Folk Speech

Folk speech refers to the dialect, or style of speaking, unique to people living within a geographic area. The folk
speech of an area may be differentiated from other regions by variation in grammatical, phonetic (pronunciation),
and lexical (word usage) features.
Two kinds of folk speech:
1. Riddles
2. Proverbs

Folk Speech: Riddles

The riddle (bugtong) is a form of guessing game that has been a part of the folklore of most cultures from ancient times; a
mystifying, misleading, or puzzling question posed as a problem to be solved or guessed.

Folk Speech: Proverbs

Philippine proverbs are traditional sayings or maxims used by Filipinos based on local culture, wisdom, and
philosophies from Filipino life. The word proverb corresponds to the Tagalog words salawikain, kasabihan (saying)
and sawikain. Damiana L. Eugenio grouped Filipino proverbs into six categories based on the topic expressed,
namely:
1. Ethical proverbs (those that express a general attitude towards life and the laws that govern life itself)
2. Proverbs that recommends virtues and condemn vices
3. Proverbs that expresses a system of values
4. Proverbs that express general truths and observations about life and human nature
5. Humorous proverbs and;
6. Miscellaneous proverbs

Folk Songs

Can be sub-classified into those that tell a story (folk ballads), which are rare in the Philippine folk literature, and
those do not, which form the bulk of the Philippines’ rich heritage of folk songs.

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