have
similar customs, and call themselves by the same name, "Kakanay"
or "Kankanay." The people of this group have no important cultural
features by which to distinguish them from the Nabaloi, and linguistics
is the only basis on which they may be classed as a separate unity.
The inhabitants of northern Lepanto call themselves "Katangnang,"
speak a variation of the dialect spoken in the southern part of
the sub-province, and have some customs, such as communal sleeping
houses for unmarried boys and girls, which are more similar to certain
customs of the Bontoc than to any found among the southern Igorot.
It might also be mentioned that the towns of northern Lepanto are
comparatively large and compact like those of Bontoc, while the
Kankanay of southern Lepanto as well as those of Benguet and Amburayan
live in scattered settlements. Another difference is the amount of
authority exercised by the baknang or wealthy class. In northern
Lepanto the baknang are comparatively unimportant, while among the
southern Kankanay they are as powerful as among the Nabaloi.
However, the best authorities regard practically all the Lepanto
Igorot as Kankanay. This seems to be advisable at present, but it is
not improbable that a more thorough study of the Katangnang in the
northern part of the sub-province will result in their being classed
as a separate group.
Regarding the Igorot of northern Lepanto as Kankanay, the territorial
limits of the tribe are approximately as follows:
On the north, the Lepanto-Bontoc sub-provincial boundary; on the east,
the western boundary line of Ifugao; on the south, a line passing near
the southern limits of Alilem and Bacun, then through the southern
part of Kapangan between the barrios of Kapangan and Datakan, then
through the township of Atok a little north of the central barrio,
and then through the southern barrios of Buguias; and on the west,
a line passing through the foothills of Amburayan and Lepanto.