Filipino (;
, ) is an
Austronesian language. It is the
national language ( / ) of the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, and one of the two
official languages
An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...
of the country, with
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
.
It is a
standardized variety of
Tagalog
Tagalog may refer to:
Language
* Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines
** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language
** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language
* Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Taga ...
based on the native dialect, spoken and written, in
Metro Manila
Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...
, the National Capital Region, and in other urban centers of the archipelago.
The
1987 Constitution mandates that Filipino be further enriched and developed by the other
languages of the Philippines
There are some 120 to 187 languages spoken in the Philippines, depending on the method of classification. Almost all are Malayo-Polynesian languages native to the archipelago. A number of Spanish-influenced creole varieties generally called ...
. Filipino is only used as a tertiary language in the Philippine public sphere.
Filipino, like other Austronesian languages, commonly uses
verb-subject-object order, but can also use
subject-verb-object order as well. Filipino follows the
trigger system of
morphosyntactic alignment
In linguistics, morphosyntactic alignment is the grammatical relationship between arguments—specifically, between the two arguments (in English, subject and object) of transitive verbs like ''the dog chased the cat'', and the single argument ...
that is also common among Austronesian languages. It has
head-initial directionality. It is an
agglutinative language
An agglutinative language is a type of synthetic language with morphology that primarily uses agglutination. Words may contain different morphemes to determine their meanings, but all of these morphemes (including stems and affixes) tend to rem ...
but can also display
inflection
In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and ...
. It is not a
tonal language and can be considered a
pitch-accent language and a
syllable-timed language. It has nine basic
parts of speech
In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech (abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class or grammatical category) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are as ...
.
Background
The Philippines is a multilingual state with 184 living languages originating and spoken by various ethno-linguistic groups.
Many of these languages descend from a common
Malayo-Polynesian language due to the Austronesian migration from Taiwan; however, there are languages brought by the indigenous people of the Philippines. The common Malayo-Polynesian language split into different languages and these languages borrowed words from other languages such as
Hokkien,
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...
,
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, na ...
, and
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
. There was no single common language across every cultural group in the Philippine archipelago when the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, although chroniclers of the time noted that the kings or chiefs of small polities normally spoke five languages.
A Spanish exploratory mission under
Ferdinand Magellan arrived in the Philippines in 1521, and Spanish colonization of the islands followed. The eventual capital established by Spain in the Philippines was
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...
, situated in a Tagalog-speaking region, after the conquest of Manila from both the Muslim communities of
Rajah Sulayman and
Rajah Matanda and the Hindu-Buddhist
Kingdom of Tondo ruled by
Lakan Dula. Manila was made capital of the new colony both because of fears of raids from the Portuguese and the Dutch, and because of its strategic location. The first dictionary of Tagalog, published as the , was written by the
Franciscan
, image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg
, image_size = 200px
, caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans
, abbreviation = OFM
, predecessor =
, ...
Pedro de San Buenaventura,
and published in 1613 by the "Father of Filipino Printing"
Tomás Pinpin in
Pila,
Laguna. A latter book of the same name was written by
Czech Jesuit missionary
Paul Klein (known locally as Pablo Clain) at the beginning of the 18th century. Klein spoke Tagalog and used it actively in several of his books. He wrote a dictionary, which he later passed to Francisco Jansens and José Hernández. Further compilation of his substantial work was prepared by Juan de Noceda and Pedro de Sanlúcar and published as ' in Manila in 1754 and then repeatedly re-edited, with the latest edition being published in 2013 in Manila.
Spanish served in an official capacity as language of the government during the Spanish colonial period. During the American colonial period,
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
became an additional official language of the Philippines alongside Spanish; however, the number of speakers of Spanish steadily decreased.
Designation as the national language
While Spanish and English were considered "official languages" during the American colonial period, there existed no "national language" initially. Article XIII, section 3 of the
1935 constitution establishing the
Commonwealth of the Philippines provided that:
On November 13, 1936, the first
National Assembly of the Philippine Commonwealth approved Commonwealth Act No. 184; creating the Institute of National Language (later the
Surián ng Wikang Pambansâ or SWP) and tasking it with making a study and survey of each existing native language, hoping to choose which was to be the base for a standardized national language. Later, President
Manuel L. Quezon later appointed representatives for each major regional language to form the NLI. Led by
Jaime C. De Veyra
Jaime Carlos Diaz de Veyra (November 4, 1873 – March 7, 1963) was a Resident Commissioner to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Philippine Islands from 1917 to 1923 and the 1st Governor of Leyte from 1906 to 1907.
Early life
He was ...
, who sat as the chair of the Institute and as the representative of
Samar-Leyte-Visayans, the Institute's members were composed of Santiago A. Fonacier (representing the
Ilokano-speaking regions),
Filemon Sotto (the
Cebu-Visayans), Casimiro Perfecto (the
Bikolanos), Felix S. Sales Rodriguez (the
Panay-Visayans), Hadji Butu (the languages of
Muslim Filipinos), and Cecilio Lopez (the
Tagalogs
The Tagalog people ( tl, Mga Tagalog; Baybayin: ᜋᜅ ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜔) are the largest ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines, numbering at around 30 million. An Austronesian people, the Tagalog have a well developed society due to their cu ...
).
The Institute of National Language adopted a resolution on November 9, 1937 recommending Tagalog to be basis of the national language. On December 30, President Quezon issued Executive Order No. 134, s. 1937, approving the adoption of Tagalog as the language of the Philippines, and proclaimed the national language of the Philippines so based on the Tagalog language. The order stated that it would take effect two years from its promulgation. On December 31 of the same year, Quezon proclaimed Tagalog as the basis of the ''
Wikang Pambansâ'' (National Language) giving the following factors:
#Tagalog is widely spoken and is the most understood language in all the
Philippine Regions
In the Philippines, regions ( fil, rehiyon; ISO 3166-2:PH) are administrative divisions that primarily serve to coordinate planning and organize national government services across multiple local government units (LGUs). Most national governm ...
.
#It is not divided into smaller daughter languages, as
Visayan or
Bikol are.
#Its literary tradition is the richest of all native Philippine languages, the most developed and extensive (mirroring that of the
Tuscan language ''vis-à-vis''
Italian). More books are written in Tagalog than in any other
autochthonous Philippine language but Spanish, but this is mainly by virtue of law.
#Tagalog has always been the language of
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...
, the political and
economic center of the Philippines during the Spanish and American eras.
#Spanish was the language of the 1896
Revolution and the
Katipunan, but the revolution was led by people who also spoke Tagalog.
On June 7, 1940, the Philippine National Assembly passed Commonwealth Act No. 570 declaring that the Filipino national language would be considered an official language effective July 4, 1946
(coinciding with the country's expected date of independence from the United States). That same year, the ''Balarílà ng Wikang Pambansâ'' ( en, Grammar of the National Language) of grammarian
Lope K. Santos
Lope K. Santos (born Lope Santos y Canseco, September 25, 1879 – May 1, 1963) was a Filipino Tagalog-language writer and former senator of the Philippines. He is best known for his 1906 socialist novel, '' Banaag at Sikat'' and to his contr ...
introduced the 20-letter
Abakada alphabet which became the standard of the national language.
The alphabet was officially adopted by the Institute for the Tagalog-Based National Language.
Further history
In 1959, the language became known as ''Pilipino'' in an effort to disassociate it from the
Tagalog ethnic group.
The changing of the name did not, however, result in universal acceptance among non-
Tagalogs
The Tagalog people ( tl, Mga Tagalog; Baybayin: ᜋᜅ ᜆᜄᜎᜓᜄ᜔) are the largest ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines, numbering at around 30 million. An Austronesian people, the Tagalog have a well developed society due to their cu ...
, especially
Cebuanos who had previously not accepted the 1937 selection.
The 1960s saw the rise of the purist movement where new words were being coined to replace loanwords. This era of "purism" by the SWP sparked criticisms by a number of persons. Two counter-movements emerged during this period of "purism": one campaigning against Tagalog and the other campaigning for more inclusiveness in the national language. In 1963,
Negros Occidental congressman Innocencio V. Ferrer took a case reaching the Supreme Court questioning the constitutionality of the choice of Tagalog as the basis of the national language (a case ruled in favor of the national language in 1970). Accusing the national language as simply being Tagalog and lacking any substantial input from other Philippine languages, Congressman Geruncio Lacuesta eventually led a "Modernizing the Language Approach Movement" (MOLAM). Lacuesta hosted a number of "anti-purist" conferences and promoted a “Manila Lingua Franca” which would be more inclusive of loanwords of both foreign and local languages. Lacuesta managed to get nine congressmen to propose a bill aiming to abolish the SWP with an ''Akademia ng Wikang Filipino'', to replace the ''balarila'' with a ''Gramatica ng Wikang Filipino'', to replace the 20-letter Abakada with a 32-letter alphabet, and to prohibit the creation of neologisms and the respelling of loanwords. This movement quietened down following the death of Lacuesta.
The national language issue was revived once more during the
1971 Constitutional Convention. While there was a sizable number of delegates in favor of retaining the Tagalog-based national language, majority of the delegates who were non-Tagalogs were even in favor of scrapping the idea of a "national language" altogether. A compromise was reached and the wording on the 1973 constitution made no mention of dropping the national language Pilipino or made any mention of Tagalog. Instead, the
1973 Constitution, in both its original form and as amended in 1976, designated English and Pilipino as official languages and provided for development and formal adoption of a common national language, termed ''Filipino'', to replace Pilipino. Neither the original nor the amended version specified either Tagalog or Pilipino as the basis for Filipino; Instead, tasking the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the r ...
to:
In 1987, a
new constitution designated Filipino as the national language and, along with English, as an official language. That constitution included several provisions related to the Filipino language.
Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:
And also states in the article:
and:
Section 17(d) of Executive Order 117 of January 30, 1987 renamed the ''Institute of National Language'' as ''Institute of Philippine Languages''. Republic Act No. 7104, approved on August 14, 1991, created the ''Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino'' (Commission on the Filipino Language, or KWF), superseding the Institute of Philippine Languages. The KWF reports directly to the President and was tasked to undertake, coordinate and promote researches for the development, propagation and preservation of Filipino and other Philippine languages. On May 13, 1992, the commission issued Resolution 92-1, specifying that Filipino is the
However, as with the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions, 92-1 went neither so far as to categorically identify, nor so far as to dis-identify this language as Tagalog. Definite, absolute, and unambiguous interpretation of 92–1 is the prerogative of the
Supreme Court in the absence of directives from the KWF, otherwise the sole legal arbiter of the Filipino language.
Filipino was presented and registered with the
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in A ...
(ISO), by Ateneo de Manila University student Martin Gomez, and was added to the ISO registry of languages on September 21, 2004, with it receiving the ISO
639-2 code ''fil''.
On August 22, 2007, it was reported that three
Malolos City regional trial courts in
Bulacan
Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan ( tl, Lalawigan ng Bulacan), is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on August 15, 1578, and part of the Me ...
decided to use Filipino, instead of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
, in order to promote the national language. Twelve
stenographers from Branches 6, 80 and 81, as model courts, had undergone training at Marcelo H. del Pilar College of Law of
Bulacan State University
Bulacan State University (BulSU or BSU; fil, Pamantasang Pampamahalaan ng Bulacan) is a public university in Bulacan province, Philippines. Its main campus is in Malolos.
BulSU or BSU originated as a secondary school in 1904 ran by the Americ ...
following a directive from the
Supreme Court of the Philippines. De la Rama said it was the dream of Chief Justice
Reynato Puno
Reynato Puno y Serrano, KGCR ( Filipino: ''Reynato Serrano Puno''; born May 17, 1940) is a Filipino jurist. He served as the 22nd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from December 8, 2006 by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo un ...
to implement the program in other areas such as
Laguna,
Cavite
Cavite, officially the Province of Cavite ( tl, Lalawigan ng Kabite; Chavacano: ''Provincia de Cavite''), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region in Luzon. Located on the southern shores of Manila Bay and southw ...
,
Quezon
Quezon, officially the Province of Quezon ( tl, Lalawigan ng Quezon), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region on Luzon. Kalilayan was the first known name of the province. It was later renamed Tayabas. In honor of the ...
,
Nueva Ecija
Nueva Ecija, officially the Province of Nueva Ecija ( tgl, Lalawigan ng Nueva Ecija , also ; ilo, Probinsia ti Nueva Ecija; pag, Luyag/Probinsia na Nueva Ecija; Kapampangan: ''Lalawigan/Probinsia ning Nueva Ecija''), is a landlocked province ...
,
Batangas
Batangas, officially the Province of Batangas ( tl, Lalawigan ng Batangas ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Calabarzon region on Luzon. Its capital is the city of Batangas, and is bordered by the provinces of Cavite and L ...
,
Rizal, and
Metro Manila
Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...
.
Commemoration
Since 1997, a month-long celebration of the national language occurs during August, known in Filipino as ''
Buwan ng Wika'' (Language Month). Previously, this lasted only a week and was known as ''Linggo ng Wika'' (Language Week). The celebration coincides with the month of birth of President Manuel L. Quezon, regarded as the "Ama ng Wikang Pambansa" (Father of the national language).
In 1946, Proclamation No. 35 of March 26 provided for a week-long celebration of the national language.
this celebration would last from March 27 until April 2 each year, the last day coinciding with birthday of the Filipino writer
Francisco Baltazar, author of the Tagalog epic ''
Florante at Laura
''Florante at Laura'' (full title: ''Pinagdaanang Buhay ni Florante at ni Laura sa Kahariang Albanya''; English: The History of Florante and Laura in the Kingdom of Albania) is an 1838 awit written by Tagalog poet Francisco Balagtas. It is con ...
''.
In 1954, Proclamation No. 12 of March 26 provided that the week of celebration would be from March 29 to April 4 every year. This proclamation was amended the following year by President
Ramon Magsaysay by Proclamation No. 186 of September 23, moving the dates of celebration to August 13–19, every year.
Now coinciding with the birthday of President Manuel L. Quezon. The reason for the move being given that the original celebration was a period "outside of the school year, thereby precluding the participation of schools in its celebration".
In 1988, President
Corazon Aquino signed Proclamation No. 19, reaffirming the celebration every August 13 to 19. In 1997, the celebration was extended from a week to a month by Proclamation 1041 of July 15 signed by President
Fidel V. Ramos.
Comparison of Filipino and Tagalog
While the official view (shared by the government, the
Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, and a number of educators) is that Filipino and
Tagalog
Tagalog may refer to:
Language
* Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines
** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language
** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language
* Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Taga ...
are considered separate languages, in practical terms, ''Filipino'' may be considered the official name of Tagalog, or even a synonym of it.
Today's Filipino language is best described as "Tagalog-based".
The language is usually called ''Tagalog'' within the Philippines and among Filipinos to differentiate it from other Philippine languages, but it has also come to be known as ''Filipino'' to differentiate it from the languages of other countries; the former implies a regional origin, the latter national. This is similar to the comparison between
Castilian and
Spanish, or
Mandarin and
Chinese.
Political designations aside, Tagalog and Filipino are linguistically the same; sharing, among other things, the same grammatical structure. On May 23, 2007, Ricardo Maria Nolasco, KWF chair and a linguistics expert, acknowledged in a keynote speech during the NAKEM Conference at the
Mariano Marcos State University in Batac, Ilocos Norte, that Filipino was simply Tagalog in syntax and grammar, with as yet no grammatical element or lexicon coming from
Ilokano,
Cebuano,
Hiligaynon, or any of the other
Philippine languages
The Philippine languages or Philippinic are a proposed group by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and Robert Blust (1991; 2005; 2019) that include all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi, Indonesia—except Sama–Bajaw (language ...
. He said further that this is contrary to the intention of Republic Act No. 7104, which requires that the
national language be developed and enriched by the lexicon of the country's other languages, something toward which the commission was working.
On August 24, 2007, Nolasco elaborated further on the relationship between Tagalog and Filipino in a separate article, as follows:
In connection with the use of Filipino, or specifically the promotion of the national language, the related term ''Tagalista'' is frequently used. While the word ''Tagalista'' literally means "one who specializes in Tagalog language or culture" or a "Tagalog specialist", in the context of the debates on the national language and "
Imperial Manila", the word ''Tagalista'' is used as a reference to "people who promote or would promote the primacy of Tagalog at the expense of
heother
hilippineindigenous tongues".
Unicode
Tagalog-Numbers Unicode range: U+0000-U+007F U+1700–U+171F
Example
This is a translation of Article 1 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt ...
.
Usually, the diacritics are not written and the syntax and grammar is based from
Tagalog
Tagalog may refer to:
Language
* Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines
** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language
** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language
* Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Taga ...
.
See also
*
Philippine literature
*
Philippine Braille
*
Filipino Sign Language
*
Filipino orthography
**
Filipino alphabet
**
Abakada alphabet
**
Suyat
*
Tagalog grammar
*
Tagalog language
Tagalog (, ; ; '' Baybayin'': ) is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by the ethnic Tagalog people, who make up a quarter of the population of the Philippines, and as a second language by the majority. Its standardized form, ...
*
Tagalog phonology
*
Tagalog Wikipedia
The Tagalog Wikipedia ( tl, Wikipediang Tagalog) is the Tagalog language edition of Wikipedia, which was launched on December 1, 2003. It has articles and is the largest Wikipedia according to the number of articles as of .
History
The ''Taga ...
*
Taglish
*
List of loanwords in Tagalog
*
Commission on the Filipino Language
*
UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Additional sources
*''New Vicassan's English–Pilipino Dictionary'' by Vito C. Santos,
*''Learn Filipino: Book One'' by Victor Eclar Romero
*''Lonely Planet Filipino/Tagalog (Travel Talk)''
*''Lonely Planet Pilipino Phrasebook''
*''
UP Diksyonaryong Filipino
The ''UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino'' (UPDF; "UP Filipino Dictionary") is a series of monolingual Filipino dictionaries. The dictionaries were created by the Sentro ng Wikang Filipino of the University of the Philippines, with Virgilio S. Almario, ...
'' by
Virgilio S. Almario
Virgilio Senadrin Almario (born March 9, 1944), better known by his pen name Rio Alma, is a Filipino visual artist, author, poet, critic, translator, editor, teacher, and cultural manager. He is a National Artist of the Philippines. He formerly s ...
(ed.) , and
*''English–Pilipino Dictionary'', Consuelo T. Panganiban,
*''Diksyunaryong Filipino–English'', Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino,
*''New English–Filipino Filipino–English Dictionary'', by
Maria Odulio de Guzman
María Odulio de Guzmán (born 1895) was a Filipino teacher, educator, principal, writer, and author.
She was the first Filipino female principal of a secondary school in the Philippines. She worked as a teacher at the Nueva Écija High Schoo ...
*''
"When I was a child I spoke as a child": Reflecting on the Limits of a Nationalist Language Policy' by Danilo Manarpaac. In: ''
The politics of English as a world language: new horizons in postcolonial cultural studies' by Christian Mair. Rodopi; 2003 . p. 479–492.
Further reading
Commission on the Filipino LanguageLanguage planning in multilingual countries: The case of the Philippines discussion by linguist and educator Andrew Gonzalez
* "...a third of the Filipino language is derived from Spanish words, constituting some 4,000 'loan words'".
*
*
* Published online: April 18, 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Filipino language
Standard languages
Tagalog dialects
National symbols of the Philippines