Filipino language

Filipino
Spoken in
Total speakers First language: 25 million.[1] Second language: over 60 million
Overall: 90 million[2]
Ranking 23 (along with other variants of Tagalog)
Language family Austronesian
Writing system Latin (Filipino variant)
Official status
Official language in  Philippines
Regulated by Commission on the Filipino Language
(Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino)
Language codes
ISO 639-1 tl[3]
ISO 639-2 fil
ISO 639-3 fil
Linguasphere
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Filipino is the national language of the Philippines and, along with English, is an official language designated in the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Filipino is an Austronesian language that is based on existing native languages in the Philippines; the most significant influence is the Tagalog language. A large number of Spanish and English loanwords also exist in the vocabulary. The Filipino language remains in evolution, development, and further enrichment on the basis of existing languages of the Philippines and other languages.[4] It is the first language of Filipinos living in Metro Manila and the second language of most Filipinos.[5]

Sometimes the term "Filipino" is incorrectly used as the generic name for all the languages of the Philippines. Also, because of its similarity to the language on which it is based,[6] it is still sometimes identified with Tagalog.

The Commission on the Filipino Language (Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino), the regulating body of Filipino, envisions a process of popularizing regional dialect usage derived from regional languages as the basis for standardizing and intellectualizing the language, thus forming a lingua franca.

Contents

History

On November 12, 1937, the first national assembly of the Philippines approved a law creating a National Language Institute to make a study and survey of each of the existing native dialects, with a view to choosing one which was to be used as a basis for the national language of the Philippines.[7]

On July 14, 1936, the Surian ng Wikang Pambansa (National Language Institute) selected Tagalog as the basis of Wikang Pambansâ ("National Language") based on the following factors:

  1. Tagalog is widely spoken and is the language most understood in all the Regions of the Philippines;
  2. It is not divided into smaller, separate languages as Visayan or Bikol is;
  3. Its literary tradition is the richest and the most developed and extensive (mirroring that of the Tuscan language vis-a-vis Italian). More books are written in Tagalog than in any other autochthonous Philippine language, but this is mainly by virtue of law and privilege;
  4. Tagalog has always been the language of Manila — the political and economic capital of the Philippines during the Spanish and American eras;
  5. Tagalog was the language of the 1896 Revolution and the Katipunan — two highly important elements in Philippine history.

In 1959, the language became known as Pilipino in an effort to dissociate it from the Tagalog ethnic group.[8]

Later, the 1973 Constitution provided for a separate national language to replace Pilipino, a language which it named Filipino. The pertinent article, though, Article XV, Section 3(2), mentions neither Tagalog nor Pilipino as the basis for Filipino, instead calling on the National Assembly to:

take steps toward the development and formal adoption of a common national language to be known as Filipino.

This move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.

In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.[9] Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:

as [Filipino] evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.

Meanwhile, Article XIV, Section 7 states that:

Subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, the Government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system.

and:

The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein.

Republic Act No. 7104, approved on August 14, 1991, created the Commission on the Filipino Language, reporting directly to the President and tasked to undertake, coordinate and promote researches for the development, propagation and preservation of Filipino and other Philippine languages.[10] On May 13, 1992, the commission issued Resolution 92-1, specifying that Filipino is the

indigenous written and spoken language of Metro Manila and other urban centers in the Philippines used as the language of communication of ethnic groups.[11]

However, as with the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions, 92-1 neither went so far as to categorically identify nor dis-identify this language as Tagalog. Definite, absolute, and unambiguous interpretation of 92-1 is the prerogative of the Supreme Court in the absence of directives from the KWF, otherwise the sole legal arbiter of the Filipino language.

Filipino was presented and registered with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), by then Ateneo de Manila University student Martin Gomez, and was added to the ISO registry of languages on September 21, 2004 with it receiving the ISO 639-2 code fil.[12] In June 2007, Ricardo Maria Nolasco, then Chair of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (Commission on the Filipino Language), acknowledged that Filipino was simply Tagalog in syntax and grammar, with as yet no grammatical element or lexicon coming from Ilocano, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, or any of the other Philippine languages. This is contrary to the intention of Republic Act No. 7104 that requires that the national language be developed and enriched by the lexicon of the country's other languages, something that the commission is working towards.[13] Furthermore, on August 24, 2007, Dr. Nolasco elaborated further on the relationship between Tagalog and Filipino:

Are "Tagalog," "Pilipino" and "Filipino" different languages? No, they are mutually intelligible varieties, and therefore belong to one language. According to the KWF, Filipino is that speech variety spoken in Metro Manila and other urban centers where different ethnic groups meet. It is the most prestigious variety of Tagalog and the language used by the national mass media.
The other yardstick for distinguishing a language from a dialect is: different grammar, different language. "Filipino", "Pilipino" and "Tagalog" share identical grammar. They have the same determiners (ang, ng and sa); the same personal pronouns (siya, ako, niya, kanila, etc.); the same demonstrative pronouns (ito, iyan, doon, etc.); the same linkers (na, at and ay); the same particles (na and pa); and the same verbal affixes -in, -an, i- and -um-. In short, same grammar, same language.[14]

On August 22, 2007, three Malolos City regional trial courts in Bulacan decided to use Filipino, instead of English, in order to promote the national language. Twelve stenographers from Branches 6, 80 and 81, as model courts, had undergone training at Marcelo H. del Pilar College of Law of Bulacan State University following a directive from the Supreme Court of the Philippines. De la Rama said it was the dream of Chief Justice Reynato Puno to implement the program in other areas such as Laguna, Cavite, Quezon, Nueva Ecija, Batangas, Rizal and Metro Manila.[15]

Classification

Filipino is considered by Ethnologue to be a variant of Tagalog, a Central Philippine language within the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family.[16] In practical terms, however, Filipino is a synonym for or the formal name of the Tagalog language, who may sometimes refuse to refer to their national language as Tagalog-based.

One famous event in which the definition between Filipino and Tagalog was challenged was during the impeachment trial of the former President Joseph Estrada. When the presiding justice Hilario Davide, a Cebuano, asked which language the witness Emma Lim preferred to testify in, Lim promptly answered "Tagalog", to which Davide did not agree. According to Davide, nobody could testify in Tagalog because it is not the official language of the Philippines and there is no available interpreter from Tagalog to Filipino. However, Senator Franklin Drilon, an Ilonggo, defended the oneness of the two by saying that an interpreter will not be needed because everybody would understand the testimony in Tagalog.

Phonology

Grammar

Orthography

Alphabet

Filipino uses the Latin alphabet with the addition of the 2 letters Ñ and Ng.

Learning Resources

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=PH.
  2. ↑ Results from the 2000 Census of Population and Housing: Educational Characteristics of the Filipinos. National Statistics Office. March 18, 2005. http://www.census.gov.ph/data/sectordata/sr05153tx.html. Retrieved 2008-01-21. 
  3. ↑ http://www.google.com.ph/language_tools?hl=tl
  4. ↑ "REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7104 - Commission on the Filipino Language Act". http://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno7104.htm. 
  5. ↑ Inquirer.net. "New center to document Philippine dialects". Asian Journal Online. http://www.asianjournal.com/?c=53&a=20983. Retrieved 2008-10-25. 
  6. ↑ Andrew Gonzalez, FSC. "Language planning in multilingual countries: The case of the Philippines". http://www.sil.org/asia/ldc/plenary_papers/andrew_gonzales.pdf#search=%27andrew%20gonzalez%20fsc%27. Retrieved 2007-07-15. 
  7. ↑ Paraluman Aspillera (1993). "Pilipino: The National Language, a historical sketch". from Basic Tagalog for Foreigners and Non-Tagalogs, Charles E. Tuttle Publishing Co., Inc., Tokyo. Archived from the original on 2009-10-20. http://web.archive.org/web/20091020000334/http://geocities.com/Athens/Academy/3727/tagalog2.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-24. 
  8. ↑ Andrew Gonzalez (1998). "The Language Planning Situation in the Philippines" (PDF). Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 19 (5, 6). http://www.multilingual-matters.net/jmmd/019/0487/jmmd0190487.pdf. Retrieved 2007-03-24. (p.487)
  9. ↑ "1987 Philippine Constitution, Article XIV, Sections 6-9". Chanrobles Law Library. http://www.chanrobles.com/article14language.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-08. 
  10. ↑ "Commission on the Filipino Language Act". Chanrobles law library. http://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno7104.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-19. 
  11. ↑ "Resolusyon Blg. 92-1" (in Filipino). Commission on the Filipino Language. 13 May 1992. http://wika.pbworks.com/Resolusyon%20Blg%2092-1. Retrieved 2007-03-24. 
  12. ↑ "Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: fil". Summer Institute of Linguistics. http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/documentation.asp?id=fil. Retrieved 2007-07-24. 
  13. ↑ Inquirer (2007). "New center to document Philippine dialects". Asian Journal. http://www.asianjournal.com/?c=53&a=20983. Retrieved 2007-06-30. 
  14. ↑ "Filipino and Tagalog, Not So Simple". http://www.dalityapi.com/2007_08_01_archive.html. 
  15. ↑ Inquirer.net,3 Bulacan courts to use Filipino in judicial proceedings
  16. ↑ "Filipino: A language of the Philippines". Ethnologue. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=fil. Retrieved 2007-06-26. 

External links

Languages of the Philippines Philippines and Philippine languages
National language
Filipino
Official languages
Filipino • English
Recognized regional languages
Bikol • Cebuano • Chavacano (Spanish-based creole) • Hiligaynon • Ilokano • Kapampangan • Kinaray-a • Maguindanao • Maranao • Pangasinan • Tagalog • Tausug • Waray-Waray
Recognized auxiliary languages
Arabic • Spanish
Language groups
Borneo-Philippines • Northern Philippine {Northern Luzon (Batanic) • Central Luzon (Sambalic)} • Central Philippine {Bikol (Coastal • Inland • Pandan) • Visayan (Aklan • Bisakol)} • Southern Philippine (South Mindanao)