FILIPINO: A Language on Paper

LA Pinoy Magazine, the first glossy Filipino-owned magazine in the US, told me yesterday that it would include my language blog in its July issue. June issue used my blog on Skid Row as its feature article. I told the editor if she could wait in 24 hours so that I could think on how to make the article short and simple. Here now is the article that will be published in next month's LA Pinoy Magazine.

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It was in 1937 when Pres. Manuel Quezon mandated the Institute of National Language (INL) to develop the Philippine official language. The purpose was to instill nationalism, national identity, and unity. The president wanted Tagalog as that language. However, non-Tagalog speakers particularly those from the central and southern Philippines strongly opposed it. After Quezon's term, the name was renamed to Pilipino in 1959. Amendment of the constitution in 1973 and 1987 renamed the national language to Filipino.

Did it serve the purpose to unite Filipinos? No! Instead, Filipino, as a language, became an illusion. Non-Tagalog speakers still considered it unacceptable, since Pilipino or Filipino, is still Tagalog-based.

Then came the move by the language purists, who wanted to discontinue the use of foreign words. They thought of coining new Pilipino words. So, in the late 60s, they started coining words such as salungpuwit (ass-catcher), salungsusu (breast-catcher), hattinig (voice-sender), and salipapaw to denote a chair, brassiere, telephone, and airplane, respectively.

Filipinos from Batanes to Jolo were united...in consternation. Tagalog speakers were shocked how their language was debased. Others have a blast mocking the Pilipino, as a language. I was in 6th grade that time. I tell you, my Pilipino teacher blushed everytime she said "salungpuwit".

Problem is Filipino never existed as one of the 175 major and minor Philippine languages. It only is on paper. Whether we like it or not, Philippine national language is still Tagalog elevated to a higher standard known as Filipino.

And unity amongst Filipinos? We could attain it if we could look beyond our own language group. Play down regionalism; exert more effort on respect. Don't ridicule those who'd say "tindig!" instead of "tayo!". If Filipinos could do these, maybe Filipino, as a language, would evolve over time.

Is Filipino, as a language, Artificial?

I am posing this question to recapitulate what Dr. Patricia Schneider-Zioga, a linguistic professor at California State University-Fullerton, mentioned when we were guests of Jannelle So, host of Ch. 18's Kababayan LA. Like Jannelle, I know many TV viewers would have wanted more explanation from Patricia and me. Here now is a reinforcement to make the issue clearer.

Remember the words salungpuwit (catch-ass or ass-catcher), salungsusu(catch-breast or breast catcher), hattinig (send-voice or voice sender), and salipapaw to denote chair, bra, telephone, and airplane, respectively? These were used in our Pilipino language classes sometime in the 60s.

Believe me, most Filipinos expressed a raucous ridicule of these coined words. I was in 6th grade when these new words came about. My Pilipino teacher refrained from using them. Students like me, who even were not native speakers of Pilipino-Tagalog, just can't avoid laughing over them. The construction of new words by Pilipino language purists was initially thought to help overcome colonization and regionalism umbrage. They also thought of coining new words based from existing Tagalog words could help instill nationalism, national identity, and unity amongst Filipinos.

Those new coinage almost made Pilipino, as a language, artificial in flesh and bones. Thank goodness; they were short-lived.

So, why should I support Patricia's statement when those new Pilipino terms did not live on? As a term for a language, Pilipino/Filipino is, superficially, an artificial language. As a language system, it is not.

Pilipino/Filipino is a created term for Philippine national language. (Pilipino used to be the term for the language curriculum, while Filipino was to a people who are from the Philippines.) It is a language, because the Philippine Constitution states it so. Call it politically constructed language. Beyond books and government documents, there never was a Pilipino Philippine language.

So, Pilipino (1959 to 1973), which was renamed to Filipino (1973 to present), as a Philippine national language was never an existing language of Filipinos. Prior to 1959, the national language that Pres. Manuel Luis Quezon, the Father of Philippine National Language, simply wanted it called "Tagalog". This was strongly opposed by non-native Tagalog speakers, particularly those in central(Visayas) and southern Philippines (Mindanao). Hence, the national language was renamed as Pilipino, which, likewise, wasn't well-accepted.

Pilipino/Filipino, as a language system, cannot be aligned with Esperanto, Damin, Glaugnea, Lingua Ignota, Spocamian, etc.. These are all invented languages, with their own set of rules, either developed for art sake, communication secrecy, or neutral auxiliary language for those who engage in international communication, tourism, and research.

As a language system, Pilipino/Filipino is based on Tagalog. Coined words, like salungpuwit, were completely abandoned. The grammar and syntax are not new construction.

ANOTHER RECAP: Dialect is not a Language

Many lay people would confuse a minor language to a dialect. Probably, the reason behind this is that they confuse a language to a lingua franca (trade language).

In my home country, the Philippines, most people would think that other than the eight major languages; namely, Tagalog, Bisaya/Cebuano, Ilocano, Hiligaynon/Ilonggo, Bikolnon/Bisakol, Waray-waray, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan/Pangasinense, the remaining 167 minority languages are mere dialects of these major ones.

This might help a lay person determine a medium of communication a language. If we speak the language or the lingua franca of the region, where we live in, and we have problem understanding another person, whom we have come in contact with, and we are not prejudicial in any way on the manner that person speaks, consider his language different from yours; hence, a language. If we understand the speaker, despite the differences in pronunciation, accent, intonation, and with some slight intelligibility problem, then, consider his language a dialect.

Dialect is a variation of a particular language. Bisaya in Mindanao, and even the Binol-anon in Bohol island, are dialects of Cebuano/Binisaya in Cebu. Differences in pronunciation, accent, intonation, and a unique verbal production of some letter-sounds or a few extra and unique affixes exist; however, intelligibility between Bisaya (of Mindanao) and Boholano speakers is very high.

Cebuano or Binisaya in Mindanao may pronounced the /l/ in between vowels or may add /ha/ as a suffix to an action word to express exaggeration, example: (katawa = laugh in Cebu) vs. katawaha = laugh in Mindanao), but those Bisaya/Cebuano in Cebu can understand the Bisaya in Mindanao perfectly.

Similarly, the Boholanos/Bol-anons pronounces /y/ as /dz/ (e.g., ayaw (Cebuano of Cebu and Mindanao for 'do not...') vs. adzaw; however, the sentence structure and the words are the same. Henceforth, Bisaya in Bohol is a dialect of Cebuano/Bisaya.

Dialect can be caused by ones social class. This is what we call sociolect. As we, Filipinos, are aware that Tagalog spoken by students in exclusive schools has developed some vocabulary and unique sentence pattern. The differences may be intentional, out of the desire of distinguishing themselves from other Tagalog speakers, or it may have been caused by the school restriction for students to speak in vernacular.

An intentional code-switching in Tagalog, like "kilig to the bones", which originated from co-ed students in prestigious colleges, is an example of a sociolect. Others have caught up to this manner of speaking Tagalog, that we commonly now hear "Taglish", which is a Tagalog with a sprinkles of English words or phrase. Nevertheless, this Tagalog-English mix is also considered linguistically as a Patoi, because it is a non-standard dialect and it is not institutionally supported.

Regiolect or topolect can also cause the existence of dialect. The frequency of interaction and other neighboring languages can result to a development of new words and expressions, and borrowings from other nearby languages. Despite the regional "ala eh" expression of the Batanguenos (of Batangas)and few other lexical (word) differences does not mean that they are not speaking in Tagalog. They are! We distinguish them as Tagalog speaker from Batangas based on some expressions and accents that they have uniquely included in their speech patterns.

I hope this blog helps us not to get confuse on the use of the terms, dialect and language.

A RECAP on ISSUE DISCUSSED ON TV

What is a language? This was the first question hurled at Dr. Patricia Schneider-Zioga, a linguistics professor at California State University-Fullerton, and me, when Jannelle So invited us to guest in her TV program, Kababayan L.A., on Channel 18 two days ago, June 8th.

Dr. Schneider-Zioga responded that there's no clear-cut definition what language really is among linguists. She supported her answer by citing a case in Europe. Unfortunately, some viewers, particularly my friends, were not satisfied with her answer. ( I knew...with mine, as well.) A few sent me email that she should have given an example on the Philippine languages, because Kababayan L.A. is a Filipino program. Since her answer is true, I didn't react against it. Instead, I reinforced it by saying that mutual intelligibility is a criterion that linguists uses to determine whether a particular medium of communication is a language or simply a dialect. By mentioning a technical terminology, I made the answer murkier to lay people. I should have given a Filipino example to satisfy the Filipino community. I'm sorry, I didn't. It is tough to think on your toes, especially if there's time constraint.

Anyway, allow me to use this blog to address it now.

It is a fact; a linguist would consider a medium of communication a dialect of another language on the basis of mutual intelligibility, even if the speakers of that "dialect" would consider it differently. A case in point is the Batad Ifugao and the Mayoyao Ifugao. For an outsider or a linguist, he or she may immediately say that these two cultural groups are identifiably speaking the same language. The reason is: mutual intelligibility is high. Ethnologue (1984) mentioned that the intelligibility is at least 86%. It's too high to be considered as two separate languages.

Certainly, the language scientist may come up with his or her decision on how the two language groups understand each other (i.e. mutual intelligibility). Hence, if there is high percentage of cognate or identical words with similar meaning and no big differences in affixation and word formation (i.e. morphology), that other language group may be treated as a mere dialect of the other.

I mentioned in the program that the Laguna Tagalog is a dialect (i.e. language variation) of Tarlac Tagalog, or vice versa. Most Filipinos know that Laguna is south of Manila, while Tarlac is north. It's true, they have disparity, which is more than accent (i.e. pronunciation or intonation); however, both could perfectly understand each other.

The same thing with Binisaya of Cebu and Mindanao; the obvious difference is just the /l/. Cebuano will never say the /l/ in between vowels, while the Binisaya in Mindanao will always have it. (e.g. waa vs. wala (nothing), baay vs. balay (house).) The meanings are the same; hence, the Binisaya in Mindanao is just a dialect of that of Cebu.

Nevertheless, if we'd compare Binisaya of Cebu or the Binisaya in Mindanao to the Bisaya of Ilo-ilo, there are words (i.e. lexicon) that may be said or spelled without any difference at all; however, the meaning may be 100% not the same. (e.g. sabut is a word found in both Binisaya in Cebu, Mindanao, and in Ilo-ilo. However, sabut in Cebu and Mindanao means 'to understand', while in Ilo-ilo it means "pubic hair". Besides different meaning in some words, affixation or affixes also has considerable differences. Hence, the Bisaya of Cebu and Mindanao is one language, and the Bisaya of Ilo-ilo is another. We, Filipinos, all know it as Hiligaynon. Well, with regular contact, speakers of Hiligaynon and Binisaya do understand each other. We just have to be careful on our word usage so as not to offend someone.

Definitely, mutual intelligibility is not a perfect criterion to distinguish a language from the other. The reason is that language is strongly interrelated to the speaker's thought process and behavior. How one conveys meaning is affected by how he thinks of the person (or a people group) and how he behaves around that person.

Historically, a feud existed between the Batad Ifugao and the Mayoyao Ifugaos. Socially, interaction between the two language groups might be reserved and minimized. Competition as to who might be speaking the high or the low standard language might be existing. So, when a translation of literature had started for the Batad, the Mayoyao speakers did not accept it as theirs. (But the language difference is very minimal!) Mayoyao speakers wanted to be recognized that theirs is a distinct language. As a result, in Philippine linguistics, Batad and Mayoyao Ifugaos are recognized as two different languages; two of the 175 languages in the Philippines.

Therefore, what is a language? Let me now put it this way. It is a set of symbols of sounds that is structured using a set of rules to express a meaning to a thought process or behavior and is transmitted from one generation to another.


(NOTE:

1) In celebration of the Philippine Independence (June 12th), I plan to blog about the Philippine language and culture for the whole month of June.

2) Those who have checked out my poetry reading on You Tube, please accept my sincere thanks. I apologize of the poor synchronization of my voice and my mouth in Part 1. Part 2 and 3 are better. Check them out.

Thanks again, guys.

Edmund Industan

Filipino Language & Other Philippine Languages on Channel 18

A PHOTO W/ MY WIFE, ANGIE, & JANNELLE SO (May 27,2009)

What is a Filipino language? This was one of the questions that Jannelle So, the beautiful host of Channel 18's Kababayan L.A., asked in her email couple of days ago, and she wanted it discuss in one of her Pre-Independence Day programs.

Apparently, some of our kababayans here in the U.S. has been suggesting that they would like her to speak in Filipino, since her program is specifically catering to the Filipino community. But is there really a Filipino language? If she would speak plain Tagalog (Filipino (?)) in the program, would she not alienate some Filipinos or Filipino-Americans who are non-native Tagalog speakers?

I was Jannelle's guest on May 27th to promote my two published books, KOILAWAN and PRAISING ALL SEASONS LONG, and my experimental performance poetry, Hey-Dasang. I probably have done pretty well that day, despite my thick Tagalog accent, that she expressed, after the show, her plan to invite me again. And I wasn't surprised when I received her email inviting me to guest on June 8th.

So, I would like to invite you all to watch Channel 18's Kababayan L.A. from 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. on June 8th. Besides me, Jannelle also has invited a linguist. Well, I am not a linguist. I am a sociologist with a modest research experiences in ethnology and linguistics.

I believe this discussion on Filipino, as a language, is a "first" without the presence of Filipino language planners, academicians, and politicians. Hence, I can assure you all that we will be taking up the language issue head-on and free of bias.