Conyo English

Explorations of Philippine
English Sociolects
Ariane Macalinga Borlongan
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
arianemacalingaborlongan@yahoo.com
The Sociology of Philippine English

• “English is now ours. We have colonized it

too” (Abad, 1997, p. 170).

• English in the Philippines has a wide range in its

uses and has an extended register and style
range. It also has a long history and has penetrated
deeply at all levels of society (Bautista, 2000).
 Circles of English in the
Philippines (Martin, 2014b, p. 52)
[F]or the Philippines, what exists are three circles within this
Outer Circle. There is an Inner Circle of educated, elite
Filipinos who have embraced the English language (whether
standard American or Philippine English) and actively
promote and protect it. There is an Outer Circle of Filipinos
who may be aware of Philippine English as a distinct and
legitimate variety, but who are either powerless to support it
and/or ambivalent about its promotion. And there is an
Expanding Circle of users of English in the Philippines to
whom the language, of whatever variety, remains a requisite
to upward mobility but is also largely inaccessible.
 Conyo (Garvida, 2012)
• “‘Conyo’ (from the Spanish coño meaning cunt) is one of the many
words and phrases that had taken on new meaning in the
Philippines. Aside from its original meaning, coño is also an
interjection, and according to several anecdotes told through time,
Spaniards used to finish their sentences with this word” (p. 23).

• “‘Conyo’ talk is a cultural identification where its speakers can be

described as having a profound cultural ambivalence. ‘Conyo’
speakers use it not spontaneously, like in situations of code
switching, but intentionally to demarcate their own space” (p. 32).
 Features of Conyo English

The description of the features of Conyo English is

based on the following language data:

• Recordings of conversations

• Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts

• Elicitation

• Introspection
 Phonology

• At the segmental level, the phonology of acrolectal

Philippine English (cf. Tayao, 2004, 2008) seems to
be transferred to the Tagalog switches.

• At the suprasegmental level, intonation and stress

follows Tagalog norms.
 Grammar
• MAKE + Tagalog verb is an alternative for low-frequency verbs
(e.g. We’re gonna make takas in the middle of the lecture.
‘We’re gonna sneak out in the middle of the lecture’)

• Reduplication is quite common, most especially when used

for emphasis (e.g. It’s super-super pretty talaga. ‘It’s really
very pretty.’).

• Tagalog word order is sometimes used with English words,

but these sentences are usually shorter (e.g. Better the
Google Map. ‘Google Maps is better [than the new Maps app
of Apple]’).
 Paralinguistic Features
• Giggling, screaming, and exaggerated intonation are
also peculiar to Conyo English, and, often the case,
one of the most associated features of stereotyped
Conyo English.

• These paralinguistic features though are most

common among younger female speakers. It may
be unusual to hear such from older male speakers.
A: Sure. We will just have both
there.

B: Thank you.

A: Sure thing [No worries]! How

are you, man? Ha ha.

B: I’m just fine. [I work on my]

thesis on weekdays. [And I] travel
on weekends. Because classes
are also about to resume. You?

A: I’m great!
A: Oh, we gotta hang out [soon].
We need to do some catching up.

B: Yes, indeed! I’ve been so busy

lately.

A: Come, let’s finally schedule it.

B: Because I don’t have breaks in

school! That’s why it’s difficult.
And I am also doing my thesis.
To run through the heavy rain or
not to?
A: There apparently is a better/
neater version.

B: I prefer the one with the

drawings. It shows our true
colors.
A Survey on Conyo English

• To be able to determine the use and attitudes of

Conyo English, a survey was conducted and was
responded by 89 college students.

• The online survey involved a matched-guise test,

Lickert scales, multiple-response questions, and
open-ended questions.
 Domains of Use
and Verbal Activities

Highest Lowest

1. Friends (68) 1. Comics (7)

2. School (59) 2. Boss (10)
3. Complimenting (46) 3. Newspaper (11)
4. Home (41) 4. Magazines (12)
5. Arguing (37) 5. Co-Workers (13)
 Attitudes
• The average score for Conyo English is 42.85 while
the average score for pure English is 86.29.

• The highest score for Conyo English is only 64

compared to 123 for pure English. The lowest score
for Conyo English is 9 while it is 22 for pure English.

• There is huge disparity in the Conyo English and

pure English scores and their difference is
significant.
 Attitudes
• Income does not predict the acceptability of Conyo English.
However, income does predict the acceptability of pure
English.

• Most of the respondents would agree that Conyo English is

acceptable as a way of communicating in general. Also, they
disagree that Conyo English is a source of shame for them
as users of English.

• While most of the respondents find Conyo English generally

acceptable, they do not wish to see it promoted at home, at
school, in the media, and in everyday communication.
 Respondents’ Conception
of Conyo English
“It’s like, pinaghahalo mo English and Tagalog in one sentence. And
you do it paulit-ulit during an entire conversation.

It’s as if people only learned fragments of English and Filipino and

coped by mixing the two together.”

It’s like mixing English and Tagalog in one sentence. And you do it
repeatedly during an entire conversation.

It’s as if people only learned fragments of English and Filipino and

are coping [with such] by mixing the two together.
 Conyo English:
Towards a Definition
Conyo English is a Philippine English sociolect, a type
of English-Tagalog code-switching usually associated
with people belonging to the upper socioeconomic
strata of the Philippine society. It is usually
characterized as having more frequent, less smooth
switching than the typical English-Tagalog code-
switching, and commonly stereotyped as being
exaggeratedly playful.
 Conyo English and the
Evolution of Philippine English
• Philippine English is thought to be somewhere in
Nativization and Exonormative Stabilization
(Borlongan, 2011; Martin, 2014a; Schneider, 2003,
2007).

• While the phenomenon of Conyo English may also

be possibly attributed to the uneven access to
(good) English language education, it may also be
seen as a possible sign of Philippine English
maturing.
Conyo English
Explorations of Philippine
English Sociolects
Ariane Macalinga Borlongan
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
arianemacalingaborlongan@yahoo.com