Chapter One – Week 2

Languages in the Philippines: An Overview

Introduction

Hello, guys! Welcome to our country’s vast home of multi-languages. Despite

being globally-recognized as adopters of the English language, we have become proud
of our ancestry of language. As we delve deeper to the lesson, you will be refreshed on
the languages and dialects spoken in our country. Even before the colonizers came, we
already have our native means of communicating with each other. It goes without
saying, having a language of our own, helped us through the challenges of the years.
Having said all of these, may your experience with me be another catalyst for
your desire to be better versions of ourself. Happy reading!
At the end of the chapter, you are expected to attain the following outcomes:

Learning Outcomes:

 Talk about the languages in the Philippines.

 React on issues regarding current linguistic situations in the
Philippines.

Pre-Competency Checklist

Please see the “Pre-Competency” part in the VLP.

Short Essay:
Performance In 5 sentences for 5 points, answer the following question:
Task
Why is the Philippines considered a multilingual nation?
Explain your answer.
 Learning Resources

 Lecture Text
References: Languages in the Philippines vigattin
 Guided web browsing
 Essay
 Assessment Worksheets

Explore

You are now ready to venture to the first step of your academic journey this
semester.

Philippines: An Overview
The Philippines is a tropical country in Pacific Ocean,
Languages in blessed with beautiful natural landscapes - and active volcanoes
the Philippines and extreme weather patterns.
The country, consisting of some 7,107 islands, is located
in the western Pacific Ocean. Taiwan lies to its north, and
Vietnam to the west.
It is the 73rd-largest country in the world by surface area, but with a
population of some 98 million people, making it the seventh most populous country in
Asia, and the 12th most populous in the world.
Its capital, Manila, is the second largest city in the country after Quezon City
(the former capital) - and home to most of the country's educational and political
institutions.
The country, once a Spanish colony, eventually gained its independence from
US occupation in 1946.
More than 90 percent of Filipino people are of the Christian faith, while five
percent practice Islam. The remaining five percent are made up of a mix of minority
religions.
Major Languages and Dialects
The Philippines has 8 major dialects: Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon (Ilonggo),
Ilocano, Kapampangan, Pangasinan, Tagalog, and Waray. The language being
taught all over the Philippines is Tagalog and English.
The Cebuano dialect originated in Cebu, which is in the Visayas. However, it
spread to neighboring islands and in the northern and eastern parts of Mindanao.
 This was probably facilitated by the American and Spanish
policies to christianize Mindanao. Meanwhile, the Tagalog and
Bikol dialect (Bikolandia) boundaries seem to remain
Languages in predominantly they were centuries ago. Actually, southeastern
the Philippines Mindanao is populated with Ilocano, Tagalog, and other dialects,
but Cebuano has become the dominant dialect in that area.  The
Ilocano dialect has spread out from its origin in the western coast
(Ilocandia), which was also probably facilitated by Spanish and
American policies.
Philippine languages are often referred to by Filipinos as dialects, partly as a
relic of the inaccurate vocabulary used in literature during the American period
(1898–1946). 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 those between established European
languages like French and Spanish.

Filipino and Tagalog

Filipino language is a prestige register of Tagalog language and the official
language of the Philippines. Tagalog is the language of about one-third population in
the country and in spite for being the national language; only 55% of the Filipinos
speak the language. It is centered on Manila but is spoken in varying degrees
nationwide.
There is no common language in the Philippines when Spanish arrived at
16th century. The three major languages are Tagalog, Visayan and Ilocano. These
three became the major contenders on the first national assembly in the Philippines
on November 12, 1937.  It approved a law creating a National language Institute to
make a study and survey of each existing native language, hoping to choose a
language for a standardized national language.
On 14 July 1936, the Surián ng Wikáng Pambansâ (National Language
Institute) selected Tagalog as the basis of the Wikáng Pambansâ (National
Language) based on the following factors:

o Tagalog is widely spoken and is the most understood in all the Philippine
Regions.
o It is not divided into smaller daughter languages, such as Visayan or
Bikol.
o Its literary tradition is the richest, most developed and extensive (mirroring
that of the Tuscan language vis-à-vis Italian). More books are written in
Tagalog than in any other autochthonous Philippine language, but this is
mainly by virtue of law and privilege.
o Tagalog has always been the language of Manila, the political and
economic center of the Philippines during the Spanish and American
Eras.
o Tagalog was the language of the 1896 Revolution and the Katipunan.
Languages in Cebuano
the Cebuano language is the native language widely used not
Philippines only in Cebu Island but also by most central and southern
Philippines. Mostly, it referred to by most of its speakers as
Binisaya (or Visayan in English).

Cebuano is an Austronesian language which is derived from the island of

Cebu where the prestige dialect is spoken. It has the largest native language
speaking population of the Philippines despite not being taught formally in schools
and universities.
Cebuano speakers can be easily distinguished from speakers of other
Visayan languages by the use of the word sa ("of") instead of sang (in Hiligaynon)
orhan (in Waray).
Ilocano
Ilokano or Ilocano is the third most-spoken language of the Republic of the
Philippines. As Austronesian language that is related to such languages as
Indonesian, Malay, Fijian, Maori, Hawaiian, Malagasy, Samoan, Tahitian, Chamorro,
Tetum, and Paiwan. Ilocano occupy the narrow, barren strip of land in the
northwestern tip of Luzon, squeezed in between the inhospitable Cordillera mountain
range to the east and the South China Sea to the west.
Ilocano, together with the other seven major languages (those that have at
least a million speakers), was allowed to be used as a medium of instruction until the
second grade. It is recognized by the Commission on the Filipino Language as one of
the major languages of the Philippines.
In literature, Ilocano offers a rich background in folklore, mythology and
superstition. There are many stories of good and malevolent spirits and beings. Its
creation mythology centers on the giants Aran and her husband Angngalo, and
Namarsua (the Creator). The epic story Biag ni Lam-ang (The Life of Lam-ang) is
undoubtedly one of the few indigenous stories from the Philippines that survived
colonialism, although much of it is now acculturated and shows many foreign
elements in the retelling. It reflects values important to traditional Ilokano society; it is
a hero’s journey steeped in courage, loyalty, pragmatism, honor, and ancestral and
familial bonds.
Hiligaynon
Hiligaynon or often referred as Ilonggo is an Austronesian language widely
used in Western part of the Philippines. It is concentrated in the provinces of Iloilo,
Negros Occidental and Capiz but is also spoken in the other provinces of the Panay
Island group, including Antique, Aklan, Guimaras, and in many parts of Mindanao
including Koronadal City, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and parts of North
Cotabato. Additional, it is spoken as a second language by Karay-a speakers in
Antique, Aklanon and Malaynon in Aklan, and Capiznon in Capiz.
 It is the language of Iloilo province and a member of
Visayan language family. It is known from most Filipino
languages for its sing-song intonation, much like Italian.
Languages in
the Philippines Waray
The name comes from the word often heard by non-
speakers, "waray" (meaning "none", "nothing" or "not").
Commonly referred to as Winaray or Lineyte-Samarnon, is a
language spoken in the provinces of Samar, Northern Samar,

Eastern Samar, and in some parts of the Leyte and Biliran in the Philippines. The
Waray-Waray languages are spoken by the Waray people of Samar Island and in
most parts of Leyte and in some parts of Biliran Island shows dialectal variations.
Dialects are spoken in some parts of Masbate, particularly on the island of Ticao which
is adjacent to Samar Island.
Waray language also belongs to Visayan language family and is related to
Cebuano and Hiligaynon.
Kapampangan
Kapampangan is the language spoken in the province of Pampanga, the
southern half of the province of Tarlac and the northern portion of the province of
Bataan. It is also understood in some barangays of Bulacan and Nueva Ecija and by
the Aitas or Aeta of Zambales.
The word Kapampangan is derived from the rootword pampáng which means
"river bank." Historically, this language was used in what was before the Kingdom of
Luzon, ruled by the Lakans. In the 18th century, two books were written by Fr. Diego
Bergaño. He authored Vocabulario de la lengua Pampanga and Arte de la lengua
Pampanga. The Kapampangan Language produced two literary giants in the 19th
century. Father Anselmo Fajardo was noted for his works Gonzalo de Córdova and
Comedia Heróica de la Conquista de Granada. Another writer, Juan Crisostomo Soto,
was noted for writing many plays. He authored Alang Dios in 1901. The Kapampangan
poetical joust "Crissotan" was coined by his fellow literary genius Nobel Prize nominee
for peace and literature in the 50's, Amado Yuzon to immortalize his contribution to
Pampanga's Literature.
Bikol
The Bikol languages are a group of Central Philippine languages spoken
mostly on the Bicol Peninsula of the island of Luzon and also parts of Catanduanes
and Burias Islands and Masbate Province. There is a dialect variety between the
Visayan languages and the Bikol languages; the two together are called the Bisakol
languages. Bikol languages are classified under the Central Philippine language
family of which Tagalog and the Visayan languages are a part of. The four groups are
Northern Bikol, Southern Bikol, Northern Catanduanes and Bisakol.
 Pangasinan
The Pangasinan language is one of the major
languages in the Philippines. It belongs to the Malayo-
Languages in Polynesian languages branch of the Austronesian language
the Philippines family.  The language which is called "Pangasinense" is the
primary language in the province of Pangasinan, located on the
west central area of the island of Luzon along the Lingayen
Gulf. It is similar to Tagalog and Ilocano languages and very
closely related to the Ibaloi language spoken in the neighboring
province of Benguet and Baguio City, located north of
Pangasinan.

Classification of Philippine languages

Current The term “Philippine language” has been used
Linguistic ambiguously in literature. It is used to refer either to “any
Situations in language native to the Philippines, without regard to its genetic
affiliation” or to “any member of a putative subgroup of
the Philippines
Austronesian languages located in the Philippine Islands” (Blust,
1991). In this article, the term “Philippine language” (PL) is used
to refer to the genetic sense and “languages in the Philippines” is
used to denote purely geographical or political reference.
Philippine languages belong to the Western Malayo-Polynesian branch of the
Austronesian language family. The Austronesian language family, the largest existing
language family in terms of the number of its member languages, spreads from
Malagasy (in Madagascar) to the Rapanui (in Easter Island), and from Formosan
languages (in Taiwan) to Maori (in New Zealand) (Adelaar & Himmelman, 2005).
Language versus dialect
Most speakers and users of Philippine languages, including the national mass
media, have little, if not none, idea regarding the status of their own native language.
They often refer to them as “dialects”, with only English and Filipino having the official
status of “languages” in their minds.
There are two kinds of criteria that are used to distinguish languages from
dialects: social and political; and linguistic. The first typically view “languages” as
prestigious, official and written, while “dialects” are mostly spoken, unofficial, and
associated with groups lacking in prestige (Chambers & Trudgill, 2004).
Linguists, however, use different criteria. If speakers of the two speech varieties
can have a conversation and understand each other, they are using “dialects” of a
single language. In contrast, if speakers of the two speech varieties converse and do
not understand each other, they are using two distinct languages. This criterion is
called mutual intelligibility. In this criterion, Cebuano, Ilocano, Masbatenyo, Waray,
among others, are languages and not merely dialects. On the other hand, the Tagalog
varieties spoken in Batangas, Rizal, and other southern Tagalog areas are dialects of
the Tagalog language.
 Dialectal variation varies from language to language.
Tagalog and Kapampangan have very moderate dialectal
variation. Dialects of Bikol, however, exhibit great dialectal
variation. Bikol is an example of a macrolanguage: a set of
related languages/dialects that must be very closely related and
that there must be some domain in which a single language
Current identity is recognized. It consists of the following dialects:
Linguistic  Central Bikol
Situations in  Northern Catanduanes Bikol
the Philippines  Southern Catanduanes Bikol
 Rinconada Bikol
 West Albay Bikol
 Libon, Miraya
 Buhi’non
 Bisayan languages (e.g Masbatenyo, Hiligaynon, Waray,
Cebuano), on the other hand, exhibit a high rate of
mutual intelligibility.

Another measure for distinguishing a language from a dialect is grammar. If

the speech variety has different grammar, then it is a different language.
Filipino, the national language of the Philippines, can be considered the
Tagalog variety spoken in Metro Manila, sharing identical grammar with other Tagalog
varieties (Nolasco, 2007).
There are 187 distinct living languages in the Philippines, including the Filipino
Sign Language (FSL), according to the latest edition of Ethnologue (2015).
Of these, 183 are living and 4 are extinct. Of the living languages, 41 are
institutional, 73 are developing, 45 are vigorous, 13 are in trouble, and 11 are dying.
Endangered and extinct languages in the Philippines
In a study called Thirty Endangered Languages in the Philippines, the Summer
Institute of Linguistics and the University of Dakota, identified 32 endangered
languages (2 among these have zero speakers).
Citing Cahill (1999), Headland, et al (2003) states that a language is
endangered “[when] it is in fairly imminent danger of dying out.” There were two ways
to determine when the language is dying: (1) when the children in the community are
not speaking the language of their parents; and (2) when there are only a small
number of people left in the ethnolinguistic community.
David Crystal (2000) presents five arguments why should we care about saving
language, which Headland (2003) summarizes as follows:
 Because linguistic diversity enriches our human ecology: 6,800 unique
models for describing the world.
 Because languages are expressions of identity: a nation without a language
is like a nation without a heart.
  Because languages are repositories of history.
Current  Because languages contribute to the sum of human
Linguistic knowledge: each language provides a new slant on how the
Situations in human mind works; as we learn more about languages, we
the Philippines increase our stock of human wisdom.
 Because languages are interesting subjects in their own
right.

Discussion Board

Please open “Discussion Board” part in the VLP.

Question Short Essay:

for In 5 sentences for 5 points, answer the following question:
Discussion Which children’s book/story has been your favorite? What
life lesson has this story/book teach you? Explain your answer.

We are done with the lesson. Did you understand the lectures? If you feel that
some parts of the lesson are not yet clear, please feel free to post your questions and
send it to my FB messenger account.
I guess you are now ready for the evaluation of your understanding… Goodluck!!!
Please always observe timeliness so be mindful of the due date of submission.

Read & Remember

Due Date
for February 22, 2021
Submission
Post-Competency Assessment
AsAssessment

Answer this Achievement Test/Quiz in the VLP.

Complete the following by filling in the blanks with the
correct word/s.
1. The Philippines has ____ major dialects.8
2. The two languages of the Philippines are English and _____.
3. One of the Philippine dialects that starts with the letter B._____
4. One of the Philippine dialects that starts with the letter P._____
5. One of the Philippine dialects that starts with the letter C.____
6. One of the Philippine dialects that starts with the letter H.____
7. One of the Philippine dialects that starts with the letter W._____
8. One of the Philippine dialects that starts with the letter K._____
Task:
9. One of the Philippine dialects that starts with the letter I.______
11. Languages are expressions of identity: a nation without a
language is like a nation without a _____.
12. The criterion called __________ identifies whether an
utterance/ language spoken is a dialect or language. mutual
intelligibility.
13. A researcher states that a _____ is endangered when it is in
fairly imminent danger of dying out.
14. Out of the 187 distinct language in the Philippines, ___ are
considered extinct.
15. We should care about saving languages because without
language we do not have our _____.