Alabado, Kenneth Adrian S.

Pag-aaral ng wika at kulturang rehiyunal

Dominant language in a Multicultural country

A dominant language in a multicultural country has its pros and cons. It is used
as a unifying factor for different cultures to know each and one another but it causes
that other languages be left behind because of the focus on a dominant language.

As cited in the article by Llamazon, according to E. H. Sturtevant “When several

communities using different languages or dialects have dealings with one another they
feel the need of a common language.” This creates a reason as to why there is a need
for a dominant language to step up in the conversation between different cultures. This
language is used a bridging gap to both parties as it is a way for them to understand
each other.

On the other hand, Charles F. Hockett based that the evidence of a dominant
language creates a gap between social class, It is when speakers of two languages is
used in the communicating with one another, that usually one of the languages is
spoken by those in power which results in the upper or dominant language, and the
other is lower. A dominant language resulted from the majority and privileged people to
easily communicate with others, while not learning other languages. It is a comfort for
privileged to have their mother tongue to be same as the dominant language.

In a multicultural setting like the Philippines, the dominancy of language affects

others. While Tagalog is the official language of the Philippines, other languages like
Visayans, Ilocano, Bikolano, and many more dominates certain parts of the country
where it is still their mother tongue. Although there are many surviving languages in the
country, minority languages does not benefit in the dominance of a language. Most
indigenous sectors have dying languages where the superiority of the dominant
language does not preserve other languages as it is most focused on rather than
studying other languages. Dominant language kills other languages for ignorance of
their existence.