ISSN 0048-3796

PHILIPPINE JOURNAL OF

LINGUISTICS

VOLUME 46 DECEMBER 2015

PUBLISHED BY THE LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF THE PHILIPPINES
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 PHILIPPINE JOURNAL OF LINGUISTICS

Aims and Scope Board of Editorial Consultants

The Philippine Journal of Linguistics, the official Maria Lourdes S. Bautista

scholarly journal of the Linguistic Society of the
Philippines, is an international peer-reviewed
journal of research in linguistics. Published once a
year in December, it aims to serve as
a forum for original studies in descriptive,
comparative, historical, and areal linguistics.
Although its primary interest is in linguistic theory,
it also publishes papers on the application of theory
to language teaching, sociolinguistics,
psycholinguistics, anthropological linguistics, and
the like. Papers on applied linguistics should,
however, be chiefly concerned with the principles
that underlie specific techniques rather than the
mechanical aspects of such techniques. Articles are
published in English, although papers written in
Filipino, the national language of the Philippines,
will occasionally appear. Since the Lingusitic
Society of the Philippines is composed of members
whose paramout interest is the Philippine
languages, papers on these and related languages
are given priority in publication. This does not
mean, however, that the Journal will limit its scope
to the Austronesian language family. Studies on any
aspect of language structure are welcome.
De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines
Kingsley Bolton
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Maya Khemlani David
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Andy Kirkpatrick
Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia
Hsiu-chuan Liao
National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
Curtis McFarland
Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
Randy J. Lapolla
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Andrew Moody
University of Macau, Macao SAR, China
Ricardo Ma. Nolasco
University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City

Issue Editors J. Stephen Quakenbush

SIL International
Alejandro S. Bernardo
Lawrence A. Reid
Judith Ma. Angelica S. Claustro
Marilu R. Madrunio University of Hawai’i, Honolulu
Veronico N. Tarrayo
Masayoshi Shibatani
Camilla J. Vizconde
Rice University, Texas, USA
University of Santo Tomas, Philippines

Copy Editor
Veronico N. Tarrayo
Philippine Journal of Linguistics
Volume 46

CONTENTS

ARTICLES PAGE
Linguistic Analysis of Trading Agreements: 1
Insights for Plain Writing in Philippine Contracts
Pia Patricia P. Tenedero

Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, 14

and Itneg Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte
Agnes Catalan-Francisco

Modal Must in Philippine Editorials: A Corpus-based Study 39

Rodrigo Concepcion Morales

Linguistic Politeness of the World: Strategies Used by Organizers 50

of Youth International Conferences in Writing Rejection Letters
Kereen Ria C. Genteroy and Veronico N. Tarrayo

A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of Job Application Letters 68

in Philippine English and American English
John Paul O. Dela Rosa, Rachelle B. Lintao, and
Maria Grace D.Dela Cruz

Miete or Mitte? A Preliminary Study of Vowel Length Contrasts 89

in Filipino Learners of German as a Foreign Language
Frances Antoinette C. Cruz
 Philippine Journal of Linguistics

Linguistic Analysis of Trading Agreements: Insights

for Plain Writing in Philippine Contracts

Pia Patricia P. Tenedero

University of Santo Tomas
Manila, Philippines
Email: piapatriciatenedero@gmail.com

Abstract

A Philippine bill has been put forward with the view to simplify legal documents, a timely initiative in
the advent of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, which portends heightened importance of business
contracts. In consonance with the global effort to apply plain writing, this paper examines four linguistic features
of five online trading agreements. Using corpus stylistics and informed by principles of pragmatics and
readability, the analysis confirms that the examined trading agreements possess the traditional legal form
characterized by the use of impersonal noun references; modal verbs, particularly shall; legal archaisms; and
long sentences. While the Plain Writing for Public Service Act of 2013 is pending ratification, it appears that
stock broker companies in the Philippines have already begun with their efforts to simplify their consumer
contracts. Benchmarking on USA Plain English Laws, the study also proposes some guidelines to make trading
agreements objectively comprehensible to nonspecialist users.

Keywords: Plain writing, linguistic features of contracts

1. Introduction An online trading agreement is an example of a

The imminent implementation of the ASEAN
Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 presents potential
prospects for economic growth among its member
countries. To realize its vision of full integration into the
global economy, one of its priority initiatives is
developing electronic transactions through e-ASEAN
(The ASEAN Secretariat, 2014). This report portends the
expansion of Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) in relation to ASEAN market
integration, which broadly encompasses online trading in
securities, an investment activity that has been opened to
the Philippine market, albeit less pervasive in
comparison with the stock market activity of other
nations (Dayag, Lagamayo, Lim, Miranda, & Syson,
2014). Such projection suggests the increased
importance of online trading agreements as legal
financial contracts that legitimize trading of securities
via the Internet by individual investors. Consequently,
making such contracts more reader-friendly to
consumers becomes an urgent matter compelling law
practitioners to apply standards of Plain English to cater
to clients of different levels of literacy.
legal document that is often described as complex and
unintelligible, particularly to a lay person with no formal
training in the language of law (Holt & Johnson, 2010).
The complexity of such a document is attributed to the
linguistic features that characterize its form and
structure. Coulthard and Johnson (2010) listed 12
linguistic features of contracts, including binomial
expressions, cohesion, complex prepositions, impersonal
noun phrase, legal archaisms, modality, negation,
nominalization, passive constructions, sentence length,
and specialized legal lexis. Tiersma (2012) identifies
these features as impediments to effective
communication of important legal and financial
information to nonexpert users or nonlawyers.
To address this linguistic barrier, concerned
legislators turn to the Plain English movement that
started in 1979 as an effort to minimize, if not remove,
legalese and bureaucratic language (Stoop & Churr,
2013). Leading this initiative, the United States of
America has enacted the Plain Writing Act of 2010, also
known as United States Public Law 111-274, which
mandates federal agencies to produce legal documents
that are “clear, concise, well-organized, and

1
 Linguistic Analysis of Trading Agreements: Insights
for Plain Writing in Philippine Contracts
follow other best practices appropriate to the subject or
field and intended audience” (U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, 2014, n.p.). This law has served
as the benchmark for other countries that likewise
acknowledge the merits of using words economically to
communicate critical information. In New Zealand,
companies that strictly adhere to Plain English standards
are recognized in the WriteMark Plain English Awards
(Dickens, 2014). Hong Kong, United Kingdom, and
Australia have also come up with guidelines for creating
clear product disclosure and initiatives to enhance the
general financial literacy of investors (Godwin, 2009).
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, Senator Grace Poe
authored the Plain Writing for Public Service Act of
2013, a bill that is largely based on the U.S. Plain
Writing Act of 2010 in recognition of its benefits to the
public (Poe, 2013). While the bill is still pending
ratification, the Philippines is already recognized as one
of the nearly 800 member countries of the Plain
Language Association International, an organization that
actively endorses the use of plain language, particularly
in the context of legal discourse (Plain Language
Association International, 2009).
Assessing the readability of texts has been a
research interest since the 1920s when readability
formulas were first developed to quantify elements of
writing such as average number of syllables in words
and average number of words in sentences to determine
how easily the text can be comprehended (Rajapakse &
Rameezdeen, 2007). Advancement in computerized
grammar and style-checking software programs and web
tools has helped popularize readability formulas,
including Flesch Reading Ease Scores (FRES) and
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level; all of which measure
surface features of the text and typically assign school
grade level based on the perceived text difficulty. The
Flesch benchmark considers ‘65’ as “the Plain English
Score”; this means a text that can be comprehended by
8th and 9th graders is the norm for plain writing standards
(Ross & Scott, 1996, as cited in Rajapakse &
Rameezdeen, 2007). However, a critical limitation of
these formulas is their inability to account for qualitative
considerations, such as the reader’s prior knowledge of
and interest in the subject matter of the material.
Researchers agree that these factors contribute
significantly to the assessment of the comprehensibility
of the text since the final assessment rests on the
intended audience (Schriver,
2
1989, as cited in Pitler & Nenkova, 2008; Zakaluk &
Samuels, 1988 as cited in Rajapakse & Rameezdeen,
2007). Notwithstanding these restrictions, numerical
descriptions of text features provide an opportunity to
evaluate text comprehensibility in an objective manner.
In consonance with the prevailing effort to
simplify legal documents, this paper examines four
linguistic features of online trading agreements in the
Philippines where, similar to Chauhaan’s (2013)
observation in India, English appears to be the main
language of law, particularly in written discourse even
if it is “not the language of the common man” (p.
333). Specifically, the study attempts to answer the
following questions:
1. What are the lexical and syntactic traits of the
selected online trading agreements in terms of
impersonal references, modal verbs, legal
archaisms, and sentence length?
2. What indications, if any, of plain writing
standards are manifested in the corpus?
3. What language guidelines can be recommended
to make the contracts more comprehensible to
nonlawyer investors?
2. Method
This study applied corpus stylistics in analyzing
four linguistic features of five online securities trading
agreements. Corpus stylistics studies the relative
frequency of particular linguistic items and uses
quantitative data to draw conclusions about the language
features that characterize a particular text type and the
possible influences on readers’ perceptions (Carter,
2010; Craig, 2004). The linguistic features examined
were selected based on the framework of Coulthard and
Johnson (2010). The original inventory of 12 linguistic
features was narrowed down to four—impersonal and
personal references, modal verbs, legal archaisms, and
sentence length. These four surface features of contracts
were selected on the basis of their quantifiability using
word count tools that are readily accessible on the
Internet. As such, the procedure can easily be replicated
as a simple test of readability, albeit nonconclusive. The
decision to include three lexical features (pronoun use,
modality, legal archaisms) and one syntactic feature
(sentence length) was also anchored on Pitler and
Nenkova’s (2008) assertion that combining lexical,
 Pia Patricia P. Tenedero
Table 1. Corpora source
Corpus Online Stock Broker
1 AB Capital Securities, Inc.
2 Abacus Securities Corporation
3 Accord Capital Equities Corporation
4 Col Financial (formerly CitiSecurities, Inc.)
5 First Metro Securities Brokerage Corporation
syntactic, and discourse features strengthens the
predictability of how readable a given text is.
The chosen lexical and syntactic features were
quantified using www.wordcounttools.com, a web tool
that reports word count statistics, including average
sentence length and keyword density of the top 500
frequently used words in the corpus. Manual tagging and
the “Find” function of Microsoft Word were also used to
determine the frequency of noun-phrase impersonal
references, legal archaic expressions, and the pronoun I
in the corpora. These supplementary methods were
applied to address the limitation of the selected web tool,
which does not report frequency percentage of phrases
and one-letter words.
The corpus for this research consisted of five
online securities trading agreements (OSTA), also
known as online trading service agreement, available
online through the official websites of online stock
brokers in the Philippines. Table 1 provides the
information about the corpora source.
There are 10 recognized online stock broker
companies in the Philippines (Canaoay, 2013).
However, only the five mentioned provide ready
access to their OSTA; the other companies withhold
the said document to non-investors.
The frequency data were then examined in light of
pragmatic considerations, such as levels of formality and
speech acts, to shed light on the functional significance of
the formal features of the corpora. To assess the indications
of plain writing in the samples and to provide insights on
the possible contract drafting style guidelines, three Plain
English Laws (PELs) in the United States of America were
used as references, particularly the 1980 Connecticut Plain
Language Law, the 1993 Pennsylvania Plain Language
Consumer Contract Act, and the 1998 Washington Plain
English Handbook.
3
Website
http://www.abcapitalsecurities.com.ph/
http://www.abacusonline.com.ph/
http://www.philstocks.ph/
http://www.colfinancial.com/
http://www.firstmetrosec.com.ph/
3. Results and Discussion
To address the research questions, the selected
lexical and syntactic traits of the corpora are described.
In general, the predominant styles noted indicate the
initiative of stock broker companies in the country to
apply plain writing standards albeit the absence of a
Philippine law sanctioning its practice. Benchmarking on
the identified PELs, the discussion also proposes some
guidelines to make legal documents, such as OSTA,
more easily comprehensible to nonspecialist users.
3.1 Lexical and Syntactic Features of OSTAs
3.1.1 Terms of Reference
Coulthard and Johnson (2010) explained that the
use of impersonal third-person references in legal
documents makes the message appear more general and
creates “social distance between sender and receiver”
(p.11). As can be seen in Table 2, all the corpora used
impersonal noun-phrase references, the most common of
which is “this Agreement,” referring to the online
securities trading agreement, used at least 12 times in
each corpus. Another notable recurrence is the use of
“online trading facility” to refer to the service offered by
the company. This phrase was evident in three out of
five corpora with nearly equivalent frequencies. It is also
observed that “the broker” is used alternately with an
acronym of the company name such as ASC, ACEC,
COL, and FMSBC. Hence, the nonuse of a company-
name acronym explains the extensive use of “the broker”
in the first corpus.
These observations suggest that the samples
generally adhere to the traditional legal standard for writing
contracts, which insists on the use of an objective,
impersonal, and detached tone, characteristic of formal
levels of communication. Perhaps, such a style more
 Linguistic Analysis of Trading Agreements: Insights
for Plain Writing in Philippine Contracts

Table 2. Impersonal references in selected online trading agreements

Noun Reference Corpus 1 Corpus 2 Corpus 3 Corpus 4 Corpus 5

Account Owner/s - 10 - - -
ASEC - - 64 - -
ASC - 168 - - -
Client - - - 84 -
COL - - - 94 -
FMSBC - - - - 6
Online Trading Facility 15 16 - - 15
the Broker 81 1 - - 4
the OSTA - - - 24 -
the Agreement 12 25 22 17 15
Trade Settlement Account - - - - 11
Online Trading Service - - - - 5

effectively sends the message that contracts are
matters of high import. While this pragmatic function
aptly justifies the use of impersonal references,
repetition of these nouns or noun phrases within a
sentence can make comprehension challenging for
nonlawyer users. Consider the given extracts:
ACEC may terminate my/our account for
violations of the Agreement of this
Agreement, other Agreement as indicated in
the Philstocks.ph Website, or any grounds
prescribed by the PSE, SEC or any applicable
law. (Extract from corpus 3)
Tiersma (1999) and Zaharia (2009) cited
precision to rationalize the avoidance of pronoun use in
such constructions. Also, not using pronouns gives the
document a more authoritative quality. While pronouns
are helpful cohesive devices, they may be misused
leading to ambiguous reference and sexist language. The
problem of vague reference is said to be especially true
with the use of third-person personal pronouns (Zaharia,
2009) such as he/she, it, its, they, them, their. These
reasons support the continued use of impersonal
references in contracts as noted in the corpora.
3.1.2 Modality

The risk attendant to the use of the Online
Trading Facility shall be for my account in
as much [sic] as the use of the Online
Trading Facility is electronically [sic] and
system generated. (Extract from corpus 5)
Modal verbs are another characteristic feature of
contracts (Coulthard & Johnson, 2010; Stygall, 2010).
The word-density figures shown in Table 3 confirm this
as shall, may, and will are uniformly used in the five
corpora. Shall is particularly used more frequently than
the other modal verbs with the exception of corpus 3,
where will reflects a higher frequency. The tendency to

Table 3. Modal verb use in selected online trading agreements

Modal verb Corpus 1 Corpus 2 Corpus 3 Corpus 4 Corpus 5

Shall 33 (0.9%) 88 (1.7%) 3 (0.1%) 58 (2.1%) 72 (1.3%)
May 16 (0.4%) 42 (0.8%) 20 (0.9%) 19 (0.7%) 42 (0.8%)
Will 32 (0t9%) 22 (0.4%) 40 (1.7%) 4 (0.1%) 37 (0.6%)
Can 5 (0.1%) 3 (0.0%) 1 (0.0%) - 4 (0.0%)
Must 5 (01% - 1 (0.0%) 2 (0.0%) -

4
 Pia Patricia P. Tenedero

favor the use of shall may be attributed to the force it
gives a statement, which helps to emphasize the
nature of contracts as binding legal agreements.
Kakzhanova (2013) explained that while shall,
may, will, as well as must, are all categorized as “forcing
modals” or those that compel a person to realize an
action, they vary in the force of their compulsion. Shall
is considered most forceful as it suggests strong
determination and obligation for an action to be done. It
is a language feature of directives, which are statements
that leave the addressee no other option but to follow
(Trosborg, 1991).
3.1.3 Legal Archaisms
In addition to avoidance of personal pronouns
and excessive use of shall, another distinctive style in
legal contracts is the preponderance of jargon and
technical terms. Included in this specialized language are
archaisms, which are “upper-register language” that
originated from Law Latin and Law French as
exemplified by such words as de facto (meaning, “in
fact”) and in casu (meaning, “in the present case”)
(Mattila, 2012). When the Anglo-Saxons rose to power,
there was a gradual shift from French and Latin to
English. Accordingly, legal documents originally in
French or Latin were translated into English. However,
when the lawyers and clerks could not find exact English
equivalents for technical expressions, they resorted to
borrowing. This explains why, despite the abolition of
Law French and Law Latin in legal proceedings in 1731,
the influence of these two languages persisted in the
form of antiquated expressions in legal documents
(Tiersma, 2012). Examples include archaic morphology
(e.g., sayeth, withnesseth), native expressions beginning
with here and there (e.g., therein, hereunder, thereof,
thereto), and other verbs (e.g., darraign), nouns (e.g.,
surrejoinder), adjectives (e.g., aforesaid), and
prepositions (e.g., pursuant to, prior to, anterior to) that
are considered legalisms or lawyerisms (Stanojevic,
2011). To avoid linguistic lapses, lawyers and clerks
have opted to preserve such phrasing in legal documents,
which are subject to rigorous scrutiny. This practice,
which originated in England, was subsequently adopted
by the American legal system and its colonies (Tiersma,
1999), including the Philippines. It is, therefore, not
surprising to find a number of archaisms in the examined
local corpora, as reflected in Table 4.

Table 4. Legal archaisms in selected online trading agreements

Archaism Corpus 1 Corpus 2 Corpus 3 Corpus 4 Corpus 5

foregoing 2 3 - 1 2
hereafter 2 2 1 - 2
hereby 9 27 1 13 14
herein 2 9 1 3 4
hereof 6 4 - - 3
hereto 1 1 - - -
hereunder - 4 - 1 1
hereunto - - - 1 -
prior to 5 2 4 2 6
pursuant to 1 4 - - 2
thereafter - 1 - - -
thereby 1 2 - 1 1
therein 1 1 - 1 2
thereof 2 15 2 4 5
thereon - 2 - 1 1
thereto 2 4 2 4 2
thereunder - 2 - - -
whereof - - - 1 -

5
 Linguistic Analysis of Trading Agreements: Insights
for Plain Writing in Philippine Contracts
As can be seen, the most commonly used
archaic expressions are the adverbs hereby and thereof,
used 64 and 28 times, respectively, across the five
corpora. Other common but less frequently used
expressions are herein, prior to, and thereto. A marked
contrast is observable between corpus 2 and 3 with the
former having the most number of archaisms (83 in
total) and the latter, the least (11 in total). Tiersma
(1999) contends that using archaic words, as in the case
of the corpora, does not contribute to the precision of the
language of the contract. He further attributes the
insistence of its use to monetary incentives on the part of
lawyers, whose services are availed to assist in the
interpretation of this specialized language.
3.1.4 Sentence Length
Moving beyond lexical features, Trosborg (1991)
maintains that syntactic qualities of legal documents present
considerable difficulties in comprehending legal English.
One fundamental syntactic feature is sentence length, which
is easily associated with sentence complexity. In
comparison with other technical writings, legal discourse is
notable for lengthy and complex sentence structures, such
as the extract below.
For the purpose of selling, buying or performing
other acts as stated herein, I hereby irrevocably
appoint and constitute ASC, its officers,
employees or successors-in-interest and/or
assigns, as well as any sub-agent, broker,
attorney-in-fact it may appoint for that purpose,
as my true and lawful attorney with full power
and authority to buy or sell, lend or borrow
securities, or otherwise act for any of my
account(s) whether carried individually or
jointly with others, to agree upon the price of
said securities, execute bills of sale, receipts,
assignments of all my rights, title and interest to
the purchaser(s) thereof or such other
instruments in writing or documents as may be
necessary and to deliver or accept delivery of
the corresponding stock certificates
Table 5. Average sentence length in selected online trading agreements
Average Sentence Corpus 1 Corpus 2
Length 24.1 22.4
6
and/or which ASC may directly or indirectly do
or cause to be done in accordance with the
powers herein conferred all of which are hereby
deemed ratified by me in all respects for this
purpose. ASC shall be entitled to rely on any
instruments, notices and communications which
it believes to have originated from me and I
shall be bound thereby.
While all five corpora contain at least one
considerably long sentence, the given extract from
corpus 2 stands out with 183 words. If the Flesch
standard, which gives a zero rating to a text that has an
average of more than 37 words per sentence, is used to
assess the sample statement, the text is easily
categorized as postgraduate level or “very difficult to
read” (Ross & Scott, 1996, as cited in Rajapakse &
Rameezdeen, 2007). But considering the exact average
sentence length ratings of the corpora shown in Table
5, it may be assumed that all five corpora have
relatively acceptable readability levels, albeit varying
in degree of comprehensibility.
It appears that corpus 3, registering the smallest
average sentence length, is the most readable sample in
the group. However, this case seems more an exception
rather than the norm as three other corpora show ratings
higher than 22 words per sentence. This noted trend
suggests that the examined legal documents generally
subscribe to the traditional form of contracts, which are
noted for protracted constructions.
3.2 Indications of Plain Writing
3.2.1 Terms of Reference
While the use of impersonal noun references is
rather expected in trading agreements, it is interesting to
find first and second personal pronouns in nearly all of
the corpora, with the exception of corpus 4. Table 6
shows that first-person plural pronouns (we, us, our) are
the most commonly used in all four corpora. This is
followed by first-person singular pronouns (I, me, my,
myself), which are evident in three samples. Meanwhile,
Corpus 3 Corpus 4 Corpus 5
11 18.7 22.8
 Pia Patricia P. Tenedero

Table 6. Personal references in selected online trading agreements

Pronouns Corpus 1 Corpus 2 Corpus 3 Corpus 4 Corpus 5

I - 110 54 - 139
me - 43 19 - 60
my - 94 55 - 125
myself - 3 - - -
we 2 - 56 - -
us 3 5 20 - 3
our 5 2 52 - 4
you 98 - - - 120
your 74 - - - -
yours 1 - - - -
they 2 - 1 - -
them 1 2 - - -
their 7 4 - 2 5
it 9 19 2 4 20
its 16 33 10 16 2

the use of second-person pronouns (you, your, yours)
is less frequent and is noted only in corpus 1 and 5.
Comparing the density and variety of personal
references in the samples examined shows that corpus 5
registers the most number of personal pronouns ranging
from first-person plural and singular to second-person
references. Such lexical richness, which is apparent in
this corpus as far as terms of reference is concerned,
seems unusual but implies an effort among stock broker
companies in the Philippines to produce more readable
contracts that comply with Plain English standards.
To claim that the samples that used first and
second personal pronouns are more readable than those
that did not is supported by the contention that pronoun
use “is perceived as more desirable than the use of
definite noun phrase” (Gordon et al., 1993; Krahmer
& Theune, 2002, as cited in Pitler & Nenkova, 2008, p.
188). Readability studies argue that using pronouns
contributes to text coherence and facilitates the reader’s
prediction of idea connectedness (Elsner & Charniak,
2008; Nenkova & McKeown, 2003; Siddharthan, 2003,
as cited in Pitler & Nenkova, 2008). In effect, personal
references in a traditionally complex formal document
make the text less intimidating. Conversely, using
multiple noun-phrase constructions “requires readers to
remember more items” (Pitler & Nenkova, 2008, p. 190),
thereby, making the text more challenging to read.
The linguistic merits of using personal pronouns
in contracts are also acknowledged by the 1980
Connecticut Plain Language Law, the 1993 Pennsylvania
Plain Language Consumer Contract Act, and the 1998
Washington Plain English Handbook. The Connecticut
statute stipulates that [contracts] “must use personal
pronouns, the actual or shortened names of the parties to
the contract, or both, when referring to those parties”
(Stoop & Churr, 2013, p.538). Similarly, the
Pennsylvania Act specifies that, “when the contract
refers to the parties to the contract,” the reference should
use “personal pronouns, the actual or shortened names of
the parties, the terms ‘seller’ and ‘buyer’ or the terms
‘lender’ and ‘borrower’” (Grim, Biehn, & Tatcher, 2008,
para. 6). These recommendations are justified
comprehensively by the Office of Investor Education
and Assistance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (1998), stating that the use of personal
pronouns “dramatically improves” the clarity of the
document, thereby, aiding in comprehension. Personal
references clearly state the provisions that apply to the
reader investor and to the stock broker company, allow
the company to converse with the reader in a more
straightforward manner, and help keep sentences shorter.
Contrary to lawyers’ perception that pronouns tend to
cause ambiguous and sexist references, the Washington
handbook claims that using

7
 Linguistic Analysis of Trading Agreements: Insights
for Plain Writing in Philippine Contracts
this part of speech may, in fact, help avoid
abstractions through the use of concrete and familiar
vocabulary and prevent the “he or she” dilemma
through the use of first- and second-person pronouns,
which are not gender-specific.
3.2.2 Modality
On the matter of verb modality in contracts, the
PELs do not prescribe specific verbs for use in the terms
of agreement. The general recommendation is simply to
use simple and active verb forms (Stoop & Churr, 2013).
Using this guideline as reference requires a close
examination of the voice of the modal-verb phrases. A
cursory review reveals the use of active voice in some
modal-verb constructions, as shown in the extracts.
You shall explicitly agree to be bound by the
bylaws, constitution …. (Extract from corpus 1)
I may terminate my Online Account by….
(Extract from corpus 2)
Client shall use COL’s service only in
accordance with…. (Extract from corpus 4)
I shall notify you within…. (Extract from
corpus 5)
These active form samples, however, do not
signify the absence of passive constructions. Although
not quantified in this research, passive modal-verb
phrases are also noted in the corpora, indicating only a
partial effort on the part of OSTA drafters to apply
plain writing norms.
3.2.3 Legal Archaisms
To address the problem of ambiguity because
of the use of archaic expressions, the Connecticut PEL
advises the use of “everyday words.” Likewise, the
Pennsylvania PEL provides two specific guidelines to
encourage the use of more familiar as opposed to
Table 7. Total legal archaisms in selected online trading agreements
Corpus 1 Corpus 2 Corpus 3
34 83 11
8
antiquated language:
(3) The contract should not use technical
legal terms, other than commonly
understood legal terms, such as “mortgage,”
“warranty” and “security interest.”
(4) The contract should not use Latin and
foreign words or any other word
whenever its use requires reliance upon an
obsolete meaning. (n.p.)
Based on the frequency data presented in
Table 4, Table 7 below shows the total number of
legal archaisms noted in each corpus.
The minimal use of legal archaisms noted in
corpus 3 insinuates some awareness on the part of
contract drafters of the need to use words that more
people can easily understand. Meanwhile, the other
OSTAs need further effort to reduce legal archaisms
in the contract phrasing.
3.2.4 Sentence Length
On the matter of sentence length, Stoop and
Churr (2013) mention two specific guidelines from the
Connecticut statute: “(a) the average number of words
per sentence must be fewer than 22; and (b) no sentence
in the contract may exceed 50 words” (p. 538).
Revisiting the values in Table 5 reveals that
corpus 1, 5, and 2 fail the first objective test. Having
average sentence lengths of 24.1, 22.8, and 22.4,
respectively, they clearly exceed the prescribed 22-word
limit. Only corpus 3 and 4 satisfy the standard, with the
former registering the most manageable sentence length
with an average of 11 words per sentence. As illustrated
by corpus 3, it is feasible for OSTAs to present terms of
agreement in shorter, easier-to-comprehend sentences.
The second guideline requires a more
comprehensive sentence-level scrutiny of the text to
ensure that every statement contains less than 50
words. Using the Word Count function in Microsoft
Word, a cursory review of the samples shows that all
Corpus 4 Corpus 5
33 45
 Pia Patricia P. Tenedero
five corpora contain at least one sentence violating the
50-word limit. Hence, there is less evident indication
of plain-writing initiative in this aspect of contract
sentence construction.
3.3 Suggested Plain English Guidelines
3.3.1 Terms of Reference
Benchmarking on the American statutes,
Philippine OSTAs may benefit from more extensive use of
personal pronouns. Doing so may help make the contract
more reader-friendly and help avoid needless repetition of
impersonal noun references, which can also be addressed
by using synonyms. Applying these recommendations may
yield clearer revisions, as follows:
ACEC may terminate my/our account for
violations of this Agreement and other
legal arrangements as indicated in the
Philstocks.ph Website, or any grounds
prescribed by the PSE, SEC or any
applicable law. (Revision of extract from
corpus 3)
The risk attendant to the use of the Online
Trading Facility shall be for my account
inasmuch as its use is electronic and
system-generated. (Revision of extract
from corpus 5)
On the related matter of point of view or the
perspective used in presenting the provisions of the
contract, corpus 2, 3, and 5 used first-person
references (I, me, my, we) while corpus 1 opted for the
second-person perspective (you, your). As to which
point of view is more effective depends largely on the
desired tone. Using the first-person point of view
makes the contract more personalized, emphasizing
the active accountability of the investor for entering
the said agreement. In contrast, the second-person
view underscores the imperative nature of the
contract. Stock broker companies may decide between
the two options and apply the corresponding point of
view consistently in the contract.
9
3.3.2 Modality
While the active form is applicable in modal-
verb constructions, the PELs’ recommendation to “use
simple verbs” appears challenging because the
multimodality of the commonly used verbs shall and
will may make the verbs more complex than simple.
Consider the given extracts:
I hereby agree that this Agreement and all
the terms thereof shall be binding upon
my heirs, executors, administrators,
personal representatives and assigns.
(Extract from corpus 2)
All the terms thereof will be binding upon
my/our heirs, executors, administrators,
personal representatives and assigns.
(Extract from corpus 3)
The extracts show different ways of stating the
contract clause for succession in case of the account
owner’s death. It is evident that corpus 3 used will
whereas corpus 2, as well as the other corpora, used
shall. Perhaps, the intent behind this lexical deviation is
to simplify the language of the contract. However, some
readers may associate futurity rather than modality with
the use of will. If thus construed, the action implies a
temporal rather than directive force; that is, the provision
is understood to be a consequential action that
automatically transpires rather than one that is
consciously followed by the investor. This illustration
supports Kakzhanova’s (2013) assertion that using either
shall or will may potentially confuse readers since these
verbs could serve as “pure indicators of tense, pure
indicators of modality, or both at once” (p. 2534). Reid
(2015) also observes this inconsistency in the
designation of words of obligation and further suggests
caution in the use of shall.
To avoid this confusion, Tiersma’s (1999)
suggestion to use must or is (be verb) in place of shall
may be considered. Unlike shall, the modality of must
is more definitive, expressing purely obligation or
necessity. While Trosborg (1991) observed that must
is notably absent or rare in legal texts, it remains an
alternative for more lucid contracts. In some cases, the
modals and be verbs may even be omitted as the main
verb seems to already capture the essence of the
specified action. In any case, the assertion
 Linguistic Analysis of Trading Agreements: Insights
for Plain Writing in Philippine Contracts

of the obligation to strictly abide by all the terms of

agreement is already stated in the introduction (also Extract Revision
It is hereby further agreed It is further agreed that the
called commencement) and reiterated in the closing that the terms and conditions terms and conditions printed
section (also called testimonium) of the contracts. If the printed on this Agreement on this Agreement form part
suggested verb modifications are applied, statements form part thereof as fully as of it as fully as if they were
if they were stated at length stated at length over your
become shorter, more direct, and clearer, as illustrated: over your signature(s) hereto signature(s) affixed to this
affixed and they are therefore document and they are
All the terms thereof are binding upon unconditionally agreed to. therefore unconditionally
my/our heirs, executors, administrators, (Extract from corpus 1) agreed to.
personal representatives and assigns.
(Revision of extract from corpus 3)
3.3.4 Sentence Length
Using more precise modal verbs or avoiding
them altogether helps satisfy the given guideline. The guidelines stipulated in the Connecticut
Anchoring on the PELs, the comprehensibility of the PEL may serve as a helpful objective benchmark to
examined contracts may be enhanced through a provide concrete controls in the length of sentences in
careful review of the documents’ modality and contracts. This will evidently require rewriting
subsequent revisions guided by the pragmatic function statements for conciseness. While such a revision may
of modal verbs. result in longer documents because of the necessity to
cover all legal considerations, it will ultimately serve
3.3.3 Legal Archaisms the purpose of contracts, which is for the parties to the
agreement to have a common understanding of the
The suggested remedy to the vagueness of terms of the contract. Without such “meeting of the
archaisms is the substitution of shorter, more common minds,” the courts reserve the right to render such
words. The replacements listed below are based on the contract “unconscionable” or invalid (Scheibal, 1986,
suggestions of Stanojevic (2011) and Zaharia (2009), p. 59).
and definitions from the 2014 Merriam-Webster In brief, this study suggests the use of first and
second personal pronouns, must instead of will or shall
Dictionary.
to express obligation, shorter and more common words
in place of legal archaisms, and an average of 22 words
Archaism Replacement Archaism Replacement
foregoing previous pursuant to under/ in per sentence. Aside from the USA PELs that originated
accordance these guidelines, the test of plain English in Canada
with conducted by Masson and Waldron (1994, as cited in
hereafter after/ afterwards thereafter afterwards Cambell, 1999) and a similar comprehension study in
hereby here/ (omit the thereby so/ thus New Zealand by Cambell (1999) provide empirical
word) evidence that applying these plain-language conventions
herein here/ in this therein there make the documents more comprehensible. Proof of this
Agreement is the number of “propositions or idea units correctly
hereof of this thereof of that/ of it recalled and paraphrased” by nonlawyer readers (p. 340).
hereto to this document thereon on that The author has not encountered research disproving
hereunder here/ under that thereto to that/ to it these findings, although some studies question if simply
hereunto to this thereunder under that
following these prescriptions already satisfies the
requirement for plain English writing (Candlin, Bahtia,
prior to before whereof with/ by which
& Jensen, 2002; Loughran
When these replacements are applied, the & McDonald, 2014; Scheibal, 1986). Whether it is
resultant statements may appear less intimidating to better to give general or specific guidelines for PELs
nonspecialist readers of the contract, as illustrated: remains debatable and is perhaps a matter for the
better judgment of state legislators.

10
 Pia Patricia P. Tenedero
Clearly, terms of reference, modality, legal
archaisms, and sentence length are only a few of the
readability measures considered in assessing the
comprehensibility of contracts to potential investors with
limited knowledge of legal language. While not all-
inclusive, the analysis provides insight into the current
status of Philippine contracts, particularly OSTAs, and
possible directions for the implementation of plain
writing standards in the country.
4. Conclusion and Recommendations
Overall, the study confirmed that the examined
trading agreements possess traditional legal form
characterized by the use of impersonal noun references;
modal verbs, particularly shall; legal archaisms; and long
sentences. While the Plain Writing for Public Service
Act of 2013 is pending ratification, it appears that some
stock broker companies in the Philippines have already
begun with their efforts to simplify their consumer
contracts. This initiative is evidenced by the use of first-
and second-person pronouns, the use of active voice in
modal-verb phrases, the minimal use of legal archaisms,
and the ideal average sentence length of 11 words.
Benchmarking on the related stipulations in the
Connecticut and Pennsylvania PELs and the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission Plain English
Handbook, the following guidelines are, thus,
recommended as measurable bases for plain writing in
Philippine contracts:
1. Use first and second personal pronouns and
the shortened names of the parties to the
contract when referring to those parties.
2. Use must to express obligation. An alternative
is to remove the modal verb and use a be verb
instead since the force of command is already
expressed in the introduction and the closing
sections of the contract.
3. Replace legal archaisms with more familiar
words.
4. Limit the average sentence length to 22
words. Ensure that no sentence is more than
50 words long.
Whether the implementation of these guidelines
effectively simplifies contracts without sacrificing the
11
necessary legal content requires testing. The results of
such an examination may inform the Philippine’s
position on the issue of specific versus general statutes
for the application of plain English. Another related
issue is concerned with how compliance with the PEL
will be ensured. Who will be responsible for checking
that all legal contracts follow the policy stipulations?
What sanctions will be served for noncompliance? These
questions must be considered in drafting the
implementing rules and regulations of the Philippine bill.
While the present study offers some preliminary
conclusions regarding the use of plain English in
contracts, other important limitations are evident. The
prescriptive approach is easily subject to questions of
practicality, generalizability, and effectiveness. Is it
necessary and feasible to rewrite all OSTAs to apply the
given guidelines? Are these suggestions acceptable to all
legal and nonlegal stakeholders? Will these revisions in
the OSTAs guarantee easier understanding of the legal
documents by Filipino nonlawyers? These questions,
which are beyond the scope of this research, are
opportunities for further investigation.
In addition, the findings of this study may be
further enriched by a stylistic and descriptive evaluation
of other lexical and syntactic features of contracts,
including word lists, prepositional phrases, negation,
nominalization, passive constructions, and clause
embeddings. To account for the aspects of readability
that cannot be measured mathematically, qualitative
assessments of the readability of OSTAs through focus
group testing can be done. This approach can help
explore the nonquantifiable factors that determine the
readability of a document such as reader vocabulary,
level of interest, and prior knowledge.
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Acknowledgments: The author wishes to thank Prof.

Marilu R. Madrunio, Ph.D. and the anonymous peer
reviewers of PJL for their informative and constructive
comments that substantially helped in the development
of this article.

13
 Philippine Journal of Linguistics

Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg

Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte

Agnes Catalan-Francisco
Cavite State University
Indang, Cavite, Philippines
Email: ac_francisco29@yahoo.com

Abstract

This study looked into the morphological and lexical variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as spoken in Ilocos Norte in terms of nouns, pronouns and deixis, verbs, adjectives, and negation and
interrogatives. These three language varieties that coexist with Ilocano, the lingua franca of Ilocos regions, are
spoken in ten municipalities in Ilocos Norte, particularly in three major areas where indigenous communities are
located, namely, Carasi, Dumalneg, and Nueva Era. Such an analysis was done to initially describe the
morphological and lexical variations of languages spoken by the three groups of indigenous people (IP) of Ilocos
Norte, and to help provide the Province, particularly the National Commission on Indigenous People-Ilocos
Norte Provincial Office (NCIP-INPO), a reference material for future studies on the linguistic profile of the IP.
Data were gathered through a 158-item lexical test among 90 participants, with 30 each from the three IP groups.
Responses were analyzed following Dita’s (2011) structural analysis of Ibanag nominal markers and Ruffolo’s
(2004) morphophonemic analysis of Ibaloy. Based on the morphological and lexical analysis made, reduplication
pattern (CV and CVC) is commonly used to denote plurality of nouns across the three language varieties. While
ISA uses daya as a plural marker, ITE uses adu a and dia. While ISA and ISE are lexically different from each
other in terms of the use of gender-specific nouns, ITE is lexically closer to Ilocano. All personal pronouns
across the three languages differ. While ITE possessives follow the same morphological process as ISE, the latter
was found to be somewhat similar with Ilocano possessives. All of the deictic demonstratives were encoded
entirely differently across the three languages. ISA, ISE, and ITE inflect their lexical verbs by reduplication,
phonemic substitution, and affixation. The three language varieties have monomorphemic as well as derived
adjectives just like their Ilocano counterparts. Most quantification terms and interrogatives were found to be
varied across the three languages. Among the language varieties, ISA was found to be morphologically and
lexically different from ISE and ITE.

Keywords: Morphological features, lexical variations, Philippine language

1. Introduction varieties, namely, Itneg Tingguian, Isneg Yapayao, and

In the Philippines where there are 192 living
languages, which make up 2.70 percent of the 1,221
living Austronesian languages in the world, 181 are
classified as indigenous, and 11 immigrant (Ethnologue
– Languages of the World, 2012). Northern Philippines,
particularly the Ilocos regions, has its regional lingua
franca, which is Ilocano, and a number of minority
languages worth-documenting. Such minority languages
include the Itneg language, which, according to De los
Reyes and De los Reyes (1987), is spoken by the Itneg
people who reside in Luzon. Based on different accounts
on Itneg as an indigenous group in Ilocos Norte, it can be
inferred that Itneg people speak three language
Isnag. As per 2012 IP community census, a total
population of 10,609 Itneg tribe members, including
leaders and/or elders, was noted (National Commission
on Indigenous Peoples-Ilocos Norte Provincial Office,
2013). Some of them are legitimate residents of the
municipalities of Bangui, Dingras, Marcos, Pagudpud,
Solsona, Vintar, Carasi, Dumalneg, Adams, and Nueva
Era (The Tingguian Ethno-history, 2012; NCIP-INPO,
2013). Although articles have been published locally and
nationally on the sociolinguistic mapping of these
indigenous groups, an initial morphological and lexical
description of the aforementioned language varieties is
essential to the NCIP-INPO and the province of Ilocos
Norte as a whole for profiling and documentation

14
 Agnes Catalan-Francisco

purposes. The findings of this study, therefore, could themes, or locatives in a sentence. Ruffolo (2004), on the
serve as a springboard to further documentation of other hand, described selected aspects of the grammar of
these indigenous communities in Ilocos Norte and to Ibaloy, a member of the Northern Philippines subgroup
map out their language profile. of Austronesian languages spoken on the island of Luzon
in the Philippines. In her study, the phonological and
1.1 Review of Related Literature morphological processes involved in Ibaloy were given
attention. Based on the results, it was found that several
In northern Philippines, several ethnolinguistic morpho-phonemic processes apply to words when they
groups have inhabited the Cordillera region for more take part in particular word-derivational processes.
than five centuries. They have developed independent Ibaloy has an elaborate derivational system. Nouns
communities, which are politically and economically typically occur underived as monomorphemic words.
autonomous from each other (Prill-Brett, 2007). These Verbs are typically derived with a system of affixes.
major ethnolinguistic groups are distinguished as Isneg Different categories of verbs and nouns are identified on
and/or Isnag of Apayao, Itneg Tingguian of Abra and morpho-syntactic criteria. Using Ruffolo’s approach to
Ilocos Sur, Kalinga, Bontok, Ifugao, Kankana-ey, and describing the Ibaloy language in terms of its morpho-
Ibaloy. However, the Itneg Tingguian, Isneg Yapayao, phonemic features and incorporating Dita’s (2011)
and Isnag in Ilocos Norte have not been included in the lexical description of Ibanag, the present study focused
list of major ethnolinguistic groups in Northern only on the major processes involved in the
Philippines as seen in Figure 1. morphological and lexical features of Itneg, Isneg, and
As reflected in the ethnolinguistic map of Isnag, and eventually compared these features from one
Northern Philippines, indigenous communities can be language to another.
found within the borders of Kalinga (Isnag), Apayao
(Isnag), Abra (Itneg), and Ilocos Sur (Inlaod Itneg).
However, based on the map, Isneg Yapayao, the
language spoken by those IP in Dumalneg, is not among
those language families in Northern Luzon. It is clear,
therefore, that not all indigenous communities speaking
minority languages located in Ilocos Norte have been
recognized by Ethnologue (2012). In the accounts of
Valera (2010), out of approximately 12 million
indigenous Filipino citizens, a little more than one
million of them and a total of 110 ethnolinguistic groups
including the Isneg Yapayao, the Itneg Tingguian, and
the Isnag, are located in the Ilocos region. This puts the
three IP communities out of record, which eventually led
the present study to investigate their language focusing
primarily on its morphological and lexical properties.
In the study of Dita (2011) on the morphological
characteristics of nouns in Ibanag, it was found that nouns
contain various derivational affixes. The derived nouns
consist of the following: abstract, locative, comitative,
reciprocal, ownership, origin, instigator, and designation.
Morphosyntactically, nouns in Ibanag refer to names of
persons, places, animals, things, events, or ideas, which can
be pluralized through reduplication process or through the
particle ira. It was also found that these items can be
prefixed, suffixed, circumfixed, or infixed to form other Figure 1. The ethnolinguistic map of Northern
categories of nouns that can function as agents, patients, Philippines (Ethnologue, 2012)

15
 Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte

1.2 Statement of the Problem participants, responses were subjected to analysis. At

This study was conducted to describe the
morphological and lexical variations of Isnag, Isneg
Yapayao, and Itneg Tingguian in terms of:
1.2.1 Nouns
1.2.2 Pronouns and Deixis
1.2.3 Verbs
1.2.4 Adjectives
1.2.5 Negation and Interrogatives
1.3 Framework for Analysis
Since the researcher’s primary aim is to look
into the morphological and lexical variations of the
three language varities as spoken in the province of
Ilocos Norte, only the major processes involved in the
morphological and lexical features of the language
were described using, in part, Dita’s (2011) structural
analysis of Ibanag nominals and Ruffolo’s (2004)
lexical description of Ibaloy as framework. However,
only grammatical items such as nouns, pronouns and
deixis, verbs, adjectives, negation, and interrogatives
were included for analysis. This limitation aims to
provide initial data for further description of the three
language varieties in question.
2. Method
2.1 Research Design
The quantitative-qualitative approach was
utilized in this study. Through a pilot-tested 158-item
lexical test (see Appendix A) focusing on nouns,
pronouns and deixis, verbs, adjectives, negation, and
interrogatives, and informal interview with the
least two raters or evaluators were identified from
each tribe through the help of NCIP-INPO for the
validation of the responses.
2.2 Sources of Data
To establish ease of access to the target
participants, the NCIP-INPO identified respective tribe
leaders and council of elders from each group who served
as the preliminary source of data for the semi-structured
interviews and initial surveys. However, members of each
tribe of different age groups regardless of title or position in
the tribe were purposively identified as participants in the
lexical test. Hence, the participants from each of the three
IP communities were chosen based on three age groups: (1)
Young-aged group (30 years old and below), (2) Middle-
aged group (31-59 years old), and
(3) Old-aged group (60 years old and above). Such age
grouping was done to achieve a full representation of the
tribe members and to have a comparison of the responses
across generations. At the initial stage of the study, it
was decided upon by the researcher that each age group
should be composed of ten (10) representatives, or a total
of 30 participants from each of the three research sites,
thereby, having a total of 90 respondents. However,
because of nonavailability of demographic details of the
tribe members, adjustments in the number of respondents
for each age group were made (see Table 1).
The lexical test is designed in such a way that the
Tagalog/Filipino and Ilocano versions of the wordlist are
given. Items included in the test on nouns were those basic
sight words, as well as flora and fauna present in the
research communities such as dahon (leaf), ilog (river),
kalabaw (carabao), kamote (sweet potatoes), among others.
Thirty (30) items were given in this particular portion of the
lexical test, focusing on the singular and

Table 1. Distribution of participants per IP community

AGE GROUP
IP
Young-aged (30 years Midde-aged (31- Old-aged (60 years
COMMUNITY TOTAL
and below) 59 years) and above)
Isnag 16 12 2 30
Isneg Yapayao 7 18 5 30
Itneg Tingguian 12 14 4 30
TOTAL 35 44 11 90

16
 Agnes Catalan-Francisco

plural forms of the items given. This was followed by items
focusing on the gender of nouns (16), body parts (16),
reciprocal nouns (5), comitative nouns (5), instigator nouns
(5), and locative verb + -an nouns (5), for a total of 82
items. The rest of the items were on pronouns and deixis,
verbs, adjectives, negation, and interrogatives. All
respondents from each tribe took the lexical test in written
form where they were expected to give the ISA, ISE, or ITE
equivalents of the listed words. Two raters from each tribe
were then tapped for the validation of the responses.
2.3 Data-gathering Procedure
Indigenous Peoples or Indigenous Cultural
Communities, such as those situated in Ilocos Norte, are
governed by the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA)
recognizing the fact that these communities have developed
independent communities, which are politically and
economically autonomous from each other (Prill-Brett,
2007). Previsit and ocular inspection of the research sites
were done upon issuance of the Free, Prior,

Table 2. Number of nouns in Isnag

TAGALOG (TAG) ILOCANO (ILO) ISNAG (ISA)

SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL
1. bulaklak mga bulaklak sabong sabsabong sabong sabsabong
2. dahon mga dahon bulong bulbulong adun ad-adun
3. ilog mga ilog karayan dagiti karayan apayaw ap-apayaw
4. bundok mga bundok bantay banbantay bantay banbantay
5. puno mga puno kayo kaykayo ayo ay-ayo
6. sanga mga sanga sanga sansanga panga pang-panga
7. gulay mga gulay nateng natnateng inalpan in-inalpan
8. ugat mga ugat urat ur-urat ugat ug-ugat
9. lupa mga lupa daga dagdaga lusa lus-lusa
10. ulap mga ulap ulep ul-ulep angap ang-angap
11. kamote mga kamote kamutig kamkamutig amosi am-amosi
12. saging mga saging saba sabsaba dupat dupdupatan
13. sanga mga sanga sanga sangsanga panga pangpanga
14. bagyo mga bagyo bagyo dagti bagyo annag an-annag
15. bigas mga bigas bagas bagbagas baggat bagbaggat
16. kalabaw mga kalabaw nuang nunuang nuang daya nuang
17. kabayo mga kabayo kabalyo kabkabalyo kabalyo daya kabalyo
18. manok mga manok manok manmanok ano an-ano
19. langgam mga langgam kuton kutkuton uton ut-uton
20. ibon mga ibon tumaytayab dagti tumaytayab ano an-ano
21. kambing mga kambing kalding kalkalding kalding kalkalding
22. aso mga aso aso as-aso ato at-ato
23. baboy mga baboy baboy babbaboy aboy ab-aboy
24. isda mga isda ikan ik-ikan begal beg-begal
25. hipon mga hipon udang ud-udang lasi las-lasi
26. bayawak mga bayawak banyas banbanyas banyas banbanyas
27. ahas mga ahas uleg ul-uleg ba-lat babalat
28. usa mga usa ugsa uugsa ukta uk-ukta
29. paru-paro mga paru-paro kulibangbang kulkulibangbang kulibangbang kulkulibangbang
30. pugad mga pugad umok um-umok umo um-umo

17
 Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte

and Informed Consent (FPIC). Through the help of the
NCIP-INPO, the researcher sought permit to conduct the
study from respective municipal mayors and Department
of Interior and Local Government (DILG) officers.
The lexical test was conducted with the help of
the Community Development Officer who acted as the
facilitator, assigned staff of the NCIP-INPO, and in
coordination with the DILG officer from each of the
three municipalities. Each of the three communities has
its own leader, locally known as the “panglakayen” who
acted as the host throughout the data-gathering stage and
was responsible in convening the participants. It was
indeed a great opportunity to have tapped the NCIP-
INPO staff as facilitators because some of them are
speakers of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, or Itneg Tingguian. In
fact, two of them served as raters or evaluators in the
written lexical test. An informal interview after the
written test was randomly conducted for the validation
and clarification of responses.

Table 3. Number of nouns in Isneg Yapayao

TAGALOG (TAG) ILOCANO (ILO) ISNEG YAPAYAO (ISE)

SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL
1. bulaklak mga bulaklak sabong sabsabong sabong sabsabong
2. dahon mga dahon bulong bulbulong dun duddudon
3. ilog mga ilog karayan dagiti karayan wangwang wangwangwang
4. bundok mga bundok bantay banbantay bantay banbantay
5. puno mga puno kayo kaykayo kayo kaykayo
6. sanga mga sanga sanga sangsanga sanga sangsanga
7. gulay mga gulay nateng natnateng tagalimpa tagtagalimpa
8. ugat mga ugat urat ur-urat ugat ug-ugat
9. lupa mga lupa daga dagdaga lutak lutlutak
10. ulap mga ulap ulep ul-ulep ulap ul-ulap
11. kamote mga kamote kamutig kamkamutig kamutig kamkamutig
12. saging mga saging saba sabsaba bagat bagbagat
13. sanga mga sanga sanga sangsanga sanga sangsanga
14. bagyo mga bagyo bagyo dagiti bagyo bagiw bagbagiw
15. bigas mga bigas bagas bagbagas baggas bagbaggas
16. kalabaw mga kalabaw nuang nunuang nuang nunuang
17. kabayo mga kabayo kabalyo kabkabalyo kabalyo kabkabalyo
18. manok mga manok manok manmanok manok manmanok
19. langgam mga langgam kuton kutkuton kuton kutkuton
20. ibon mga ibon tumaytayab dagiti tumaytayab ballit balballit
21. kambing mga kambing kalding kalkalding kalding kakalding
22. aso mga aso aso as-aso aso as-aso
23. baboy mga baboy baboy babbaboy baboy babbaboy
24. isda mga isda ikan ik-ikan ikan ik-ikan
25. hipon mga hipon udang ud-udang lagdaw laglagdaw
26. bayawak mga bayawak banyas banbanyas banyas banbanyas
27. ahas mga ahas uleg ul-uleg baklat bakbaklat
28. usa mga usa ugsa uugsa ugsa ug-ugsa
29. paru-paro mga paru-paro kulibangbang kulkulibangbang kulibangbang kulkulibangbang
30. pugad mga pugad umok um-umok umok um-umok

18
 Agnes Catalan-Francisco

3. Results and Discussion reduplication (Dita, 2011; Ruffolo, 2004). Tables 2, 3,

3.1 Nouns
3.1.1 Number of Nouns
It can be worth noting that most Philippine
languages, including Ibanag and Ibaloy which are
both Cordilleran languages, encode plurality of nouns
by the use of a determiner before a head noun and
and 4 contain the list of nouns in Tagalog and Ilocano
with their Isnag (ISA), Isneg Yapayao (ISE), and
Itneg Tingguian (ITE) equivalents.
Rubino’s (1997) findings on how Ilocanos
encode plurality of nominals show that the most
common process is through reduplication and the use of
the determiner dagiti. Dita’s (2011) analysis on Ibanag
nominal markers revealed that the use of the plural
marker ira and reduplication are the two processes of

Table 4. Number of nouns in Itneg Tingguian

TAGALOG (TAG) ILOCANO (ILO) ITNEG TINGGUIAN (ITE)

SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL
1. bulaklak mga bulaklak sabong sabsabong ballad adu a ballad
2. dahon mga dahon bulong bulbulong addon adu a addon
3. ilog mga ilog karayan dagiti karayan wangag dia wangag
4. bundok mga bundok bantay banbantay binaer dia binaer
5. puno mga puno kayo kaykayo kayo kaykayo
6. sanga mga sanga sanga sangsanga panga dia panga
7. gulay mga gulay nateng natnateng sisida dia sisida
8. ugat mga ugat urat ur-urat ugat dia ugat
9. lupa mga lupa daga dagdaga ginet dia ginet
10. ulap mga ulap ulep ul-ulep angep dia angep
11. kamote mga kamote kamutig kamkamutig ketla dia ketla
12. saging mga saging saba sabsaba bagat dia bagat
13. sanga mga sanga sanga sangsanga panga pangpanga
14. bagyo mga bagyo bagyo dagiti bagyo anneg dia anneg
15. bigas mga bigas bagas bagbagas baggas adu a baggas
16. kalabaw mga kalabaw nuang nunuang nuang adu a nuang
17. kabayo mga kabayo kabalyo kabkabalyo kabayo kabkabayo
18. manok mga manok manok manmanok anok an-anok
19. langgam mga langgam kuton kutkuton ubo dia ubo
20. ibon mga ibon tumaytayab dagiti tumaytayab sibot sibsibot
21. kambing mga kambing kalding kalkalding kalding dia kalding
22. aso mga aso aso as-aso aso as-aso
23. baboy mga baboy baboy babbaboy aboy ab-aboy
24. isda mga isda ikan ik-ikan begal begbegal
25. hipon mga hipon udang ud-udang lagdaw laglagdaw
26. bayawak mga bayawak banyas banbanyas siley silsiley
27. ahas mga ahas uleg ul-uleg baklat bakbaklat
28. usa mga usa ugsa uugsa ugsa ug-ugsa
29. paru-paro mga paru-paro kulibangbang kulkulibangbang kulibangbang kulkulibangbang
30. pugad mga pugad umok um-umok sukbot suksukbot

19
 Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte

noun pluralization in Ibanag. In the list in Table 2, it is
evident that reduplication is commonly used to denote
plurality of nouns in Isnag (ISA), as in:
(1) Sabong - Sabsabong
‘flower’ - ‘flowers’
(2) Adun - Ad-adun
‘leaf’ - ‘leaves’
Further, when the first syllable of the noun has a
consonant (C) and a vowel (V), then the CV
reduplication pattern is formed, as can be seen in (2). If
the first syllable with (CV) is followed by a (C), then the
CVC reduplication pattern is formed as in (1). Another
way on how plurality is encoded in Isnag is the use of a
determiner (DET) which is daya, as used in:
(3) Nuang - Daya nuang
‘carabao’ - ‘carabaos’
(4) Kabalyo - Daya kabalyo
‘horse’ - ‘horses’
It was not explained further, however, by the
respondents why daya as a determiner was used only for
nuang and kabalyo to denote plurality. One of them narrated
during an informal interview that they use daya only
when they refer to more than one bigger form of animal.
Lexically, only six or 20 percent of the 30 words
have the same Ilocano equivalent. This only shows that
Isnag is lexically different from Ilocano, which is the
lingua franca in Ilocos Norte. The use of reduplication to
indicate plurality in Isnag, in a way, conforms to
findings on the plural markers used in Ilocano and
Cordilleran languages such as Ibanag and Ibaloy. The
plural marker, daya, however, needs further
investigation as to its extent and context of use, which
the present study failed to look into. Having its own
lexical equivalents, Isnag may possibly grow as a
language spoken by the IP communities in Ilocos Norte
despite its close encounter with Ilocano.
Isneg Yapayao (ISE), on the one hand, has the
same way of encoding plurality in nominals, that is,
reduplication pattern, both CV and CVC, as seen in
the following examples:
(5) Ugat - Ug-ugat
‘root’ - ‘roots’
(6) Tagalimpa - Tagtagalimpa
‘vegetable’ - ‘vegetables’

Table 5. Gender of nouns across L1 communities

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG

NO. TINGGUIAN
1 tatay/ama/itay tatang/ama/tata ama ama ama
2 kuya manong parsut/agi manong kaka
3 uncle/tito/tiyo uncle/uliteg ulitag uncle/ulitag ulteg
4 lolo apo lakay/lolo/lolong akay kakay apo
5 binata baro bagbago bago bagbago
6 bayaw bayaw/kayong tayug bayaw/kayong kayong
7 hipag ipag ipag kayong ipag
8 tiya/tita/auntie auntie/ikit ikit ikit ikit
9 ate manang parsut/agi manang manang/kaka
10 lola lola/lila/apo baket ako apo apo baket
11 dalaga balasang balbalasang balasang balbalasang
12 nanay/inay/ina nanang/nana/ina ina ina ina
13 babae babai babay babay babey
14 lalaki/lalake lalaki lalahi lalaki lalake
15 inahin upa gaggana upa gagunak
16 tandang kawitan awitan kawitan kawitan

20
 Agnes Catalan-Francisco
The use of the determiner dagiti in Ilocano
plurals, however, was not evident in ISE. In terms of
lexicon, 18 or 60 percent of the 30 words are the same
with Ilocano, both singular and plural. This shows that
ISE is closer to Ilocano language in terms of lexicon
compared to ISA. Isneg Yapayao, unlike Isnag, seems
susceptible to gradual assimilation into the Ilocano
language. This could be brought about by
intermarriage and high incidence of migration of ISE
speakers to nearby Ilocano communities to pursue
education and to look for jobs. The town of
Dumalneg, where ISE speakers are located, is
relatively more accessible than the town of Carasi
where ISA communities could be found.
Itneg Tingguian also follows the reduplication
patterns, CV and CVC, in forming the plurals of
nouns. It is interesting to note, however, that there are
two determiners used to encode plurality. These are
adu a and dia, as used in the following examples:
(7) Ballad - Adu a ballad
‘flower’ - ‘flowers’
(8) Baggas - Adu a baggas
‘rice’ - ‘much rice’
(9) Sisida - Dia sisida
‘vegetable’ - ‘vegetables’
(10) Ubo - Dia ubo
‘ant’ - ‘ants’
Notice that the determiners adu a and dia are
used before a count noun and a mass noun. In a
conversation with one of the respondents, it was revealed
that they use these determiners interchangeably and in no
particular type of noun for that matter. When it comes to
lexicon, only 20 percent (6 out 30 words) had the same
Ilocano equivalent. Again, this shows that ITE is
lexically different from the Ilocano language. Nueva Era,
compared to Dumalneg and Carasi, is biggest in terms of
population size. Eight of its barangays are occupied by
ITE speakers alongside Ilocano communities. Its
vulnerability as an exclusive language of the ITE tribes
seems higher compared to Isnag. Having the plural
markers, adu a (a plural marker variant of adu of the
Ilocanos) and dia, could somehow make the Itneg
Tingguian different from Isnag and Isneg Yapayao.
Comparing these three languages, ISA turned
out to be morphologically and lexically different
21
from ISE and ITE, having seven (7) out of 30 lexical
items that are totally different, i.e., ayo (‘tree’), dupat
(‘banana’), baggat (‘rice’), ato (‘dog’), lasi (‘shrimp’),
balat (‘snake’), and ukta (‘deer’). ISE and ITE had the
same lexicon for the said nouns. ISE and ITE had only
four (4) items differently labelled from each other and
that of ISA. There were four instances, however, when
these three languages encoded items similarly like ugat
(‘root’), kalding (‘goat’), nuang (‘carabao’), and
kulibangbang (‘butterfly’). Eleven (11) items or 37
percent of the total number of words were encoded
differently among the three languages. This implies that
ISA, ISE, and ITE have different labels for the basic
sight words listed. More so, these three language variants
pose different levels of variations vis-a-vis the Ilocano
language because of geographical location and
accessibility, and perhaps the instrumental value of these
IP languages. This aspect of the three languages in
question, however, needs further scrutiny.
3.1.2 Gender of Nouns
Gender-specific nouns in Philippine
languages, especially Tagalog, are borrowed from
Spanish. Masculine gender nouns usually end with o
(e.g., hijo, tito), while feminine gender ones end with
a (e.g., hija, tita). However, there are also kinship
terms and titles that have local counterparts.
It is common among the three languages that
Tatay or Ama (‘father’) and Ina (‘mother’) are also
called Ama and Ina, respectively. However, the
difference lies in the phonological aspect of the words
ama and ina. For Tagalog speakers, the primary stress
lies on the second syllable. But for ISA, ISE, and ITE,
the primary stress falls on the first syllable. Except the
terms ama, ikit, and ina, all other terms have their
ISA, ISE, and ITE equivalents. Even among these
three languages, gender-specific nouns are encoded
differently, as in the following examples:
(11) ISA - Parsut/Agi
ISE - Manong
ITE - Kaka
‘older brother’
(12) ISA - Gaggana
ISE - Upa
ITE - Gaguna
‘hen’
 Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte

Table 6. Body parts and their ISA, ISE, and ITE equivalent

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG

NO. TINGGUIAN
1 mata mata kilkilab mata mata
2 mukha rupa muhat bagong rupa
3 kamay ima ima ima ima
4 talampakan dapan taha dapan dapan
5 kilay kiday iday kiday kiday
6 paa saka dapan saka saka
7 ilong agong igong igong agong
8 baywang siket bihat awak awang
9 tuhod tumeng utod buwal tumang
10 likod bukot addag salli ukod
11 daliri ramay kamay ramay kurimeng
12 bituka bagis sinay bituka simay
13 balakang patong ubat purot patong
14 ugat urat ugat ugat ugat
15 nunal siding siding siding siding
16 tenga lapayag talinga talinga tenga

There are those words, however, that are encoded closer to Ilocano. Interestingly, ISA had the same
almost similarly, with slight difference in phonemes, as in: feminine-masculine term for kuya (‘older brother’)
and ate (‘older sister’), i.e., parsut/agi. Out of 16
(13) ISA - Babay gender-specific terms, five (5) of them were found to
ISE - Babay be lexically different (e.g., kuya ‘older brother’, lolo
ITE - Babey ‘grandfather’, lola ‘grandmother’, lalaki ‘male’, and
‘female’, ‘girl’ inahin ‘hen’). Based on the findings, Itneg Tingguian,
(14) ISA - Lalahi which is spoken alongside Ilocano, is most lexically
ISE - Lalaki akin to Ilocano. This could be attributed to the
ITE - Lalake community set-up of the ITE speakers; that is, based
‘male’, ‘boy’ on first-hand observation during the data-gathering,
ITE households do not occupy a barangay exclusively
From the wordlist in Table 5, ISA and ISE are for them. Thus, assimilation of the Ilocano kinship
lexically different from each other in terms of the use terms and gender-specific titles may take place.
of gender-specific nouns, while ITE is lexically
Table 7. Reciprocal nouns in ISA, ISE, and ITE

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG

NO. TINGGUIAN
1 mag-asawa agasawa magatawa agasawa agakbang
2 magpinsan agkasinsin makpinsan agkapinsan agpinsan
3 magkapatid agkabsat magwagi agwagi agkabsat
4 magkapitbahay agkarruba makkelyan agkelyan agkarruba
5 magkaedad agkataeb magkadagon agkataab agkaarpad

22
 Agnes Catalan-Francisco

3.1.3 Body Parts (15) Magatawa

Mag- atawa
In terms of body parts, ITE had the most PREF RW
number of items similarly encoded with Ilocano, having ‘couple’, ‘husband and wife’
62.5 percent of the total wordlist, while ISA had the (16) Makkelyan
most number of items (87.5 percent) differently encoded Mak- kelyan
from Ilocano. This only means that ISA is lexically PREF RW
exclusive from a more dominant language, Ilocano. Such ‘neighbors’
observation may clarify Jocano’s (1988, as cited in
Kobari, 2005) finding that the role of language among For ISE and ITE, the prefix ag- is added to
indigenous ethnic communities in Mindanao is that it is the root word, similar to that of the noun reciprocals
the only distinguishing element in ethnic cultures, in Ilocano. Interestingly, resulting reciprocal nouns
particularly those who occupy adjacent and contiguous across three languages were encoded differently, as
territories. Like the Isnag-speaking community in Carasi, shown in the following examples:
they want to maintain their language as their distinction
from nearby communities in Ilocos Norte. (17) ISA - Magatawa
Further, it was noted that ISA had the most ISE - Agasawa
number (25%) of terms for body parts different from ISE ITE - Agakbang
and ITE; ISE did not show any instance where its terms ‘couple’/‘husband and wife’
for body parts are different from at least one of the other (18) ISA - Magkadagon
two languages. Out of 16, there were seven (44%) terms ISE - Agkataab ITE
encoded differently among the three languages. These - Agkaarpad
were mukha (‘face), baywang (‘waist’), tuhod (‘knee’), ‘of the same age’
likod (‘back’), daliri (‘finger’), bituka (‘intestine’), and
balakang (‘thigh’). This means that the three languages Again, this shows that each language has its own
have their own terms for body parts. lexical term despite similarities in derivational process.

3.1.4 Reciprocal Nouns 3.1.5 Comitative Nouns

Only five (5) reciprocal nouns were included
in the wordlist; however, the result was sufficient to
draw implications in terms of the morphological and
lexical features of ISA, ISE, and ITE. In ISA, the
prefix (PREF) mag- and mak- are added to the root
word (RW) to form reciprocal nouns, as in:
Comitative nouns are those that refer to persons
in which something is accomplished with their existence
or company. In Tagalog and Ilocano, this is formed by
adding the prefix ka- to the root word. Given the word,
kasama, the prefix ka- is attached to sama to mean
‘company’. Comitative nouns can show associations
such as spatial relations, membership, origin, activity,
occupation, among others.

Table 8. Comitative nouns in ISA, ISE, and ITE

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG

NO. TINGGUIAN
1 kamag-anak kabagian magkabagian kabagian aggayyam
2 kaklase kaklasi magkaiskol kaklasi agkaeskwelaan
3 kapitbahay karruba akelyan kelyan karruba
4 kapatid kabsat agi agi kabsat
5 kausap kasasao kasarsarita kasasao kapatpatang

23
 Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte

Table 9. Instigator nouns in ISA, ISE, and ITE

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG

NO. TINGGUIAN
1 tagawalis parawalis paraaged parasagad tagakaged
2 tagaluto paraluto tagapoton paraapoy tagauto
3 tagahugas parainnaw tagaugat paralisaw tagalisaw
4 tagalinis paradalus tagaaner paradalus tagadalus
5 tagalaba paralaba tagalaba parapas-ak tagalaba

For ISA, there are two ways on how to form (19) Aggayyam
comitative nouns. One is by adding the prefix (PREF) Ag- gayyam
mag- and the infix (INF) ka- to the root word, as PREF RW
shown in the example below: ‘relatives’

(17) Magkabagian This finding only shows that ISA has the most
Mag- ka- bagian distinctive way of forming comitative nouns compared
PREF INF RW to ISE and ITE, and Ilocano as well. Again, this could
‘relatives’ be explained by the fact that the town of Carasi is
secluded from other municipalities where ISA
Another way is by adding the prefix ka- to the speakers get more in tact and solid because of fewer
root word, as shown in this example: incidences of intermarriage, emigration, and
migration. As revealed by one of the key informants
(18) Kasarsarita during the informal interview, ISA women prefer to
Ka- sarsarita marry men from their own tribe, particularly those
PREF RW whose cultural beliefs are the same with theirs.
‘someone you speak with’
3.1.6 Instigator Nouns
Still another way is by having the entire word
encoded differently, as in Agi (‘sibling’) and Akelyan Instigator nouns in Ilocano and Ibanag are formed
(‘neighbor’). by adding the base word to the prefix para- and the prefix
For ISE and ITE, the prefix ka- is also added taga- for Tagalog. In an instigator noun, someone is
to the root word to form comitative nouns. There are designated or employed to perform the action encoded by
likewise terms encoded differently from their Ilocano the base word (Dita, 2011). At times, however, as a native
counterparts. However, for ITE, the prefix ag- is used, speaker of Ilocano, the researcher may use para-and taga-
as shown in this example: as prefixes for instigator nouns interchangeably without
changing the meaning of the resulting word. Such

Table 10. Locative pag- -an nouns in ISA, ISE, and ITE

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG TINGGUIAN

NO.
1 lutuan paglutuan pagisaangan paglutwan paglutuan
2 hugasan paginnawan pagugatan paglisawan paglisawan
3 higaan pagiddaan pagiddaan pagiddaan pagiddaan
4 tulugan pagturugan patudugan pagtudugan pagtudugan
5 liguan pagdigusan pagdigutan pagdigusan pagdigusan

24
 Agnes Catalan-Francisco

observation was found true to ISA, as in: (22) TAG - Lutuan

Luto + -an
(20) Para- aged RW SUF
PREF ‘to sweep’ ‘place for cooking’
‘sweeper’
(21) Taga- poton For ISA, ISE, and ITE, the prefix pag- and the
PREF ‘to cook’ suffix -an were commonly used to form locative
‘cook’ nouns, as shown the following examples:
For ISE, the prefix para- is exclusively used to (23) ISA - Pagisaangan
form instigator nouns, while ITE uses taga-. Once more, Pag- isaang - an
ISA was found lexically different from ISE and ITE. PREF ‘cook’ SUF
‘place for cooking’
3.1.7 Locative pag- -an Nouns
(24) ISE - Paglutwan
Locative nouns in Ibanag, according to Dita Pag- luto -an
(2011), are morphologically derived by adding the PREF ‘cook’ SUF
base word to the suffix -an and other various prefixes. ‘place for cooking’
These affixes when attached to the base word would
refer to a place associated by the action encoded by (25) ITE - Paglutuan
the base word. In Tagalog, these are called locative Pag- luto -an
verb +-an nouns. An example of this would be: PREF ‘cook’ SUF
‘place for cooking’

Table 11. Personal pronouns in ISA, ISE, and ITE

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG

NO. TINGGUIAN
1 ako siak iya yakan iyak
2 kami dakami dahami dakami dikkami
3 ikaw sika ihaw ikaw ikow
4 kayo dakayo dahayo dakayo dikayo
5 sila isuda baggida aggidu igida
6 siya isuna baggina agginu igina

Table 12. Possessive pronouns in ISA, ISE, and ITE

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG TINGGUIAN

NO.
1 akin/ko bagik/kukuak uwa bagik/kuak kuak
2 iyo bagim/kukuam uwam bagim/kuam kuam
3 kanila bagida/kukuada uwada bagidu/kuadu kukuada
4 inyo bagiyo uwano bagiyo/kuayo kuano
5 amin bagimi uwami bagimi kuami
6 kanya bagina uwana kuanu kukuanayan

25
 Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte

Table 13. Deictic demonstratives in ISA, ISE, and ITE

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG

NO. TINGGUIAN
1 ito daytoy todi id odi/idi
2 mga ito dagitoy todayo didiya didi
3 iyan dayta heyan yan oyan
4 mga iyan dagita todayan dayan odian
5 iyon daydiay hetoni kuyo ditoni
6 mga iyon dagidiay hedayan kuyudo ditonida
7 dito ditoy iddi id/diya idi
8 diyan dita itonni yan noyan
9 doon idiay antonni tonyu annan/itoney

Notice that since ISE and ITE have the root (27) Pagletratuan Pag-
word luto, which ends with a vowel sound for ‘cook,’ letrato -an
ISE replaces /o/ with /w/ when adding the suffix -an, PREF ‘picture’ SUF
while ITE changes the phoneme /o/ with /u/. In an ‘a place for taking pictures’
interview with some ISE respondents, they confirmed
that they practice the same in other locative nouns. For Lexically, ISA differed in two (2) items from
ITE, this is also evident in their sample text, “A Guide ISE and ITE. However, there was only one lexical item
to Conversational Tingguian Dialect,” where the where the three languages differed from one another.
suffix -an is added to root words that end with a vowel
/o/, as seen in the following examples: 3.2 Pronouns and Deixis

(26) Magustuak This section of the lexical test focuses on

Ma- gusto -ak personal and possessive pronouns as well as deictic
PREF ‘like’ GEN.1s demonstratives. The personal pronouns given here are
Ma- ‘like’ ‘I’ limited to independent pronominal forms: first,
‘I like’ second, and third person, and singular, dual, and
plural number, which are mostly used as topics and,
thus, occur in a pre-predicate position (Ruffolo, 2004).

Table 14. Lexical verbs in ISA, ISE, and ITE

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG

NO. TINGGUIAN
1 kakain mangan magnabaw mangan mangan
2 kumain nangan nagnabaw nangan nangan/nanganin
3 kumakain mangmangan madama magnabaw mangmangan mangan tidon
4 kumain nang kumain nangnangan tada nga magnabaw nangnangan mangan kayo ngas
5 maligo ka na. agdiguskan. magdigot angin. agdigus ken. weka agdigusin.
6 naliligo ka na? agdigdigus kan? magdigdigot a? agdigdigus ken? maweka agdigusin?
7 naligo ka na? nagdiguskan? nagdigot angin? nagdigus ken? nagdiguskan?
8 punta ka dito. umayka ditoy. umangka annod. umayku kaid. umbet ka idi.
9 pumunta ka dito? immayka ditoy? umangkanto annod? immayku kaid? inumbet ka idi?

26
 Agnes Catalan-Francisco
Personal pronouns mainly encode information about
case, number, and person. As many authors claim, all
Philippine languages have three number distinctions:
singular, dual, and plural. Possessives also include first,
second, and third cases, while deictic demonstratives
include proximal, medial, and distal forms.
3.2.1 Personal Pronouns
All personal pronouns across the three languages
differ. ISA and ITE slightly differ in the phoneme /k/ for
the first person singular (1S), i.e., iya and iyak (‘I’). For the
first person plural (1P), ISA and ISE slightly differ in the
phoneme /k/ and /h/ as in dahami and dakami (‘we’),
respectively. The phoneme /h/ in ihaw (2S) for ISA makes
it different from ikaw and ikow for ISE and ITE,
respectively. The rest of the personal pronouns are encoded
differently for ISA, ISE, and ITE.
3.2.2 Possessive Pronouns
It can be seen in Table 12 that ISA possessives
basically derive from the morpheme /uwa/ and undergo
cliticization processes. ISE, on the other hand, is
somewhat similar with Ilocano possessives, except with
kuano (3S, ‘his/hers’). ISE possessives derive from the
morpheme /kua/ and /bagi/, which in Ilocano literally
stands for ‘possession’. ITE possessives follow the same
morphological process as ISE, only that the former
undergoes reduplication as in kukua (‘possession’), a
term that can be used interchangeably with kua in
Ilocano. This is exemplified in kukuada (3P, ‘theirs’) and
kukuanayan (3S, ‘his or hers’). Generally, ISA is
lexically different from ISE and ITE.
3.2.3 Deixis
This part analyzes deictics according to their
morphological features and their meanings.
Morphologically, deictic demonstratives are all complex
forms. According to Ruffolo (2004), Ibaloy distinguishes
three deictic forms reflecting three separate degrees of
distance. The first is used to refer to entities located near
the speaker, termed as “proximal”. The second refers to
entities located near the addressee or not too far away,
here named “medial”. These entities are usually visible.
The third refers to entities located away from both the
speaker and the addressee,
27
here named “distal”. These entities are usually located
further away than the medial ones and are usually not
visible. Table 13 summarizes the deictic
demonstratives in ISA, ISE, and ITE.
Items 1 to 6 are nominative deictic determiners
with their singular and plural forms. Items 7 to 9 are
deictic forms reflecting the three degrees of distance.
Interestingly, all of these deictic demonstratives are
encoded entirely different across three languages.
For ISA, todi (‘this’), todayo (‘these’), and
todayan (‘those’, medial distance) contain a common
morpheme /to/ representing nominative deictic
determiners. Hetoni (‘that’, distal form) and hedayan
(‘those’, distal) are singular and plural, respectively.
Deictic forms itonni (‘there’, medial) and antonni
(‘there’, distal) contain the morpheme /tonni/.
For ISE, id can be used to mean ‘this’ and
‘here’; yan for both ‘that’ and ‘there’ for medial
distance. Dayan is used to demonstrate ‘those’ for
medial distance, while kuyo (‘that’, distal form) and
kuyudo (‘those’, distal form). It seems that
morphologically, ISE is more complex compared to ISA.
For ITE, the phonemes /o/ and /i/ are common
among the nominative deictic determiners (e.g. odi/idi
‘this’, oyan ‘that’, odian ‘those’, medial, idi ‘here’).
Overall, these three languages have their own
set of deictic expressions used.
3.3 Verbs
Verb is the name given to a particular class of
words sharing certain grammatical and semantic
characteristics. Since no two languages are
grammatically identical, verbs as a class must differ
from language to language, but they have enough
common grammatical features across languages to merit
such shared features (Allerton, 2006). In Philippine
languages, some authors have attempted analyzing the
valency and tense/aspect as well as the transitivity
features of verbal clauses in Ilocano (Rubino,1997),
Ibaloy (Ruffolo, 2004), and Subanon (Daguman, 2004)
to name a few. These studies, however, highlighted
different features of the said languages. In this study, the
researcher primarily focused on the lexical features
of each of the three languages. Adopting Ruffolo’s
(2004) verb categorization where Ibaloy main verb
clauses are classified according to the transitivity of
their head, only the inflection of the lexical or main
 Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte

verb kain (‘eat’) used in the future (FUT) aspect, past
(P) tense, and present progressive (PresP) across the
three languages was considered for analysis (see
items 1, 2, 3, and 4 in Table 14). Meanwhile, the verb
ligo (‘take a bath’) was analyzed focusing on how it is
used in sentence types (see items 5, 6, and 7), and punta
(‘come’) in items 8 and 9, respectively. Sentence types
here refer to either imperative or interrogative. Still, the
purpose of limiting down to imperative and interrogative
types is to complement the observation made in the
inflection of the lexical verb in items 1 to 3.
For the lexical verb kain (‘eat’), ISA encoded it
differently as nabaw, while ISE and ITE had the same
root as pangan. In terms of aspect, ISA uses the prefix
mag- to signal future action, while ISE and ITE
substituted the phoneme /p/ from the root word pangan
with the phoneme /m/ to denote futurity. To show past
action, ISA substituted the prefix mag- with nag- ; ISE
and ITE both changed the phoneme /p/ of the root word
pangan to /n/, as in nangan (‘ate’). The three languages,
however, have different ways in forming their present
progressive. ISA, in this particular aspect, uses an
aspectual auxiliary, which can carry either an
imperfective, continuative, or progressive aspect.
The aspectual auxiliary, according to Ruffolo
(2004), attracts any second-order constituent part of the
main or lexical verb. In this case, ISA uses the aspectual
auxiliary, madama (‘currently’ or ‘presently’) preceding
the main verb magnabaw (‘eating’). ISE, on the other
hand, uses the CVCC reduplication of mangan (‘to eat’)
to come up with a progressive verb mangmangan
(‘currently eating’). ITE uses an aspectual auxiliary, but
this comes after the main verb as in mangan (‘eating’)
and tidon (‘presently’) to mean mangan tidon
(‘’presently eating’). However, this can only be true to
lexical constructions and not when used in a
complete sentence, as revealed by the respondents.
For item number 4, the continuative aspect of kain
(‘eat’), which is kumain nang kumain (‘ate again and
again’), is analyzed. Here, ISE uses the CVCC
reduplication of nangan (‘ate’) as in nangnangan (‘ate
again and again’). ISA and ITE used the aspectual
auxiliary, tada nga and kayo ngas, respectively.
Again, such construction is applicable only to lexical
constructions or short responses.
For item 5, an imperative is given where the
main verb used is ligo (‘take a bath’). Still, the prefix
mag- in ISA imperative is used to show that the action
has to be done by the receiver in the future. This
conforms to the use of the prefix mag- in ISA lexical
terms to show future action. ISE and ITE, on the other
hand, uses the prefix ag- to begin their imperatives, as in
agdigos (‘take a bath’). Such construction, however, can
also be used in lexical constructions or short responses,
e.g., aggapas (‘to harvest’), agsala (‘to dance’).
Similarly, the prefix nag- is used to denote past actions
when used in interrogatives, as in ISA nagdigot angin,
ISE nagdigus ken, and ITE nagdiguskan, to mean ‘Have
you taken a bath?’ The same observation on the lexical
construction for item 1 applies to imperatives as can be
seen in item 8. Another lexical construction for ISE and
ITE is a phoneme substitution to show past actions. The
following examples explain this:
(28) ISE - /U/mayku - /I/mmayku
FUT=ku - P=ku ‘to
come’ - ‘came’
ITE - Umbet - Inumbet
FUT - P
‘to come’ - ‘came’

Table 15. Dimension adjectives in ISA, ISE, and ITE

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG GLOSS

NO. TINGGUIAN
1 malaki dakkel dahal dakkal dakkel ‘big’
2 maiksi ababa ababba appasi bebbet ‘short’
3 mahaba atiddog adaddo annadu deddo ‘long’
4 malapad akaba nawagnad akaba lempad ‘wide’
5 masikip nailet nagilat nailat nagilet ‘narrow’
6 malalim nauneg adallam alinam nalungog ‘deep’

28
 Agnes Catalan-Francisco

Table 16. Comparative adjectives in ISA, ISE, and ITE

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG GLOSS

NO. TINGGUIAN
1 mas malaki dakdakkel daddahal dakdakkal dakdakkel ‘bigger’
2 mas maiksi ab-ababa ab-ababba ap-apassi bebbebbet ‘shorter’
3 mas mahaba at-atiddog ad-adaddo an-annadu deddeddo ‘longer’
4 mas malapad ak-akaba nawagwagnad ak-akaba lemlempad ‘wider’
5 mas masikip nail-ilet nagilgilat nail-ilat nagilgilet ‘narrower’
6 mas malalim naun-uneg ad-adallam al-alinam nalunglungog ‘deeper’

In general, ISA, ISE, and ITE inflect their
lexical verbs by reduplication, phonemic substitution,
and affixation. Lexically, these three languages,
especially ISA, are encoded differently in terms of
verbs.
3.4 Adjectives
This section analyzes one of the open word class
categories, the adjectives. In an article published by Liao
(2004), he asserted that seemingly adjective items in
Philippine languages are stative verbs for the very reason
that these words share a characteristic of verbs, which is
affixation. Ruffolo (2004) likewise argues that Ibaloy does
not have adjectives; it has only stative verbs. However,
modifiers in Ibaloy, for Ruffolo (2004), are in the form of a
relative clause since Ibaloy is a head-initial (or right-
branching) language. In a noun phrase, modifiers typically
follow the noun they modify. In a clause, verbal
complements, adjuncts, and modifiers of the predicate
typically occur after the predicate. But then, Rubino (1997)
strongly claims that there is a separate lexical class of
adjectives in Ilocano, having functions as predicate or
modifiers to nouns, nouns, and verbs.
Additionally, only a few of these Ilocano adjectives
are monomorphemic, including adjectival concepts
and color terms, and physical attributes as well.
For an English lexicon to be labelled as an
adjective, it must meet a set of criteria; that is, it can
occur both in the NP and VP position; it can occur in
attributive function; it can be pre-modified by the
intensifier ‘very’; and it can take a comparative and
superlative form (Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, & Svartvik,
1985). Given the following categories of adjectives, I
focused my discussion on the morphological features of
dimension adjectives, comparative adjectives,
superlative adjectives, and quantifying adjectives in ISA,
ISE, and ITE using four (items 1 to 4) monomorphemic
and two (items 5 and 6) derived (prefix na-) Ilocano
adjectives, as shown in Table 15.
3.4.1 Dimension Adjectives
Based on the entries in Table 15, only ITE has
an Ilocano borrowed word for ‘big’ dakkel although ISA
and ISE are slightly phonologically different from ITE
(i.e., ISA - dahal; ISE - dakkal). It is also observed from
the given examples that the three languages have

Table 17. Superlative adjectives in ISA, ISE, and ITE

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG GLOSS

NO. TINGGUIAN
1 pinakamalaki kadakkelan daddaddahal kadaklan kadakkelan ‘biggest’
2 pinakamaiksi kaababaan ab-abab-ba kaapasian kabebbetan ‘shortest’
3 pinakamahaba kaatiddugan ad-adaddo kaanudnan kadadduan ‘longest’
4 pinakamalapad kaakabaan nawagwagnad kaakabaan kalempyadan ‘widest’
5 pinakamasikip kaiiletan nagilgilat kailatan kagigiletan ‘narrowest’
6 pinakamalalim kauunegan ad-adadallam kaalinaman kalulungugan ‘deepest’

29
 Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte

Table 18. Quantification terms in ISA, ISE, and ITE

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG GLOSS

NO. TINGGUIAN
1 isa maysa isa isa isa ‘one’
2 dalawa dua dua dua dua ‘two’
3 tatlo tallo tallo tallo tallo ‘three’
4 apat uppat appat appat appat ‘four’
5 lima lima lima lima lima ‘five’
6 anim innem annam annam annem ‘six’
7 pito pito pitto pito pito ‘seven’
8 walo walo walo walo walo ‘eight’
9 siyam siyam siyam siyam siyam ‘nine’
10 sampu sangapulo sangapulo pullo/sangapulo pulo ‘ten’
11 sandaan sangagasut isa gasut siyen/sangagasut sangagasot ‘one hundred’
12 sanlibo sangribu sangaribu sangaribu sangaribu ‘one thousand’
13 una umuna mon-una muna nuna ‘first’
14 ikalawa maikadua mehadua mekadua maikadua ‘second’
15 wala awan awan awan awan ‘there is no/none’
16 meron adda atan asan uwad ‘there is’

monomorphemic as well as derived adjectives just 3.4.2 Comparative Adjectives

like their ILO counterparts. Lexically, the three
languages are encoded differently. However, slight The comparative degree of Ilocano adjectives
phonemic variation was found in some words, as in: is formed through reduplication. This process is done
when the stem has a closed syllable (CVC or CV);
(29) ISA - Nagilat that is, if the first syllable of the stem is open (CV),
- Na=gilat then the first consonant of the second syllable is
- PREF=‘narrowness’ borrowed in the reduplication (Rubino, 1997). If the
- ‘narrow’ second syllable begins with a vowel, then a hyphen is
necessary in the reduplication process. This feature is
(30) ISE - Nailat illustrated in the given examples in Table 16.
- Na=ilat It can be clearly seen in the table that
- PREF=‘narrowness’ reduplication process to form the comparative degree
- ‘narrow’ of the ISA, ISE, and ITE adjectives takes place. Even
with adjectives with the prefix na-, the closed syllable
(31) ITE - Nagilet of the stem is reduplicated.
- Na=gilet
- PREF=‘narrowness’ 3.4.3 Superlative Adjectives
- ‘narrow’
In Ilocano, the superlative degree of
Just like Ilocano-derived adjectives, ISA, ISE, adjectives is formed by adding the prefix ka- and the
and ITE use the prefix na- with root words to form suffix -an to the root word.
dimension adjectives. ISA is notably different in terms of the
derivational process in forming the superlative degree
compared to ISE and ITE. While ISE and ITE attach the

30
 Agnes Catalan-Francisco

Table 19. Negation and interrogatives in ISA, ISE, and ITE

ITEM TAGALOG ILOCANO ISNAG ISNEG YAPAYAO ITNEG GLOSS

NO. TINGGUIAN
1 hindi haan/saan akkan dini akkan/beken ‘no’
2 wala na awanen awannin awanin awanin ‘no more’
3 ano ania ingkana anto agana ‘what’
4 sino sinnu ingkaano nain agankadyan ‘who’
5 kailan tun anu/kaanu anungayna kanangway nungey ‘when’
6 saan ayanna awagiyana didiyan no awak idi ‘where’
7 paano kasanu/innudtoy pahanyan kanya kumaanna ‘how’
8 bakit apay tanya ape ape ‘why’
9 magkano sagmamanu pigayan manu sagpipiga ‘how much’
10 ilan manu piga manu piga ‘how many’
11 alin ayanna awana andi giyanna ‘which’
12 kanino sinnu akinbagi/ inka mahinwa akinkukua kaid/ agan makinkua idi “whose’
akinbagi kinbagi kaid

prefix ka- and the suffix -an to the root word, ISA uses
intensive reduplication of the closed syllable (CVC or
CV) of the stem, as shown in the example given below:
(32) ISA - Daddaddahal
- Dad=dad=dahal
- CVC=CVC=’big’
- ‘biggest’
Similarly, it was observed that in the case of
derived adjectives with the prefix na-, the comparative
and superlative degrees in ISA are morphologically
the same. Both ISE and ITE adjectives form their
superlative degrees by attaching the prefix ka- and the
suffix -an to the root word, a morphological process
similar to ILO superlative adjectives.
Ibanag, however, not having adjectives as a
lexical class, uses the circumfix ka- -an/ka- -an/ to
derive superlative nouns from any root containing a
gradable component. This circumfix indicates the
prominence of this gradable element in the derived
noun. However, the intensity of its presence can be
varied through reduplication.
3.4.4 Quantification Terms
Quantification terms included here are
cardinals (items 1 to 12), ordinals (items 11 and 12),
and existentials (items 13 and 14). Cardinals are
numerals that express quantity. Ordinals express time,
order, or rank. Existentials are particles that express
both existential and possessive constructions. For the
Ilocanos, the positive existential adda (‘there is’)
shows absolute possession and current possession.
Awan (‘there is no’) is its negative counterpart.
In terms of cardinals, eight (67%) out of 12
were found lexically the same across the three
languages. For ordinals, they were almost the same,
except for a slight phonemic variation, as in:
(33) ISA - Mehadua
- Me/h/a=dua
- PREF=’two’
ISE - Mekadua
- Me/k/a=dua
- PREF=‘two’
ITE - Maikadua
- Ma/i/k/a=dua
- PREF=’two’
It can be observed that ITE has the same
morphological components with those of ILO. The
negative existential awan (‘there is no’) is used across
the three languages, while the positive existential
adda (‘there is’) is encoded differently. Generally,
ISA, ISE, and ITE are lexically akin to ILO in terms
of quantification. This somehow reflects the extent of
the pragmatic and economic use of such quantification

31
 Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte
terms of the three IP communities. The slight
phonemic variations of the three language varieties
and their close similarity with those of the Ilocano
counterparts indicate that such terms could have been
influenced by economic interaction with the host
community language, which is Ilocano.
3.5 Negation and Interrogatives
Rubino (1997) looked into predications in
Ilocano classified into affirmative and negative types.
Particularly, Rubino (1997) dealt with negation of
existentials and negation of responses. Here, only the
negative responses (items 1 and 2), hindi (‘no’) and
wala na (‘no more’) were asked for their ISA, ISE,
and ITE counterparts. Items 3 to 12 are interrogatives.
According to Ruffolo (2004), Ibaloy has several
words for unknown quantities, entities, or times in
either interrogative or indefinite contexts. They
include the following:
sipa/sipa/‘who, whom’
towa/towa/‘where’
ngan(=to)/Nan(=to)/‘what, which(=3/gen)’
ngaran(=to)/Nadan(=to)/‘what, which(=3/
gen)’
to=y/to=j/‘what=nom’
sa’no/saPno/‘how’
kasa’no/kasapno/‘how’
piga/piga/‘how many, how much’
pigan(=to)/pigan(=to)/‘when(=3/gen)’
ngantoy/Nantoj/‘why’
apay=nga/Papaj=Na/‘why=lk’
Clearly, this class of interrogatives crosses
word class boundaries. Such indefiniteness of these
interrogatives also appears in ILO where some are
used according to pragmatic context (Rubino, 1997).
Unlike Ibaloy and ILO, TAG has definite
interrogatives assigned to English question words.
Looking at Table 19, it can be gleaned that ISA
and ITE use Akkan (‘No’) for a negative response, while
ISE uses Dini. All three languages, however, use almost
the same form for Awanin (‘No more’), which is a slight
phonological modification of its ILO counterpart,
Awanen. In ILO, Awanen, as a negative response, is
often used to intensify the absence of or
32
negativeness of Awan (‘None’) at the time of speaking.
Its derivation is shown in the following example:
(34) ILO - Awanen
- Awan=(e)n
- NEG=now
In an interview conducted among selected
respondents and as observed during the survey, most
of them produce the /e/ sound as either /i/ or /Ə/. This
possibly explains the morphological composition of
Awanin/Awannin. Such observation, however, is
inconclusive and needs to be studied further. In the
case of interrogatives, all terms used across the three
languages are encoded differently. This may be
explained by the fact that since these tribes speak their
first language at home, they also ascribe to these
words their local accent and, thus, adds to the
morphological variations of these words.
Overall, it can be inferred that while Isnag
appears to be more lexically different from Ilocano
than Itneg Tingguian and Isneg Yapayao, factors other
than those partly mentioned by the researcher that
could have influenced such lexical variations of the
three languages may be explored.
4. Conclusion
The morphological and lexical analysis of the
Ianguages spoken by these IP communities indicates that
reduplication pattern, just like in Ilocano and other
Cordilleran languages, seems to denote plurality of
nouns in Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg Tingguian.
With such limited number of lexical items analyzed,
lexical borrowing is also evident in these three
languages, which is a common feature in most Philippine
languages. Further, similarities in word-formation
processes are fairly evident in each of the three
languages. The seclusion of the Isnag community may
have helped its language lexically exclusive from
Ilocano, while the inclusivity of the Itneg Tingguians
opens itself to a much higher incidence of lexical
borrowing from Ilocano. Affixation, reduplication, and
phonemic substitution are the three major lexical
formation processes involved in Isnag, Isneg, and Itneg
Tingguian languages. For quite a few number of lexical
items analyzed, it may be inconclusive that these three
 Agnes Catalan-Francisco

minority languages are morphologically diverse and http://kaitnogan.blogspot.com/2010/04/itneg-

lexically different from one another. people-of-northern-luzon.html

References

Allerton, P. (2006). Plural languages, plural cultures.

Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Daguman, J.S. (2004). A grammar of Northern Subanen
(Unpublished doctoral dissertation). La Trobe
University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia.
De los Reyes, A.J., & De los Reyes, A.M. (Eds.). (1987).
Igorot: A people who daily touch the earth and the
sky. Baguio City: Cordillera Schools Group.
Dita, S.N. (2011). Ibanag nominal marking system.
In S.N. Dita (Ed.), Issues and trends in Applied
Linguistics in the Philippines: A decade in
retrospect (pp. 152-165). Manila, the Philippines:
Vibal Publishing.
Ethnologue – Languages of the World. (2012).
Retrieved February 4, 2013 from http://www.sil.
org/ethnologue
Kobari, Y. (2005). The current status of the Butuanon
language and its speakers in Northern Mindanao:
Findings on ethnic identity, language attitude,
language ability, language use, and language
change (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). De La
Salle University, Manila.
Liao, H.C. (2004). Transitivity and ergativity in
Formosan and Philippine languages (Unpublished
doctoral dissertation). University of Hawaii.
Prill-Brett, J. (2007). Contested domains: The
Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) and legal
pluralism in the northern Philippines. A paper
presented at the 7th International Philippine Studies
Conference, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J.
(1985). A comprehensive grammar of the English
language. New York: Longman Group Limited.
Rubino, C. (1997). A reference grammar of Ilocano
(Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of
California, Santa Barbara.
Ruffolo, R. (2004). Topics in the morpho-syntax of
Ibaloy Northern Philippines (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation). Australian National University.
The Tingguian Ethno-history. (2012). Retrieved
February 4, 2013 from www.INORTE.org.
Valera, F. (2010). The Itneg people of Northern Luzon,
Philippines. Retrieved February 4, 2013 from

33
 Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte

Appendix A. Lexical Test

Name (Optional): ______________________ Age:___ Gender: _________

Location/Municipality: __________________ Tribe: _________________

Directions: Complete the table by giving the Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian equivalent of the
following words and expressions:

1. NOUNS

1.1 Number of Nouns

TAGALOG (TAG) ILOCANO (ILO) Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL
1. bulaklak mga bulaklak sabong sabsabong
2. dahon mga dahon bulong bulbulong
3. ilog mga ilog karayan dagiti karayan
4. bundok mga bundok bantay banbantay
5. puno mga puno kayo kaykayo
6. sanga mga sanga sanga sangsanga
7. gulay mga gulay nateng natnateng
8. ugat mga ugat urat ur-urat
9. lupa mga lupa daga dagdaga
10. ulap mga ulap ulep ul-ulep
11. kamote mga kamote kamutig kamkamutig
12. saging mga saging saba sabsaba
13. sanga mga sanga sanga sangsanga
14. bagyo mga bagyo bagyo dagiti bagyo
15. bigas mga bigas bagas bagbagas
16. kalabaw mga kalabaw nuang nunuang
17. kabayo mga kabayo kabalyo kabkabalyo
18. manok mga manok manok manmanok
19. langgam mga langgam kuton kutkuton
20. ibon mga ibon tumaytayab dagiti tumaytayab
21. kambing mga kambing kalding kalkalding
22. aso mga aso aso as-aso
23. baboy mga baboy baboy babbaboy
24. isda mga isda ikan ik-ikan
25. hipon mga hipon udang ud-udang
26. bayawak mga bayawak banyas banbanyas
27. ahas mga ahas uleg ul-uleg
28. usa mga usa ugsa uugsa
29. paru-paro mga paru-paro kulibangbang kulkulibangbang
30. pugad mga pugad umok um-umok

34
 Agnes Catalan-Francisco

1.2 Gender of Nouns

TAGALOG ILOCANO Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

tatang/ama/tata tatay/ama/itay
manong kuya
uncle/uliteg uncle/tito/tiyo
apo lakay/lolo/lolong lolo
baro binata
bayaw/kayong bayaw
ipag hipag
auntie/ikit tiya/tita/auntie
manang ate
lola/lila lola
balasang dalaga
nanang/nana/ina nanay/inay/ina
babai babae
lalaki lalaki/lalake
upa inahin
kawitan tandang

1.3 Body Parts

ILOCANO TAGALOG Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

mata mata
rupa mukha
ima kamay
dapan talampakan
kiday kilay
saka paa
agong ilong
siket baywang
tumeng tuhod
bukot likod
ramay daliri
bagis bituka
patong balakang
urat ugat
siding nunal
lapayag tenga

1.4 Reciprocal Nouns

ILOCANO TAGALOG Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

agasawa mag-asawa
agkasinsin magpinsan
agkabsat magkapatid
agkarruba magkapitbahay
agkataeb magkaedad

35
 Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte

1.5 Comitative Nouns

ILOCANO TAGALOG Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

kabagian kamag-anak
kaklasi kaklase
karruba kapitbahay
kabsat kapatid
kasasao kausap

1.6 Instigator Nouns

ILOCANO TAGALOG Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

parawalis tagawalis
paraluto tagaluto
parainnaw tagahugas
paradalus tagalinis
paralaba tagalaba

1.7 Locative Verb + -an Nouns

ILOCANO TAGALOG Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

paglutuan lutuan
paginnawan hugasan
pagiddaan higaan
pagturugan tulugan
pagdigusan liguan

2. PRONOUNS AND

DEIXIS 2.1 Personal Pronouns

ILOCANO TAGALOG Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

siak ako
dakami kami
sika ikaw
dakayo kayo
isuda sila
isuna siya

2.2 Possessives

ILOCANO TAGALOG Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

bagik/kukuak akin
bagim/kukuam iyo
bagida/kukuada kanila
bagiyo inyo
bagimi amin
bagina kanya

36
 Agnes Catalan-Francisco

2.3 Deixis

ILOCANO TAGALOG Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

daytoy ito
dagitoy mga ito
dayta iyan
dagita mga iyan
daydiay iyon
dagidiay mga iyon
ditoy dito
dita diyan
idiay doon

3. VERBS

ILOCANO TAGALOG Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian)

mangan kakain
nangan kumain
mangmangan kumakain
nangnangan kumain nang kumain
agdiguskan. maligo ka na.
agdigdigus kan? naliligo ka na?
nagdiguskan? naligo ka na?
umayka ditoy. punta ka dito.
immayka ditoy? pumunta ka dito?

4. ADJECTIVES

4.1 Dimension Adjectives

ILOCANO TAGALOG Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

dakkel malaki
ababa maiksi
atiddog mahaba
akaba malapad
nailet masikip
nauneg malalim

4.2 Comparative Adjectives

ILOCANO TAGALOG Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

dakdakkel mas malaki
ab-ababa mas maiksi
at-atiddog mas mahaba
ak-akaba mas malapad
nail-ilet mas masikip
naun-uneg mas malalim

37
 Morphological and Lexical Variations of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, and Itneg
Tingguian as Spoken in Ilocos Norte

4.3 Superlative Adjectives

ILOCANO TAGALOG Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

kadakkelan pinakamalaki
kaababaan pinakamaiksi
kaatiddugan pinakamahaba
kaakabaan pinakamalapad
kaiiletan pinakamasikip
kauunegan pinakamalalim

4.4 Quantifying Adjectives

ILOCANO TAGALOG Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

maysa isa
dua dalawa
tallo tatlo
uppat apat
lima lima
innem anim
pito pito
walo walo
siyam siyam
sangapulo sampu
umuna una
maikadua ikalawa
awan wala
adda meron
sangagasut sandaan
sangaribu sanlibo

5. NEGATION AND INTERROGATIVES

ILOCANO TAGALOG Isnag/Isneg Yapayao/Itneg Tingguian

haan/saan hindi
awanen wala na
ania ano
sinnu sino
tun anu kailan
ayanna saan
kasanu paano
apay bakit
sagmamanu magkano
manu ilan
ayanna alin
sinnu akinbagi kanino

38
 Philippine Journal of Linguistics

Modal Must in Philippine Editorials: A Corpus-based Study

Rodrigo Concepcion Morales

University of Santo Tomas Graduate School, Manila, Philippines Parañaque Science
High School, Parañaque City, Philippines Bernardo College, Las Piñas City, Philippines
Email: rcmoralesust@yahoo.com

Abstract

The present study examines the semantic functions and the dominant verb-phrase structure of the
modal must under the category of printed written texts of persuasive writing in press editorials found in the
Philippine component of the International Corpus of English (ICE-PHI) compiled by Bautista, Lising, and
Dayag (1999). Moreover, the study aims to determine whether the modal must conforms to or deviates
from the standard modal usage in American English. A total of 36 texts were analyzed for the study with
approximately less than 32,000 words. The findings revealed that the dominant verb-phrase structure of the
modal must is must + base form of the verb, which is favored by Filipino press editorial writers because of
the seemingly overtly authoritative tone of the modal must. Overall, the results of the present study further
confirm Gustilo’s (2011) findings that the modal must in Philippine editorials maintains its conformity to
the standard modal usage in American English. Based on the study results, a number of pedagogical
implications are provided for ESL/EFL instruction and for future research.

Keywords: Modal must, Philippine English, semanticity, editorials, standard usage in English language

1. Introduction
The system of modality in English language has
been an interesting linguistic topic for a number of
applied linguists (e.g., Abdul-Fattah, 2011; Coates &
Leech, 1980; Collins, 2009; Gustilo, 2011; Hernández-
Guerra, 2013; Jacobsson, 2008; Nkemleke, 2005) in
terms of its possible deviations found in varieties of
English. In fact, many users of the English language tend
to use modal verbs to mean the following five
parameters of systemic linguistics as proposed by
Halliday (2004, as cited in Toolan, 2009):
Probability,
Billings might be in
Montana.; Obligation,
Billings should be in
Montana.; Willingness,
Billings would be in Montana if it
were given the choice.;
Usuality,
Billings is usually in Montana.; and,
Certainty,
Billings must be in Montana.
(p. 46)
Toolan (2009) posited his supposition as
regards the aforementioned sentences:
…[T]hose sentences are not actually
ungrammatical, and their oddness does
not simply rest in the sentences
themselves but points back to some
oddness in their speakers. This is the
essence of modality: to be revealing of the
speaker’s attitudes and judgments. (p. 47)
Furthermore, Maclin (2001) expounds that
“modals show many meanings that are shown by the
subjective or another mood in many other languages” (p.
192). On the one hand, modals do not commonly seem to
exhibit a happenstance; on the other, “they show thoughts
about actions” (p. 192). This particular assumption is
demonstrated by employing the functions presented below;

39
 Modal Must in Philippine Editorials: A Corpus-based Study
thus, the following sentences carrying the modals may,
should, and must may take different semantic implications:
Permission
[1] May we cook?
Advisability
[2] Should we cook?
Necessity
[3] Must we cook?
(Maclin, 2001, p. 192)
In [1], the questioners may sound indecisive
whether or not they will cook in the future, although the
implication is that they want to cook, and if the answer to
this inquiry is “yes,” then, they probably will cook. In [2],
the questioners are likely offering an opinion whether
cooking is a good idea or not for that matter. Lastly, in [3],
the implication of the modal must is that the questioners do
not likely want to cook, and if the answer to this inquiry is
“no,” they probably will not cook.
In his paper, “Modality and the English
modals,” Palmer (1990) noted that modality is concerned
with opinions and attitudes of speakers. In fact, modality
and modal verbs are differentiated as the former refers to
the formal properties of a certain class of words, while
the later refer to the meaning of those words. In addition,
he elucidated two types of modality and their definitions.
The first is epistemic modality, which is concerned with
the speaker’s judgment of the truth of the proposition
embedded in the statement. Furthermore, Halliday
(1970) provided a comprehensive definition of epistemic
modality as the “speaker’s assessment of probability and
predictability” (p. 349), thereby, externally declaring the
speaker’s attitude embedded in the content of his
utterance.
[4] John must be home.
In [4], the speaker is telling the truth of the
proposition that John is certainly coming home in an
indefinite time.
The second, in contrast, is deontic modality,
which is characterized by Palmer (1990) as “influencing
actions, states, or events” (p. 6). Further, this definition
is attributed to the performing acts as in:
[5] John may go home now.
40
Nkemleke (2005) explains the distinction
between epistemic and root modality:
… [Epistemic modality] imputes a state
of belief to the speaker/writer regarding
the truth of some proposition x, such that
a statement of epistemic ‘necessity’, for
example, takes the form: ‘circumstances
constrain the speaker to believe that x’ …
[whereas the latter (root modality)
considers x which refers not to a
proposition, but to a phenomenon (an
event, state, or set of events), the
occurrence of which is influenced by
some other phenomenon. Therefore the
form of a statement of root ‘necessity’ can
be generalized as follows: ‘circumstances
constrain the occurrence of x’. (p. 50)
Nkemleke (2005) further illustrates this
assumption:
Epistemic meaning
x may y’ = ‘it is possible that x [will] y’ =
‘perhaps x [will] y’.
‘x must y’ = ‘x must necessarily y’ = ’it
must be that y’.
Root meaning
‘x can y’ = ‘x may y’ = ‘it is possible for
x to y’.
‘x must y’ = ‘it is necessary for x to y’.
(p. 50)
To exemplify the abovementioned identity
equation, below are sentences to represent the
epistemic and root meanings.
Epistemic meaning
‘x may y’ = ‘it is possible that x [will] y’ = ‘perhaps x
[will] y’.
He may see her.
It is possible that he sees her perhaps if he will take a
day off.
‘x must y’ = ‘x must necessarily y’ = ’it must be that y’.
He must see her.
It is necessary that he sees her because he needs to
borrow a book from her.
 Rodrigo Concepcion Morales
Root meaning
‘x can y’ = ‘x may y’ = ‘it is possible for x to y’.
She can cook.
If she sees an opportunity to cook tonight she may
cook. Thus, it is possible for her to cook if she arrives
home early.
‘x must y’ = ‘it is necessary for x to y’.
He must submit his research paper tomorrow.
It is necessary for him to submit his research paper
otherwise he will obtain an incomplete grade.
It should be noted that the said identity
equation has limitations; however, it shows the
“categorical nature of the epistemic/root distinction”
(Nkemleke, 2005, p. 50). Possibility and necessity are
demonstrated as semantic labels occurring in both
epistemic and root paraphrases.
Coates and Leech (1980) described the contrast
between ‘permission’/‘obligation’
‘possibility’/‘necessity’ in terms of a cline of restriction:
At one end of the scale the nature of the
determining or constraining
circumstances is unrestricted, while at the
other end they belong to a restricted world
of man-made freedoms and obligations. It
is here that a paraphrase such as ‘x is
permitted to y’ becomes more appropriate
than ‘it is possible for x to y’. (p. 7)
For instance,
[6] I am permitted to go home.
is more appropriate than
[7] It is possible for me to go home.
In [6], the possibility of the speaker to go
home is unrestricted, whereas in [7] the restriction of
going home is controlled by the circumstance.
Abdul-Fattah (2011) further explained the use
of the modal must, which expresses present
obligation, future obligation, external obligation,
prohibition, and logical judgment at pre-present.
Conversely, Azar (2002) proposed a simple
model of modal meanings, which is the paradigm
employed in this study. These two semantic functions
of the modal must, i.e., (1) obligation/compulsion/
advisability/strong necessity and (2) logical deduction,
are illustrated in the following statements:
[8] I must go to class today.
[9] Mary isn’t in the class today. She must be
sick.
In [8], the speaker expresses obligation or
compulsion. The speaker is strongly necessitated to go
to school in order to attend his or her classes. Logical
deduction, on the other hand, is expressed in [9]; thus,
the speaker is assuming that Mary is sick. This
assumption logically leads the speaker to the context
that Mary will not absent herself from the class unless
illness is given as an excuse for her absence.
Gustilo (2011) conducted an investigation on
modals in Philippine English newspapers. She
and explored the semantic functions and syntactic patterns
of modal auxiliaries. Specifically, one of her findings
revealed that the modal must is predominantly
attached to the construct of obligation or compulsion.
More importantly, the modal must appeared “to
conform to the norms of the dominant native English
varieties” (Gustilo, 2011, p. 104; Ki, 2011).
Jacobsson’s (2008) analysis of the modal
necessity of must in particular revealed a distinction
from the quasi-auxiliary have to, i.e., must carries “a
connotation of binding duty, strong moral obligation,
inescapable necessity, strong desire, or perverse
constraint” (pp. 308-309). In addition, the internal as
in [10] and the external necessity or obligation as
exemplified in [11] expounded the semanticity of
must and have to.
[10] I must go now.
[11] I have to go now.
In [10], the obligation comes from the speaker
himself, whereas in [11], the obligation comes from
some external sources given these sample contexts, I
have to go now because it is likely to rain or I have to go
now, for I have to attend my in-laws 50th wedding
anniversary. To further emphasize this assumption,
Palmer (1974) in his book, The English Verb, suggested
that the modal must and quasi-auxiliary have to be
41
 Modal Must in Philippine Editorials: A Corpus-based Study
called “discourse-oriented” verbs because “the
obligation is imposed by the speaker or, in question,
the hearer, while with have to the obligation comes
from some external source or from no source in
particular” (p. 38). In a more recent study, Abdul-
Fattah (2011) highlighted the “discourse-
orientedness” of modal must and quasi-auxiliary have
to because they denote strong desire, obligation, and
necessity, thereby, “exhibiting a performative function
and referring to the present time only” (El-Hassan,
1990, p. 158, as cited in Abdul-Fattah, 2011).
In relation to this, Collins (2009) presents
relevant concepts regarding modals and quasi-modals
in light of the emergence of World Englishes.
Analyzing the modals used by American, British, and
Australian English users from norm-providing
countries in the inner circle corroborated by Kachru
(1985), Collins revealed the semantically-related
modal counterparts of quasi-modals. In particular, the
modal must is the closest counterpart of quasi-modal
have to, whose primary meaning is strong deontic
necessity. On the contrary, the quasi-modal have to
and the modal must are different; the former is
commonly believed to be more objective − “the
source of the obligation being external to the speaker”
as in [12], and the latter is assumed to be more
subjective − “the speaker typically being the source of
the obligation” as in [13] (Collins, 2009, p. 287).
[12] “<ICE-HK:S1A-0063303:1:A>
And you have to find some phrases similar
to the meaning or of some terms. And then
you have to fill in the blanks, and when this
paper is over you have about ten minutes
ten minutes’re and uhm people will just go
crazily to the bathroom.
[13] <ICE-IND:S1A-017#32:1:1>
Safety safety is first than everything else
comes next yeah. You must be facing it
but whether it is your place or not”.
(Collins, 2009, p. 288)
Furthermore, according to Collins (2009), the
use of the modal must is less attractive and less
objective because of its overtly authoritative tone.
Another meaning of the modal must found in the
study is the dynamic must, which “expresses a need
42
that typically derives from internally-driven factors”
(Collins, 2009, p. 288) as in [14].
[14] <ICE-SIN:S1A-004#21:1:A>
You must do reservist this this that aiyoh.
Now I think I must really think first of
migrating you know.
In addition, Jacobsson (2008) concluded that
“it is convenient to make a distinction between
obligative must (root) and conclusive must
(epistemic). While the obligative must has been
steadily losing ground, especially in American
English, conclusive must is very much alive” (p. 310).
Newson (2008, as cited in Nartey & Yankson,
2014) posited that the modal must is “a strong deontic
modal auxiliary verb, for it is used in a manifesto to
express (strong) obligation and/or compulsion and
logical necessity” (p. 27).
[15] Our education policy must address the
deficiencies in our human resource.
In [15], the strong deontic expression of the
modal must is likely felt, for its proposition forcefully
obliges the hearer to address the deficiencies in the
immediate future. Also, the speaker impliedly
expresses the failure of the implementers of the
education policy to address the probable problems in
the educational system.
In 1966, Hoffman differentiated systematic
meanings of modals between social interactional
(root) and logical probability (epistemic) through the
following exemplifications:
[16] You may leave the room. (social
interactional)
[17] It may rain tomorrow. (logical probability)
According to Inchaurralde Besga (2012, p. 1)
“root modality,” on the one hand, “deals with obligation,
permission, ability etc.,” showing attitudes that apply to
the world of things and social interaction; on the other,
“epistemic modality deals with probability, possibility,
certainty, etc.,” showing assessments of potentiality that
relate to the world of knowledge and reasoning.
In [16], the speaker may be of sufficient
 Rodrigo Concepcion Morales
authority to give the permission to leave. Likewise, it
can be inferred that the possible context is formal, which
probably dictates the speaker to use the modal may
instead of can for that matter; thereby, determining the
social situation allows the speaker to choose the
appropriate modal for any social interaction. On the
contrary, in [17], Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman
(1983) explicate that the “knowledge of the social
situation would have little or no effect on the modal
selected. The speaker is intending to put across that low
probability of precipitation; therefore, the speaker would
likely use the modal may regardless of whom the
speaker’s listener was or where the interaction took
place” (p. 83).
The present study is anchored on the
theoretical linguistic framework proposed by Azar
(2002) concerning the two semantic functions of the
modal must: obligation/compulsion/advisability/
strong necessity and logical deduction. The interesting
nature of the modal must prompted the researcher to
conduct a study that would shed light on the linguistic
framework of the functional semanticity of the modal
must as suggested by Azar (2002), which is employed
in editorial texts found in the Philippine component of
the International Corpus of English (ICE-PHI).
Several studies and constructs on the modal
must have been carried out (e.g., Collins, 2009; Gustilo,
2011; Jacobsson, 2008; Nartey & Yankson, 2014;
Nkemleke, 2005); however, less attention has been given
to the functional semanticity of the modal must found in
editorial texts. The present study aims to ascertain the
semantic functions of the modal must and its conformity
to or deviation from the standard usage in the English
language. Specifically, the present study sought answers
to the following questions:
1.What are the dominant verb-phrase
structures of the modal must in the ICE-PHI
corpus press editorial texts?
2.What semantic functions attached to the
modal must were identified in the ICE-PHI
corpus press editorial texts?
3.Are there distinctive features found in the
use of the modal must in the said press
editorials that do not conform to the
standard modal usage in English?
43
2. Method
The present study utilized the Philippine
component of the International Corpus of English (ICE-
PHI) compiled by Bautista, Lising, and Dayag (1999),
particularly the corpora under Persuasive Writing, Press
Editorials with text category and numbered texts as
shown inside the parentheses (W2E-001 to W2E-010).
The complete and total number of texts found in ICE-
PHI was only 36 with approximately 31,578 words.
Moreover, the data for semantic functions were adapted
from the study of Gustilo (2011). Azar’s (2002)
theoretical linguistic schema was likewise used in the
present study with regard to the functional semanticity of
the modal must: obligation/compulsion/advisability/
strong necessity and logical deduction. The researcher
manually analyzed the functions of the modal must
found in the 36 editorial texts based on the linguistic
framework of the study. Further, sentences served as the
units of analysis in the study. Also, WordSmith Tools
was employed as far as the occurrences of the modal
must were concerned.
3. Results and Discussion
Table 1 presents the frequency and percentage
distributions of verb-phrase structures of the modal
must in the ICE-PHI Press Editorial texts.
As shown in the table, the verb-phrase
structure must + base form of the verb obtained the
highest frequency among other verb-phrase structures.
This finding suggests that a number of Filipino press
editorial writers may have chosen to write simple
sentence structures in the active voice as shown in
[18] and [19]:
[18] <ICE-PHI:W2E-005#72:4>
But having said that, we also must urge
authorities to exercise extreme caution in
enforcing the law.
[19] <ICE-PHI:W2E-001#98:3>
When you are the president, you <it>
must </it> know you cannot meddle in
the affairs of a constitutionally mandated
body.
 Modal Must in Philippine Editorials: A Corpus-based Study

Table 1. Frequency of Verb-phrase Structures of Modal Must in the ICE-Phi Press Editorial Texts

Modal Structure Sample Text and Root Data Frequency Percentage

must + be We don’t know about his paper, but this one never let up 4 11.11%
on its warning that a progress so rapid as that touted by the
administration must be a sham. </p>
<ICE-PHI:W2E-010#40:1>
must + base form of the Faced with a currency crisis, we must brace ourselves for 17 47.22%
verb the daunting task of finding elusive solutions pertaining to
two things about which nobody has any certain ideas: our
present problems and the real state of our country.
<ICE-PHI:W2E-010#27:1>
must + be + past participle Somehow, the cost of war must be counted in pesos and 12 33.33%
centavos, because the same taxpayers ‘ money used in
fighting a war can very well be used to securing the peace
that Filipinos want. </p>
<ICE-PHI:W2E-008#62:4>
must + have + been + past Congressmen, including the whistle blowers, are certainly 1 2.78%
participle aware of this constitutional requisite and they must have
already been alerted to the fact that whatever provisions were
included in the Omnibus Power Bill on second reading would
be no different when the third reading comes about. </p>
<ICE-PHI:W2E-009#88:3>
must + be + SEN. Benigno Ninoy and Aquino Jr. must be turning in 1 2.78%
present participle his grave as the nation commemorated his 14th death
anniversary yesterday.
<ICE-PHI:W2E-006#38:2>
must + have + Singapore’s prime minister must have already anticipated 1 2.78%
past participle the relatively trouble-free reception.
<ICE-PHI:W2E-003#42:3>
Total 36 100%

In [18], the subject pronoun we is probably
given emphasis in the said statement rather than the
object of the verb urge. It can be inferred that the
speaker is likely expressing compulsion to the readers
and the urge to appeal to authorities to whom he should
not be considered an intruder. This finding exercises
extreme caution in enforcing the law. In addition, in
[19], the speaker pronounces the use of the pronoun you
as the subject of the statement, possibly pressing the
president not to interfere or get involved in the affairs.
This supports Collin’s (2009) claim that the modal must
carries an overtly authoritative tone as implied in the
appearing intentions of the speakers in [18] and
[19]. Moreover, this result confirms Jacobsson’s (2008)
finding that the modal necessity of must upholds the
connotation of a strong moral obligation as particularly
seen in [18], apparently imposing a duty to the readers
although all of them would impossibly become the
president of the Philippines. It may also imply that
intruding in a person’s affairs would probably make
one morally decadent. In addition, the modal must in
[18] carries the obligation, which is imposed by the
speaker himself, lending support to Palmer’s (1974)
assumption with regard to the modal must as a
discourse-oriented grammatical element.
On the contrary, another interesting finding is
the use of the verb-phrase structure must + be + past
participle, favored by the Filipino press editorial
writers with less than 34%. For instance,
[20] <ICE-PHI:W2E-002#52:2>
If <indig> Lakas </indig> kicks out
Ramiro, then it must be prepared to expel
most of its members.
Since the verb in the said structure is passivized
(must be prepared) in the main clause of [20], then the
absence of the subject (other political parties in that

44
 Rodrigo Concepcion Morales
context) may mean demotion of its significance, as in
[21] (sentence in active voice) and in [22] (complete
transformation from active to passive voice):
[21] Other political parties must prepare
the Congress to expel most of its members.
[22] The Congress must be prepared to
expel most of its members by other
political parties.
The noun phrase (the Congress) movement has
not been realized in [22]; instead the editorial writer
seemed to have chosen the pronoun I in the subjective
case as in [20] and dropped by other political parties as a
less significant agent in the passive voice as in [22].
Then, the probable knowledge of social situation would
have a little effect on the selected modal must, thus,
seemingly giving that particular Filipino press editorial
writer the power to challenge other political parties to
possibly expel most of its members in the Congress.
Therefore, this finding supports the assumption of Celce-
Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1983) on the epistemic
(logical probability) meaning of the modal must.
A verb-phrase structure with the modal must
hardly favored by the editorial writers is must + have
+ been + past participle, which had one of the lowest
percentages in Table 1. In fact, only one text
representative was found in the ICE-PHI as in [23].
[23] <ICE-PHI:W2E-009#88:3>
Congressmen, including the whistle
blowers, are certainly aware of this
constitutional requisite and they must
have already been alerted to the fact that
whatever provisions were included in the
Omnibus Power Bill on second reading
would be no different when the third
reading comes about. </p>
On the one hand, [23] is a compound-complex
sentence in which the first main clause in the compound
sentence in the compound-complex structure,
“Congressmen, including the whistle
blowers, are certainly aware of this
constitutional requisite,”
45
possesses a complement adjective, aware, which is the
subjective complement of the noun, Congressmen. On
the other, the second main clause possesses a pronoun
subject, they, in the subjective case, which serves as an
antecedent of the subject in the first main clause:
and they must have already been alerted to
the fact that whatever provisions were
included in the Omnibus Power Bill on
second reading would be no different when
the third reading comes about. </p>
Moreover, the inconsistent use of the voice is
apparent since the verb phrase in the second clause of the
compound sentence is passivized, must have already
been alerted in the absence of the agent; the assumed
subject of the second clause, if the verb is not passivized,
serve as the one who alerted the congressmen as regards
the provisions included in the first and second reading of
the Omnibus Power Bill. In contrast, the editorial writer
may have likely been consistent because of the use of the
antecedent as a way to be coherent to the first clause of
the compound sentence in the compound-complex
structure of [23]. In addition, the use of the modal must
in [23] apparently asserts compulsion, which is an
obligatory function of the one who strongly alerted the
congressmen regarding the provisions included in the
first and second reading in the Omnibus Power Bill. In
this case, this particular result lends support to Collin’s
(2009) assumption concerning the overtly authoritative
tone of the modal must. On the contrary, such a result
does not seem to support Jacobsson’s (2008) claim that
the obligative must has been gradually receding in
standard American English. Then this specific finding
may prove that the status of the obligative must in
Philippine English article is favored by press editorial
writers.
Table 2 illustrates the frequency and
percentage distributions of the semantic functions of
the modal must in the ICE-PHI Press Editorial texts. It
should be noted that the data in Table 2 were adapted
from Gustillo’s (2011) study on modal auxiliaries in
Philippine English newspapers.
 Modal Must in Philippine Editorials: A Corpus-based Study
Table 2. Frequency of Semantic Functions of the Modal
Must in the ICE-PHI Press Editorial Texts
Modal Functions Frequency Percentage
Logical Necessity 5 13.9%
Obligation/Complusion/ 31 86.1%
Advisability
Total 36 100%
*adapted from Gustilo (2011)
As shown in Table 2, the semantic function of
obligation/compulsion/advisability, which is
exemplified in [24], is most favored by Filipino press
editorial writers. On the other hand, an example of the
semantic function of logical necessity, which is hardly
favored by the said editorial writers, is given in [25].
[24] < ICE-PHI:W2E-005#67:4>
The group takes another tack, saying that the
constitutional mandate (Article II-Section 15)
requiring the State to protect and promote the
right of health of the people and instill health
consciousness among them, must include the
duty to warn the people of products, places
and conditions that may be injurious to their
health.
[25] <ICE-PHI:W2E-009#88:3>
Congressmen, including the whistle
blowers, are certainly aware of this
constitutional requisite and they must
have already been alerted to the fact that
whatever provisions were included in the
Omnibus Power Bill on second reading
would be no different when the third
reading comes about.
In [24], the modal must has semantically taken
the function of compulsion, for it likely obliges an entity
or a body that will assume a probable duty to warn the
people not to take products detrimental to one’s health.
This result would likewise stem from internal necessity
(Jacobsson, 2008) that typically derives from internally-
driven factors (Collins, 2009). Since [24] is drawn from
a written press editorial, the press editorial writer may
have expressed his own informed opinion regarding the
issue; thus, his judgment possibly comes from his own
familiarity with the issue and not from
46
others who may have the same informed opinion as
his. This specific finding maintains Jacobsson (2008)
and Collin’s (2009) assumption on compulsion as one
of the functions of the modal must.
On the contrary, in [25], the modal must
carries the construct of logical necessity because the
prior clause, Congressmen, including the whistle
blowers, are certainly aware of this constitutional
requisite, has given the second clause with the modal
must a reasonable basis why congressmen should have
been alerted as regards the provisions included in the
first and second reading of the Omnibus Power Bill.
The present study did not find any distinctive
features of the modal must; as a result, the modal must
in editorial texts found in the text category of printed
written texts of persuasive writing did not yield
deviation from the standard modal usage in English.
Likewise, the results of the present study further
confirm the findings of Gustilo (2011) claiming that
“most of the modal auxiliaries conform to the norms
of the dominant native English varieties” (p. 104).
One interesting finding of the present study is
the employment of the obligative must, which is favored
by Filipino press editorial writers. Conversely, Jacobsson
(2008) claimed that the obligative must is progressively
losing ground in American English as contrasted with
the conclusive must likely preferred by American
writers, thereby, suggesting that the obligative must is
widely accepted in Philippine English, which is an outer-
circle English variety. However, this result remains
inconclusive until further empirical investigations are
conducted to support such a claim.
4. Conclusion
The present study attempted to determine the
semantic functions of the modal must and to identify its
conformity to or deviation from the standard usage in the
English language. Gustilo’s (2011) findings were further
confirmed by the results of the present study,
substantiating that the modal must found in press
editorials conforms to the modal usage provided by
dominant English varieties. Secondly, there is a
progressive usage of the obligative modal must in
Philippine English, whereas the said usage steadily
declines in American English (Jacobsson, 2008). As far
as the verb-phrase structure of the modal must found
 Rodrigo Concepcion Morales
in press editorials in the ICE-PHI is concerned, the
structure, must + base form of the verb, is commonly
employed among the six others as revealed in the
corpus. This finding implies that the verb-phrase
structure, must + base form of the verb, suggests an
overtly authoritative tone (Collins, 2009). Collins
further emphasizes that such a claim makes “the
speaker typically being the source of the obligation”
(p. 287).
English as a Second Language (ESL) and
English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers should
make their students aware that virtually, all modals
have semantic functions; therefore, as suggested by
Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1983), “students
should be provided some guidance in working with
the system operating within each of these functions of
the modal auxiliaries” (p. 83).
One useful activity for logical modals in
particular is to make inferences about current states or
situations. In this activity, students should be provided
with a modal paradigm, which serves as their guide.
Teaching students to write dialogues using
different modal auxiliaries could be an enjoyable
activity for ESL/EFL students. Some possible topics
for this kind of activity are as follows:
• You were stuck in traffic for two hours.
•You heard a loud dance music coming from
the staff room.
• No students came to class.
•When you walked in, all the students started
laughing.
The findings of the present study may significantly
lead Filipino ESL/EFL teachers to explicitly inform their
students about the functions of the modal must in editorial
texts written by Filipino journalists. Firstly, this linguistic
assumption may help the teachers gradually eliminate their
prejudice on the supremacy of Englishes in the inner circle,
American and British Englishes in particular. One useful
way is to discuss with them in a seminar or in-service
training the concentric circles proposed by Kachru (1985)
and the significance of the Kachruvian paradigm; thus, this
may help them be cognizant of the globally progressive
emergence of World Englishes. Furthermore, if an English
language teacher is informed as regards contrastive
rhetoric, he or she would apparently consider the notion of
47
“language and writing as cultural phenomena” (Kachru,
2001, as cited in Madrunio, 2008). For instance, citing
Jacobsson’s (2008) claim that the obligative must is less
preferred by American editorial writers (who belong to
the inner circle) but is favored by Filipino editorial
writers (who are from the outer circle) could be a good
example of Kachru’s assumption. Likewise, introducing
the concept of English varieties would allow students to
demonstrate understanding of the levels of
communication: “intelligibility,” which refers to the
level of sounds; “comprehensibility,” the meaning of
utterances; and “interpretability,” the purpose as well as
the intent of the utterances (Smith & Nelson, 1985, p.
11). Having acquired such knowledge about varieties of
English may motivate the teachers to address the
linguistic needs of their students. Moreover, Madrunio
(2009) suggested that “raising awareness among students
on the different types of Englishes would make students
better appreciate why they speak and write English the
way they do, especially when they are exposed to people
coming from different cultures” (p. 18).
Pedagogical implications for English
language curricula have been brought to the fore
because of the notion of World Englishes. At present,
English teachers would be expected to be more
tolerant of their students as regards the expected
outputs they produce. As averred by Madrunio (2009):
… the end goal of the World Englishes
paradigm is for the Filipino to be more
aware of this development and to feel
pride in the educated Philippine English
variety, and for all users of English to
accept the characteristics and features of
Philippine English as an evolving branch
of the language. (p.18)
In addition, it is noteworthy for English
language and literature teachers to explicitly teach their
students the distinct features of Philippine English and
compare them with the norms of American English and
any other varieties. In doing so, the students could learn
how to shift their use of specific varieties of English
when communicating in local and foreign contexts. In
literature, the teachers must also inform their students
about different writing styles that are culturally
conditioned. This may assist the students to write with
more liberty and to consider the context and audience
 Modal Must in Philippine Editorials: A Corpus-based Study
when writing.
As regards the implications of the present study
for future research, the modal must may be compared
and contrasted employing varieties of English in the
outer and expanding circles to determine if other English
varieties conform to or deviate from the standard modal
usage in the inner circle. Potentially, instructional
writing texts found in the Asian ICE may be used in a
study on auxiliary verbs. The said corpus is probably an
unexplored category under printed texts. Moreover,
another feasible intercultural and comparative study on
the modal must can deal with a particular literary genre
written by Asian men and/or women. Examining the
occurrences of modal auxiliaries in literary genres could
be one noteworthy study, which can employ stylistics
within the tradition of linguistics, since such a topic
seems to have received little attention among stylistics
researchers. One insight that could be gained from this
stylistic exploration is that the researchers may analyze
how modal auxiliaries project different functions and
meanings or interpretations in sentences found in literary
genres. Lastly, other researchers may be interested to
investigate the modal must and any other auxiliary verbs
found in research article introductions and any other
subgenres of research articles written by Filipino or other
Asian academic writers.
Although the findings drawn from the present
study may provide partial explanations about the
semantic functions of the modal must found in text
category of printed written texts of persuasive writing,
press editorials found in the ICE-PHI in particular,
future studies should be conducted to substantiate the
linguistic assumption of the modal must in Philippine
editorials, thereby, further intellectualizing the
Philippine English variety.
References
Abdul-Fattah, H. (2011). A formal-functional analysis
of the English modal auxiliaries. Jordan Journal
of Modern Languages and Literature, 3(1), 39-63.
Azar, B.S. (2002). Understanding and using English
grammar (3rd ed.). New York: Longman.
Bautista, M.L., Lising, J.L., & Dayag, D. (1999).
International Corpus of English: The Philippine
corpus. Manila, Philippines: De La Salle
University-Manila.
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Celce-Murcia, M., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (1983). The
grammar book: An ESL/EFL teacher’s course.
Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers, Inc.
Coates, J., & Leech, G. (1980). The meanings of the
modals in modern British and American English.
York Papers in Linguistics, 8, 23-24.
Collins, P. (2009). Modals and quasi-modals in World
Englishes. World Englishes, 28(3), 281-292.
Gustilo, L. (2011). Modal auxiliaries in Philippine
English newspapers: A corpus-based analysis.
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Halliday, M. (1970). Functional diversity in language as
seen from a consideration of modality and mood in
English. Foundations of Language, 6, 322-361.
Hernández-Guerra, C. (2013). Textual, intertextual
and rhetorical features in political discourse: The
case of President Obama in Europe. Revista de
Lingüística y Lenguas Aplicadas, 8, 59-65.
Hoffman, T.R. (1966). Past tense replacement and the
English modal auxiliary system. Harvard
Computation Laboratory Report NFS-17.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard.
Inchaurralde Besga, C. (2012). Modals and modality
in English. Retrieved from http://fyl.unizar.es/
MISCELANEA/MISCELANEA.html
Jacobsson, B. (2008). Modality and the modals of
necessity must and have to. English Studies,
60(3), 296-312.
Kachru, B. (Ed.). (1985). Standards, codification and
sociolinguistic realm: The English language in
the outer circle. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Ki, K. (2011). The modal of obligation and necessity
MUST in Hong Kong English (Unpublished
thesis). Retrieved from http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/
lin/new/doc/ma_papers/malin/Kung%20Wan%20
Ki_2010-11.pdf
Maclin, A. (2001). Reference guide to English: A
handbook of English as a Second Language.
Washingston, D.C., USA: CBS College Publishing.
Madrunio, M. (2008, August 17). New perspective in
English instruction. Manila Bulletin.
Madrunio, M. (2009, October 18). Philippine English
in the classroom. Manila Bulletin, pp. 11, 18.
Nartey, M., & Yankson, E. (2014). A semantic
investigation into the use of modal auxiliary verbs
in the manifesto of a Ghanaian political party.
International Journal of Humanities and Social
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Sciences, 4(3), 21-30.

Nkemleke, D. (2005). Must and should in Cameroon
English. Nordic Journal of African Studies 14(1),
43-67.
Palmer, F.R. (1974). The English verb. London:
Longman.
Palmer, F.R. (1990). Modality and the English modals
(2nd ed.). London: Longman Group Ltd.
Smith, L., & Nelson, C. (1985). International
intelligibility of English: Directions and resources.
World Englishes, 4(3), 333-342.
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(pp. 171-188). Retrieved from Routledge e-Book.

49
 Philippine Journal of Linguistics

Linguistic Politeness of the World: Strategies Used by Organizers of Youth

International Conferences in Writing Rejection Letters

Kereen Ria C. Genteroy & Veronico N. Tarrayo

University of Santo Tomas
Manila, Philippines
Email: riagenteroy@gmail.com; sirnico_tarrayo@yahoo.com

Abstract

The study explores the politeness strategies deployed in rejection letters from youth international
conferences. It aims to identify the politeness marker(s) that characterize a specific politeness strategy.
Furthermore, this paper attempts to describe the general macrostructure of the said rejection letters by
analyzing the strategic positioning of politeness strategies in these letters. Thirty (30) rejection letters
written by organizers of youth international conferences served as the corpus of the study. By utilizing
Brown and Levinson’s or B&L’s (1987) Politeness Theory Model and Baresova’s (2008) framework, the
researchers examined these letters of rejection and identified the politeness strategies employed in writing
them. The findings revealed that being optimistic and noticing or attending to the hearer are the two most
commonly used politeness strategies in rejection letters from youth international conferences. These
strategies are often marked by optimistic phrases (i.e., presuming an applicant’s willingness to cooperate
and a positive outcome), and thank-you phrases (i.e., expressing gratitude upon interest in the conference).
Moreover, the results suggest that the general macrostructure of the rejection letters follows the proposed
refusal sequence that includes (1) preparation for rejection, (2) actual rejection, and (3) remedy. This paper
affirms the applicability of B&L’s politeness theory in writing rejection letters for youth international
conferences, while also describing the linguistic features of politeness.

Keywords: Politeness strategies, rejection letters from youth international conferences, letter writing

1. Introduction to accommodate the noncompliant nature of the act. In

In the recent years, refusal or rejection is
among those speech acts that have received a great
deal of inquiry (Aliakbari & Changizi, 2012; Delen
& Tavil, 2010; Felix-Brasdefer, 2006; Gass & Houck,
1999; Morkus, 2014) aside from requests, apologies, and
compliments. Refusal or rejection is a speech act by
which a speaker “denies to engage in an action proposed
by the interlocutor” (Chen Ye & Zhang, 1995, as cited in
Gass & Houck, 1999, p. 2). Rather than an act initiated
by the speaker, it is simply a response to a former act
initiated by another interlocutor. By its very nature,
“rejection is one of the most offensive speech acts, and if
not done politely, is quite likely to negatively impact the
hearer’s self-image” (Baresova, 2008, p. 11, emphasis
added). For this reason, Gass and Houck (1999) note that
refusals or rejections are often done in a manner that
involves not only a negotiation for a favorable outcome
but also face-saving schemes
other words, rejection implies the use of different
politeness strategies to lessen its negative impact.
As a linguistic phenomenon, politeness has
been explored in several studies because of its
relevant theoretical and practical issues (Baresova,
2008; Cutrone, 2011; Gagne, 2010; Gonzales, 2002;
Hammouda, 2013; Janssen & Janssen, 2010;
Kitamura, 2000; Pishghadam & Navari, 2012).
Baresova (2008) describes politeness as a naturally
occurring phenomenon, especially within a stretch of
a discourse or an utterance. Pragmatically, politeness
functions as a sociocultural manifestation that lessens
and prevents risks associated with communication
conflict (Lakoff, 1973, as cited in Hammouda, 2013).
According to Gonzales (2002), politeness
demonstrates a special way of taking into account
another person’s feelings. Indeed, in the
communication process where meaning is negotiated,
politeness is expressed with respect to one’s feelings.

50
 Kereen Ria C. Genteroy & Veronico N. Tarrayo
Interestingly, it appears innate to people to
use politeness systems when communicating. While
each culture has its own perception of politeness, it
also possesses a distinct form of expressing it, which
is usually embedded in a language. As Pishghadam
and Navari (2012) suggested, based on the specific
sets of politeness strategies used in discourse, cultures
can be differentiated from one another. While it is also
true that several studies have been conducted focusing
on politeness strategies in refusals, it appears that
none has been done yet on rejection letters in youth
international conferences.
Since recent global advancements, particularly
in the bilateral relations of many countries, these youth
international conferences have become prevalent and
have served as channels in preparing youths for the
upcoming international integration. Thus, youth
international conferences are a timely and relevant
subject matter that requires attention from researchers.
Despite the fact that the organizers of these conferences
are a conglomeration of different and distinct cultures,
the politeness that these groups of writers embody
remains untheorized. Hence, the study would like to
contribute to a better understanding of this cultural
phenomenon in a global scale.
In this case, the researcher decided to explore
the writing culture underlying the rejection letters
from youth international conferences and investigate
the nuances of such letters, with emphasis on their use
of politeness strategies.
The importance of politeness conveys a
potential effect it may cause to a listener or reader.
With a heightened chance of offending the hearer,
much caution or politeness is applied. In this light, the
primary objective of this study is to examine the
politeness strategies the representatives or organizers
utilize in writing rejection letters for youth
international conferences. Specifically, it seeks
answers to the following questions:
1.What politeness strategies are employed in
rejection letters written by organizers of youth
international conferences?
2.What politeness markers characterize such
politeness strategies?
3. What is the macrostructure of these rejection letters
with respect to textual organization (i.e., how
politeness strategies are strategically organized)?
51
1.1 Politeness Phenomenon: A Theoretical
Overview
In the field of pragmatic linguistics, proponents,
like Lakoff (1973) and Leech (1983), have attempted to
define politeness by theorizing and providing some
specific rules in maintaining a conversation. On the one
hand, Lakoff (1973) formulated maxims which, he
assumed, guide people in an exchange or utterance. His
three maxims state the things that ought and not ought to
be done while conversing: (1) do not impose, (2) give
options, and (3) make the receiver feel good. These rules
propound formality, deference, and camaraderie, which
result in a better relationship among members of a
society. On the other, Leech’s (1983) ideas focused on
the “goal-oriented speech situation in which a speaker
uses language to produce a particular effect in the mind
of a hearer” (as cited in Pishghadam & Navari, 2012, p.
162). Like Lakoff, Leech (1983, as cited in Svennevig,
1999) also formulated his politeness principle (PP),
which says that “people should minimize (all things
being equal) the expression of impolite beliefs,” and
“maximize (other things being equal) the expression of
polite beliefs” (p. 39).
However, among the several politeness models
proposed, that of Brown and Levinson’s (1987) has
received the greatest attention because of its proposed
concept of universality. This politeness model consists of
a fundamental theory concerning the nature of politeness
and how it functions in interaction, and a list of
politeness strategies, drawing on examples mainly from
three languages (i.e., English, Tzeltal, and Tamil)
(Cutrone, 2011). The basic principle of the model is that
during interaction, all interlocutors maintain two types of
face: the positive face and the negative face. Brown and
Levinson (1987) define positive face as the positive and
consistent image people have of themselves and their
desire for approval. On the other hand, negative face is
“the basic claim to territories, personal preserves, and
rights to non-distraction” (Kitamura, 2000, p. 1).
Brown and Levinson’s (1987, as cited in
Wagner, 2004) politeness theory is anchored on the
premise that several speech acts are intrinsically
threatening to the face. Speech acts, which are generally
opposing the face wants or the public self-image of a
speaker (S) or an addressee (A), are identified by Brown
and Levinson as face-threatening acts (FTAs).
 Linguistic Politeness of the World: Strategies Used by Organizers of Youth
International Conferences in Writing Rejection Letters

This occurs in social interactions in which the face of
the S or the A is being threatened, such as when one
makes a request, disagrees, gives a piece of advice, and
the like. The potential severity of an FTA is determined
by these factors: the social distance (D) of the S and
the A; the relative power (P) of the S and the A; and
the absolute ranking (R) of imposition in a particular
culture (Cutrone, 2011).
Brown and Levinson (1987) expound on the
idea of FTAs by classifying them according to two
parameters: (1) “whose face is being threatened (the
speaker’s or the addressee’s),” and (2) “which type of
face is being threatened” (the positive or the negative
face) (p. 65). Acts threatening to an addressee’s positive
face include those in which a speaker demonstrates that
he or she does not approve of or support the addressee’s
positive face or self-image (e.g., complaints, criticisms,
accusations, mentions of taboo topics, interruptions).
Acts that threaten an addressee’s negative face, on
the other hand, involve instances when the addressee
is pressured to accept or to reject a future act of the
speaker (e.g., offers, promises) or when the addressee
has a reason to believe that his or her goods are desired
by the speaker. Examples of FTAs to the speaker’s
positive face can include apologies, acceptance of a
compliment, self-humiliations, and confessions, while
some of the FTAs threatening to the speaker’s negative
face include expressing gratitude, accepting a thank
you, apologizing or offering, and making promises
(Brown & Levinson, as cited in Wagner, 2004).
“In compliance with the idea that everyone
tries to keep his face in the duration of social interaction
as much as possible, it can be expected that all those
involved in interactions try to reduce face-threatening
acts (FTAs)” (Pishghadam & Navari, 2012, p. 162). In
this light, the speaker, in order to execute the required
action, has to select a manner by which he or she would
like to address the FTA.
As shown in Figure 1, Brown and Levinson
(1987) explain that an FTA can be performed either
on record or off record (emphasis added). On record
strategy can either be bold and literal (without redressive
action), or it may be expressed in a friendly (positive
politeness) and respectful (negative politeness)
language (Baresova, 2008). By utilizing the notion
of face, politeness is characterized into two distinct
categories: positive politeness and negative politeness.
Positive politeness is expressed by satisfying the positive
face in two ways: (1) indicating similarities among
interlocutors, or (2) expressing an appreciation of the

Do the FTA

on record

without redressive action, baldly

with redressive action

positive poiteness

negative politeness

off record

Don’t do the FTA

Figure 1. Possible strategies to deliver an FTA (Brown & Levinson, 1987, p. 69)

52
 Kereen Ria C. Genteroy & Veronico N. Tarrayo
interlocutor’s self-image. Negative politeness can also
be expressed in two ways: (1) saving the interlocutor’s
face (either negative or positive) by mitigating face
threatening acts (FTAs), or (2) satisfying the negative
face by indicating respect for the addressee’s right not
to be imposed on. In short, politeness strategies are
employed not only to minimize FTAs but also to
satisfy the interlocutors’ face regardless of whether an
FTA occurs or not (Kitamura, 2000). In addition,
politeness strategies are utilized to maintain harmony
and undamaged face (Gilks, 2010).
1.2 Literature Review
Over the years, several studies have explored the
universal relationship of speech acts and politeness
strategies. The succeeding paragraphs provide a
comprehensive literature on refusal as a speech act and
as a politeness strategy. Furthermore, these studies were
gathered to emphasize or display the intimate linking of
refusal as a speech act and mitigating devices or
politeness strategies, which help minimize an FTA that is
considered a potential threat to the receiver.
Aliakbari and Changizi (2012) discovered
several refusal strategies employed by Persian and
Kurdish speakers, and how these strategies are elicited
with respect to interlocutors’ status. The results revealed
that ‘direct refusal,’ ‘regret,’ ‘excuse and reason,’ ‘wish,’
and ‘postponement’ were the most frequently used
semantic formulas to express refusal. Likewise, requests
were mostly refused by an ‘excuse/reason’ accompanied
by a statement of ‘regret’ when a person is refusing
someone of higher status. On the contrary, ‘direct
refusal’ is employed when a person is refusing someone
of lower status. These findings can contribute to the
overall understanding of refusal as a speech act and to
reduce miscommunication in general.
Felix-Bradsdefer’s (2006) study examined the
linguistic strategies and perceptions of politeness
among male university students during refusal
interactions in three politeness systems: solidarity,
deference, and hierarchy. The analysis led to the
conclusion that factors such as power (P) and distance
(D) play a crucial role in determining the appropriate
degree of politeness in Mexican society. Moreover,
these speakers’ negotiation of face (face-saving act) is
indirectly achieved through constant attempts of (re)
negotiating a successful resolution politely.
53
Delen and Tavil (2010) collaborated to
investigate whether Turkish learners of English use
strategies when performing three speech acts, namely,
requests, refusals, and complaints. On the use of
strategies when making requests, the subjects were
aware that factors such as social distance (D) and social
status/power (P), along with indirectness in making
request, contribute to the execution of the act. As for
refusal strategies, the subjects used a variety of indirect
strategies to lessen the potential damaging effect of
refusals since they are considered offensive acts by
nature. Lastly, the analysis of complaint strategies
showed that despite clarity in the performance of the act,
the subjects were less sensitive as compared with their
performance in requests and refusals. The results suggest
that in different speech acts, a corresponding strategy is
employed by a performer to express himself or herself
clearly.
On a cross-cultural level, Baresova (2008)
analyzed Japanese and American employment rejection
letters and discovered that “while members of the same
culture have an understanding of what politeness
strategies to employ and expect in a particular situation,
an application of the same means in cross-cultural
communication may result in pragmatic failure” (p.115).
The results revealed that patterns of particular speech
acts differ from culture to culture as a result of different
norms and values. Thus, American and Japanese
perceptions of politeness provided empirical evidence
that a speech act executed under comparable social
constraints may, in two different cultures, elicit varied
politeness strategies.
Another study conducted by Kerbrat-Orecchioni
(2011, as cited in Hammouda, 2013) in French, which
utilized Brown and Levinson’s politeness model,
expounded the idea of FTA. Kerbrat-Orecchioni argued
that viewing politeness solely as an aid to mitigate ‘face-
threatening acts’ is misleading because politeness is
more than just repairing threats. It also includes ‘anti-
threats,’ which push people to work to save face and
enhance it. Consequently, she proposes what she calls
‘face-flattering acts’ (or FFA, also ‘face-enhancing or
face-giving) as a counterpoint to FTA. Whereas FTAs
are softened (through politeness strategies), FFAs are
reinforced (also with the use of politeness strategies)
(Hammouda, 2013).
In the Philippine context, Correo (2014)
studied the politeness strategies deployed by Filipinos
 Linguistic Politeness of the World: Strategies Used by Organizers of Youth
International Conferences in Writing Rejection Letters
in asynchronous computer-mediated communication
(CMC). Results affirmed Walther’s (1992, as cited in
Correo, 2014) Social Information Processing Theory,
which proposed that individuals deploy not only
discursive strategies but politeness strategies as well
to maintain the equilibrium between functional and
interpersonal use of language in computer-mediated
discourses. Also, the findings highlight the
applicability of Brown and Levinson’s politeness
theory in the Philippine context with emphasis on
CMC. The study argues that Filipinos are highly
concerned about their relationships with people not
only in their face-to-face encounters but also in CMC.
In the same endeavor of examining cross-
cultural differences in the writers’ use of politeness
strategies, Gonzales’s (2002) study on politeness in
letters to the editor in Philippine English, American
English, and Singaporean English affirmed the
importance of applying politeness theory not only in
spoken interaction but also in written communication.
The results revealed that writers of letters to the editor
design their own FTAs and counterbalance them by
equally producing politeness strategies. The study also
attested to the effects cultural influences have on a
writer’s use of politeness strategies. For Singaporean
writers, it is their use of standard form of reference;
for Americans, the direct opposition to the other
writer’s opinion; and for Filipinos, the high tendency
to use politeness markers and politeness strategies.
1.3 Theoretical Framework
1.3.1 Politeness Strategies
Politeness strategies, according to Baresova
(2008), are based on a speaker’s volition rather than
the prescribed norms. These are schemes employed
out of volition with respect to politeness. In this light,
a speaker may choose from a wider range of means to
express politeness.
Brown and Levinson (1987) developed a
detailed list of politeness strategies that provided an
extensive framework of linguistic means of expressing
politeness. This framework would serve as the
theoretical underpinning of the study and would be
utilized to analyze the corpus (see 2.2 Procedure).
54
1.3.1.1 Positive Politeness Strategies
Brown and Levinson (1987) enumerated
strategies that exemplify positive politeness. These
strategies have three subclassifications: (a) claiming a
common ground, (b) conveying that the speaker and
the addressee are cooperators, and (c) fulfilling the
hearer’s wants.
Under the first subclassification, that is,
claiming a common ground, the strategies include (1)
noticing, attending to hearer (his interests, wants, needs,
goods); (2) exaggerating (interest, approval, sympathy
with hearer); (3) intensifying interest to hearer; (4) using
in-group identity markers; (5) seeking agreement;
(6) avoiding disagreement; (7) presupposing/ raising/
asserting a common ground; and (8) joking.
The second set of positive politeness
strategies intends to convey that the speaker and the
hearer are cooperators. These strategies include (1)
asserting or presupposing speaker’s knowledge of and
concern for hearer’s wants (i.e., cooperative
communication); (2) offering a promise; (3) being
optimistic; (4) including both speaker and hearer in
the activity; (5) giving (or asking for) reasons; and (6)
assuming or asserting reciprocity.
The last subclassification of positive politeness
strategies that aims to fulfill the hearer’s wants includes
only one strategy, which is to directly give gifts to the
hearer (e.g., goods, sympathy, understanding,
cooperation). In this manner, the speaker anticipates the
hearer’s wants (whether tangible or intangible), shows
support toward their fulfillment, and/or makes efforts to
satisfy, particularly the desire for goodwill. Something
of this nature is often found at the end of rejection letters
(Baresova, 2008).
1.3.1.2 Negative Politeness Strategies
Negative politeness is essentially based on
avoiding or minimizing an imposition. It redresses the
imposition using apologies, deference, and various
kinds of hedges, impersonalizing, and any other
devices (Baresova, 2008).
Similarly, Brown and Levinson (1987) also
provided an exhaustive list of strategies conforming to
negative politeness. These strategies include (1) being
conventionally indirect, (2) questioning/hedging, (3)
being pessimistic, (4) minimizing the imposition, (5)
 Kereen Ria C. Genteroy & Veronico N. Tarrayo
giving deference, (6) apologizing, (7) impersonalizing
speaker and hearer, (8) stating the FTA as a general
rule (e.g., shoes are for outside), (9) nominalizing,
and (10) going on record as incurring a debt, or as not
indebting hearer.
1.3.1.3 Off-record Strategies
This type of politeness strategies, unlike positive
and negative politeness strategies, is very indirect in nature
and could elicit several interpretations. Neither the speaker
nor the hearer can be held responsible for the intended
meaning; thus, context usually determines the intended
interpretation (Baresova, 2008). Brown and Levinson
(1987) classify off-record strategies according to what
Gricean maxims (i.e., Relevance, Quantity, Quality, and
Manner) these strategies violate. It should be noted though
that in his notion of Cooperative Principle (CP), Grice
(1989 [1975]) argues that these maxims help in
communicational cooperation, for such a theory posits that
talk exchanges “are, to some degree at least, cooperative
efforts” (p. 26).
Brown and Levinson (1987, pp. 213-217)
expound on these off-record strategies that violate the
Gricean maxims. The first set of strategies violates the
Maxim of Relevance. The strategies include these:
(1) “give hints,” (2) “give association clues,” and (3)
“presuppose” with implied criticism (e.g., I had to clean
the house again today – implying that the speaker should
not have done it). The next set of strategies is a violation
of the Maxim of Quantity: (1) “understate,”
(2) “overstate,” and (3) “use tautologies.” Another set of
strategies which are done by stating something that is not
accurate, thus, forcing the hearer to find the true meaning of
an utterance, is a violation of the Maxim of Quality. These
acts include: (1) “use contradictions,” (2) “be ironic,’ (3)
“use metaphors,” and (4) “use rhetorical questions.”
Finally, the last set of off-record strategies violates the
Maxim of Manner. These strategies are used to make
meanings indefinite when they could threaten the hearer’s
face. These include: (1) “be ambiguous”; (2) “be vague”;
(3) “over-generalize”; (4) “displace H” or hearer (e.g., “We
have received many qualified applicants and cannot employ
them all.”; i.e., “We cannot employ you.”); and (5) “be
incomplete, use ellipsis.”
55
1.3.2 Baresova’s Refusal Sequence
As purported by Baresova (2008), the refusal
sequence of rejection letters often contains three basic
parts (see Figure 2.): (1) a preparation for the rejection,
(2) the actual rejection, (3) and some remedy. The
preparation and remedy phases function as supportive
moves. Moreover, the rejection itself may also include
some supportive moves to soften its impact.
The preparation phase can be divided into two
parts, neither of which is obligatory: (1) an opening,
which usually includes an expression of gratitude or
acknowledgment of receiving the application; and (2)
a transition, which is usually in the same sentence as
the rejection or immediately precedes it.
“opening”
“preparation”
“transition” “rejection”
“remedy”
Figure 2. Refusal sequence in rejection letters
The rejection remedies, taking various forms
from apology to compensation, were analyzed in
terms of Brown and Levinson’s politeness strategies
to emphasize cultural distinction in the overall
conveyance of the rejection.
These two models, Baresova’s (2008) refusal
sequence and Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness
theory model, were used as tools for the analysis of
the corpus.
2. Method
2.1 Study Corpus
Thirty (30) rejection letters written by organizers of
youth international conferences were gathered and used
for this study. The rejection letters collected were written
in the year 2014. The organizers who wrote these letters
belong to youth-oriented groups that are
 Linguistic Politeness of the World: Strategies Used by Organizers of Youth
International Conferences in Writing Rejection Letters

either nongovernment-affiliated (NGOs), or national
and international councils governed by ASEAN and
United Nations Alliance, which use English as their
primary language in official work communications and
business correspondence. This criterion was specifically
established in order to filter out other letters written in
different languages.
The researchers acquired these letters from
different university students who received them after
being rejected by youth international conferences they
applied for. These youth international conferences
were mostly about leadership-skills building and
cultural-awareness campaigns. One of their primary
requirements for application is age, which may range
from 18 to 30 years old. Thus, the researchers chose
to collate the data from university students, primarily
because they represent the age group the data of the
present study would want to explore. In addition,
another salient requirement when applying for youth
international conferences is educational background.
With the premise that education is a prerequisite to
join the conferences, the researchers opted to select
university students as the resource of data since they
qualified for the aforementioned criteria. Moreover,
it was ideal and more convenient (for data-gathering
purposes) for the researchers to select these people
since they study and work in a university. Hence, the
said data were collected from university students.
2.2 Procedure
The analysis conducted for this research
first attempted to identify the politeness strategies
and politeness markers found in rejection letters for
youth international conferences. It also endeavored to
give an overview of the textual organization of these
letters through examining the moves underlying the
rejection letters. In this light, each letter was analyzed
at the speech act level (i.e., every utterance that has a
performative function in the letter), which functions as
the unit of analysis in this study.
2.2.1 Unit of Analysis
Speech act level as a unit of analysis in Brown and
Levinson’s (1987) framework follows Austin’s (1975)
doctrine of performative and constative utterances.
The speech acts under the performative function are
identified as illocutionary acts, which are either: (1) the
performance of which one must make to some other
person as a clarification that the act is performed, or (2)
the performance of which involves the production of what

Dear applicant,

*PF1 Thank you for applying to the XXXXXXXXXX.

PF2 We are privileged to have the opportunity to review applications from highly qualified individuals such as
yourself.
PF3 This made the task of the Selection Committee in choosing successful candidates an extremely difficult one.

PF4 We deeply regret that, despite your impressive application, we are unable to offer you a slot in this program.

PF5 We sincerely hope that you will continue to show interest in our future international programs.

PF6 We wish you success in all your future endeavors.

Best regards,

International Programs Secretariat

XXXXXXXXXX
*PF = Performative Function

Figure 3. Sample rejection letter from a youth international conference

56
 Kereen Ria C. Genteroy & Veronico N. Tarrayo
Austin (1975, p. 23) calls “conventional consequences”
(e.g., rights, commitments, or obligations).
Figure 3 shows a sample of an analyzed
rejection letter.
After determining the Performative Functions
in all the letters, they were classified according to how
they served as politeness strategies: Positive
Politeness (PP), Negative Politeness (NP), and Off-
Record (OR). The categorization was further guided
by the extensive list of politeness strategies developed
by Brown and Levinson (1987). Using Figure 3 as an
example, the classification is as follows:
Positive politeness:
1. PF1 Thank you for applying to the
XXXXXXXXXX. (notice, attend to
hearer)
2. PF2 We are privileged to have the
opportunity to review applications from
highly qualified individuals such as
yourself. (exaggerating)
3. PF5 We sincerely hope that you will
continue to show interest in our future
international programs. (avoiding
disagreement, i.e., highlighting positive
aspect of a negative item)
4. PF6 We wish you success in all your
future endeavors. (fulfilling hearer’s
wants, i.e., anticipation of hearer’s wants)
Off-record:
1. PF2 We are privileged to have the
opportunity to review applications from
highly qualified individuals such as
yourself. (overstating)
2. PF3 This made the task of the Selection
Committee in choosing successful
candidates an extremely difficult one.
(giving association clues)
2.2.2 Macro-structure of Rejection Letters
The next phase of analysis was to give an
estimation of the textual organization of the rejection
letters. For this section, the performative functions
were referred to as moves that dictate the next turn or
57
event in letters. Baresova’s (2008) Refusal Sequence
Model states that there are three moves underlying the
structure of rejection letters. These moves include a
preparation stage, which is often composed of an
opening and transition, a rejection stage, and a remedy
phase. Again, using Figure 3, the moves identified in
the sample rejection letter are as follows:
Preparation stage:
1. PF1 Thank you for applying to the
XXXXXXXXXX. (opening)
2. PF2 We are privileged to have the
opportunity to review applications from
highly qualified individuals such as
yourself. (transition1)
3. PF3 This made the task of the Selection
Committee in choosing successful
candidates an extremely difficult one.
(transition2)
Rejection stage:
1. PF4 We deeply regret that, despite your
impressive application, we are unable to
offer you a slot in this program.
Remedy stage:
1. PF5 We sincerely hope that you will
continue to show interest in our future
international programs. (positive politeness)
2. PF6 We wish you success in all your
future endeavors. (positive politeness)
The analysis of the data was performed by the
researchers and verified by two intercoders who are
knowledgeable in the field of study. The intercoders
were both English college instructors with master’s
degrees, also in English. They independently verified
the researcher’s analysis through reanalyzing the same
data until they all arrived at a consensus with the
results and interpretation of the entire data.
3. Results and Discussion
In this section, the politeness strategies
 Linguistic Politeness of the World: Strategies Used by Organizers of Youth
International Conferences in Writing Rejection Letters

identified in the rejection letters from youth
international conferences are presented and analyzed.
In addition, the politeness markers that characterize
such strategies are discussed here. Lastly, a rough
estimation of the textual organization of rejection
letters from youth international conferences would be
proposed based on the findings of the study.
First, the rejection letters were analyzed according
to Brown and Levinson’s (1987) framework on politeness
strategies. A total of 26 politeness strategies was found, of
which ten (10) were classified under the positive politeness
strategies. The results revealed that positive politeness
strategies were deployed the most after tallying a total of
113 occurrences in 30 samples, averaging four to five per
rejection letter. Tables 1, 2, and 3 provide a comprehensive
list of all the politeness strategies identified in the sample
rejection letters.
Among all the politeness strategies observed,
the strategy “be optimistic,” a positive politeness
strategy, accumulated the highest frequency (25 or
14.97%), which is somehow expected because it
exhibits the innate opposite attitude toward rejection,
which is negative in nature. In this light, the data seem
to suggest that the writer/sender of the rejection letter
is fully aware of the negative impact the action may
cause the addressee. Being optimistic, then, minimizes
this impact, and attempts for negotiation of face in the
writer’s part. Pilegaard (1997, as cited in Jansen
& Jansen, 2010) affirms a similar finding when he
found that positive politeness strategies (alone or in
combination) make up 41.2% of the strategies employed
in the letters in which business partners negotiate an
order, the type of letter in his corpus where refusals are
expected to occur most frequently. Similarly, Felix-

Table 1. Positive politeness strategies in rejection letters

Politeness Strategies Frequency Percentage

Positive Politeness Notice, attend to hearer 23 13.77%
Exaggerate 21 12.57%
Intensify interest to hearer 2 1.20%
Avoid disagreement 3 1.79%
Assert common ground 1 0.60%
Assert or presuppose speaker’s knowledge of and concern for hearer’s 5 3%
wants
Offer, promise 17 10.18%
Be optimistic 25 14.97%
Include both speaker and hearer in the activity 1 0.60%
Give gifts to hearer 15 8.98%
Total 113 67.66%

Table 2. Negative politeness strategies in rejection letters

Politeness Strategies Frequency Percentage

Negative Politeness Be conventionally indirect 2 1.20%
Hedge 5 3%
Impersonalize S or H 1 0.60%
State FTA as a general rule 3 1.79%
Apologize 2 1.20%
Be pessimistic 1 0.60%
Nominalize 2 1.20%
Go on record as incurring a debt, or as not indebting H 1 0.60%
Total 17 10.19%

58
 Kereen Ria C. Genteroy & Veronico N. Tarrayo

Table 3. Off-record strategies in rejection letters

Politeness Strategies Frequency Percentage

Off-record Give association clues 8 4.79%
Presuppose 1 0.60%
Understate 3 1.79%
Overstate 17 10.18%
Be vague 1 0.60%
Over-generalize 1 0.60%
Displace H 6 3.59%
Total 37 22.15%

Bradsdefer’s (2006) study concluded that there is an the addressee of the letter.
initiative from the writer’s part to provide a resolution It is also noteworthy that negative politeness
to save both the speaker’s and the hearer’s faces. strategies, which tallied only 17 occurrences, are
The following examples show how positive infrequent in these rejection letters. The findings seem
politeness strategy “be optimistic” is deployed in to agree with Brown and Levinson‘s (1987)
rejection letters: explanation that while negative politeness is the most
conventionalized set of linguistic strategies for FTA
1. …so we hope you continue following redress, it is only an aspect of expressing politeness. In
our social media platforms to stay general, negative politeness maintains the respect for
updated. social distance, an aspect that is highly considered
2. …we would love to have you when enacting FTA (Cutrone, 2011). However, the
participate in the youth session. You outnumbering presence of positive politeness
can register here… strategies suggests that writers are not only concerned
3. …we hope you will consider continuing about delivering the FTA but also at establishing and
your journey with us through the . . . enhancing the relationship between them and the
4. We would welcome your application addressees as a way of compensation.
to our . . . next year. Next, an attempt to describe the macro-
5. Looking forward to seeing you there! structure of rejection letters from international youth
conferences was made. In this respect, Baresova’s
In these listed excerpts, all attempted to foster a (2008) model on refusal sequence was utilized to
mutual cooperation between the writer and the receiver identify the moves underlying these letters. The
of the rejection letter, which is indicative of “be findings in Table 4 show that rejection letters include
optimistic” strategy because they (the writers) readily a preparation stage, composed of an opening and a
presumed the addressees’ willingness to cooperate, while transition part, a rejection stage, and a remedy stage.
equally expecting a positive outcome. By doing so, the
speaker confirms that he is interested in the hearer and Table 4. Frequency of moves in the refusal sequence
wants a good relationship with him, so that this
cooperative context and situation can compensate for the Moves in Frequency Average
Refusal Move per
damage done by the FTA (Jansen & Jansen, 2010). In a
Sequence Letter
sense, this particular strategy could also be another way
Preparation Opening 41 1.37
to implicitly request favors from the addressee.
Transistion 44 1.47
Moreover, the analysis of these excerpts may lead to a
Rejection 30 1
conclusion that the “be optimistic” strategy is often
marked by phrases indicating hope and optimism toward Remedy 136 4.53
cooperation between the writer and Total 251 8.37

59
 Linguistic Politeness of the World: Strategies Used by Organizers of Youth
International Conferences in Writing Rejection Letters

Table 4 registers 41 and 44 occurrences of 6. Dear Applicant,

opening and transition parts in rejection letters, Thank you for your application to the . . .
averaging 1.37 and 1.47 respectively, per letter. This 7. Dear applicant,
means that writers prefer to have an opening and a On behalf of the . . . organising team,
transition when writing or constructing their letters. we would like to thank you again for
Moreover, this reveals important information with regard your interest and your application for
to the construction of rejection letters because it implies the . . .
that the writers do not proceed with rejecting the 8. Dear applicant,
applicant right away, but they provide a background or Thank you very much for applying to . . .
explanation behind the action. In addition, in both 9. Dear applicant to the Youth event at the
opening and transition parts of the rejection letters, . . . in Bali, Indonesia.
redressive schemes or politeness strategies were already Thank you for your interest in the . . .
utilized. The opening part usually contained the writer’s in Bali and for taking the time to
gratitude for the applicant’s interest in the program or submit an application.
conference, while the transition part elicited several 10. Dear (name of applicant),
techniques or politeness strategies before proceeding Thank you for your interest in . . .
with the actual rejection. Tables 5 and 6 summarize the
politeness strategies deployed in the opening and Table 6. Politeness strategies at the transition sequence
transition parts of the rejection letters.
Politeness Frequency Percentage
Table 5. Politeness strategies at the opening sequence Strategies
Positive Exaggerating 8 18.18%
politeness Intensify interest 3 6.82%
Frequency Percentage
to hearer
Positive Notice, attend to 23 76.67%
Politeness hearer Noticing, 1 2.27%
attending to
Exaggerate 2 6.67%
hearer
Others Greetings, follow- 5 16.66 Negative Being 1 2.27%
up on the result of
politeness pessimistic
application, and
etc. Overstating 9 20.45%
Total 30 100% Off-record Giving 6 13.65%
association clues
Based on Table 5, “notice, attend to hearer” is Understating 1 2.27%
the most frequently used strategy in the opening Over-generalize 1 2.27%
sequence of rejection letters from youth international Displace H 1 2.27%
conferences, with 23 or 76.67% instances. This also Others Without 13 29.55%
means that writers deploy mostly positive politeness politeness
strategies at the beginning of their letters. The analysis strategies
of data shows that the “notice, attend to hearer” Total 44 100%
strategy is often introduced by a thank-you phrase,
which according to Baresova (2008) is the most In the transition sequence of the preparation
common introductory statement or formulaic stage in rejection letters, most writers prefer not to use
expression used to express appreciation. politeness strategies. It is evidently seen in the data,
Here are some notable instances when thank- which revealed 13 instances when the writers do not
you phrases were utilized in the “opening” sequence use politeness strategy in this particular sequence. In
of the rejection letters. most cases, these transitions are short phrases as
exhibited in the following examples:

60
 Kereen Ria C. Genteroy & Veronico N. Tarrayo
11. After reviewing your application…
12. After careful consideration
throughout the selection process…
13. After a careful review of your
application according to our criterias
[sic]…
14. The selection team considered all
applications and after screening
through all forms…
There are also notable instances where a
transition comes in the form of a word or two such as:
15. Unfortunately, we are unable to accept
all of them due to our limited resources.
16. However, upon deliberation, we regret
to inform you that you did not make it
through this year’s . . . applications.
17. Unfortunately, . . . organizing committee
regrets to inform you that we are unable
to offer you admission to . . .
18. Due to limited resources, it is with
regret that we inform you that your
team was not chosen as this year’s
case challenge winner.
The italicized words signal the transition of
the letter from a positive (appreciation) to a negative
(rejection) tone of the writer. This transitional phrase
follows shortly after the thank-you statement. While
thank-you statements are generally positive in nature,
it is noteworthy that Baresova (2008) believes that it
is a good starting point to announce bad news. Hence,
the appearance of these words (i.e., unfortunately,
however, and due to) in the transition sequence of the
rejection letter aids the shift of the positive
atmosphere, which was first established in the
beginning of the letter, to a negative one. Moreover,
the analysis identified that these words are examples
of transitional devices, which are used to express two
contrasting ideas (Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, &
Svartvik, 1985). In this case, the appearance of these
transitional devices seems to imply that the addressee
is about to receive a bad news or about to be rejected.
Consequently, the transition sequences that used
politeness strategies showed that “overstating,” an off
the record strategy, is the most deployed politeness
strategy, followed by “exaggerating,” which is a
61
positive politeness strategy. These two strategies are
closely related because they both overtly accentuate facts
and qualities. However, they differ in their subject foci.
On the one hand, exaggerating directly enhances the
value of the addressee’s face, or anything that is directly
related to him or her (i.e., qualities, stature, and the like);
on the other, overstating is a strategy that enigmatically
increases situations or a state of anything that has no
relation at all with the addressee.
These are examples of “overstating” used in
the transition sequence of rejection letters:
19. We received an enormous amount of
interest in the session, with over 770
applications for our 12 youth
facilitator and pitcher spots.
In this example, the italicized words
‘enormous’ and ‘over’ indicate the off the record
strategy “overstating” because they exaggerate the
facts in order to divert the reader’s focus from the
actual scenario, which is rejection. It introduces a
separate case, which aims to justify the decision of the
panel. Note, too, this example:
20. A large number of scholarship
applications were submitted from all
over the region for this important
congress.
In example 20, ‘large’ was used as an
overstatement to the number of applications the
committee received for the congress. Like the
previous example, it provides an explanation or
justification for the decision before actually disclosing
the result, that is, to help minimize the impending
threat of refusal or rejection. Baresova (2008) purports
that this particular strategy (i.e., mentioning of the
number of applicants) signals or hints a rejection and,
therefore, minimizes an impending threat.
Meanwhile, these are examples of
exaggerating, a positive politeness strategy, used in
the transition sequence of rejection letters:
21. We have received more than 2,400
applications from promising students
across all 51 . . . member countries
and the Selection Committee has
 Linguistic Politeness of the World: Strategies Used by Organizers of Youth
International Conferences in Writing Rejection Letters
considered and carefully reviewed
each application.
In this example, the italicized word ‘promising’
indicates exaggeration as a politeness strategy. The word
suggests exaggeration of the qualities of the students or
applicants. It was placed in order to minimize the FTA of
rejection by juxtaposing a praise or approval of the
student’s qualification. Examine, too, this example:
22. The mentor recruiting process was by
no means highly competitive due to
the participation of various
outstanding applicants.
The word ‘outstanding’ is an exaggeration
trying to divert the reader’s attention from the actual
rejection. It minimizes the FTA imposition by approving
the traits or qualifications of the applicants. The writer
went as far as calling these applicants ‘outstanding’ to
emphasize their approval. Such words (i.e., promising,
outstanding) are examples of emphatic expressions,
which according to Brown and Levinson (1987) do not
only redress FTA but also draw the speaker and the
hearer closer and enhance their relationship.
The next stage in the refusal sequence
purported by Baresova (2008) is the actual rejection.
This part contains the FTA, which are either directly
stated or imbedded through the statement. In some
cases, politeness schemes are employed side-by-side
the rejection in order to reduce its damaging effect.
Table 7 summarizes the rejection patterns found at the
rejection stage of the letter.
The data seem to imply that writers of
rejection letters from youth international conferences
prefer to be direct or bold (i.e., stating rejection
without redressive or politeness schemes) when
rejecting an applicant. Note these two examples:
23. Unfortunately, . . . organizing
committee regrets to inform you that
we are unable to offer you admission
to . . .
24. We have finished scouring through
over six hundred applications, and we
would like to inform you that you
have been put on the waitlist.
62
Table 7. Rejection pattern at the rejection stage
Rejection Frequency Percentage
Pattern
With 12 40%
politeness
strategies
Others Without 17 56.67%
politeness
strategies
Indirect rejection 1 3.33%
Total 30 100%
Both extracts 23 and 24 demonstrate rejection of
the applicant. However, notice that the first example
made use of “unable to offer admission,” which directly
referred to the slot or place the applicant is trying to
apply for, as compared to the second example that used
“put on the waitlist,” which could elicit several
meanings. This type of rejection is indirect as it did not
specify the exact result of the applicant’s request.
Meanwhile, this employment of direct
refusals may be attributed to the relationship of the
writer and the addressee, in which power relation
plays an important role in delivering FTA (Felix-
Bradsdefer, 2006; Morkus, 2014). Aliakbari and
Changizi (2012) stressed that direct refusals are most
frequent in cases where the one being rejected is of
lower status than the person who will do the rejection.
In this study, the writers of the rejection letters are
found to be of higher ranks (e.g., director, head of
commission), while the applicants are mere students.
Correspondingly, direct refusals were mostly
employed, too. In addition, the results revealed that
regret phrases mark the actual rejection in letters.
These phrases observed in the samples are as follows:
23. We deeply regret that, despite your
impressive application, we are unable
to offer you a slot in this program.
24. … we are regretfully unable to offer
you a place at our conference.
25. We regret to inform you today that we
are not able to provide you a place in
this year’s . . .
26. …we regret to inform you that you
have NOT been selected for the
scholarship award.
 Kereen Ria C. Genteroy & Veronico N. Tarrayo
27. We regret to inform you that the
selection did not fall on you this time.
Regret phrases, in a sense, function as formal
and polite means of refusing or rejecting an applicant.
They are considered formulaic expressions embedded
in the rejection sequence, functioning as supporting
moves to the FTA. They do not exactly minimize
imposition but help soften the impact of FTAs, for
such phrases may convey the writer’s sympathy with
the addressee.
The last stage in the refusal sequence is the
remedy which, according to Baresova (2008), serves as a
supporting move in rejection letters (aside from the
opening and transition parts). In the 30 samples gathered,
all were identified to have the remedy sequence in their
rejection letters, tallying about 136 instances and
averaging 4.53 per letter. This part comes right after the
rejection, and it contains the most number of politeness
strategies compared to the preparation and rejection
sequences since it redresses the damage the actual
rejection created. (See Table 1 for reference.)
In summary, the proposed macrostructure of the
rejection letters from youth international conferences
includes a preparation stage that is composed of a thank-
you statement and a transitional device, which would
signal the shift to the rejection stage. The rejection
follows a pattern of a direct refusal, without employing
politeness strategies, followed by the remedy stage,
which takes different kinds of politeness strategies.
Figure 4 summarizes the proposed macrostructure of the
rejection letter based on the findings of the study.
Thank-you statements
Preparation
Transitional device
Direct Refusal
Remedy (Politeness
Strategies)
Figure 4. Macro-structure of rejection letters
from youth international conferences
63
Also, one predominant observation in the
analysis of the data is the use of the pronoun ‘we’ to
identify the party who will do the rejection. Some of
these writers who employ the pronoun ‘we’ in writing
the body of the rejection letters sign at the end with
their respective names and positions. Therefore, there
is a mismatch with the referencing present in these
letters. However, instead of looking at it as an error,
the researcher looked into further factors contributing
to such behavior. It was discovered that for writers
utilizing ‘we’ in letter writing, cultural background
contributes as an important element in constructing
statements. Since the data collected were written by
organizers who present themselves as a team, which
are mostly considered collectivistic in culture (Felix-
Brasdefer, 2006; Morkus, 2014), this type of writing
mostly transpired. Meanwhile, Hyland (2002), in a
similar endeavor, believes that the use of ‘we’ in his
study are attempts to avoid the personal responsibility
that subjectivity entails, therefore, avoiding conflicts
and instead saving face value.
4. Conclusion
This work explored the politeness strategies and
macro-structure organization of rejection letters from
youth international conferences. The analysis revealed
several mechanisms underlying the rejection, requiring
employment of different politeness strategies. Despite a
myriad of politeness strategies available, the writers of
the rejection letters seem to favor positive politeness
among others (i.e, negative politeness and off-record),
primarily to accommodate and enhance the relationship
between them (the writers) and the receivers as a way to
compensate for the damage done by the rejection.
The utilization of these strategies can be
explained in light of the values and perceptions
underlying the data’s writing culture. The corpora
used for this study were written by organizers of
international conferences, who have varying cultural
orientations. What seems to be common among these
writers is their use of English as a standard medium to
communicate. Baresova (2008) in her cross-cultural
study of rejection letters written by Americans and
Japanese, claimed that positive politeness are mostly
employed in American’s standard letter writing. This
finding may possibly account for the predominant use of
 Linguistic Politeness of the World: Strategies Used by Organizers of Youth
International Conferences in Writing Rejection Letters
positive politeness strategy in this study, for the writers
of rejection letters in youth international conferences
may have structured their correspondence using this
pattern: (1) a preparation stage, which includes a thank-
you statement and a transitional device that prompts the
shift to the rejection stage; (2) a rejection stage that
follows a pattern of a direct refusal, without employing
politeness strategies; and (3) a remedy stage. Likewise,
the prevalent use of the collective pronoun ‘we’ may
indicate avoidance in personal responsibility (Hyland,
2002), for it could also emphasize the idea that the
application underwent scrutiny from credible people, in
which the writer is actually a part of. In this manner, the
writer implicitly assures the applicant that his application
was given enough attention, which may be an indication
of a positive politeness strategy.
Since the data focused on a corpus with diverse
cultural influences (letters written by organizers of youth
international conferences) with just limited samples (i.e.,
30 letters), the study may be further explored to affirm
the conclusion stated earlier. Interestingly, this paper
also touches on the aspect of English for Specific
Purposes (ESP), particularly on Business English
writing. The study, in a way, proves that when it comes
to international relations, distinct cultures do not matter
as much as how a specific macrostructure is followed in
writing rejection letters in youth international
conferences. The findings show that these writers of
rejection letters express a ‘unified’ or ‘unifying’ global
use of English through the use of positive politeness
strategies. In other words, these letter writers, who come
from different cultural backgrounds but have shared
practices in using positive politeness strategies, employ a
fairly standardized and recognizable English. This means
that such written English is a product of the totality of
regulated writing across several speech communities in
the world.
Since all rejection letters from the corpus
follow a specific macrostructure, further studies may
be conducted to examine how language variation may
or may not exist across users (i.e., the writers of
rejection letters from different countries and cultures)
if they are all functioning within a similar social
context. In addition, other researchers may also take
interest in conducting a comparative analysis, similar
to Baresova’s (2008) cross-cultural study.
64
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65
 Linguistic Politeness of the World: Strategies Used by Organizers of Youth
International Conferences in Writing Rejection Letters

Appendix A.
Sample Rejection Letters Written by Organizers of Youth International Conferences

Dear Applicant,

Thank you for your application to the . . .

Due to the exceptionally high standard of applications, we regret to inform you that your application has not been
successful on this occasion. The . . . is highly competitive and there are many good candidates to whom it is
unfortunately not possible to offer a slot. We are unable to provide individual feedback due to the large number of
applications we received.

However, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for applying to the . . . and to wish you the best of
luck in your future endeavors.

If you wish to apply for other . . ., please sign up for alerts by liking and following our Facebook and Twitter Pages.

Best Wishes,

XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXX

Regrets message to nonselected participants and potential alternates

Dear applicant to the . . . in Bali, Indonesia.

Thank you for your interest in the . . . in Bali and for taking the time to submit an application.

During the past weeks, the Selection Committee composed of youth, . . . and Indonesian representatives reviewed
nearly 3,000 applications received for the . . . in Bali. They did so while focusing on the criteria outlined in the call
for applications. Earlier today, members of this committee made a final decision on the 100 youth to be invited to
Bali for this event. The final decision took into consideration the scores for each application as well as regional and
gender balance.

Unfortunately, your application was not retained. This result is not a reflection of your profile but rather of how
high the number of application was compared to the number of places available.

However, please note that should the selected participants withdraw from the event, the Selection Committee will
go back to the pool of applicants and select alternative candidates.

Once again, we thank you for your interest in the . . . in Bali and for taking the time to apply.

Best regards,
XXXXXXXXX

66
 Kereen Ria C. Genteroy and Veronico N. Tarrayo

Dear Applicant,

We highly appreciate your interest in . . . taking place in Istanbul, Turkey.

After a careful review of your application according to our criterias, we are sorry to inform you that your
application will not be going forward to the next round of evaluation.

Please note that the selection process was very competitive and only a limited number of participants were chosen.
As we received over 3400 applications, we regret that we are unable to provide individual feedback and further
communication with candidates.

However, we welcome you to join our first day sessions are going to be held in Istanbul Congress Center on the
24th of October, which is open to all.

We hope you understand the delay in delivering our reply, as we took time to thoroughly review each application.
We appreciate your patience and understanding and wish you success in your future endeavors.

We would like to invite you to access further information on our current and upcoming activities, some of which
might be of interest to you. Future events are posted on our website, which can be accessed at:

XXXXXXXXX

It would be a pleasure to welcome you in any of our future programmes.

Again, you are welcome to join our first day’s session which is going to be held in Istanbul Congress Center on the
24th of October.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXX

67
 Philippine Journal of Linguistics

A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of Job Application Letters

in Philippine English and American English

John Paul O. Dela Rosa

Dapdap High School – DepEd Tarlac, Philippines

Rachelle B. Lintao
1

University of Santo Tomas

Manila, Philippines

Maria Grace D. Dela Cruz

Philippine Normal University
Manila, Philippines

1Corresponding author: lerache@yahoo.com

Abstract

This study investigates the physical elements, surface features, readability, rhetorical moves, and
politeness strategies employed in job application letters written by Filipino and American teacher-applicants
using the lens of contrastive rhetoric analysis. The study analyzed 30 authentic Filipino and American job
application letters written from 2001 to 2015, which comprised the entire corpora, using Upton and Connor’s
(2001) Coding Scheme and Brown and Levison’s (1987) politeness strategies as frameworks for analysis. The
results revealed that the Philippine corpus does not strictly observe the needed physical elements in a job
application letter, while the American corpus has consistently adhered to all the required elements. In terms of
the surface features of the corpora, Filipino teachers include less words and shorter sentences that are more
lexically dense. Meanwhile, American teachers write more words and longer sentences that are less lexically
dense. As regards the corpora’s readability, measures of lexical density revealed that American job application
letters are more intelligible than those of the Filipinos. However, both of the corpora fall under acceptable ranges
of readability based on the Gunning-Fog index. In terms of the rhetorical moves, Filipino teachers follow a more
personalized and unconventional way of presenting details in their application letters, while American teachers
are more structured and tend to conform to standards in representing each move in their letters. Finally, the
preferences of both Filipino and American teachers for politeness strategies show no apparent difference.
Filipinos observe direct and nonstandard ways of expressing respect to their addressees. On the other hand,
American teachers generally prefer positive politeness strategies and are more indirect, formal, and conventional
in expressing congenial statements in their letters. Based on the results, implications for establishing an ESP
writing class for teachers are provided.

Keywords: Contrastive analysis, genre-based writing, job application letters, move analysis, ESP

1. Introduction contrastive analysis, error analysis, and relevant

The critical argument of Kaplan (1966), which
posits that every culture ushers in distinctive patterns of
thinking that significantly influence the organizational
structure of writing, is one of the earliest in Contrastive
Rhetoric (CR). As a field in applied linguistics, CR has
paved ways for rhetoric studies that highlighted
investigations on the influence of L1 to L2 learning.
In her historical review of CR, Connor (2002)
affirms CR’s development toward a context-sensitive
research approach that includes studying the social
context, local situatedness, writing process as well as
written products themselves, and history and social
structures of a particular culture. From being delimited

68
 John Paul O. Dela Rosa, Rachelle B. Lintao,
& Maria Grace D. Dela Cruz
to L1 and L2 learners’ writing, CR studies have
advanced into integrating authentic writing samples or
discipline-specific corpus with multidimensional
analytical frameworks for cross-cultural linguistic
analyses. These include studying rhetorical or moves-
analysis theories governing various writings in
professional and academic contexts. Hence, the need
for genre-based analysis originated.
The regularities in texts in terms of shared
communicative purposes within discourse communities
are embodied in genre analysis, which gives light to
various research concerning structures and conventions
of written outputs from different professional and
academic contexts. In presenting the definition of a
genre in relation to English for Specific Purposes (ESP),
Swales (1990) underscores that a genre shapes the
schematic structure of the discourse and influences and
constrains the choice of content and style. His study of
genres in terms of rhetorical moves has sought to
operationalize a text into particular segments, which
originated from the educational objective of supporting
the teaching of academic writing and reading for
nonnative speakers of English (Benjamins, 2010).
Recent studies in CR have centered on texts for
specific genres such as research articles, editorials, grant
proposals, theses, and texts for professional purposes
(Lintao & Erfe, 2012). Such new directions in CR
consider texts not merely as static products but as
functional parts of dynamic cultural contexts (Connor,
1990). Moreover, recent research in academic and
professional writing across cultures forms part of the
domains of investigation in contrastive studies.
Contrastive studies on professional and academic
writings conducted in milieus outside the Anglo-
American context recommend that CR be pursued
according to varying aims and methods within different
institutions and universities and in EFL situations
(Enkvist, 1997). Hence, several research that highlight
CR relevant to academic and professional settings have
been undertaken in Europe, Middle East, and Asia.
In reviewing current literature, English
writing based on a task for real-world purposes poses
interests among CR researchers. Consequently, genre-
based investigations on business letter writing have
penetrated the research scene. One of them is
specifically connected to writing cover letters for a job
application.
69
1.1 Job Application Cover Letters
Writing a cover letter has been a household
requirement for one to land on a desired job. It is typical
for an applicant to take advantage of the utility of a job
application letter to be considered for almost any
position. In the United States, 91% of executives who
joined in an online survey agreed that cover letters are
valuable when evaluating job candidates (Half, 2012).
Also, 71% of the managers, who participated in the said
survey, affirmed that they anticipate receiving cover
letters even when applicants submit their resumes online.
In general, the application letter can supplement and
enrich the information present in the rest of the
application (Hope College, 2002). Thus, writing a good
job application letter may be a crucial factor whether the
application will be accepted or not.
In Western culture, the main function of a job
application letter is to provide a self-appraisal that
includes strategies such as enhancing qualifications and
experiences of the applicant and demonstrating such an
interest in a specific position (Li, 2011). Among
countries in Asia, styles and conventions toward writing
an application letter are different. In fact, in Taiwan,
application letters are not an essential component for job
application documents in business communities. In
another study of cross-cultural variations in job
application letters among people in South Asia, Bhatia
(1993) found that application letters from South Asian
countries do not reflect similar promotional features as
those from Western countries. On a relative note,
Connor, Davis, and De Rycker (1995) concluded in their
study of job application letters across cultures that the
Flemish group resembled Bhatia’s (1993) South Asian
group, which is to say that they do not use the cover
letter as a sales instrument for self-promotion. As a part
and parcel of professional discourse, similarities and
differences between or among cover letters written by
native and nonnative speakers of English could be
functionally explored.
One of the schemes developed for such an
investigation is genre analysis in writing application
letters to help applicants realize forms, conventions,
and effective communicative writing to the hiring
committee. Although there are hundreds of websites
providing applicants with samples and guidelines, a
genre analysis based on linguistic approaches is still
needed to help applicants understand how to achieve
 A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of Job Application Letters
in Philippine English and American English
the communicative purposes of the application letter
through move structures, linguistic features, and
pragmatics (Hsaio, 2004). Researchers within and
outside the inner circle of World Englishes have
apparently arrived at these differences and similarities
in rhetorical features of job application letters.
The study of Upton and Connor (2001)
identified cross-cultural differences that may influence
effectiveness of the application letters written by
American and European undergraduate students by
analyzing a corpus covering a ten-year period. They
concluded that letters written in early years showed
greater differences in style between cultural groups as
compared with letters written in later years. They further
observed that the style of application letters has become
more homogenized in the global business environment
(Li, 2011). Their study, thus, resulted in the investigation
on the use of politeness strategies in letter writing.
Maier (1992) conducted a study on cross-
cultural job application letter analyses and found out that
native speakers use more positive polite strategies, such
as being indirect in deferring to the reader. Upton and
Connor (2001) also reported that American and non-
American applicants operate politeness strategies
differently in cover letters but do not follow particular
patterns. As mentioned in the study of Li (2011), the
differences might be attributed to cultural variations in
the audience’s expectation and interpretation of reader-
writer relationships and the writer’s concepts of how
politeness is expressed. As such, the variations in writing
job application letters do not only encompass form,
content, and style but politeness strategies as well.
Several years after the emergence of important
studies on cover letter writing as a genre, many
researchers endeavored to widen its scope by including
other elements and venturing on other genres within the
context of business correspondence. Few of these studies
focused on rhetorical moves applied among application
essays for graduate school, contrastive rhetoric analysis
of business letters written by native and nonnative
speakers, and contrastive studies dealing with internship
application letters involving students subjected to
extensive English language instruction.
In 2006, Arvani conducted a discourse analysis
of business letters written by native English speaking
and nonnative Iranian communicators. Using Halliday’s
(1985) notion of lexical density, the number of lexical
and grammatical words was computed. Then, on the
70
basis of the model of schematic structure, the “moves”
and “steps” of letters were specified, and finally, the
politeness strategies used in the letters were analyzed.
The findings showed that Iranian business letter-
writers mostly focused on the surface linguistic
aspects of the English language while the pragmatic
aspects of language, such as using politeness
strategies, were ignored in their letter writing. This
significantly links to the inevitability of capitalizing
on the use of both the linguistic and the pragmatic
features when analyzing business letters.
Li (2011) analyzed the English cover letters
written by Taiwanese and Canadian Hospitality
Management majors for their internship applications.
Using a move-based analysis, the researcher found out
that there are significant differences in length, lexical
density, and descriptions of desire for applying for the
job; providing arguments in benefits for the company;
and politeness expressions between Taiwanese and
Canadian students’ cover letters. The study’s
implications for the teaching of English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) among students applying for
internships may give light to the strategy of
considering discourse features of letters to guide
student-applicants toward getting the jobs they desire.
In the Philippines, would-be employees have to
be acquainted with the basics of job application letter
writing. In a country where jobs are outnumbered by the
number of applicants, standing out from the rest through
the aid of a cover letter must be considered. One of the
professions that breed a lot of applicants every year in
the country is teaching. Based on the report of the
Education Department, public schools in the Philippines
will need 81,000 teachers for the commencement of its
Senior High School Program in 2016. This means that
more teachers will be filling in teaching positions among
public schools that offer basic education. What would
make them more employable is their readiness to
produce effective job application letters. Since
Philippine English traditionally follows the standard
American English, it is also crucial to study the way
Filipino teachers write their job application letters as
founded on the conventions used by the Americans.
Since the use of English has been part of almost all
proceedings in the Philippines such as those in the
academe and the business world, it is a permissible truth
that Americans have influenced the way Filipinos think
and write (Famy, 2004). Hence,
 John Paul O. Dela Rosa, Rachelle B. Lintao,
& Maria Grace D. Dela Cruz
in writing cover letters, one could also see traces of
American elements among the writings of Filipinos in
the said genre. Their comparability is, therefore, geared
toward a specific professional purpose for teachers.
A move analysis on job application letters
written by both American and Filipino teachers is,
thus, relevant to this study. Although several
contrastive studies have already revealed differences
in rhetorical moves in cover letters across cultures, no
study has been conducted to investigate the structure
and, more importantly, the moves used by both
Filipino and American teachers as they draft their
application letters for a teaching position. The
linguistic features that determine complexity and
readability of a text, including the positive and
negative politeness strategies that could possibly be
entrenched in the corpora of cover letters used in the
study, may also provide a concrete picture of the
cultural and rhetorical differences between Americans
and Filipinos despite adhering to the same standards
in using English for written communication.
Ultimately, this paper would shed light as to how
teachers could improve the way they write business
correspondence such as job application letters,
particularly addressing their writing needs and helping
them meet the criteria of effective cover letter writing.
1.2 Objectives of the Study
This contrastive rhetoric study focuses on job
application letters written by Filipino and American
teacher-applicants by comparing their physical elements,
surface structures, readability features, rhetorical moves,
and politeness strategies. Specifically, it sought answers
to the following questions:
1. What physical elements of an
application letter are present in the
corpora of Filipino and American
teachers’ job application letters? How
do the two differ in terms of their
physical elements?;
2. What are the similarities and differences
between the job application letters of
Filipino and American teacher-applicants
in terms of the letters’ surface features
and readability?;
3. What are the rhetorical moves found in
the job application letters of Filipino
71
and American teacher-applicants?
How do they distinctly employ such
moves?; and
4. What politeness strategies are used in
both Filipino and American teachers’
job application letters? Is there a
difference between the preferences for
politeness strategies of the Filipinos
and Americans?
1.3 Frameworks of the Study
1.3.1 Upton and Connor’s Coding Scheme
Coding schemes are ways of categorizing
behavior so that one can code what is observed in terms
of how often a type of behavior appears. This is a coding
scheme for corpus of application letters based on the
concept of Swalesian (Swales, 1990) genre moves
categorized by the communicative purpose of individual
rhetorical units. Upton and Connor’s (2001) seven-move
coding scheme made two modifications on the scheme
originally developed by Connor, Davis, and De Rycker
(1995). The moves “describe the functions (or
communicative intentions) which particular portions of
the text realize in relationship to the overall task of
applying for… an overseas internship” (Connor, Davis,
& De Rycker, as cited in Upton & Connor, 2001, p.
463.). These two move alterations from the original were
an extension of Move 4 (originally, “Indicate desire for
an interview.”) and addition of a seventh move
(“Reference attached resume.”) from the initial total of
six . Upton and Connor further clarify that the moves are
obligatory or essential.
This coding scheme is, thus, adapted in this
study, for it focuses on the rhetorical moves applied in
writing job application letters. Although the present
study deals with cover letters of teachers, this framework
is still applicable since it encompasses features equally
observed in application letters written for a teaching
position. However, to make the coding scheme befitting
with the objectives of the study, some words were
modified and were aligned with terms common for a job
application letter for teaching.
 A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of Job Application Letters
in Philippine English and American English
Table 1. Upton and Connor’s coding scheme (2001, p. 318)
1 Identify the source of information (Explain how and where
you learned of the position).
2 Apply for the position (State desire for consideration).
3 Provide argument, including supporting information, for
the job application.
a. Implicit argument based on neutral evidence or
information about background and experience.
b. Argument based on what would be good for the
hiring company.
c. Argument based on what would be good for the
applicant.
4 Indicate desire for an interview or a desire for further
contact, or specify means of further communication/how
to be contacted.
5 Express politeness (pleasantries) or appreciation at the end
of the letter.
6 Offer to provide more information.
7 Reference attached resume.
1.3.2 Politeness Strategies
In writing a cover letter, the need to be modest
and teachable on the part of applicants must be
expressed. Hence, the use of politeness strategies helps
the applicants on how to maintain a balance between
advertising themselves and presenting themselves as
respectful and teachable. Lakoff’s (1973) classic paper
describes the sociocultural function of politeness as
helping people to alleviate and avoid the risks associated
with interaction conflict. Politeness makes the
interaction less abrasive and hurtful as a result of using
indirectness, softeners, or mitigators.
Politeness strategies are classified into positive
and negative politeness. Positive politeness strategies
include directness and being optimistic, while negative
politeness strategies focus on the use of modals and
formulaic expressions. Negative politeness strategies are
intended to reinforce the speakers’ respect for the
addressees, showing that the speakers acknowledge the
addressees’ independence and freedom of action (Brown
& Levison, 1987). Such politeness strategies are
connected with the use of modals and formulaic
expressions. On the other hand, positive politeness
strategies are employed to emphasize the shared goals
and common ground between the speaker and the
addressee. The strategies are most effective when both
72
the speaker and the addressee see themselves as
equals (Li, 2011). According to Upton and Connor
(2001), the directness of the speaker and the use of
optimism are identified as positive politeness.
2. Method
2.1 Study Corpus
The data analyzed in this study include two
sets of job application letters written by Filipino and
American teachers. The first set includes 15 letters of
application written in English by Filipino teachers
applying in public and private elementary and
secondary schools in the Philippines. The job
application letters were submitted to school heads of
their respective institutions from 2000-2014. On the
other hand, 15 samples of job application letters were
downloaded from different websites of American
universities, which showcase sample authentic cover
letters of teachers applying for a teaching position in
both public and private elementary and high schools
across the United States. The job application letters
written by Americans were composed from 2003-
2015. The difference in the years when the cover
letters were written was assumed to have no relative
impact on the results since similar structures and
patterns were observed from the two sets of corpora.
The comparability of the job application letters
written by both Filipino and American teachers links
with the varieties of World Englishes across the globe as
presented by Y. Kachru (1997). The Philippines is
associated with the outer circle where English is learned
as a second language. On the other hand, the United
States belongs to the inner circle along with United
Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand −
countries where English is used as a first language.
2.2 Procedure
The elements present in each group of job
application letters were identified as represented
through the number of occurrences or frequencies.
Quantitative analyses of the physical elements and
surface features of the letters, such as the total word
count, number of sentences, average sentence length,
number of paragraphs and hard words, and
 John Paul O. Dela Rosa, Rachelle B. Lintao,
& Maria Grace D. Dela Cruz
lexical densities including their readability levels, were
computed using an online text analyzer from
UsingEnglish.com, a website that provides free text
content analysis and accurate statistics. On the other
hand, to analyze the genre moves of the job application
letters, Upton and Connor’s (2001) Coding Scheme for
Learner Application Letter was adapted as framework
for analysis. All the sample letters were encoded and
converted to computer files. The help of an intercoder
who is a Ph.D. in Linguistics degree holder and has been
teaching language courses in a state university for 23
years was, therefore, sought in order to ensure the
reliability of the study results. Careful identification and
categorization of the moves used in the job application
letters written by Filipinos and Americans seeking for
teaching jobs were then employed. Consequently, the
politeness strategies (Brown & Levison, 1987) used in
Moves 4 and 5 of the Filipino and American cover letters
were likewise discussed and compared.
In analyzing how the respondents employed the
moves in Upton and Connor’s scheme in writing their
application letters, a move is considered obligatory if its
percentage of occurrences is 60% above. Thus, it is
qualified as obligatory if it appears at least once in nine
(9) out of the 15 job application letters evaluated. On the
other hand, a move is considered optional if its
percentage of occurrences is below 60% − that is,
equivalent to 0-8 times of appearance among the 15 job
application letters under study.
2.3 Data Analysis
The text analyzer used in the study examines
text content and gives statistics about a text including
word count, unique words, number of sentences,
average words per sentence, lexical density, and the
Gunning-Fog readability index. The study used an
online text analyzer to determine the physical features
of sample job application letters produced by Filipinos
and Americans and to identify each letter’s readability
based on how lexically dense each sample is and on
the number of hard words crucial for computing for
the Gunning-Fog readability index. The text analyzer
is a free program from UsingEnglish.com.
The said text analyzer determined the physical
features of the corpora of letters as to the total number
of words, sentences, paragraphs, and hard words
collectively. The measures of lexical density and
73
readability of the sample job application letters are based
on the said features. The lexical density of a text tries to
measure the proportion of the content (lexical) words
over the total words. Texts with a lower density are more
easily understood. Lexically dense texts have a lexical
density of around 60-70%, and those that are not have a
lower lexical density measure of around 40-50%.
Similarly, the Gunning-Fog index aims to identify the
readability of a text. It gives the number of years of
education that a reader hypothetically needs to
understand the paragraph or text. The index formula
implies that short sentences written in plain English
achieve a better score than long sentences written in
complicated language. For instance, the New York Times
has an average Fog index of 11-12 and the Time
Magazine about 11. Typically, technical documentation
has a Fog index between 10 and 15, and professional
prose almost never exceeds 18 (UsingEnglish.com).
Meanwhile, the politeness strategies employed
in both corpora of Filipino and American job application
letters were analyzed based on the use of formulaic
expressions and modal auxiliaries that may reveal
positive and negative pleasantries. These elements show
speech acts, express concern for others, and minimize
threats to self-esteem (Nordquist, 2009).
3. Results and Discussion
A job application letter fulfills a
communicative purpose that links the applicant with
his or her prospective employer. Hence, the physical,
linguistic, and pragmatic features of a cover letter
have to be considered to ensure the letter’s
communicability. The following results and
discussion reveal the comparability that exists
between the ways Filipino and American teachers use
the distinct features of their cover letters such as how
they observe the parts of a business letter, the number
of content and hard words that lead to their letters’
readability, and the inclusion of politeness strategies
as a pragmatic element in cover letter writing.
3.1 Physical Elements Included in Filipino and
American Teachers’ Job Application Letters
One of the basics in writing a job application
letter is the knowledge of its essential parts. The
 A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of Job Application Letters
in Philippine English and American English
Writing Center @ University of Wisconsin–Madison
(2014) notes that the use of conventional business
correspondence form in cover letter writing is highly
needed, and knowledge of the structure of an effective
job application letter would favor an applicant in any
job or work desired.
According to the Northern Michigan University
(2011), a business letter is a formal letter with six parts.
These include the heading, which contains the return
address with the date on the last line; the recipient’s
address containing the address of the one the letter is
sent; the salutation or the greeting; the body of the letter,
which serves as the letter’s meat; the complimentary
close, which is a short and a polite remark that ends the
letter; the signature line; and the enclosures, written if
there is any enclosed or attached document such as a
resume. These elements are then deemed to be
obligatory in business correspondence that include job
application letters. Table 2 presents the important
elements found in the corpora of job application letters
written by Filipino and American teachers.
Table 2. Physical comparison of the elements
contained in Filipino and American teachers’ job
application letters
Filipino American
Teachers’ Job Teachers’ Job
Application Application
Letters Letters
Heading 5 15
Recipient's Address 12 15
Salutation 14 15
Body 15 15
Complimentary Close 14 15
Signature 15 15
Enclosures 9 15
Apparent differences can be seen on the way
Filipino and American teacher-applicants follow
conventions in application letter writing such as the
observance of necessary elements of a letter. Among the
corpus of Filipino teachers’ application letters, only five
(5) out of 15 included a heading; 12 included the
recipient’s address; 14 have salutation; all of them have
body of the letter; 14 have complimentary close; all have
signature line; and nine (9) from the letter samples
provide an enclosures or attachments referring to other
74
pertinent documents. On the other hand, the corpus of
American teachers’ application letters shows that all the
essential parts of a business letter are strictly followed.
The inconsistency in the observance of the said
essential elements among the samples of letters from
Filipino teacher-applicants may be attributed to their
lack of training and awareness of technical writing
conventions. As reported by Thomas (2011), ESL
learners tend to commit errors when structuring formal
letters and curriculum vitae. This was seconded by
Sanders (2011) when he reported that a lot of applicants
forget to include a cover letter whenever they go through
finding a job. In the Philippines, a resume is more
popular than a cover letter. This may be due to the
reason that Filipino applicants do not see the need to
write an application letter as compared with the
perceived importance of a resume. Moreover, among
Americans and those whose native language is English,
adhering to standards is extremely important. This was
proved in the study of Li (2011) when he found out that
the samples of Canadian internship letters contain all the
elements of a cover letter. The same observation was
ascertained among the internship letters of Taiwanese
students who have had at least seven years of formal
instruction in English and who were exchange students
in Canada. Some of them, however, failed to provide
correct information of other elements such as those
relative to the recipients’ and the salutation.
3.2 Surface Features and Readability of Filipino
and American Teachers’ Job Application
Letters
The differences in words, sentences, and
paragraph structures between the two corpora of
Filipino and American job application letters were
also analyzed. Table 3 shows the total length and
lexical densities of each corpus of job application
letters written by Filipinos and Americans,
respectively, that led to the identification of their
corresponding extents of readability.
Based on the surface-level analysis of the two
corpora of job application letters written by Filipino
and American teachers, the corpus from American
teacher-applicants use of more words (4,003) and
sentences (193) than those of the Filipino teachers’ job
application letters, which have a total of 2,871 and 167
sentences. In terms of the average length of
 John Paul O. Dela Rosa, Rachelle B. Lintao,
& Maria Grace D. Dela Cruz

sentences, American job application letters have the variance goes with the number of words that
21.09, while those written by Filipinos have 17.12. complete one full sentence. In the case of the American
This posits that American teachers write more lengthy job application letters, the longest sentence consists of 63
sentences in their cover letters whereas Filipino words as compared with the longest sentence among the
teachers write shorter ones. Conversely, the American Filipino job application letters, which has a total of 51
job application letters encompass more paragraphs words. This discrepancy is consistent with the results
(68) than those of the Filipinos’ (65). The following from the studies of Li (2011) and Arvani (2006) as they
extracts from the corpora of job application letters contrastively analyzed internship letters written by native
further show the aforesaid variability: speakers and Taiwanese students and business letters
produced by American and Iranian students, respectively.
(FTAP #12) I may not be a graduate of an It was also found out that native speakers tend to write
Education course, but I am certain that the longer sentences in business correspondence letters than
Professional Education subjects that I took and foreign language and second language speakers of
the trainings and seminars I attended relative to English.
technical skills development had equipped me
Determining the readability levels of the samples
with enough knowledge and skills to teach
of job application letters of teachers was also covered in
Technology and Livelihood Education and
Technical-Vocational subjects. (51 words) this study. Pikulski (2002) defines “readability” as the
level of ease or difficulty with which a text material can
(ATAP #11) Over the past five years, I have be understood by a particular reader who is reading that
had the wonderful opportunity to instruct a text for a specific purpose. In this regard, readability or
diverse group of middle school students, and as comprehensibility has to be achieved by the cover letter
a result, I have developed highly effective in order to be considered by the hiring company or the
teaching techniques and instructional methods, hiring school if the applicant is seeking for a teaching
which have allowed me to educate all styles of position. In this study, two readability tests were
learners, and foster a fun and engaging learning
employed on the contents of the bodies of both Filipino
environment that effectively teaches art
and American job application letters. The first one was
appreciation, promotes creativity, and
through calculating the letters’ lexical densities, and the
encourages growing independence. (63 words)
second was done by measuring their Gunning-Fog
Table 3. Comparative summary of the surface indices or the average of the number of words per
features and readability of Filipino and American sentence pertaining to the readability of a text.
teachers’ job application letters Based on the calculations done through an online
text analyzer, the corpus of Filipino job application
Filipino American letters written by teacher-applicants has an overall lexical
Teachers’ Job Teachers’ Job density and Fog index of 62.31% and 12.55, respectively.
Application Application
On the other hand, the corpus of American job
Letters Letters
Total Word Count 2,871 4,003
application letters of teachers received a lexical density
of 60.95% and a Fog Index of 15.14. The results show
Number of Sentences 167 193
that in terms of the first readability test, samples of
Average Sentence Length 17.12 21.09
Filipino job application letters are more lexically dense
Number of Paragraphs 68 65
than those written by Americans. As regards the
Hard Words 25.24 (14.27%) 45.2 (16.75%) readability measured by the Gunning-Fog index, the
Lexical Density 62.31% 60.95% American job application letters have higher index than
Fog Index 12.55 15.14 those written by Filipinos. These reveal that based on the
lexical density test, readability is more apparent in the
The two extracts confirm the difference between samples of application letters from American teachers.
the lengths of sentences written in both Filipino and This could be attributed to the number of content or
American job application letters of teachers. Although lexical items (i.e., nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs)
both employed compound-complex sentence structures, embedded in the Filipino teachers’ cover

75
 A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of Job Application Letters
in Philippine English and American English
letters that made them more difficult to read. On the
basis of the Fog index, both corpora of job application
letters satisfy the range of index for technical texts or
documents. However, the higher index attributed to
the corpus of American job application letters
underscores the use of more hard words (i.e., words
having three or more syllables), which is a primary
factor in computing for the Fog index. The following
extracts intend to further illustrate the readability of
both Filipino and American cover letters in terms of
the use of content words and hard words:
• On the number of content (lexical) words in
every paragraph
(FTAP #9) My application as Mathematics
teacher in this prestigious school has been
initiated by DOST Region III. I finished my
Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education
major in Mathematics in 2013 as magna
cum laude and DOST-SEI scholar. My LET
rating is 87.80%. I finished my Master’s
degree in Education major in Mathematics
and currently enrolled in my Doctor of
Education degree major in Mathematics. I
also ranked first in the recently conducted
hiring for teacher 1 positions in the Schools
Division of Tarlac City. (44 content words)
(ATAP #6) It is with great anticipation that
I am applying for the position of elementary
teacher’s assistant currently posted on
Southbay’s website. My education and
experience make me an excellent candidate
for this position and my dream of becoming
a third grade teacher makes me extremely
excited about the opportunity to learn more
and gain additional experience by
participating in the district’s new summer
learning program. (36 content words)
• On the number of hard words (words with
three or more syllables) in every paragraph
(FTAP #3) I am hearing a lot of good
feedbacks from my sister and other teachers
about the quality “life” education and
training that Tarlac Montessori School
76
has been giving to its students and teachers
respectively. As a would-be educator, it will
be a great privilege for me to have my first
teaching experience in your school and be
one of its competent teachers. I am not yet a
seasoned teacher, but my passion towards
the craft and my aim to imbue to my future
students what real-life education is make
me one. (9 hard words)
(ATAP #11) The enclosed resume will
highlight my career accomplishments and
demonstrate my solid, creative,
instructional and leadership capabilities.
Over the past five years, I have had the
wonderful opportunity to instruct a diverse
group of middle school students, and as a
result, I have developed highly effective
teaching techniques and instructional
methods, which have allowed me to educate
all styles of learners, and foster a fun and
engaging learning environment that
effectively teaches art appreciation,
promotes creativity, and encourages
growing independence. (21 hard words)
The extracts from Filipino and American job
application letters show the strong preferences of
Filipino teacher-applicants on the use of content or
lexical words as instituted from the total 44 content
words found in the extracted paragraph of one of the
sample Filipino application letters. The said number
of words is higher as compared with the 36 content
words from the extracted paragraph of an American
application letter. Conversely, American teacher-
applicants tend to include more hard words than those
written by Filipino teacher-applicants. This is justified
by the total number of hard words embedded in each
of the two extracted paragraphs from the two corpora,
that is, nine (9) from the sample Filipino job
application letters and 21 from that of the Americans.
In the study of Li (2011), Canadian students
tend to write more lexically dense internship letters than
Taiwanese students. Such a result is associated with the
current study since a comparison was made on the basis
of job application letters written by nonnative speakers
of English (Filipinos) and native speakers of the said
language (Americans). In a comparative study of Salazar
 John Paul O. Dela Rosa, Rachelle B. Lintao,
& Maria Grace D. Dela Cruz

(2008), it was found that when writing argumentative
essays, Filipinos and Spanish students prefer the use of
lexical verbs and adverbs than their counterpart
American students. The modality on the use of lexical
words in writing is more apparent among ESL learners
such as Filipinos and Spanish students. The use of hard
words or words that exceed more than two syllables is in
contrast with the aim of making writing outputs achieve
clarity, simplicity, and parsimony, which are specifically
encouraged by several American authors (Oppenheimer,
2005). Such employment of more hard words by
American teacher-applicants may then be attributed to
the conventions followed in technical writing such as in
business letter writing. The usage of complex word items
was also observed in the samples of Filipino job
application letters since Filipinos follow technical
writing standards from American English. However, a
higher extent of preference for hard words is more
observable among the analyzed cover letters written by
American teacher-applicants.
3.3 Move Analysis of Filipino and American
Teachers’ Job Application Letters
To analyze the move structures of the corpora of
job application letters used in this study, the coding
scheme for application letters developed by Upton and
Connor (2001) was adapted. The moves described are as
follows: Move 1 – Identify the source of information
(Explain how and where you learned of the position);
Move 2 – Apply for the position (State desire for
consideration); Move 3 – Provide argument, including
supporting information about background and
experience (3a – Implicit argument based on neutral
evidence or information about background and
experience; 3b – Argument based on what would be
good for the hiring company; 3c – Argument based on
what would be good for the applicant); Move 4 –
Indicate desire for an interview or a desire for further
contact, or specify means of further communication/ how
to be contacted; Move 5 – Express politeness strategies
(pleasantries) or appreciation at the end of the letter;
Move 6 – Offer to provide more information; and Move
7 – Reference attached resume. Tables 4 and

Table 4. Moves identified in Filipino teachers’ job application letters

Moves
Filipino Teacher-Applicant Number M3
M1 M2 M4 M5 M6 M7
a b c
FTAP #1 1 1 1 1 1
FTAP #2 1 1 1 1 1 1
FTAP #3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
FTAP #4 1 1 1 1 1 1
FTAP #5 1 1 1 1
FTAP #6 1 1 1 1 1 1
FTAP #7 1 1 1 1 1 1
FTAP #8 1 1 1 1 1
FTAP #9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
FTAP #10 1 1 1 1 1
FTAP #11 1 1 1 1 1 1
FTAP #12 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
FTAP #13 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
FTAP #14 1 1 1 1 1
FTAP #15 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
TOTAL 6 14 15 14 5 13 13 3 10

77
 A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of Job Application Letters
in Philippine English and American English
5 illustrate the moves employed in both Filipino and
American teachers’ job application letters.
The results of the study are congruent with the
findings of other researchers who also investigated the
same genre. Filipino teachers have the propensity to
observe the moves indicated in Upton and Connor’s
(2001) Coding Scheme for Learner Application
Letter. Specifics about the position applied for were
also seen as obligatory in the study of Miciano (2014).
This is identified as Offering Candidature (OC) in the
rhetorical moves established by Henry and Roseberry
(2001). However, M2 in the coding scheme used is
not identified in the proposed rhetorical moves of both
Bathia (1993) and Henry and Roseberry (2001). Move
3a, on the one hand, is consistently observed in the
corpus of job application letters written by Filipino
teachers. Thus, the need to provide background
information and experience on the part of the teacher-
applicant is seen as enforced details in cover letters.
As one of the obligatory moves identified, M3b
or stating arguments based on what the applicant could
contribute to the hiring school is also a required element
for Filipino teacher-applicants. According to the NC
State University Career Center (2010), the first and
second paragraphs of a cover letter must contain
statements about the specific position being applied for
and arguments relative to the candidate’s qualifications
and skills that could benefit the hiring company.
Consequently, these moves are contributory to the
possibility of capturing the attention of an employer.
For M4 and M5, necessary details about the
interview process and polite statements or pleasantries are
also considered requirements based on the sample job
application letters written by Filipino teachers. The
importance of letting the employer know the applicant’s
desire for an interview has to be underscored in the
application letter. The connection between the employer
and the job seeker is built through the interview process.
Thus, asking for an interview helps job seekers to present
their skills and acquire a desired position on merit. Further,
politeness strategies as socially and culturally practiced
(Watts, 2003) are used as a way to respectfully deal with
people. As part of Filipino idiosyncrasies, politeness could
be observed in the way Filipinos communicate both in oral
and written discourses. As cited in the study of Gan, David,
and Dumanig (2015), culture is seen as an important factor
that influences the address and request forms of Filipinos.
78
For the other moves, M1 (Identify the source of
information), M3c (Argument based on what is good for
the applicant), and M6 (Offer to provide more
information) are all identified as optional moves. These
moves occurred less than 60% in the corpus of job
application letters written by Filipino teacher-applicants.
In the study of Miciano (2014), the said moves
were not considered optional but as statements generally
embedded among the corpus of Filipino job application
letters analyzed. In the principles of a good cover letter
introduced by Blinn College−Bryan Writing Center
(n.d.), one of the do’s in writing a cover letter is to
identify the sources of information for the application.
However, it is emphasized that source information may
or may not be included; it depends whether the
application is solicited or unsolicited. Thus, if it is
unsolicited, it is suggested that asking if a position is
available will do. On a relative note, statements
expressing an applicant’s potential benefits when hired
are not essentially emphasized in cover letter writing.
What count as an important part of the application letter
are the arguments stating the benefits the institution
could have out of considering the application. Writing a
cover letter is like advertising oneself to be considered
by an employer; and in doing so, an applicant presents
himself in such a way that his qualifications are
contributory to the hiring company. As highlighted by
Gallo (2014), an applicant must emphasize his or her
personal value, not the personal satisfactions to be
derived from the company. Also, offering to provide
more information is not consistently observed among the
corpus of Filipino job application letters in this study.
The aforementioned move is not also seen as obligatory
in the study of Miciano (2014). Although there are letters
in the study that include statements to further provide
information, such are overpowered by the applicants’
statements expressing their desire for an interview.
Hence, among the job application letters written by
Filipino teachers, M6 is just secondary or at times, goes
hand-in-hand with M4 (Indicate desire for interview or
further contact).
The following extracts represent the
obligatory and optional moves in the corpora of job
application letters written by Filipino teachers:
• Obligatory Move – M3a (Implicit argument
based on neutral evidence or information
about background and experience)
 John Paul O. Dela Rosa, Rachelle B. Lintao,
& Maria Grace D. Dela Cruz

Table 5. Obligatory and optional moves identified in American teachers’ job application letters

Upton and Connor’s (2001) Coding Scheme for Learner Application Letter
Samples M3
M1 M2 M4 M5 M6 M7
a b c
ATAP #1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
ATAP #2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
ATAP #3 1 1 1 1 1
ATAP #4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
ATAP #5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
ATAP #6 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
ATAP #7 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
ATAP #8 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
ATAP #9 1 1 1 1 1 1
ATAP #10 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
ATAP #11 1 1 1 1 1 1
ATAP #12 1 1 1 1 1 1
ATAP #13 1 1 1 1 1 1
ATAP #14 1 1 1 1 1 1
ATAP #15 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
TOTAL 5 15 14 14 4 14 13 9 15

(FTAP # 1) I graduated last March 31, M5 (Express politeness or pleasantries), M6 (Offer to

2000, as a Cum laude at Republic Central
Colleges with a Degree of Bachelor of
Secondary Education, major in Filipino. I
successfully passed the Licensure
Examination for teachers last August 27,
2000.
• Optional Move – M6 (Offer to provide more
information)
(FTAP #3) Shall the need for further
details of my personal background arise;
I am more than willing to mail them upon
your request.
The move analysis done among samples of
American teachers’ job application letters reveals that M2
(Apply for the position), M3a (Implicit argument based on
neutral evidence or information about background and
experience), M3b (Argument based on what would be good
for the hiring company), M4 (Indicate desire for an
interview or a desire for further contact, or specify means of
further communication/how to be contacted),
provide more information), and M7 (Reference
attached resume) are all obligatory moves.
Both M2 and M7 are deemed necessary by the
American teacher-applicants; and these findings are in
accordance with the studies of Li (2011) and Connor
et al. (1995), respectively. The former found out that
Canadian students use different strategies in
presenting their desires to apply for an internship
position. This is relevant to the current study since
Americans and Canadians belong to the Inner Circle
of World Englishes, thus, having similar preferences
in cover letter writing. On the other hand, the latter
contrastively analyzed job application letters written
by Finnish, Flemish, and American applicants and
found out that Americans tend to draw the readers’
attention to the enclosed resume.
Significantly, M3a and M3b, including M4,
are concerned with how American teacher-applicants
present themselves and provide arguments as to how
their qualifications would benefit the hiring school
and the applicant’s desire to be interviewed. In the
genre-based study of Hsiao (2004), 100% of the
university application letters of American graduate

79
 A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of Job Application Letters
in Philippine English and American English
students employed a move identified as “promoting the
candidate,” which qualifies such a finding that M3a is an
obligatory move in the current study. American teacher-
applicants provide more arguments relative to M3b
(presenting arguments on the possible benefits of the
hiring school) in the present study. Connor et al. (1995)
concluded in their study that a typical US applicant
provides more supporting arguments about the benefits
of the employer. The inclusion of details about an
applicant’s desire for interview is found out to be
indirect and unintended among American teachers. This
is evident in the number of politeness strategies
presented in the sample application letters, thus, making
M5 as another obligatory move in the American corpus.
This may be attributed to the tendency of Americans to
not perform the face-threatening act of requesting and to
be more particular with deferring to the readers (Connor
et al., 1995).
The use of M6 can also be considered an
obligatory move among American application letters.
However, in the study of Li (2011), both the native
and the nonnative participants who were asked to
write internship application letters did not include M6
in the closing paragraphs of their letters. Instead, most
of the participants paid much attention to indicating
desire for an interview or desire for further contact. It
is then apparent among the corpus of American
application letters from the current study that along
with the aim of expressing desire for an interview is
the need to provide more information.
Significantly, the moves that are least observed
among the application letters of Americans are M1 and
M3c. The moves present the identified sources of
information and on providing arguments good for the
applicant. As found in the study of Connor et al. (1995),
Flemish applicants provide more sources of
Table 6. Similarities and differences in the rhetorical moves employed in Filipino and American
teachers’ job application letters
Samples M3
M1 M2
a b
Filipino Teachers' Job 6 14 15 14
Application Letters
American Teachers' Job 5 15 14 14
Application Letters
80
information in their job application letters than their
American counterparts. This shows the directness of
the Americans when starting their letters of
application. They go directly to M2, which states their
application for the position desired. Finally, providing
arguments for the benefits of the applicants is not seen
as necessary among the American application letters.
Although it is observed in some of the letters, it is not
as frequent as M2 and M7. On the contrary, the results
of the current study differ with those of Connor et al.
(1995). As mentioned, a typical US applicant provides
more arguments to discuss the benefits of the
employer as well as the applicant himself. Such a
distinction may be attributed to the emphasis given by
the American teachers on the qualifications that would
make them employable in the school they are applying
in more than the personal benefits they could derive
out of teaching in their target institution.
The following extracts represent the
obligatory and optional moves in the corpora of job
application letters written by American teachers:
• Obligatory Move – M2 (Apply for the position)
(ATAP #1) I am interested in applying
for the elementary teaching position
posted on the OLAS website.
• Optional Move – M1 (Identify the source of
information)
(ATAP #4) Please accept my letter of
application for the mathematics teacher
position at Warren High School. I
learned about this opening through the
Nashville Metropolitan Public Schools
website.
Moves
M4 M5 M6 M7
c
5 13 13 3 10
4 14 13 9 15
 John Paul O. Dela Rosa, Rachelle B. Lintao,
& Maria Grace D. Dela Cruz
Based on the summary of the rhetorical moves
employed in both job application letters written by
Filipino and American teachers, no further differences in
the occurrences of each move in the given corpora can
be established. However, there are some moves where
discrepancies are slightly apparent. These include M6
(Provide more information) where there are three (3)
letters observing the said move and nine (9) from the
Americans. Another one is in M7 (Reference attached
resume) where only ten (10) Filipino application letters
conformed. Consequently, all the sample American
application letters observed the said move. With the
comparable rhetorical moves in the application letters of
Filipino and American teachers, a deeper analysis of
how they construct and present the moves is discussed.
For M1, Filipino teacher-applicants
acknowledge the sources of information at the onset
of their application letters before stating their
application for the given position, while American
teachers suspend first such details by stating first their
interest or desire for their applications to be accepted
by the hiring school or educational institution.
Another observation is that all sources of information
from Filipino application letters were taken from print
references such as magazines and from people’s
words of mouth. On the other hand, Americans get
sources of information from the Internet, specifically
from websites providing teaching employment. These
distinctions can be observed in the following extracts:
(FTAP #12) I was informed by a colleague
that you are in need of Technology and
Livelihood Education (TLE) teachers for
this coming academic year.
(ATAP #1) I am interested in applying
for the elementary teaching position
posted on OLAS website.
M2 is also presented differently from the
corpora of job application letters written by Filipino
and American teachers. It was found out that Filipino
teachers employ different strategies in presenting their
desire to apply for a teaching position. The details are,
therefore, representative of Filipinos’ way of framing
their introductory paragraphs for their application
letters where Move 2 is included. The Filipino
teachers presented the said detail through the
81
use of interrogative sentences, which is the same with
those used in advertisements. This may signify that the
teacher-applicant was not aware of the vacancy she was
applying for. Others presented first their qualifications
before the details about their application, and some
provided introductory sentences about the importance of
schools. In addition, there were application letters that
expressed commendations for the school; others used
politeness strategies in their introductory paragraphs,
while few sounded direct in their approach. The
following extracts show the different strategies
employed by Filipino teachers in the corpus of job
application letters used in the study:
(FTAP #1) Are you in need of a
competent teacher? Please consider me
an applicant for that position.
(FTAP #8) I am Ms. Aireen U. Bambalan,
a licensed teacher at Tarlac Montessori
School, Tarlac City. In line with the need of
our public schools for teachers, I would like
to apply for a position in your school as a
grade school teacher.
In contrast, a majority of the corpus of
American teachers’ job application letters shows that
they prefer a more direct way of providing details about
their teaching job application. There are few letters
which, on the other hand, utilized different ways of
presenting the desire to apply. These include using
politeness strategies and presenting qualifications suited
to what the school is looking for. However, though more
direct in manner, one formulaic expression was found
out as to how American teachers directly present their
candidacy as job seekers. They always include framed
sentences such as, “I am writing to apply…”, “I am
writing to express…”, “It is with great pleasure that…”,
and “It is with great anticipation that…” The following
extracts illustrate the said strategies:
(ATAP #4) Please accept my letter of
application for the mathematics teacher
position at Warren High School.
(ATAP #14) With over 20 years of
hands-on, successful teaching experience,
I am confident in my ability and passion
to
 A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of Job Application Letters
in Philippine English and American English
become a positive addition to your school
community as a High School Mathematics
Teacher.
For M3, which is further divided into M3a,
M3b, and M3c, both of the Filipino and American
corpora of job application letters provide supporting
arguments about the applicants’ background and
experience and on the details that provide urgings on
what is good for the hiring school or institution. Based
on the number of occurrences, it can be noted that
both Filipino and American corpora do not frequently
observe M3c when structuring arguments in providing
supporting information. It is, therefore, important to
note that in establishing background and experience,
the Filipino teachers emphasize more the positive
qualities they possess, which they consider beneficial
for the schools they are applying in. Conversely, the
American teachers put accent on their relevant
pedagogical experiences and achievements as
educators. Such a distinction is based on affective and
cognitive professional characteristics of the
applicants. To give details about the said preferences,
the following extracts are presented:
(FTAP #2) As you will note I am very
flexible in response to changing demands.
With my creativity I can work well and
give my best solitary or collaboratively.
(ATAP #4) Through the secondary
education program at Vanderbilt, I have
had opportunities to gain experience at
many schools that serve a variety of
populations. In addition to student
teaching, I have several years of experience
working with children in various settings.
Under M4, the Filipino and American teachers
also differ. The preference for a direct expression of their
desire for an interview is prevalent among Filipino
teachers. Such an interview is requested to provide
further details about the applicant’s qualifications and
any other background information. On the other hand,
the American teachers formulate the said move
differently. All the American letters do not directly ask
for an interview but rather indirectly ask for a possible
meet up with the employer. Another difference goes
82
with the propensity of American teachers to follow up
their requests, specifying the way they can be further
contacted either through phone or e-mail. This
observation is not common among the samples of
Filipino job application letters. As cited in Connor et al.
(1995), US applicants were not as direct in asking for an
interview. Significantly, both corpora of job application
letters share a comparable level of politeness when
asking for an interview or further contact. To show such
differences, the following extracts are presented:
(FTAP #3) An interview at your most
convenient time will be a great favor for
me.
(ATAP #8) In closing, I look forward to
meeting with you to discuss in greater
detail how can I contribute to the
continued success of your music program.
In relation to the use of pleasantries or
politeness strategies in M5, both Filipinos and
Americans use them sparingly. A separate discussion
on the politeness strategies utilized in the two sets of
corpora is presented in the next section.
On the other hand, both of the corpora do not
frequently employ M6. However, Americans observe
it more than the Filipinos. This may be attributed to
the fact that American teacher-applicants accompany
their desire to be further contacted to provide more
information about themselves and their qualifications.
With the way they present such details, both have the
same frames. Both samples of letters use M6 in order
to further present their qualifications, background, and
suitability for the job geared toward winning the favor
of employers. The similarities of the two corpora of
job application letters are presented in the following
extracts:
(FTAP #2) I welcome the opportunity to
meet you to discuss how my extensive
experience and skills would benefit your
academic program.
(ATAP #2) I look forward to hearing from
you at your earliest convenience to further
discuss my qualifications as a secondary
English teacher in your district.
 John Paul O. Dela Rosa, Rachelle B. Lintao,
& Maria Grace D. Dela Cruz

Table 7. Negative politeness strategies employed in Filipino and American teachers’ job application letters

Formulaic Expressions Used in Filipino Job Application Formulaic Expressions Used in American Job Application
f f
Letters (Negative Politeness Strategies) Letters (Negative Politeness Strategies)
I am more than willing… 7 I would appreciate the opportunity… 2
Thank you for your time and consideration… 3 I welcome the opportunity… 2
Your consideration will be much gratified… 1 I would enjoy the opportunity… 2
Thank you… 1 I would welcome the chance… 1
Thank you very much… 6 Thank you for your consideration… 2
Thank you and more power… 1 Thank you for your time and consideration… 10
May the Lord of the Harvest bless you… 1
I would like an opportunity… 1
TOTAL 21 TOTAL 19

For the last move (M7 Reference attached extracts:

move), the Filipino and American teacher-applicants (FTAP #5) Your consideration will be much
differ in the way they include other documents such as gratified. (negative politeness strategy)
their resumes in their letters. The Filipinos include the
information about the attached resume in paragraphs − (ATAP #1) I would appreciate the
a presentation that goes with the other rhetorical opportunity to meet with you to discuss
moves. On the other hand, the Americans just simply how my skills and experience can meet
write the word “Enclosures” at the end of the letter, the needs of your students. (negative
immediately after the signature line. politeness strategy)

3.4 Politeness Strategies Used in Filipino and
American Teachers’ Job Application Letters
The following tables and discussions relate to
both the negative and the positive politeness strategies
employed in the application letters under study.
3.4.1 Negative Politeness Strategies
Negative politeness strategies are used to
reinforce the speakers’ respect for the addressees,
showing that the speakers acknowledge the addressees’
independence and freedom of action (Brown & Levison,
1987). Such politeness strategies are connected with the
use of modals and formulaic expressions. Table 7
following table shows the negative politeness strategies
utilized in M4 and M5 of both sets of job application
letters written by Filipino and American teachers.
The results of the analysis reveal similarities and
differences in the use of negative politeness strategies in the
said corpora. Both corpora of job application letters use a
number of negative pleasantries through the inclusion of
formulaic expressions. Examine these
Also, the most frequent formulaic expressions
from both sets of letters are relative in conveying
gratifying messages to employers by stating the
congenial clauses, “Thank you very much…” and
“Thank you for your time and consideration…” The
use of such expressions is, therefore, significant with
the purpose of employing negative politeness
strategies in letters − that is, for the applicants to give
respect to the addressees and be modest as possible by
acknowledging the latter’s independence and freedom
of action (Brown & Levinson, 1987).
Conversely, both Filipinos and Americans do
not have apparent differences when using formulaic
expressions for negative pleasantries as shown by the
minimal two-point difference of the two sets of corpora.
However, it is evident that the Filipino teacher-
applicants have more varied formulaic expressions
compared with those produced by the Americans. This
means that though both of the corpora observe negative
politeness strategies, the Filipino teachers seem to be
more aware of the need to express respect toward their
prospective employers and be modest as possible.
However, when it comes to the use of modals, the

83
 A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of Job Application Letters
in Philippine English and American English

Table 8. Positive politeness strategies employed in Filipino and American teachers’ job application letters

Formulaic Expressions Used in Filipino Job Application Formulaic Expressions Used in American Job Application
f f
Letters (Negative Politeness Strategies) Letters (Positive Politeness Strategies)
I look forward to hearing from you soon… 2 I look forward to hearing from you… 4
I hope I would satisfy… 3 You can reach me at… 1
May I look forward to the accommodation… 1 I hope you will consider me… 1
You may contact me… 1 I may be contacted at… 1
Hoping for your favorable response… 1 Please consider this resume… 1
You can contact me at… 1 I may be reached at... 1
I have hopes that… 1 I will contact you in one week… 1
I can be contacted at… 1 Please contact me at… 3
I am hoping with great anticipation… 1 I look forward to meeting with you... 1
Please contact me at… 1
I look forward to meeting with you… 1
TOTAL 14 TOTAL 14

American teachers utilize more “social-interactional”
modals (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1999) or
qualifying modals such as would and may. Among the
sample American application letters, the use of would to
qualify statements is more prevalent. For the Filipino
corpus of application letters, the modals used are either
would or may but on a fewer occurrence when compared
with the American corpus. The results on the use of
qualifying modals are consequently relevant to the
results of Li’s (2011) study, which revealed that
Canadian students use more modals in their internship
cover letters than their Taiwanese counterparts.
Another significant finding in the analysis of the
letters’ negative politeness strategies is that Americans
appear to use more structured or patterned expressions
than the Filipinos. It can, therefore, be noticed from
Table 7 that the Filipino teachers have varying formulaic
expressions as compared with those produced by their
American counterparts. As concluded in the study of
Upton and Connor (2001), Americans tend to be more
patterned or even formulaic with their politeness
strategies. In the present study, the formulaic expressions
of Filipinos are more heterogeneous and personal.
Ultimately, the Filipinos’ tendency to use more
expressions of thanks (Thank you…) in their application
letters’ goodwill close is justified in the study of
Bernardo (2010) about the hybrid rhetoric employed in
Filipino and American parents’ letters of excuse.
Bernardo clarified that saying “Thank you” has become a
generic goodwill close for Filipino parents’
excuse letters, which is comparable with the way the
Filipino applicants end their cover letters.
3.4.2 Positive Politeness Strategies
Positive politeness strategies are employed to
emphasize the shared goals and common ground
between the speaker and the addressee. The strategies
are most effective when both the speaker and the
addressee see themselves as equals (Li, 2011).
According to Upton and Connor (2001), the directness
of the speaker and the use of optimism are identified
as positive politeness. Table 8 shows the politeness
strategies employed by both Filipino and American
teachers in their cover letters.
The table shows the matching preferences for
positive politeness strategies found in the corpora. The
Filipino and American teachers utilize the same number
of expressions related to the said politeness strategies. In
support to this claim, Maier (1992) found in her study
that native speakers used more deferential politeness
strategies than nonnative speakers. She also added that
the natives mitigated their requests by using more
modals and indirect expressions.
As cited in the study of Li (2011), positive
politeness strategies may be in the form of common
sentence structures such as “You can…” or the phrase,
“Please + action verb.” Politeness strategies could also
show the applicant’s optimism through formulaic
expressions such as “look forward to” and “hope”

84
 John Paul O. Dela Rosa, Rachelle B. Lintao,
& Maria Grace D. Dela Cruz
(Upton & Connor, 2001). The function of such
phrases is to minimize the distance between the
speaker and the addressee and to reach common goals.
From among the samples of Filipino job
application letters, it can be observed that formulaic
expressions are more varied and personalized.
Directness and the tendency to become uncommon
with positive politeness strategies are also evident in
the Filipino corpus. The following sample extracts
prove such an observation:
(FTAP #5) May I look forward to the
accommodation you can give for the
position you have at a moment.
(directness of politeness expression)
(FTAP #14) I am hoping with great
anticipation to discussing with you many
ways in which I can make a significant
contribution to your school district.
(uncommon politeness strategy)
Also, the use of phrases that would incur
optimism is not consistent among Filipinos, for there
are only two occurrences of the said phrases in the
corpus. This may be relevant to the results of the
study of Maier (1992), which indicated that nonnative
speakers used more potentially-risky positive
politeness strategies and were more informal and
direct than the native speakers.
(FTAP #9) You can contact me at
09328903877. Thanking you for
considering me for this position. (positive
politeness strategy)
(ATAP #2) I look forward to hearing
from you at your earliest convenience to
further discuss my qualifications as a
secondary English teacher in your
district. (positive politeness strategy)
On the other hand, the American teachers’ use
of modals make their expressions less direct and more
formal. The occurrences of phrases that express the
applicant’s optimism are also consistent with the
Americans more than the Filipinos. The use of phrases
that begin with “Please...”, “I hope…”, and “I look
85
forward…” are more frequent than the expressions
utilized in the job application letters of Filipino teachers.
Such an observation is the same with Maier’s (1992)
study, which found that native speakers, like US
applicants, mitigated their polite requests by using more
modals and indirect expressions.
4. Conclusion
The study puts forward the similarities and
differences between the ways Filipino and American
teacher-applicants write job application letters. The
objectives of the study are, therefore, geared toward
identifying the features unique to both corpora of job
application letters and examining the conventions in
cover letter writing observed by Filipinos and
Americans. The following conclusions may be drawn
from this study:
First, job application letter writing has to
adhere with certain rules and conventions. Observing
the necessary elements of a cover letter links the
applicant’s readiness for the job and his chance to be
called for an interview. Likewise, writing an effective
cover letter is not a simple task. It requires thought,
knowledge, and understanding. Hence, a cover letter
needs as much attention and skill in the preparation as
the resume. Such a skill includes knowing how to
maneuver the letter using some linguistic features and
rhetorical elements. Linguistic properties, such as the
length of the letter and its level of readability that
includes lexical density, could make the evaluator or
the employer delve into what the applicant wants to
convey in his job application letter. As mentioned by
Connor et al. (1995), written applications constitute a
business genre in which communicative success (or
lack of it) partially depends on observed writing skills;
hence, textualization, according to these researchers,
is positively correlated with the prospective
employer’s evaluation. It can, therefore, be concluded
that the formal and functional features of a cover letter
could stand out as particularly powerful determinants
of communicative success.
Second, contrastively analyzing job application
letters of Filipino and American teachers brings in a
revelation of the two discourse communities’ cultural
relativities. The propensity of Filipino teacher-applicants
to write shorter but more lexically dense
 A Contrastive Rhetoric Analysis of Job Application Letters
in Philippine English and American English
sentences compared with the longer but less lexically
dense sentences of their American counterparts
underscores distinct genre-based writing practices. This
leads to the deduction that American teacher-applicants
may be accustomed toward presenting in detail their
qualifications for the teaching position desired for as
compared with the limited details provided among job
application letters of Filipino teacher-applicants. The
difference, thus, lies on the readability of the letters in
which the ones produced by the Americans are seen as
more comprehensive. However, this was contradicted in
the study of Li (2011). He made a conclusion that the
differences in letters’ linguistic features may not be
considered as a significant factor in creating barriers for
communication. Instead, he advocated for the
consideration of the letters’ pragmatic features.
Lastly, the rhetorical moves identified show
the discourse community that is more acquainted with
the rudiments of cover letter writing. Americans are
more consistent in observing the parts of a job
application letter and its moves. Filipinos tend to be
more unconventional and inconsistent in observing the
parts of a letter and in presenting necessary details.
This can be seen, for example, in the distinct use of
politeness strategies between the two. Americans are
more formulaic while Filipinos include more varied
expressions. In the study of Connor et al. (1995), it
was found out that US cover letters not only provide
more information but also show a greater concern for
semantic precision.
On a relative note, the limited number of
corpora of job application letters analyzed in this
study may not be considered as entirely representative
of the way Filipinos and Americans write job
application letters. Hence, using a larger corpus for
the same study may effectively validate or justify the
conclusions made.
Establishing an ESP Writing Class for Teachers
A job application letter has to be written in a
tone or style that could win the favor of the readers,
particularly the persons who will grant the application.
Therefore, teachers who wish to be called for a teaching
job interview could take refuge on the advantages an
effectively written cover letter gives. Teachers should
then be cognizant of the rhetorical elements of job
application letters. This could be optimized through
86
subjecting teachers in EOP (English for Occupational
Purposes) classes. This variation of ESP is, therefore,
taught in such a situation in which learners need to use
English as part of their work or profession (Kennedy
& Bolitho, 1984). Hence, the competencies involving
the use of English for a work-related purpose, such as
those linked to technical writing for professionals, are
embedded in EOP. The results of the current study are,
therefore, deemed significant as to how teachers in
particular could be taught the rudiments of effective job
application letter writing. In technical writing courses,
students are geared toward enhancing their marketability
by learning about workplace writing. Thus, helping
teachers develop a good way to land on teaching
positions capitalizing on documents, e.g., application
letters, must be one of the priorities in an ESP writing
class. Knowing the conventions, such as the right format,
the length of the letter’s content, and the way the content
itself is presented, would enable an applicant to
successfully win the approval of his future employer.
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88
 Philippine Journal of Linguistics

Miete or Mitte? A Preliminary Study of Vowel Length Contrasts

in Filipino Learners of German as a Foreign Language

Frances Antoinette C. Cruz

University of the Philippines, Diliman
Quezon City, Philippines
Email: frankie.custodio@gmail.com

Abstract

The present study provides insights into the reception of vowel length in Filipino learners of German.
As learning German as an L3 requires phonological awareness of vowel length, an analysis of the relationships
between distinguishing vowel length in English, a common L2 in the Philippines, and German, is instructive in
determining how L2 competencies and the context of L2 learning influence the acquisition of an L3. Eleven
(11) participants took receptive and productive tests to ascertain L2-L3 influences in phonology. In the receptive
test, they classified the first stressed vowel in mono- or disyllabic German and English words as long or short. In
the second test, the participants recited English and German words containing the target vowels. The recorded
vowels, their durations, and long-short ratios were then contrasted with native speakers’ recordings and
correlated with variables in a questionnaire on the participant’s linguistic background. The results of the study
revealed that exposure to English media had a positive effect on learning German phonology.

Keywords: L3 acquisition, German as a foreign language, phonology, foreign languages in the Philippines

1. Introduction language learning often encompasses multidirectional

Today’s increasing multilingualism, as well as
the historic existence of multi- and plurilingual societies
in postcolonial societies such as the Philippines,
necessitates a revisiting of two central research
frameworks in cross-linguistic transfer, the contrastive
framework (Lado, 1957), characterized by a comparative
approach to the structural aspects of language, and the
linguistic interdependence framework (Cummins, 1981)
that focuses on “the extent that instruction in Lx is
effective in promoting proficiency in Lx, transfer of this
proficiency in Ly (either in school or environment) and
adequate motivation to learn Ly” (Cummins, 1981, p.
29)1. The scope of these ideas, while remaining a
consistent feature of foreign language learning research,
has been further expanded with the emergence theories
on tertiary or L3 language learning, specifically whose
object of study comprises of foreign languages learned
beyond the second language2 (see Hufeisen, 2001). The
study of tertiary
transfer, nonlinguistic influences in language learning,
and metacognitive language acquisition skills that
supplement further learning (Hufeisen, 2001; Aronin &
Ó Laoire, 2004). These particular conditions have been
the focus of tertiary language studies, where languages
learned after the L2 are the focal point of analysis.
Much of the recent work on English as an L2
before German has been conducted in countries with a
non-European L1 such as Taiwan (Chen, 2005) and
Malaysia (Kärchner-Ober, 2009), with both studies
paying particular attention to the role of sociocultural
and educational factors during the acquisition of the L2
that influence how further foreign languages are learned
and taught. The frequent use of English as a lingua
franca or first foreign language across the world has
raised questions of its utility in learning a foreign
language from within the same language family, as
structures in a Germanic L3 may be easily associated
with their English equivalents and, therefore, facilitate
learning. This study, therefore, focuses on how (and if)

1 The Lx here can be defined as one of the languages learned prior to Ly, which is the language currently being learned.
2 A second language is defined here as a language learned after the ‘mother tongue’ or L1 but is no longer being actively learned (see
Hammarberg, 2001).

89
 Miete or Mitte? A Preliminary Study of Vowel Length Contrasts
in Filipino Learners of German as a Foreign Language
English as an L2 facilitates L3 learning, in particular
in pronunciation and phonological awareness3.
English in the Philippines is one of the primary
languages used in schools and is recognized as an
official language of the country. While its use and status
as a lingua franca is not consistent throughout the
country, it is used widely in business, law, and
education. A majority of Filipino children are acquainted
with English at a relatively young age through both
educational instruction and media. But with only an
estimated 0.04% of the overall population with English
as an L1 (see Gonzalez, 1998), it becomes clear that
English in the Philippines is generally spoken a second
language from a chronological perspective 4, although the
possibility of concurrent L1s and L2s cannot be ruled
out. A lack of systematic and regular data on English
impedes the depiction of general trends: the last attempt
at data collection on English speakers, the 2000 Census,
revealed only 63.71% of the population reported English
as their second language (National Statistics Office,
2000). No official records of English proficiency across
a broad spectrum of the population are available.
Because of the difficulties of obtaining reliable data
about English speakers, the study limited to individuals
at the college level who have learned English and are no
longer in the process of actively learning the language in
a classroom setting, consistent with the above definition.
The potential influences of Filipino and
English, as L1 and L2 respectively, on the learning of
German as a tertiary language, provide an opportunity
to investigate the processes of cross-linguistic transfer
between and amongst the L1, L2, and L3 as well as
the effect of a postcolonial and multilingual context
on foreign language learning. Phonetic and
phonological aspects of tertiary language learning can
offer valuable insights in cross-linguistic transfer for a
number of reasons. First, it is widely acknowledged
that the phonetics of a foreign language (in particular,
pronounciation) is prone to L1 transfer, but evidence
exists to imply that the L2 could similarly influence
pronunciation under particular circumstances (see
Williams & Hammarberg, 1998). The role of the
phonetic and/or phonological characteristics from
previously learned languages in bi- and multilinguals
3 Phonological awareness can be defined as the ability to attend to, isolate, and manipulate the sound structure of oral language (Toregesen,
Wagner, & Rashotte,1994, as cited in Hipfner-Boucher, Lam, & Chen, 2014, p. 119).
4 A second language or L2 is defined as a language that is not currently in the process of being learned (see Hammarberg, 2001).
90
has been extensively tested in psycholinguistic studies.
For example, phonological priming from words that do
not exist in one language may affect the reception of
words (or pictures associated with words) in a task
explicitly conducted in another language (see Brysbaert,
Van Dyck, & Van de Poel, 1999). Secondly, no studies
on tertiary language acquisition in recent years have
dealt explicitly with pronunciation in speakers with an
L1 Filipino, L2 English, and L3 German, although
phonetic characteristics of individuals with L1 Filipino-
L2 English have already been extensively documented in
studies such as Tayao (2004) and Llamzon (1997). Both
studies encompass the pronunciation of Philippine
English, or the variety of English spoken and understood
in the Philippines. Among some of the inferences drawn
from the empirical data are the importance of
environmental and sociocultural variables in speaking
English in the Philippines (see section 1.2) and the
varying influence of Filipino phonemes: for instance, a
tendency among a number of Filipino speakers is the
nondifferentiated production of vowels of similar height
such as /i/ vs. /ɪ/, which differ both in length and quality
in General American English. Although vowel length is
not phonemic in both Filipino and (General American)
English, there are complementary allophones based on
vowel length in particular English words, such as before
voiced consonant phonemes in the coda of a syllable
[bi:d] and [sip]. Vowel length in German, however, is
phonemic, and plays an important role in pronunciation.
Studying the effects of subtle vowel length differences in
English on the pronunciation and reception of German
vowels can, thus, provide evidence for the facilitatory
effect of the L2 on the L3. In light of this, the present
study endeavors to answer the following research
questions:
1. Do frequent encounters with L2, particularly
where listening is concerned, contribute to
greater phonological awareness and a more
accurate pronunciation of L3 vowel lengths?
2. Does performance in L2 vowel length tests
correlate with performance in L3 tests of the
same nature?
 Frances Antoinette C. Cruz
Few studies exist to date in the Philippines on
German Language Learning. Neri (2006) attempted to
contrast and provide a description of the phonemic
inventories of German and Filipino in order to forecast
difficulties in teaching phonetics to German learners in
the Philippine context. A number of the study’s remarks
on phonetic difficulties were replicated in other
contrastive analyses between German and Filipino (see
Kelz, 1982). This study is an attempt to bridge what is
already known about differences in Filipino and German
vowel inventories and the prevalent use of English in
various contexts and media in the Philippines, which
may or may not facilitate phonological awareness and
aspects of pronunciation in the L3, German.
1.1 Cross-linguistic Transfer in Tertiary
Language Learners
Cummin’s 1981 hypothesis that instruction in
Lx positively influences the acquisition of a further
language has since received nuancing from tertiary
language learning studies; many of which have
concentrated on the utilization of language learning
strategies as well as L2 features while learning the L3
(see Kärchner-Ober 2009; Hufeisen, 2001). Hammarberg
(2001), for instance, studied the varying degrees of the
utilization of previously learned languages in the
acquisition of an L3. In the course of his case study of a
native English language speaker’s acquisition of
Swedish after a significant period of staying in Germany,
it was found that German was used as a template for
phonetics in the first phases of learning Swedish based
on native speaker judgments, whereas an English accent
appeared to gradually manifest itself in the subject’s
advancement, resulting in a group of native speakers
accurately identifying an English-speaking background.
Hammarberg (2001) determined that the L2 status factor,
thus, played a role in learning the L3, resulting from “a
desire to suppress L1 as being ‘non-foreign’ and to rely
rather on an orientation towards a prior L2 as a strategy
to approach the L3” (p. 36-37). This has been especially
prominent when the L1 is perceived not to be
‘typologically’ similar to the L3, as with non-Indo-
European L1s and an Indo-
5Interlanguage refers to Selinker’s (1972) concept of a dynamic system of a learner’s language that includes influences due to transfer of
training, L1 transfer, and the utilization of strategies such as simplification and overgeneralization of target language rules.
91
European L2 (see Marx, 2000; Kärchner-Ober, 2009).
Kärchner-Ober’s (2009) study is of particular interest to
the Philippine context, as it takes a holistic view of
language learning in the Southeast Asian context using a
case study of a group of foreign language students
learning in Malaysia. The study encompassed not only
the effects of diverse multilingual backgrounds, in which
Chinese, Hindi, and Bahasa Malaysia were acquired or
learned in varying competencies, but also in the form of
teaching, which relies heavily on rote memory and does
not often explicitly introduce learning strategies. The
study provides impetus to studying usage patterns of
English in the Philippines, which may vary in usage,
frequency, context and medium, and how these
contribute to learning other European languages.
In Groseva’s Foreign Language Acquisition Model
(1998), the roles of previously learned languages as well as
the learner’s own interlanguage are considered as the main
sources for which hypotheses about L3 rules are made. The
model incorporates not only the assumption of positive and
negative transfer from the L1 but also the possibility of a
learner’s interlanguage that may be activated automatically
in production5. The conscious or unconscious usage of L2
as a source or testing L3 hypotheses does not, however,
exclude an L1 influence; rather, particular aspects that are
structurally similar to the L3 are thought to facilitate L3
learning. Utilizing the Foreign Language Acquisition
Model in a phonetic context can be complemented with the
inclusion of a phonological lexicon (see Caramazza, Miceli,
Villa, & Romani, 1987, p. 62), where the spoken form of
known words are stored. The existence of such a lexicon
has typically been a feature of psycholinguistic research on
different spelling tasks such as written spelling, oral
spelling, and lexical recognition tasks, although it can
arguably guide a phonetic study by providing a means
through which disparities between correctly perceived and
wrongly produced sounds (or vice versa) can be analyzed.
It is possible that a language learner’s phonological
awareness of the spoken form of words in their
phonological lexicon can lead to the correct identification
of vowel length contrasts in his or her known languages, yet
the learner may exhibit difficulties in replicating these
characteristics in spoken language because of interferences
from the L1,
 Miete or Mitte? A Preliminary Study of Vowel Length Contrasts
in Filipino Learners of German as a Foreign Language
L2, or the interlanguage.
Because of the linguistic focus of Groseva’s
model and its ambiguity of the role that internal and
external factors play in foreign language production, it
may be considered as a variant of traditional contrastive
analyses. But in the context of a multilingual society
where competence and use of the L1, L2, and L3 differ
considerably among the target population, a purely
contrastive analysis does not reveal factors that
determine habits in L2 usage that could facilitate L3
production. The inclusion of tertiary language learning
models that emphasize skills learned while learning the
L2, such as Hufeisen’s (1998) Factor Model, can
substantiate Groseva’s model by providing additional
context. The Factor Model assigns skill sets and sources
of knowledge to each language being learned, with
universals and the learning environment as the main
factors contributing to L1 acquisition, and learning
strategies and experiences as further influences in L2
learning. The difference between L2 and L3, however,
consists of the strategies and experiences (habits)
acquired while learning the first foreign language (the
L2) (Hufeisen, 1998) in addition to the other factors
influencing L1 acquisition and L2 learning. Hufeisen,
thus, depicts a qualitative difference between learning
the L2 and the L3 that draws attention to the complexity
of factors involved in language acquisition and foreign
language learning that will be of use when describing the
context (environment) and metalinguistic knowledge
contributing to pronunciation and phonological
awareness of the L3.
To summarize, studies in tertiary language
learning have expanded beyond a purely behaviorist and
contrastive approach to studying language learners and
their mistakes and have now incorporated additional
factors that may facilitate learning, such as the internal
disposition of the learner, learning strategies and
experiences, and the greater sociocultural environment.
Futhermore, contrastive analyses have also been further
nuanced to include the appearance of interlanguage and
hypothesis testing utilizing L2 structures in the L3.
1.2 Contrastive Analysis: Filipino, Filipino
English, and German
The Philippine national language, Filipino,
possesses a phonemic inventory that is characterized
by the lack of a short-long phonological distinction
92
between vowel phonemes. The current set of five vowel
phonemes, /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/, are generally believed
to have originated from a vowel system comprising of
three vowels, /a/, a closed high vowel /i/, and a closed
back vowel /u/ (Tayao, 2004; Llamzon, 1997). The
vowel inventory of Filipino has often been cited as
playing a prominent role in the pronunciation of the
variety of English spoken in the Philippines (Philippine
English), but to various degrees determined by
educational and social factors. Llamson (1997) notes that
there are three (sociolects) of Filipino English, the
acrolect, the mesolect, and the basilect, which are
primarily based on the educational level and contextual
usage of English of the speakers. Acrolects are typically
involved in professions that require extensive use of the
English language, and also tend to have frequent contact
with friends and family in English. The mesolect variety
of Philippine English is associated with frequent use of
the language in professional or educational situations but
not generally in the private sphere, whereas the basilectal
group makes the least use of English either in
professional or intimate settings. Whereas it has
previously been argued that General American English
or gAmE (as opposed to RP) is generally used as a guide
for Filipino learners of English, the phonetic realization
of gAmE phonemes in the Philippine context differs
considerably from the ‘idealized’ native speaker of
American English, as phonetic equivalents, including
vowels that are the focus of this study, are influenced by
various degrees by the vowel inventories of Filipino
languages. This implies that instead of Filipino English
having a standard inventory of vowels, there are ranges
of phonetic realization that are influenced largely by
societal factors. However, unlike gAmE, which is argued
to be the basis for Philippine English, the Filipino vowel
inventory has only five vowels, in contrast to gAmE’s 12
monophthongs and seven diphthongs, as depicted in
Figure 2, for which there exist minimal pair distinctions
based on vowel length.
The acrolect, the mesolect, and basilect groups
approximate gAmE to varying degrees, the acrolect
being the ‘closest’ variant phonetically. Figure 1 depicts
data from Tayao (2008), which show a close
resemblance of the acrolectal variety of Philippine
English with General American English (see Figure 2 for
comparison), where the pronunciation of /æ/ remained
dependent on the individual. A reduced vowel inventory
is characteristic of the mesolect variety
 Frances Antoinette C. Cruz
(depicted by encircled vowels in Figure 1), where
only one variety of high front, mid front, high back,
and mid back vowels is generally produced. Schwa
vowels are also missing from both the mesolect and
basilect varieties; the latter of which is associated with
the least number of vowels out of all the groups, with
only three vowels utilized to represent the 12 General
American English vowels, namely, /i/, /ɑ/, and /u/ (see
boxed vowels in Figure 1).
( ) = Deviances in acrolect variety; Circles =
Mesolect phonemes; Squares = Basilect Phonemes
Adopted from Tayao (2008), p. 173
Figure 1. Filipino English vowels
Adopted from Tayao (2008, p. 173)
Figure 2. General American English vowels
93
Figures 1 and 2 also reveal that vowel length is
not a phonemic feature in either Filipino English or
General American English, although contrasts have been
drawn between vowels in General American English on
the basis of both quantity and quality. As mentioned in
section 1, there are differences in both the quantity and
quality of lax and tense pairs of similar height, i.e., /i/ vs.
/ɪ/, /ej/ or /eɪ/ vs. /ɛ/, and /u/ vs. /ʊ/, in English that can
be used to test if the phonological awareness gained by
learning of both length and quality contrasts in English
facilitates distinguishing between long and short vowel
phonemes in German.
Figure 3 depicts vowels in German that are
coupled with a long or short contrast. Despite German
having the highest number of monophthongs in the
study, vowel phonemes that are not present in English
or Filipino, such as /y:/, were not incoporated in the
study, as there were no points of comparison in either
the L1 or the L2.
Adopted from Pompino-Marshall (2009)
Figure 3. Standard German vowels
The choice of German phoneme contrasts in the
production tests, while not necessarily direct contrasts with
their gAmE equivalents, serve as parallels to vowels that
are present in both English and Filipino, notably /u/, /i/, and
/e/. The German vowel phoneme inventory contains 16
monophthongs; a majority of which have a long-short
contrast, as depicted in Figure 3. The vowel contrasts in
Figures 1 and 2 allow various hypotheses to emerge vis-à-
vis the learning of German, as a length
 Miete or Mitte? A Preliminary Study of Vowel Length Contrasts
in Filipino Learners of German as a Foreign Language

contrast in English occurs in instances between high
front /i/-/ɪ/, mid front /e/-/ɛ/, high back /u/-/ʊ/, and
mid back vowels /o/-/ɔ/; all of which are reduced to
one particular vowel sound in at least two varieties of
Philippine English. It can, therefore, be hypothesized
that acrolect speakers can distinguish and produce
both qualitatively and quantitavely distinct vowels in
both English and German, whereas the mesolect and
basilect group may experience more difficulty.
German vowel phonemes and their phonetic
representations differ from English long-short contrasts
in two primary ways. First, the production of German
long vowels usually is twice as long as their short
counterparts (see Nimz, 2014, p. 316), unlike in gAmE
where the ratio lies between 1 and 2. Secondly, greater
muscle tension is required when pronouncing long
vowels in German, making the fortis/lenis contrast
more distinct in comparison to English.
2. Method
2.1 Participants
The study included eleven (11) participants
(seven males, four females) in the experimental group
taken from German 11-12 classes (corresponding to
the A1.2 to A2.1 level classes) at the University of the
Philippines, Diliman. A relatively low level of
German was selected in order to control for greater
metalinguistic awareness, as well as document
potential difficulties in the early phases of language

Table 1. LEAP-Q Scores

English (L2) German (L3)

M SD Range M SD Range
Speaking age 3.18 1.35 2.00-5.00 19.09 3.05 17.00-25.00
Reading age 4.55 1.49 2.00-6.00 19.09 3.05 17.00-25.00

Self-reported Proficiency
Speaking 8.00 1.26 6.00-10.00 2.27 0.90 1.00-3.00
Understanding 8.18 1.17 7.00-10.00 2.27 0.90 1.00-4.00
Reading 8.45 1.21 7.00-10.00 2.73 1.01 2.00-5.00

Factors while Learning

Friends 7.55 2.16 3.00-10.00 3.64 2.87 2.00-8.00
Family 6.36 3.20 1.00-10.00 1.91 2.77 0.00-7.00
Reading 9.18 2.40 2.00-10.00 5.27 3.17 0.00-10.00
Tapes 4.64 3.64 0.00-10.00 4.64 2.84 0.00-8.00
TV 6.91 3.27 0.00-10.00 1.64 2.34 0.00-7.00
Radio 6.27 3.41 0.00-10.00 1.27 2.41 0.00-7.00

Exposure to Language
Friends 7.45 2.25 5.00-10.00 2.64 2.34 0.00-8.00
Family 5.27 3.32 2.00-10.00 0.64 1.43 0.00-4.00
TV 7.45 3.24 0.00-10.00 1.64 1.86 0.00-5.00
Radio 8.64 1.63 5.00-10.00 2.09 2.07 0.00-5.00
Reading 9.55 0.82 8.00-10.00 2.64 1.69 1.00-7.00
Language Labs 6.36 4.23 0.00-10.00 4.18 2.18 1.00-8.00
Foreign Accent Perception 5.55 2.16 2.00-10.00 2.73 2.28 0.00-7.00

94
 Frances Antoinette C. Cruz
learning. The participants in the experimental group who
were between the ages of 16 to 27 with at least one year
of college education took the four tests (i.e., two
receptive tests for determining vowel length in German
and English, and two productive tests in which words
containing minimal pairs distinguished by vowel length
are read out loud) in succession in a quiet room.
Two control groups were found for the
pronunciation of German and English words in the
productive test, which is detailed in section 2.2. The
control group for the German test consisted of three
male L1-German speakers, while the control group for
the English test included three L1-North American
English or gAmE speakers. The three participants in
the German control group were students at the
Bauhaus Universität Weimar at the time of data
collection and were between the ages of 19 to 30. All
of the German-speaking participants use German as
the primary language in school and the sole language
with their families, and originated from either Central
or South Germany.
The English-speaking control group consisted of
two females and one male from North- and/or Northeast
America who use English in school and as the sole
language with their families. They were between the
ages of 18 to 30 during the time of data collection.
The control groups were primarily used for the
pronunciation (productive) experiment in order to serve
as a frame of reference for the produced vowel lengths of
the experimental group from the Philippines, as well as
to provide empirical support for vowel length norms
described in the latter section. As the receptive tests were
designed to elicit insights into the interaction between the
perception of the L2 and L3 in the experimental group
from the Philippines, the L1 control groups were not
used for comparison in the analysis. A two-way
comparison for the receptive task would also be
insufficient to make any claims of either one or the other
language being the primary ‘template’ in perception, as
while the target languages involved in the experiment are
clearly set in the productive test, reception tests may
involve the activation of any number of latent languages
or sounds, even in the control group
- multilingualism, like bilingualism, is “greater than
the sum of its parts” (Hakuta & Bialystok, 1994).
6 Identification with a particular culture was left out as Philippine English is spoken in a postcolonial multilingual environment, making
distinctions between particular cultures associated with languages (such as in a North American or European setting) vague.
95
The test subjects in the experimental group were
asked to fill out a Language Experience and Proficiency
Questionnaire (LEAP-Q) survey (Marian, Blumenfeld,
& Kaushanskaya, 2007) containing information on the
learning, usage, context, and exposure to languages
the respondent already knows. The categories in the
survey include 10-point Likert Scale items on self-
reported proficiency in speaking, understanding and
reading, factors that influenced language learning, and
the sources of exposure to languages already known,
among other details listed in Table 1.
2.2 Procedure
The experiment consists of a questionnaire and
two tests encompassing vowel length contrasts in
minimal pairs in German and English. The questionnaire
is a modified version of the Language Experience and
Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP) (Marian, Blumenfeld,
& Kaushanskaya, 2007) adjusted for the purposes of this
study and the Philippine context6. The LEAP
questionnaire includes self-reports on competency and
use of both the L2 (English) and the language in the
process of being acquired, L3 (German). The two types
of tests (productive and receptive) comprised of two
subtests each.
Firstly, a set of oral repetition tests was
conducted. A list of English minimal pairs containing the
vowels /eɪ/-/ɛ/, /i:/-/ɪ/, and /u:/-/ʊ/ was provided for the
participants to read out loud. These words contain
different minimal pairs from the stimuli in the second
test, in which German minimal pairs including the
vowels /e:/-/ɛ/, /i:/-/ɪ/, and /u:/-/ʊ/ are read out loud by a
native speaker of German in a repetition test made by the
author with PsychoPy (Peirce, 2007). The experimental
group was requested to repeat the words uttered by the
speaker for the German task. Vowel durations were then
automatically recorded and measured with Praat
(Boersma & Weenink, 2015). The duration was defined
as the length of time between the first vowel peak to the
onset of the post-vocalic consonant, determined by a
decrease in amplitude and differences in the complexity
of the waveform. The German-speaking and the English-
speaking control groups were asked to read the same set
of words. Their recorded vowel
 Miete or Mitte? A Preliminary Study of Vowel Length Contrasts
in Filipino Learners of German as a Foreign Language

lengths were used as a frame of reference vis-à-vis the 3. Results

experimental group.
The English and the German productive tests
differ in type in order to ensure that no ambiguities result
from grapheme-phoneme errors in the reading of
German. It is assumed that this form of transfer is
unlikely to occur in the English list of one-syllable
minimal pairs because of a lengthy educational
background in the English language. The receptive tests
serve to measure the sensitivity of the participants
toward vowel length in German and English. The
recordings of 32 spoken monosyllabic disyallbic
minimal pairs of the abovementioned vowels were
played in German; 12 of these included the target
vowels, and 20 other words served as distractors. The
experimental group was asked to select if the first
stressed vowel is long or short. Reaction times and error
rates are recorded automatically by the program. A
second test was conducted in a similar manner as the
first receptive test with 12 target words and four
distractors, but with English-language stimuli instead.
Table 2. Vowel length ratios and ranges for German minimal pairs
3.1 Productive Tests
The vowel durations of each minimal pair were
measured and contrasted with the length of their shorter
pair in the form of a ratio. Because of technical difficulties
incurred while recording, only six test subjects could
produce sufficient data for vowel length measurements
(partial data for other participants appear in Table 2). The
results were compared to vowel lengths of the control
group, three native speakers of German. The data revealed
that although the averages of the experimental group fell
well within the ratios of the control group, ratios were
generally found to be low for closed back and near close
near back vowel length contrasts [u:] - [ʊ] in the
experimental group. While there was no significant
difference between the ranges of the native speakers
(M=1.54, SD=1.06) and the test subjects (M=1.88,
SD=1.56): t(8) = 0.38, p<0.72, it should be noted that this
particular productive test included an audio component that
the experimental group was tasked to repeat. The partial
results of P10 and P11 show little variance between [u:] -
[ʊ] contrasts despite the direct stimulus, indicating that
transfer of L1 phonetic features is possible despite the
nature of the task.

Ratio C1 C2 C3 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P10 P11

[e:] - [ɛ] 2.64 2.24 2 1.99 1.88 3.81 2.36 4.07 2.16 3.05
[i:] - [ɪ] 3.07 2.27 2.25 3.073 2.17 3.153 2.60 3.60 2.69
[u:] - [ʊ] 2.49 2.37 2.3 2.49 2.022 2.516 1.16 1.40 2.06 1.83 0.96 1.02
Range
High 3.25 2.71 2.70 2.19 2.67 4.08 3.07 5.8 2.94
Low 2.13 1.83 1.67 1.71 1.38 1.28 1.88 1.18 2.06
C = Control group, P = Experimental group

Table 3. Vowel length ratios in English

Ratio C1 C2 C3 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9 P10 P11

[e:] - [ɛ] 1.36 1.22 1.47 1.15 1.09 1.43 1.47 1.7 1.24 1.39 0.83 0.73 1.16 0.89
[i:] - [ɪ] 1.73 1.55 1.34 1.43 1.38 1.63 1.24 2.84 1.75 1.58 1.85 1.02 1.70 1.5
[u:] - [ʊ] 1.32 1.31 1.48 1.13 0.63 0.92 0.66 2.90 1.67 1.21 1.07 0.95 1.54 0.85
Range
High 1.75 1.55 1.57 1.76 1.79 1.76 1.78 3.47 1.81 1.88 2.7 1.14 1.81 1.68
Low 1.24 1.2 1.28 0.88 0.62 0.84 0.16 1.39 1.18 1.18 0.56 0.61 0.58 0.57
C = Control group, P = Experimental group

96
 Frances Antoinette C. Cruz

Table 3 shows the results for the English

language vowel length for both the control group of
North American speakers and the experimental groups.
In general, English vowel durations had smaller ratios
than average German minimal pair contrasts. However,
ranges produced by the experimental group (M=1.18,
SD=0.55) varied considerably from the control group
(M=0.38, SD=0.11) in comparison to the German task,
with the mean between ranges revealing significant Figure 4. Error rates: German Vowels
differences: t(12) = 2.43, p<0.03. The strongest points of
contrast between the English results and the German
results were incidences of short vowels pronounced
longer than long vowels or diphthongs, as well as little
or no length contrasts between vowels. In particular, the
phoneme [u] proved to have very little length distinction.
On the other hand, all German vowels produced by the
participants were clearly distinguished by longer vowel
durations.
Figure 5. Reaction times: German vowels
3.2 Receptive Tests
3.2.2 English Vowels: Error Rates and Reaction
3.2.1 German Vowels: Error Rates and Reaction Times
Times
The error rates from English are concentrated in the
Data on error rates and reaction times for three [i:] phone, followed by vowel length contrasts for [u:] and
vowel contrasts in German were collected in the [ As with the German test, no significant correlation
experiment: /i:/ vs. /ɪ/, /e:/ vs. /ɛ/ and /u:/ vs. /ʊ/. Error between error rates and reaction times was found (r=-
rates for German vowels were found mostly for [ɛ] and 0.01, p<0.5). The amount of errors for [i:], however, did
both [u:] and [ʊ]. While error rates for the vowels did not not correspond with a longer reaction time. Longer
correlate significantly with higher reaction times (r=0.33, reaction times are observable for [u:] and [ɛ], which
p<0.26), a number of tendencies can be noted: the order correspond with the vowels with the longest reaction
of reaction times did not correspond with the error rates, times for the German activity. Results from the LEAP-Q
with [i:] rather than [e:] eliciting longer reaction times. survey do not reveal any particular self-reported items of
The phoneme [i], on the other hand, elicited the lowest the L2 that increased scores in the English-language
error rates but a relatively long aggregate reaction time, receptive test, and no significant correlations were found
along with phonemes producing high error rates: [ɛ] and between English error rates and German error rates, or
[u:]. Variables from the LEAP-Q survey were correlated English reaction times and German reaction times.
with error rates for German vowels, and it was found
that exposure to English-language radio (M=8.64,
SD=1.63) revealed a significant correlation with
performance in the German-language receptive test
(M=0.19, SD=0.11) and the lowering of error rates (r=-
0.55, p<0.04), while strong correlations were to be found
between the exposure to English-language TV (M=7.45,
SD=3.24, r=-0.49, p<0.06) and exposure to English
within the family (M=5.27, SD=3.32, r=-0.47, p<0.07)
and the lowering of German-language results. Figure 6. Error rates: English vowels

97
 Miete or Mitte? A Preliminary Study of Vowel Length Contrasts
in Filipino Learners of German as a Foreign Language
Figure 7. Reaction times: English vowels
4. Discussion
The results from the tests reveal that the influence
from L1 is still clear in the production of vowel-length
contrasts in the L2, although this is less clear for
performance in the L3. This may be attributed to the
acceptability of these pronunciations in the sociocultural
context of the Philippines, or because of the lack of
metalinguistic knowledge on English vowel-length
contrasts due to training7. However, performance in the L2
did not necessarily predict performance in the L3 in the
production task, possibly because of the limitations of the
type of stimuli used (the L2 productive test was a read-out
loud activity, whereas the L3 oral production exercise
presented audio stimuli that were to be repeated).
Nevertheless, it appeared that scores for the German
receptive task were closely correlated with LEAP-Q survey
results for habits relating to English language use, including
exposure to English through TV, radio, and conversations
within the family, leading to lower error rates in identifying
German vowel duration contrasts for those who were
frequently exposed to English through these channels.
Extended audio exposure may, thus, lead to a higher
awareness of vowel length contrasts in other languages.
This lends credence to theories that postulate that skills
learned through the use of L2 may be utilized in the
learning of another language (Hufeisen, 1998); in addition,
the influence of factors found mostly in contexts outside the
classroom is not irrelevant in developing listening skills.
The effects of exposure to English in the family and by way
of various media on listening skills provide evidence for the
role of sociocultural factors, i.e., the lectal classifications of
phonology in language learning. The templating of
successfully learned
7For an example of this in the Southeast Asian context, see Kärchner-Ober, 2009.
98
characteristics of English onto German as
hypothesized in Groseva’s FLAM (1998), thus,
appears to hold water in this case study.
While the production of English vowel
durations comprised of L1 interferences in the form of
ambiguous vowel length distinctions, these did not
reappear in German words, where the ratio of long-short
pairs ranged from 1.18 to more than 2. It, thus, appears
that an approximation of gAmE-comparable vowel
length ratios was characteristic of production in the L3.
The meta-knowledge of vowel contrasts from L2
phonological features and the role of other strategies
(such as the overgeneralization of rules) appear to
facilitate the lengthening of vowels. However, these are
not necessarily indicated by results in the reception tests,
as no significant correlations were found between
English and German results (n=5, p=0.19). While
seemingly counterintuitive, English stimuli produced
more errors overall than German vowel stimuli (0.25
was the average number of errors in German, compared
to 32 in English), which indicates that the longer length
distinctions in German, and potentially the vowel
quality, known to be more tense in German long vowels
than in English, are likely to have contributed to better
performance.
Considering the inclusion of phonetics in the
textbooks used in class, Cornelsen’s Studio D (Funk,
Kuhn, Demme, Christiany, Bayerlein, Lex,
& Redecker, 2005), it is not impossible to rule out
training in the development of phonological
awareness in the L3. While vowel length is explicitly
included in German learning materials, it is unknown
whether or not the same linguistic awareness was
introduced during English language classes. The
problem of how L3 difficulties can be resolved, thus,
appears to be connected to how the L2 is taught, as
Marx (2005) has correctly pointed out.
5. Conclusion
This study provides insights into the acquisition
of vowel duration in Filipino learners of German as a
third language. It focused primarily on the differences
between vowel duration in production (speaking) and
reception (listening) and determined that the ability to
 Frances Antoinette C. Cruz
distinguish between long and short vowels in German
depended partially on the speaker’s exposure to the
English language in various contexts, showing how
sociocultural variables affect the successful use of skills
acquired from English in learning German as a foreign
language. In terms of production, the participants fared
better in German than in English, as the range of vowel
duration contrasts in the German task did not
significantly differ from the control groups, whereas
there was a significant difference between the control
and experimental groups in the English task. This could
be attributed to two factors: firstly, differences in
method, as a recording of the German words was heard
prior to the recording in order to avoid graphematic
errors being transferred into pronunciation; and
secondly, there were technical difficulties that impeded
the collection of data for some of the participants in the
German task. It is, therefore, recommended that further
studies increase the number participants in order to gain
more data in the Philippine context on vowel length
contrasts, as well as consider the use of suitable primes
should the oral word repetition task be used.
As the participants fared better in German
than in English in both tasks, it can be assumed that
explicit training in phonetics could be an aid in
increasing phonological awareness. It is hoped that the
findings of this study will lead to the use of more
instruments in research to evaluate the role of context,
frequency, use and attitude toward language, as well
as the environment in which it is learned, especially in
highly multilingual contexts such as the Philippines.
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 Frances Antoinette C. Cruz

Appendix A. Word List Sets

Test Set 1 Test Set 2

German Word List German Word List

bieten Beet
bitten Bett
Beet bieten
Bett bitten
Ruhm Huhn
Rum Hund
spuken Kehle
spucken Kelle
Miete Miete
Mitte mitte
Fete Ruhm
fette rum

English Word List English Word List

bait beat
bet bit
cheek blade
chick bled
hood fool
look full
Luke pool
seat pull
sit sleep
wait slip
wet wait
who’d wet

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 2015 LSP Annual Report

LINGUISTIC SOCIETY OF THE PHILIPPINES

Annual Report for 2015

I. ACADEMIC/SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES

A. Monthly Board Meetings

February 27, 2015 (1:00 – 2:30 p.m.)

Room 701, Henry Sy, Sr. Hall, De La Salle University, Manila

March 17, 2015 (2:00 – 4:20 p.m.)

16/F Andrew Gonzalez FSC Bldg., De La Salle University, Manila

April 11, 2015 (9:30 – 9:50 a.m.)

University of Asia and the Pacific

April 21, 2015 (11:00 a.m. – 3:05 p.m.)

16/F Andrew Gonzalez FSC Bldg., De La Salle University, Manila

May 5, 2015 (1:00 – 3:00 p.m.)

Graduate School Meeting Room, TARC, University of Santo Tomas

June 2, 2015 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)

BPS Auditorium, Philippine Normal University

July 7, 2015 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)

De La Costa Hall, Ateneo de Manila University

August 4, 2015 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)

16/F Andrew Gonzalez FSC Bldg., De La Salle University, Manila

September 5, 2015 (1:00 – 3:00 p.m.)

De La Costa Hall, Ateneo de Manila University

November 10, 2015 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)

ALB Executive Lounge, University of Asia and the Pacific

B. Lectures

1. LSP Special Lecture

Speaker: Dr. Angela Reyes (City University of New York)

Topic: “Conyo: Ideologies of Mixed Race/Language in the Philippines”
Date: January 8, 2015 (3:00 – 4:30 p.m.)
Venue: Lecture Room A1703, Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC Bldg., De La Salle University,
Manila

102
 2015 LSP Annual Report

2. The Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC Distinguished Professorial Chair in Linguistics and Language
Education

Chair Holder: Dr. Loy Lising (University of Sydney, Australia)

Topic: “The Linguistic Ideologies of Multilingualism and Skilled Migration:
The Case of Filipino Skilled Migrants in the Australian Diaspora”
Date: February 28, 2015 (10:00 – 12:00 nn.)
Venue: 13th Floor Exhibit Area, Henry Sy, Sr. Hall, De La Salle University, Manila

3. The 7th Emy M. Pascasio Memorial Lecture

Speaker: Dr. Maria Luz Elena N. Canilao (Ateneo de Manila University)
Topic: “The Use of English in Multilingual Classrooms: Frameworks, Features, and
Factors”
Date: September 5, 2015 (9:00 – 11:00 a.m.)
Venue: Natividad Galang Fajardo Conference Room, Ateneo de Manila University

C. Conferences

1. National Conference

2015 LSP National Conference and General Meeting

April 11, 2015
University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P)
Theme: “Language and Intelligibility”
Conference Director: Arwin M. Vibar (University of Asia and the Pacific)

Invited Speakers and Topics:

Danilo T. Dayag (+) (De La Salle University, Manila)

“Larry Smith’s Studies of Intelligibility and World Englishes Issues and Prospects”

Shirley N. Dita (De La Salle University, Manila)

“The Intelligibility and Comprehensibility of Philippine English to EFL Learners”

Jesus Federico C. Hernandez (University of the Philippines, Diliman)

“Intelligibility in Flux: Evolution, Differentiation, and Diffusion”

Marilu Rañosa-Madrunio (University of Santo Tomas)

“Clear Language for Clear Communication: Assessing the Clarity of Philippine Consumer Finance
Contracts”

Maria Asuncion L. Magsino (University of Asia and the Pacific)

“Peirce-Sebeok Framework of Language”

J. Stephen Quakenbush and Jason T. Griffiths (SIL International)

“Language, Intelligibility and Language Development in the Philippines”

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 2015 LSP Annual Report

Rowella Tanjusay and Perpi Tiongson

“The Swadesh Method, Intelligibility and Language Change: The Rationale for Recognition of FSL
as the National Sign Language in Proposed Legislation”

2. International Conference

The 9th Annual International Free Linguistics Conference (FLC 2015)

September 24-26, 2015
De La Salle University, Manila
Conference Directors: Shirley N. Dita (LSP President)
Ahmar Mahboob (FLC Founder)

Focus Speakers:

Priscilla Tan-Cruz (Ateneo de Manila University)

“Construing an Identity for a Nation: Values Education, English Language Teaching, and Secondary
School Pedagogy in the Philippines”

Maya Khemlani David (University of Malaya)

“Language Policies and Ecology of Literacies”

Gail Forey (Hong Kong Polytechnic University)

“Call Centres and the Workers Within: Thinking Smart and Sounding Smart on Every Single Call”

Lisa Lim (The University of Hong Kong)

“Centres of Diversity, Platforms for Evolution: On Margins and Mobility in Language Practices in
the Global Knowledge Economy”

Jane Lockwood (City University of Hong Kong)

“The Many Faces of Business Communication: Asian Profiles”

Andrew Moody (University of Macau)

“Mock Englishes in Popular Culture: Appropriating English for Popular Consumption”

Symposia:

Talking Across the World (TAW) Symposium

Organized by: Gail Forey (Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
Jane Lockwood (City University of Hong Kong)

Philippine English Symposium 2

Organized by: Danica Salazar (Oxford English Dictionary)
Shirley N. Dita (De La Salle University, Manila)

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Workshops:

JungAe Lee Allman (University of Texas at Arlington)

“Linguistic Analysis Using AntConc”

Priscilla Tan-Cruz (Ateneo de Manila University)

“Grammar into Discourse: A Framework for Analyzing How Texts Make Meaning”

Maya Khemlani David (University of Malaya)

“Becoming Aware of Cross-Cultural Norms in Speech Acts”

Gail Forey (Hong Kong Polytechnic University)

“Analysing Spoken discourse: The Role and Value of Interactional Talk in Service Encounters”

Paulina M. Gocheco (De La Salle University, Manila)

“Writing an Effective Review of Related Literature”

Merry Ruth M. Gutierrez (Philippine Normal University)

“ESL Reading Instruction in the K-12 Curriculum”

Jesus Federico C. Hernandez (University of the Philippines-Diliman)

“A Pinoy Babel Story: FAQs and the Linguistic Identity of the Speech Varieties in the Philippines”

Lisa Lim (The University of Hong Kong)

“Don’t feel kawawa; it’s ok to be kiasu; add oil! Advancing Intelligibility and Acceptability of New
Englishes in the Multilingual Global Ecologies of Asia”

Jane Lockwood (City University of Hong Kong)

“Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) Assessment: New Directions”

Marilu Rañosa-Madrunio (University of Santo Tomas)

“Forensic Linguistics: Quo Vadis?”

Missy Maramara (Ateneo de Manila University)

“Performing Punctuations for Better Communication in English”

Andrew Moody (University of Macau)

“Using Linguistic Data from Popular Culture: A Workshop on the Possibilities and Limitations for
Research”

Other highlights:
Attendance: 930
Number of Countries Represented: 36
Paper Presentations: 125
Poster Presentations: 9

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D. Publications

The Philippine Journal of Linguistics Volume 45 (December 2014 issue) was released in October 2015.

The Philippine Journal of Linguistics Volume 46 (December 2015 issue – this issue) was released in
early February 2016.

II. INSTITUTIONAL OR ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

A. Organizational Structure
The following officers were elected in April 2015:

LSP OFFICERS (2015-2018)

Shirley N. Dita
De La Salle University, Manila
PRESIDENT

Arwin M. Vibar
University of Asia and the Pacific
VICE PRESIDENT

Marianne Rachel G. Perfecto

Ateneo de Manila University
SECRETARY

Camilla J. Vizconde
University of Santo Tomas
TREASURER

Rochelle Irene G. Lucas

De La Salle University, Manila
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Arceli M. Amarles
Philippine Normal University
Director of Membership

Marlina L. Lino
Mariano Marcos State University
Director of Research and Special Projects

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Ma. Milagros C. Laurel

University of the Philippines-Diliman
Director of Public Relations and Linkages

Priscilla T. Cruz
Ateneo de Manila University
Director of Publications

Alejandro S. Bernardo
University of Santo Tomas
Director of Conferences

Paulina M. Gocheco
De La Salle University, Manila
Director of Professional Meetings

Jason T. Griffiths
SIL International
Director of Trainings

B. Memberships
As of December 31, 2015, LSP has the following memberships:

Lifetime Members: 129

Honorary Lifetime Members: 24
Institutional Members: 5
Regular Members: 112
Student Members: 101

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III. Financial Standing

2015 LSP Financial Report

Income:
LSP Memberships P 125,800.00
LSP Conference P 52,825.00
FLC Share P 193,837.11
Donations P 45,00.00
PJL Sales P 31,140.00
TOTAL P 448,602.11

Expenses:
LSP Conference P 127,615.00
PJL-related P 111,284.00
PSSC P 58,075.42
Permit-related P 26,004.30
Operational Expenses P 11,040.00
TOTAL P 334,018.72

BALANCE: P 114,583.39

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We wish to thank the following for serving as referees for this issue’s articles:

Resty Cena
University of Alberta, Canada

Priscilla Angela T. Cruz

Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines

Eden Regala-Flores
De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines

Isabel Pefianco-Martin
Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines

Richard Powell
Nihon University, Japan

Sridevi Sriniwass
University of Malaya, Malaysia

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INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS

Review Process: All manuscripts shall undergo a blind and independent review process. As such, authors
are requested to submit a separate cover sheet containing the article title, author’s name, and
institutional affiliation. Every effort should be made to remove any clue as to the author’s identity. The
Editor will ensure that each cycle of the review process takes no more than six months.

Length: Articles should be from 6,000 to 10,000 words inclusive of tables, figures, references,
and supplementary materials. Book reviews should be no more than 2,000 words.

Title: Titles and section headings should be clear and brief.

Abstract: An abstract of up to 150 words is required. A maximum of five key words should be
written below the abstract.

Typing: Articles should be word-processed (in Microsoft Word format, Times New Roman font 12
points), and double-spaced throughout. Margins on all sides should be from 1 inch to 1.25 inches.

Language and Spelling: Articles should be in English. Quotations of text extracts in other languages
should be translated. UK or US spelling may be used, but usage must be consistent throughout.

Documentation: In citing sources in text and onthe list of references, the style guidelines of
the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 6th Edition) should be
followed.

Tables and Figures: Tables and figures should be numbered and have short descriptive titles.
Camera-ready artwork should be supplied for all figures and images. Gray-scale or line-art
images are acceptable. Color images will not be printed.

Quotations: Short quotations in the text itself should be marked as such with “double
quotation marks”. Lengthy quotations (over five lines or 50 words) should be indented in the
text without quotation marks.

Submission Instructions: To be considered for possible publication in an incoming issue of the

journal, manuscripts should be submitted before March 30. Those submitted beyond this deadline
will be considered for the next issue. All contributions should be in MS Word and PDF formats, and
sent as e-mail attachments to pjlsubmission@gmail.com with the subject: PJL submission.

Subscription Rates
The Journal is distributed to members of the Linguistic Society of the Philippines and is paid by
their annual dues. Subscription per year is PhP 700. Foreign subscription, excluding the cost
of handling and mailing, is USD 40 an issue.
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