Languages of the Philippines

Languages of the Philippines
Phillanguages.jpg


Map of the dominant ethnolinguistic groups of the Philippines.
Official language(s) Filipino, English
Regional language(s) Bicol, Cebuano, Chavacano (Spanish creole), Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Kapampangan, Kinaray-a, Maguindanao, Maranao, Pangasinan, Tagalog, Tausug, Waray-Waray
Main foreign language(s) Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Korean, Malay, Spanish
Sign language(s) Filipino Sign Language / Philippine Sign Language
Common keyboard layout(s)
QWERTY
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In the Philippines, there are between 120 and 175 languages, depending on the method of classification.[1] Four languages no longer have any known speakers. Almost all the Philippine languages belong to the Austronesian language family. Of all of these languages, only 2 are considered official in the country.[2] At least 10 of these languages are considered major and 8 of these are given some status as auxiliary languages.

Contents

National and official languages

Spanish was the original official language of the country for more than three centuries, and became the lingua franca of the Philippines in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1863 a Spanish decree introduced universal education, creating free public schooling in Spanish.[3] It was also the language of the Philippine Revolution, and the 1899 Malolos Constitution proclaimed it as the official language of the First Philippine Republic. National hero José Rizal wrote most of his works in Spanish, Luciano de la Rosa, established that it was spoken by a total of 60% of the population in the early 1900s as a first, second or third language. Following the American occupation of the Philippines and the imposition of English, the use of Spanish declined gradually, especially after the 1940s.

Under the U.S. occupation and civil regime, English began to be taught in schools. By 1901, public education used English as the medium of instruction. Around 600 educators (called "Thomasites") who arrived in that year aboard the USS Thomas replaced the soldiers who also functioned as teachers. The 1935 Constitution added English as an official language alongside Spanish. A provision in this constitution also called for Congress to "take steps toward the development and adoption of a common national language based on one of the existing native languages." On November 12, 1937, the First National Assembly created the National Language Institute. President Manuel L. Quezón appointed native Waray-Waray speaker Jaime C. De Veyra to chair a committee of speakers of other regional languages. Their aim was to select a national language among the other regional languages. Ultimately, Tagalog was chosen as the base language December 30, 1937.[4]

In 1939, President Manuel L. Quezón renamed the Tagalog language as Wikang Pambansa ("National language" in English translation).[5] The language was further renamed in 1959 as Pilipino by Secretary of Education Jose Romero. The 1973 constitution declared the Pilipino language to be co-official, along with English, and mandated the development of a National language, to be known as Filipino.

The present constitution, ratified in 1987, stated that Filipino and English are both the official languages of the country. Filipino also had the distinction of being a national language that was to be "developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages." Although not explicitly stated in the constitution, Filipino is in practice almost completely composed of the Tagalog as spoken in the capital, Manila; however, organizations such as the University of the Philippines began publishing dictionaries such as the UP Diksyonaryong Filipino in which words from various Philippine languages were also included. The constitution also made mention of Spanish and Arabic, both of which are to be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis.

Filipino is an official language of education, but less important than English. It is the major language of the broadcast media and cinema, but less important than English as a language of publication (except in some domains, like comic books, which are meant to speak directly to the Filipino psyche) and less important for academic-scientific-technological discourse. English and Filipino compete in the domains of business and government. Filipino is used as a lingua franca in all regions of the Philippines as well as within overseas Filipino communities, and is the dominant language of the armed forces (except perhaps for the small part of the commissioned officer corps from wealthy or upper middle class families) and of a large part of the civil service, most of whom are non-Tagalogs.

Nobody questions that there is diglossia in the case of Filipino and the other regional languages. In this case, Filipino can clearly be labelled as the acrolect (the "standard") and the regional languages the basilect.

The Constitution of the Philippines provides for the use of the vernacular languages as auxiliary languages in provinces where Filipino is not the lingua franca. This is however not implemented as Filipinos at large would be polyglots. In the case where the vernacular language is a regional language, Filipinos would speak in Filipino when speaking in formal situations while the regional languages are spoken in non-formal settings. This is evident in major urban areas outside the National Capital Region like Laoag and Vigan in the Ilocano-speaking area, and Davao in the Cebuano-speaking area. Although the case of Ilocano and Cebuano are becoming more of bilingualism than diglossia due to the publication of materials written in these languages.

The diglossia is more evident in the case of other languages such as Pangasinan, Kapampangan, Bikol, Waray, Hiligaynon, Sambal, and Maranao, where the written variant of the language is becoming less and less popular to give way to the use of Filipino. Although Philippine laws consider some of these languages as "major languages" there is little, if any, support coming from the government to preserve these languages. This may be bound to change, however, given current policy trends.[6] Although Philippine linguists would agree that there is still no danger of these languages becoming extinct in the near future, the lack of support from the government makes these languages prone to “bastardisation”.

There still exists another type of diglossia, which is between the regional languages and the minority languages. Here, we label the regional languages as acrolects while the minority languages as the basilect. In this case, the minority language is spoken only in very intimate circles, like the family or the tribe one belongs to. Outside this circle, one would speak in the prevalent regional language, while maintaining an adequate command of Filipino for formal situations. Unlike the case of the regional languages these minority languages are always in danger of becoming extinct because of speakers favoring the more prevalent regional language. Moreover, most of the users of these languages are illiterate and as expected, there is a chance that these languages will no longer be revived due to lack of written records.

Indigenous languages

According to Ethnologue, a total of 171 native languages are spoken in the country. Except for English, Spanish, Hokkien (Lan-nang), Cantonese, Mandarin, and Chavacano, all of the languages belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language family.

There are 13 indigenous languages with at least one million native speakers: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, Kapampangan, Bikol, Albay Bikol [1], Pangasinan, Maranao, Maguindanao, Kinaray-a, and Tausug. One or more of these is spoken natively by more than 90% of the population.

The languages that have the largest number of speakers in a particular region. Note that on regions marked with black diamonds, the language with the most number of speakers denotes a minority of the population.

A Philippine language family identified by Robert Blust is nearly synonymous with the Malayo-Polynesian languages of the Philippines. The differences are that the family includes languages of north Sulawesi and the Yami language of Taiwan, but excludes the Sama-Bajaw languages of the Sulu Archipelago as well as a couple North Bornean languages spoken in southern Palawan.

Mutual intelligibility

Philippine languages and dialects are often collectively referred to by Filipinos as dialects, partly as a relic of the inaccurate vocabularly used in literature during the American period (1898–1946)[5]. While there are indeed many hundreds of dialects in the Philippines, they represent variations of no fewer than 120 distinct languages, and many of these languages maintain greater differences than established European languages like French and Spanish.

The vast differences between the languages can be seen in the following translations of the Philippine national proverb meaning "He who does not (know how to) look back at his past (where he came from) will not reach his destination."

Dialectal variation

The amount of dialectal variation varies from language to language. Languages like Tagalog and Kapampangan are known to have very moderate dialectal variation.

In the languages of the Bicol Region, however, there is great dialectal variation. There are towns which have their own dialects. Below is the sentence "Were you there at the market for a long time?" translated into certain varieties of Bikol. The translation is followed by dialect and language, and town in Bicol where they are spoken. The final translation is in Tagalog.

Philippine languages comparison chart

Below is a chart of Philippine languages. While there has been misunderstandings on which ones should be classified as language and which ones should be classified as dialect, this chart confirms that most have similarities but are not mutually comprehensible with each other. These languages are arranged according to the regions they are natively spoken (from north to south, then east to west).

There is a language spoken by the Tao people (also known as Yami) of Orchid Island of Taiwanwhich is not included in the language of the Philippines. Their language, Tao (or Yami) is part of the Batanic languages which includes Ivatan, Babuyan, and Itbayat of the Batanes.

  one two three four person house dog coconut day new we what
Ivatan asa dadowa tatdo apat tao vahay chito niyoy araw va-yo yaten ango
Ilokano maysa dua tallo uppat tao balay aso niog aldaw baro datayo ania
Pangasinan sakey duara talora apatira too abong aso niyog agew balo sikatayo anto
Ibanag tadday dua tallu appa' tolay balay kitu inniuk aggaw bagu sittam anni
Gaddang tata addwa tallo appat tolay balay atu ayog aw bawu ikkanetem sanenay
Kapampangan metung adwa atlu apat tau bale asu ngungut aldo bayu ikatamu nanu
Tagalog isa dalawa tatlo apat tao bahay aso niyog araw bago tayo, kamí, kata ano
Chavacano uno dos tres cuatro gente cása pérro coco día nuevo ZC-nosotros/kíta, CC-nisos, TC-mijotro cosá
Standard Bikol saro duwa tulo apat tawo harong ayam niyog aldaw ba-go kita ano
Iriga Bicolano usad darawa tulo upat tawo baloy ayam niyog aldow bago ngamin ono
Romblomanon isya dalwa tatlo ap at lima an um pito walo siyam pulo kita, aton ano
Bantoanon usa ruha tuyo upat tawo bayay iro nidog adlaw bag-o kita, ato ni-o
Onhan isya darwa tatlo apat tawo balay ayam niyog adlaw bag-o kita, taton ano
Kinaray-a sara darwa tatlo apat taho balay ayam niyog adlaw bag-o kita, taten ano, iwan
Hiligaynon isa duha tatlo apat tawo balay ido lubi adlaw bag-o kita ano
Cebuano usa duha tulo upat tawo balay iro lubi adlaw bag-o kita unsa
Surigao-non isa duha tuyo upat tao bayay idu Nijog adlaw bag-o kami unu
Waray-Waray usa duha tulo upat tawo balay ayam lubi adlaw bag-o kita ano
T'boli sotu lewu tlu fat tau gunu ohu lefo kdaw lomi tekuy tedu
Tausug hambuuk duwa tu upat tau bay iru' niyug adlaw ba-gu kitaniyu unu
Spanish uno dos tres cuatro gente casa perro coco dia nuevo nosotros qué
  one two three four person house dog coconut day new we what
Tao ása dóa (raroa) tílo (tatlo) ápat tao vahay gara ngata araw vayo tata vela

List of speakers per language

Below are population estimates from the 2000 Philippine census by National Statistics Office of the Philippines on the number of Filipinos who speak the following 18 languages as a native language.

  Number of native speakers[7]
Tagalog 22,000,000
Cebuano 20,000,000
Ilokano 7,700,000
Hiligaynon 7,000,000
Waray-Waray 3,100,000
Kapampangan 2,900,000
Chavacano (Spanish Creole) 2,500,000
Northern Bicol[8] 2,500,000
Pangasinan 2,434,086
Southern Bicol[9] 1,200,000
Maranao 1,150,000
Maguindanao 1,100,000
Kinaray-a 1,051,000
Tausug 1,022,000
Surigaonon 600,000
Masbateño 530,000
Aklanon 520,000
Ibanag 320,000

Major foreign languages

Spanish

Spanish began to be introduced in the archipelago after 1565, when the Spanish Conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi set sail from Mexico and founded the first Spanish settlement on Cebú.

In 1593, the first printing press in the Philippines was founded. In the 17th century, Spanish religious orders founded the first universities in the Philippines, some of which are considered the oldest in Asia. During colonial rule through Mexico City, Spanish was the language of education, trade, politics and religion, and by the 19th century, it became the country's lingua franca although it was only ever used by a small population.[10] In 1863, a Spanish decree introduced a system of public education, creating free public schooling in Spanish. In the 1890s, the Philippines had a prominent group of Spanish-speaking scholars called the Ilustrados, such as José Rizal. Some of these scholars participated in the Philippine Revolution and later in the struggle against American occupation. In 1899, the short-lived First Philippine Republic established Spanish as the country's official language; both the Malolos Constitution and the Lupang Hinirang (national anthem) were written in Spanish.

The use of Spanish began to decline after Spain ceded the islands to the United States in 1898. Under U.S. rule, the English language began to be promoted instead of Spanish. In 1940, there were six million people with Spanish speaking skills in the Philippines. The 1950 Census stated that Filipinos who spoke Spanish as a first or second langauge made up only 6% of the population. In 1990, the census reported that the number had dwindled to just 2500. Spanish ceased to be an official language in 1973 and a college requirement in 1987, during Corazón Aquino's administration. However, the language is still spoken today by Filipino-Spanish mestizos and Spanish families, who are mainly concentrated in Metro Manila, Iloílo and Cebú. It remains a required subject in many universities, such as the University of Santo Tomás of Manila and the University of San Carlos in Cebú. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, a third-language Spanish speaker, has introduced legislation to re-establish the instruction of Spanish since 2009.

Many historical documents, land titles, and literature were written in the Spanish language, and many of these documents often were never translated, although some of them as land titles still have legal value. There are thousands of Spanish loanwords in Tagalog, Cebuano, and other languages.

There are also several Spanish-based creole languages in the Philippines, collectively called Chavacano.

They include:

English

The first exposure to English occurred in 1762, when the British invaded Manila. However, use of English in that era was minimal and had no lasting influence. English became an important language in the Philippines in the period between 1898 and 1946, when the Philippines was under U.S. sovereignty. Today, English remains an official language in the Philippines.

Today, English is the dominant language in business, government, the legal system, medicine, the sciences and education. Filipinos tend to want their textbooks for subjects like calculus, physics, chemistry, biology, etc., written in English rather than Filipino. By way of contrast, the native languages are often heard in colloquial settings, and in the home, with family and friends, most people use their vernaculars. The use of English may be thought to carry an air of formality, given its use in school, government and various ceremonies. A percentage of the media such as cable television and newspapers are also in English; major television networks (i.e. ABS-CBN and GMA) and all AM radio stations are in Filipino. English proficiency sustains a significant call center industry for American companies. It is also a valuable asset for overseas workers.

A large influx of English words has been assimilated into Tagalog and the other native languages called Taglish. There is a debate, however, on whether there is diglossia or bilingualism, or even semilingualism,[11][12] between Filipino and English. Filipinos would use Filipino both in formal and informal situations, while, save for a very few, English will only be used for formal gatherings such as education and governance. Though the masses would prefer to speak in Filipino, government officials tend to speak in English when they do their government duties. Until now, there is still resistance in the use of Filipino in courts and the drafting of national statutes.

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 College of Law 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, Quezón, Nueva Écija, Batangas, Rizal and Metro Manila.[13]

Advocates of English say that it is the wave of the future, with science, world trade and the Internet become more important every decade. However, Philippine-language advocates respond that although the growing influence of English may be unstoppable, English is an exogenous language that is difficult for the mass of Filipinos to acquire fluently, while tens of millions are acquiring the lingua franca and using it extensively on a daily basis. English will remain a second language, as in Finland or the Netherlands, while the endogenous Austronesian languages will come to play a more important role in both speech and writing. National census results show that there are very few native speakers of English in the Philippines, a few percent from a small stratum of wealthy and highly educated families, and this is not increasing very rapidly. On the other hand, Filipino, Cebuano, and Ilocano continue to grow vigorously, as lingua francas, second languages, and as first languages as well.

Chinese/Lan-nang

The people have been trading with China and Japan since the early 10th or 11th century. Mandarin Chinese is the medium of instruction in Chinese schools and lingua franca of the mainland and overseas Chinese. The Lan-nang variant of the Hokkien (Min Nan) is the language of the majority the Chinese in the Philippines, who immigrated from the Fujian (pronounced locally as Fukien or Hokkien) province in China. Another Chinese language, Cantonese, is spoken among the Chinese in the Philippines who are descendants of people from Guangdong province in China.

Arabic

Arabic is used by some members of the Muslim population and has functioned as a liturgical and instructional language since the arrival of Islam in the 14th century. It is primarily used in religious instruction in madrasahs (Muslim schools) and rarely for official events. Historically, Arabic, along with Malay, was the lingua franca in the Malay Archipelago among Muslim traders and the Malay aristocracy in various parts of the archipelago. Arabic is taught for free and promoted in some Islamic centres and used for Islamic activities. According to the 1987 Constitution, Arabic, along with Spanish, is to be promoted on a voluntary basis.

Japanese

The Japanese first came to the Philippines around the 11th Century C.E., the first country they emigrated to, as well as in waves from the 1400s, 1600s, late 1800s, 1900s, 1930s, and the 1940s. There is a small Japanese community and a school for Japanese in Metro Manila due to the number of Japanese companies. Also there is a large community of Japanese and Japanese descendants in Laguna province, Baguio City, and in the Davao region. Davao City is a home to a large population of Japanese descendants. Japanese laborers were hired by American companies like the National Fiber Company (NAFCO) in the first decades of the 20th century to work in abaca plantations. Japanese were known for their hard work and industry. During the World War II, Japanese schools were present in Davao City.

Malay

Malay is spoken among Muslim people in the southern Philippines as a lingua franca.

Old Malay and Indonesian cultures and civilizations in ancient Sumatra and Java have had a large influence on the history, lifestyles, and culture of various Philippine peoples. The Malay language, along with Philippine languages belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian language family, has also had an immense influence on many if not most of the languages spoken in the Philippines. Roughly a third of all commonly used verbs and nouns used in the Philippines are of Old Malay origin.

When the Spanish had first arrived in the Philippines in the 16th century, Old Malay was spoken among the aristocracy.

It is believed that Ferdinand Magellan’s Moluccan slave Enrique could converse with local leaders in Cebu island, confirming to Magellan his arrival in Southeast Asia. An example of Old Malay and Javanese languages spoken in Philippine history can be seen in the language of the Laguna Copperplate Inscription.

South Asian languages

Since pre-Spanish times, there have been small Indian communities in the Philippines. Indians tend to be able to speak Tagalog and the other native languages, and are often fluent in English. Among themselves, Sindhi and Punjabi are used. Urdu is spoken among the Pakistani community. Only few South Asians, such as Pakistani, as well as the recent newcomers like the Marathi, Nepali, and Tamil retain their own native languages.

See also

References

  1. ↑ McFarland, C. D. (1993). Subgrouping and Number of Philippine Languages. Manila: Secretary of Education, Culture and Sports; Pasig, MetroManila, Republic of the Philippines 
  2. ↑ Languages of the Philippines, ethnologue.com
  3. ↑ US Country Studies: Education in the Philippines
  4. ↑ Manuel L. Quezon (December 1937). "Speech of His Excellency, Manuel L. Quezón, President of the Philippines on FILIPINO NATIONAL LANGUAGE." (PDF). pp. 4. http://www.quezon.ph/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/mlq-speech-national-language-1.pdf. Retrieved 2009-01-14 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Andrew Gonzalez (1998). "The Language Planning Situation in the Philippines" (PDF). Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 19 (5, 6): 487. doi:10.1080/01434639808666365. http://www.multilingual-matters.net/jmmd/019/0487/jmmd0190487.pdf. Retrieved 2007-03-24 
  6. ↑ Ricardo Ma. Nolasco Ph.D.. "Maraming Wika, Matatag na Bansa - Chairman Nolasco" (in Filipino). KWF Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino. http://wika.pbworks.com/Maraming+Wika,+Matatag+na+Bansa+-+Chairman+Nolasco. Retrieved 2007-10-04. 
  7. ↑ Philippine Census, 2000. Table 11. Household Population by Ethnicity, Sex and Region: 2000
  8. ↑ Lobel, Jason. An Satuyang Tataramon - Ethnologue. Central Bicolano (Dialects: Naga, Legazpi, Daet, Partido, and Virac)
  9. ↑ Lobel, Jason. An Satuyang Tataramon - Ethnologue. Albay Bicolano (Dialects: Buhi, Daraga, Libon, Oas, and Ligao)
  10. ↑ http://buscoenlaces.es/kaibigankastila/rivera4.html
  11. ↑ Hinnenkamp, Volker (2005). Semilingualism, Double Monolingualism and Blurred Genres - On (Not) Speaking a Legitimate Language. Journal of Social Science Education. http://www.jsse.org/2005-1/semilingualism_hinnenkamp.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-04 
  12. ↑ Martin-Jones, M. (1986). "Semilingualism: A Half-Baked Theory of Communicative Competence". Applied Linguistics (Oxford Univerrsity Press) 7 (1): 26–38. doi:10.1093/applin/7.1.26. http://applij.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/citation/7/1/26. Retrieved 2007-10-04 
  13. ↑ Inquirer.net, 3 Bulacan courts to use Filipino in judicial proceedings

Further reading

External links