CHAPTER 2 Current Trends and Issues in Language

LESSON 2 Socially Developed Languages

Language has been

changing over the years. New
words were added, existing
words no longer mean the
same, and language grew to
include phrases, sentence and
constructions that are different
from those of the older
generation.
Language is always
changing, evolving, and Our language will never stop
adapting to the needs of its changing; it will continue to respond to
users. It changes depending on our needs. So the next time you hear a
the need of its users. The fact new phrase that grates on your ears,
that language is always remember that like everything else in
changing doesn't mean it's nature, the English language is a
getting worse; it's just work in progress.
becoming different (Birner,
2020).

Now, at the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. Use socially developed languages in a conversation; and
2. Identify meanings of terms that exist in socially developed languages.

MOTIVATION
Have you had any gay friends in your neighbourhood or in your school? What do
you notice in the terms or phrases they say when you interact with them? Are they
foreign to you? Do you know what they mean? List down some terms or phrases you
have heard from them and try to identify what they mean. (You may give at least one.)

Word/Phrases
1.____________________________
2.____________________________
3.____________________________
4.____________________________
5.____________________________
Meaning
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________
_____________________________________

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 CHAPTER 2 Current Trends and Issues in Language

The words you wrote here are examples that exist in the gay language or gay
lingo. The language of the gays is one of the languages that socially developed over
time especially in the Philippines. This lesson will introduce you to the words and
phrases that only Filipinos commonly use in conversations in which foreigners find it
confusing or difficult to understand.

INPUT
The Gay Lingo
Terms like lafang, kebs,
yesterday once more, shakira, gorabels,
and haggardo versoza are the things
you might hear from your gay friends
and those who are well-versed in
speaking swardspeak or gay language.
I’m pretty sure you’ll be lost in confusion
if you do not have any idea what they
mean.
What exactly is the gay
language? How are words formed or
created?
Gay lingo is actually an argot
that is derived from Tagalog, English,
Spanish, and some from Japanese, as
well as celebrities' names and trademark
brands, giving them new meanings in
different contexts. Tuting Hernandez, an
Associate Professor of Linguistics at the
University of the Philippines, described
gay speak as a social dialect created by
a certain group to exclusively
communicate in their own terms.

Speaking in gay term is a way of avoiding

cultural violence. Members of the gay community
can talk about so many different things without
society eavesdropping on them. It is colorful, witty,
and humorous, with vocabularies derived from
popular culture and regional variations (Remoto,
2010) since some words were derived from other
languages, movies, business and entertainment,
geography and the sciences, media and politics,
and culture.
Their creation is to hide common words under borrowed terms from
native dialects, as well as American, Spanish, and Japanese pop culture.
Savillo (2020) stated that gay speak has also learned to evolve with time and
space. It varies in the different islands of the Philippines and it is hyperdynamic, which
means that at any point, there can be different words for the same definition.

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Below are few of the terms in the gay lingo.

jowa – spouse, partner Churchill – high society crayola – to cry

gora – to go
kyoho – stinky
dats/datul – money
jotis – a small amount
anek – what
itetch – ito
fayatollah Kumenis – thin
anaconda – to betray
Isaac Newton – one
Dakota Johnson – big
haller – hello
kalurkey – crazy
walley – wala
nial – unpleasant
murat – girl
sight – to see
Muriah Carrey – cheap
Lupita Kashiwahara – cruel
Shanty Dope – panty
Jamaica – small
liberty – to treat someone
thundercats - old
pagoda - tired
mudra - mother
Julie Andrew – to be caught
x-men – ‘ex-man’
maharlika – expensive
watashi – me, I
spyuk – speak, spill out
burlog – sleep

At present, more and more straight-acting gays and gays from the professions
are coming out of the closet, giving a literary, sophisticated quality to gay language. As
you have probably noticed on the table that some of the words are derived from the
common words we have like ‘liberty’, ‘sight’ and ‘anaconda’. Some of the words are
derived from the names of famous persons like ‘Dakota Johnson’ to mean ‘daks’ or big,
and like ‘Isaac Newton’ to mean ‘isa’ or one. The coinage of the vocabularies in gay
lingo varies from a demographic to another. This means that some words may be
different in other Region; more complex and more creative.

Despite its proliferation in the society, it is still not considered a mainstream

language since not all can comprehend it. It would be very awkward to hear news
anchors using gay lingo when reporting the weather forecast or to listen to questions in
gay lingo during job interviews. As time goes, it arbitrarily evolves making it more
mystifying to understand to some who tries to use the language. The utilization of the
gay lingo is not limited to gays alone. It is comical to think that even professionals,
regardless of gender, use it occasionally when communicating verbally. This shows that
this language is influential.

Here is a Filipino nursery rhyme Ako ay May Lobo (I have a balloon) translated
into gay speak.

ORIGINAL VERSION TRANSLATION INTO GAY LINGO

Ako ay may lobo Aketch ai may lobing

Lumipád sa langit Flylalou sa heaven
Di ko na nakità Witchels ko na nasightness
Pumutók na palá Jumutók lang pala
Sayang lang ang pera, Sayang lang ang anda
Pinambilí ng lobo Pinang buysung ng lobing
Sa pagkain sana, Kung lafangertz sana
Nabusóg pa ako Nabusóg pa aketch

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We Filipinos know that to xerox is to produce a hard copy through a

photocopying machine; a tupperware refers to a kitchen plastic ware which we can put
our food; to commute is to travel to a place via public utility vehicle. We could
somehow understand what they mean. However, how would a native speaker of the
English language react to these words if we communicate with them?

These are actually called Filipinisms. What is a Filipinism? This is referred to

words or phrases that seem to be correct in usage (Suplido, 2016) and is a ‘coined
terminology’ for loosely translated English phrases that are used by most Filipinos (Au,
2019).
Moreover, they are actually grammatically incorrect and are a result of
transliteration. These terms are commonly used in casual conversations and have
become a huge part of the country’s English-speaking habit.

There’s no doubt that more than 70% of

the Filipino population is highly proficient in
To all applicants, speaking the English language. English has
please FALL IN
become our second (third for some) language
LINE and FILL UP
this form! since it is introduced in schools as early as Grade
3. It has been our routine in speaking the
language at home, work or in school.
However, no matter how fluent we are in
using the language, there are some errors we
often commit that only grammar experts notice.

Here are some of the words and phrases which sound

wrong or confusing to some grammar Nazis, and native speakers.

FILIPINISM MEANING/HOW IT SHOULD BE STATED

1. Fall in line Line up, Form a line

2. Brownout Blackout
3. Commute This is misunderstood by Filipinos to travel via public vehicle when in fact,
commute means to travel back and forth may it be a public or private
transportation.
4. Come again? To ask someone repeat what was said.
Better say “Can you please say that again?”
5. Fill up People usually say, ‘Please fill up the form given to you.’ This is wrong. It
should be to ‘fill out.’ To ‘fill up’ means to fill or make full of an empty
container with something. Meanwhile, to ‘fill out’ means to complete a
form or document which was made for you to provide information.

6. Next next week A week after next

7. xerox To photocopy, Xerox is a brand of photocopying machine

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8. for a while When you tell someone to wait for a while, he/she would assume to wait

9. tuck out Untuck

10. ref Fridge
11. C.R./Comfort Room Restroom, toilet
12. It’s for free. It’s free, It’s free of charge.
13. Open/Close (the Turn on/off, Switch on/off
lights, appliances
14. Small things. Word for word translation of ‘maliit na bagay.’
Better say, ‘It’s no big deal.’
15. I’ll ask him/her an This is confusing. You committed a mistake so it is better that ‘you should
apology for what I’ve apologize’ or ‘make an apology.’
done.
16. We accept repairs. This is popular signage you often see in repair shops.
The correct way to put it is ‘this shop repairs (phones, machines,
appliances, etc.)
17. To salvage someone It actually means to have someone ‘saved’ not ‘assassinated’ or ‘killed’.

18. It’s traffic today. The traffic is heavy.

19. I am taking up Omit ‘up’
Bachelor of Science in I am taking Bachelor of Science in Biology.
Biology.
20. As in (used as Filipinos’ way of saying ‘really’ when they could not believe something.
expression)

Usage of Filipinisms in casual conversations is accepted but it is frowned upon in

the corporate world. Effective communication is one of the requisite skills in the
industry since their services now reach wide array of clients not just locally but also
worldwide. Take for example the employees working in BPOs, hotels, restaurants, and
some agencies whose clients are mostly foreign nationals. Communicating with them
through telephone and telling them to ‘hold on the line for a while’ because you are
gathering data in your end would confuse them and give them an impression that they
have to wait for a longer period of time. Let us try to be critical about how we use the
language. You might successfully expressed all the words you want to come out but if
your listeners were not able to get what you mean, it would result to a communication
breakdown.

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Other socially developed languages

Talking like a
Conyo
Filipinos are not just bilingual
speakers but also multilingual speakers
having Filipino as their mother tongue or
second language and English as their
second or third language. We can code-
switch from one language to another when
we converse about certain things and can
be clearly understood despite the
combination of the two languages.

In our country, a new Philippine English sociolect emerged. This is called conyo
(coño). You infer that this word means the language of the upper economic class or the
upper class itself, but in the Spanish definition, the word coño actually means cunt or it
refers to a female genitalia.

This is spoken by people who converse

using Filipino and English alternately
and spontaneously. Most often, the
conyo talk is used by its speakers to
culturally identify themselves that they
belong in the upper socioeconomic
strata (Garvida, 2012). This is also used
automatically to stereotype kids from
wealthy families (Valdeavilla, 2013).
Speaking in conyo may be
attributed that those who speak it have
an unlimited access to English language
education given the fact that they are rich or well-off. This could somehow be a
determinant that our Philippine English is progressing (academia.edu).
There are sample phrases and sentences below and try to read them like an
actual conyo.
*Let us take some pictures here because the background is so maganda and
instagram-able.
*Can you make pasa the book over there? You are so malapit to where it is.
*I’m so takot sa mga frog. They are so nakakadiri like ‘eww’!
*When you make ubo or sneeze, please cover naman your mouth not to spread
the mikrobyo.

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*OMG! She is super badoy wearing that dress. Don’t you come malapit sa akin,
ha.
You may also analyze how words and sentences are constructed in conyo in the
10 Conyomandments written by Gerry Avelino and Arik Abu.

THE 10 CONYOMANDMENTS

1. Thou shall make gamit “make+pandiwa”

.ex. “Let’s make pasok na to our class!”
“Wait lang! I’m making kain pa!”
“Come on na, we can’t make hintay anymore!”

2. Thou shall make kalat “noh”, “diba” and “eh” in your pangungusap.
ex. “I don’t like to make lakad in the baha nga, no? Eh diba it’s like, so eew,
diba?”“What ba? Stop nga being maarte noh?” “Eh as if you want it also naman, diba?”

3. When making describe a whatever, always say “It’s so pang-uri!”

ex. “It’s so malaki, you know, and so mainit!”
“I know right? So sarap nga, eh!”
“You’re making me inggit naman.. I’ll make bili nga my own burger.”

4. When you are lalaki, make parang punctuation “dude”, ‘tsong” or “pare”.
ex. “Dude, ENG ANAL is so hirap, pare.”“I know, tsong, I got bagsak nga in quiz one,
eh!”

5. Thou shall know you know? I know right!

ex. “My bag is so bigat today, you know”
“I know, right! We have to make dala pa kasi the jumbo Physics book eh!”

6. Make gawa the plural of pangngalans like in English or Spanish.

ex. “I have so many tigyawats, oh!”

7. Like, when you can make kaya, always use like. Like, I know right?
ex. “Like, it’s so init naman!” “Yah! The aircon, it’s like sira!”

8. Make yourself feel so galing by translating the last word of your sentence, you
know, your pangungusap?
ex. “Kakainis naman in the LRT! How plenty tao, you know,people?”
“It’s so tight nga there, eh, you know, masikip?”

9. Make gamit of plenty abbreviations, you know, “daglat?”

ex. “Like, OMG! It’s like traffic sa LRT” “I know right? It’s so kaka!” “Kaka?”
“Kakaasar!”

10. Make gamit the pinakamaarte voice and pronunciation you have para full effect!
ex. “I’m, like, making aral at the Arrhneo!”“Me naman, I’m from Lazzahl!

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ASSESSMENT
A. Encircle the Filipinisms in each sentence and write the correct
term/s above it.
1. The staff forgot to turn off the aircon in the office last Friday.

2. Our class mayor volunteered to xerox the facts sheets given by the professor.

3. You don’t have to wear your Ray Ban inside the classroom.

4. Kurt was not able to submit his project on time due to a brownout last night.

5. The team will be having a dinner party next next week.

B. Translate the gay terms in the sentences below. You may rewrite the
whole sentence.
1. Frenny, pwede ba akes makahiram ng anda? Wit kasi akong pam-payols sa baler na
inuupahan ko.
_______________________________________________________________________
.
2. “Buysola mo na ‘yong kakailanganin mo sa school. Sabihan mo lang ako. Pera lang
yan, kikitain ko rin ‘yan,” Mamu assured to Bona.
_______________________________________________________________________
.
3. Sa sobrang inis ni mudra kay junakis, imbes na magalit eh nag-crayola na lang.
_______________________________________________________________________.

Send your answers to my e-mail address:

antonio.guiawan@antiquespride.edu.ph