Lawrence Reid's 1990 fieldwork revealed only 12 speakers in Villa Santiago, Aglipay, Quirino Province,[3] and in 1992 it was spoken by only three families.
There are still small groups of Arta speakers in Maddela and Nagtipunan towns of Quirino Province.
[5] Arta is notable for having vowel length distinction, an unusual typological feature in the Philippines.
Reid (1994)[9] lists the following reconstructed forms as possible non-Austronesian lexical elements found exclusively in Arta.
Reid (1994)[9] lists the following reconstructed forms as possible non-Austronesian lexical elements found in both Arta and "North Agta" (i.e., various Northeastern Luzon languages spoken mostly in Cagayan Province).