About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Languages of the Philippines

Encyclopedia : L : LA : LAN : Languages of the Philippines

To meet Wikipedia's , this article/section may require removal of excess [red linkred links] (links to non-existent articles, like this one).
Please remove red links which are not suitable topics for articles by [http://encycl.opentopia.com/ editing this page].
See Wikipedia's [Guide to writing better articlesguide to writing better articles] for suggestions.

There are over 170 languages of the Philippines; almost all of them belong to the Austronesian language family.

Contents

Official and national languages

Throughout the Spanish colonial period, which lasted more than three centuries, Spanish was the official language of the country. After the Spanish-American War of 1898, Spanish was reaffirmed as the official language in the 1899 Malolos Constitution.

Under the U.S. occupation and civil regime, English began to be taught in schools. By 1901, public education was institutionalized, with English serving as the medium of instruction. Around 600 educators who arrived in that year aboard the S.S. Thomas replaced the soldiers who also functioned as teachers (called "Thomasites"). 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. Quezon 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 on December 31, 1937.

Although the teaching of the national language in schools began in 1940, Tagalog was not made an official language until the restoration of its independence on July 4, 1946. In 1961, the national language was referred to as Pilipino rather than Tagalog.

The 1973 Constitution under the Marcos administration, retained English and Pilipino as official languages, dropping Spanish. There was another provision stating that the National Assembly should "take steps towards the development and formal adoption of a common 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 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; in reality, virtually nothing is being done to this end.

Native languages

According to Ethnologue, a total of 171 native languages are spoken in the country. Except for English, Spanish, Hokkien, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Chabacano, all of the languages belong to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family.

There are 12 native languages with at least one million native speakers: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Bikol, Waray-Waray, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Kinaray-a, Maranao, Maguindanao, and Tausug. One or more of these is spoken natively by more than 90% of the population.

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.

Family Tree of Philippine Languages

Classification of Philippine languages

Philippine languages are further divided into a handful of subgroups. The first three groups are considered to be closely related to each other.

Northern Philippine languages such as Ilokano, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan languages which are concentrated in northern and central Luzon. Some languages in Mindoro such as Iraya and Tadyawan are included in this group. The Dau language of Orchid Island in Taiwan is also a member of this group.

Meso Philippine languages are perhaps the group with the most speakers and is the most geographically widespread, covering Central Luzon, the Visayan islands and many parts of Mindanao. Certain languages spoken in Palawan and Mindoro such as Tagbanwa, Palawano, and Hanunoo constitute their own respective subgroups. The largest subgroup are the Central Philippine languages which are composed of Tagalog; Bikol languages; Visayan languages such as Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Waray-Waray; and Mansakan languages.

Southern Philippine languages such as Maranao, Maguindanao, Manobo languages, and Subanun languages are concentrated in Mindanao. Many Southern Philippine languages have been influenced by both Malaysian, Indonesian, Sanskrit, and Arabic words.

The final three following groups are thought to be more distantly to the previous three.

Southern Mindanao languages are languages such as Tboli and Blaan which are spoken in southern Mindanao.

Sama-Bajaw languages mainly centered in the Sulu Archipelago as well as parts of Borneo. One language, Abaknon, is spoken on Capul Island near Samar, which is far from other Sama languages. Other languages in this group are Yakan and Sama.

Sulawesi languages has only two representatives in the Philippines, the Sangil and the Sangir languages.

Mutual intelligibility

Despite not being mutually intelligible, Philippine languages tend to be referred by Filipinos as dialects.

The vast differences between the languages can be seen in the following translations of the [Philippine national proverb] "He who does not look back at his birthplace, will not reach his future."

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 the town in Bicol where they are spoken. The final translations are in Tagalog and Ilonggo.

Major Foreign Languages

Arabic is used by some members of the Muslim population. It is used in religious instruction in Philippine madrasahs or Muslim schools and, more rarely, for official events among Muslim peoples. Historically, Arabic, along with Malay, was used as a lingua franca in the Malay Archipelago among Muslim traders and the Muslim Malay Aristocracy throughout the Archipelago. Arabic is taught for free and promoted in some Islamic centers and used for Islamic activities.

According to the 1987 Constitution, Arabic, along with Spanish, is to be promoted on a voluntary basis.

The islanders 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 Min Nan is the language of the majority the Chinese in the Philippines, who immigrated from the Fujian (pronounced locally as Fookien 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.

English is an official language in the Philippines, imposed by Americans during U.S. colonization. The Americans gradually succeeded in taking control of urban and coastal areas by the end of 1903 and began to aggressively promote English as a universal language. Although the first exposure to English occurred in 1762, when the British invaded Manila, English from that era never had any lasting influence.

Today, English is the dominant language in business, government, the legal system, medicine, the sciences and education. The native languages are often heard in colloquial settings. Filipinos tend to want their textbooks for subjects like calculus, physics, chemistry, biology, etc. written in English rather than Filipino. In the home with family and friends however, most 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 large percentage of the media such as television, newspapers, and entertainment are also in English; the major television networks though in the country have since been shifting to Tagalog. English proficiency sustains a significant call center industry for American companies and valuable asset for overseas workers.

Since Filipinos are very well oriented with English, a large influx of English words has been assimilated into Tagalog and the other native languages. It is customary to substitute English words even if the word exists in the original vernacular.

Although the Philippines is widely reputed as the third largest English-speaking nation in the world, only 32,802 people were reported to speak it as a first language, the majority of which are in fact American citizens residing in the Philippines. [[Citing sources citation needed]]

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.

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 and in the Davao region.

Spoken among Muslim peoples in the southern Philippines.

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, Old Malay 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.

Spanish began to be the first language in the archipelago from 1565, when the Spanish Conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi founded the first Spanish settlement on Cebu.

In 1593, the first printing press was founded. A great portion of the colonial history of the Philippines is written in Spanish. Many land titles, contracts, newspapers and literature are still written in Spanish. There are thousands of Spanish loanwords in Tagalog, Cebuano, and other languages. Spanish numbers are usually used with dates, times, measurements, and other occasions.

After World War II and during the Marcos administration, many of the old Spanish-speaking families in Philippines migrated to Europe and the Americas. There were 6 million Spanish speakers in the Philippines in 1940. The 1950 Census stated that the Spanish-speaking Filipinos made up 6% of the population. By 1990, the census reported that the number had dwindled down to 2,500. The common consensus is that Spanish speaking is doomed in the Philippines. However, as of 2005, there is a growing interest due to demand in call center industries.

Spanish ceased to be an official language in 1973 and a college requirement in 1987 during the Aquino administration . However the language is still spoken today by numerous Spanish and Spanish Mestizo families who are mainly concentrated in Metro Manila. It remains a required subject in many universities, such as the University of Santo Tomás.

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

  • Chavacanos of Luzon:
  • *Caviteño, spoken in Cavite.
  • *Ternateño, spoken in Cavite.
  • *Ermitaño, formerly spoken in Ermita, Manila, now extinct.
  • Chavacanos of Mindanao:
  • *Zamboangueño (360,000 native speakers, the most spoken creole)
  • *Cotabateño
  • *Davaoeño

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).

  one two three four person house dog coconut day new we (inc.) 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 antet 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 ano
Bikol saro duwa tulo apat tawo harong ayam niyog aldaw ba-go kita ano
Kinaray-a sara darwa tatlo apat taho balay ayam niyog adlaw bag-o kita, taten ano
Ilonggo 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
Waray-Waray usa duha tulo upat tawo balay ayam lubi adlaw bag-o kita ano
Tboli 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

Compounding the problem of mutual intelligibility among Philippine languages, there are lots of false friends among them.

Legend: Ilocano(ILO), Kapampangan(PMP), Tagalog(TGL),Cebuano(CEB),Ilonggo(HIL), Waray-Waray(WRY), Pangasinense (PANG).

  • bukid:field (farm)(TGL), hill/mountain(CEB, WRY,& HIL).
  • gamot:medicine(TGL), roots of plants (CEB& WRY).
  • gubat:forest(TGL), battle/war(CEB).
  • habol: pursue(TGL),blanket(CEB),dulled(CEB).
  • hilo : become nauseous(TGL),poison or thread(CEB).
  • hipon: prawn/shrimp (TGL),shrimp paste (=bagoongCEB)).
  • ilog : river(TGL), quarrel over something(CEB).
  • irog : loved one(TGL), move over(CEB).
  • ibon : 'ebun'-egg(Kp), bird(TGL).
  • hubad: translate(CEB), naked(TGL).
  • kadyot : copulate(TGL), a moment(CEB).
  • katok: knock a door(TGL), silly/senseless(CEB).
  • kayat: want(ILO), copulate(CEB).
  • kumot: blanket(TGL), to crumple (CEB & WRY)
  • laban: against/opposed to(TGL), in support of(CEB)
  • lagay: put(TGL), male genitals(HIL & CEB),mud(WRY)
  • langgam:ant(TGL), bird(CEB).
  • libang: do leisurely things(TGL& WRY), defecate(CEB)
  • libog: lust(TGL), be confused(CEB).
  • paa : foot(TGL), leg (CEB& HIL).
  • pagod: tired(TGL), burnt/scorched (CEB).
  • palit: change/exchange(TGL), buy(CEB).
  • pagong: turtle(TGL), frog (HIL).
  • sabot: pubic hair(HIL),to understand(CEB).
  • sili : chili(TGL), chili(CEB), penis (WRY).
  • tapak: step on(TGL), patch a hole(CEB).
  • tete : bridge(PMP), Mammary glands(TGL, also titi -male penis ).
  • tulo : drip and Syhilis(TGL),three(CEB& WRY).
  • usa : deer(TGL),one(CEB& WRY).
  • usap : talk(TGL), chew(CEB).
  • utong: nipple(TGL), holding one's breath(CEB).
  • wala : nothing(TGL, HIL,& CEB), there is(PANG).

External links

References

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: