Tagalog (, ; ; ''
Baybayin'': ) is an
Austronesian language spoken as a first language by the ethnic
Tagalog people
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 ...
, who make up a quarter of the population 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 as a second language by the majority. Its
standardized
Standardization or standardisation is the process of implementing and developing technical standards based on the consensus of different parties that include firms, users, interest groups, standards organizations and governments. Standardization ...
form,
officially named
''Filipino'', is the
national language
A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...
of the Philippines, and is one of two
official language
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, ...
s, alongside
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 ide ...
.
Tagalog is closely related to 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 (languag ...
, such as the
Bikol languages
The Bikol languages or Bicolano languages are a group of Central Philippine languages spoken mostly in the Bicol Peninsula in the island of Luzon, the neighboring island province of Catanduanes and the island of Burias in Masbate.
Inter ...
,
Ilocano, the
Bisayan languages
The Bisayan languages or Visayan languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages spoken in the Philippines. They are most closely related to Tagalog and the Bikol languages, all of which are part of the Central Philippine languages. Mos ...
,
Kapampangan Kapampangan, Capampañgan or Pampangan may refer to:
*Kapampangan people of the Philippines
*Kapampangan language
Kapampangan or Pampangan is an Austronesian language, and one of the eight major languages of the Philippines. It is the primary ...
, and
Pangasinan, and more distantly to other Austronesian languages, such as the
Formosan languages
The Formosan languages are a geographic grouping comprising the languages of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, all of which are Austronesian. They do not form a single subfamily of Austronesian but rather nine separate subfamilies. The Taiwa ...
of
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
,
Indonesian
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
,
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
,
Hawaiian,
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
, and
Malagasy.
Classification
Tagalog is a
Central Philippine language within the
Austronesian language family. Being
Malayo-Polynesian
The Malayo-Polynesian languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages, with approximately 385.5 million speakers. The Malayo-Polynesian languages are spoken by the Austronesian peoples outside of Taiwan, in the island nations of Southeas ...
, it is related to other Austronesian languages, such as
Malagasy,
Javanese,
Indonesian
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesian ...
,
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
,
Tetum
, nativename=Tetun
, states= Indonesia East Timor
, speakers=, mostly in Indonesia
, date=2010–2011
, ref=e18
, speakers2=50,000 L2-speakers in Indonesia and East Timor
, familycolor=Austronesian
, fam2=Malayo-Polynesian
, fam3= Central–East ...
(of Timor), and
Yami
Yamuna is a sacred river in Hinduism and the main tributary of the Ganges River. The river is also worshipped as a Hindu goddess called Yamuna. Yamuna is known as Yami in early texts, while in later literature, she is called Kalindi. In Hindu scr ...
(of Taiwan).
It is closely related to the languages spoken in the
Bicol Region
Bicol, known formally as the Bicol Region or colloquially as Bicolandia ( bcl, Rehiyon kan Bikol; Rinconada Bikol: ''Rehiyon ka Bikol''; Waray Sorsogon, Masbateño: ''Rehiyon san Bikol''; tl, Rehiyon ng Bikol), is an administrative region of ...
and the
Visayas
The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, ...
islands, such as the
Bikol group and the
Visayan group, including
Waray-Waray,
Hiligaynon and
Cebuano.
Tagalog differs from its
Central Philippine counterparts with its treatment of the
Proto-Philippine
The Proto-Philippine language is a reconstructed ancestral proto-language of the Philippine languages, a proposed subgroup of the Austronesian languages which includes all languages within the Philippines (except for the Sama–Bajaw languages) ...
schwa vowel . In most
Bikol and
Visayan
Visayans ( Visayan: ''mga Bisaya''; ) or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. When taken as a single ethnic group ...
languages, this sound merged with and . In Tagalog, it has merged with . For example, Proto-Philippine (adhere, stick) is Tagalog ''dikít'' and Visayan & Bikol ''dukot''.
Proto-Philippine , , and merged with but is between vowels. Proto-Philippine (name) and (kiss) became Tagalog ''ngalan'' and ''halík''.
Proto-Philippine merged with . (water) and (blood) became Tagalog ''tubig'' and ''dugô''.
History
![Baybayin alpha](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Baybayin_alpha.jpg)
The word ''Tagalog'' is derived from the
endonym ''taga-ilog'' ("river dweller"), composed of ''tagá-'' ("native of" or "from") and ''ilog'' ("river"). Linguists such as
David Zorc
R. David Zorc (also R. David Paul Zorc; born 1943) is an American linguist primarily known for his work on Austronesian languages and linguistics, particularly the Philippine languages.
Education
Zorc graduated ''cum laude'' with an A.B. in Phi ...
and
Robert Blust
Robert A. Blust (; ; May 9, 1940 – January 5, 2022) was an American linguist who worked in several areas, including historical linguistics, lexicography and ethnology. He was Professor of Linguistics at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. Blus ...
speculate that the Tagalogs and other Central Philippine ethno-linguistic groups originated in Northeastern
Mindanao
Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...
or the Eastern
Visayas
The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, ...
.
Possible words of Old Tagalog origin are attested in the
Laguna Copperplate Inscription
The Laguna copperplate inscription ( tl, Inskripsyon sa binatbat na tanso ng Laguna, literal translation: ''Inscription on flattened copper of Laguna'') is an official acquittance inscribed onto a copper plate in the Shaka year 822 (Gregorian ...
from the tenth century, which is largely written in
Old Malay
Malay was first used in the first millennia known as Old Malay, a part of the Austronesian language family. Over a period of two millennia, Malay has undergone various stages of development that derived from different layers of foreign influen ...
. The first known complete book to be written in Tagalog is the ''
Doctrina Christiana
The ''Doctrina Christiana'' ( eng, Christian Doctrine) was an early book on the catechism of the Catholic Church, written in 1593 by Fray Juan de Plasencia, and is believed to be one of the earliest printed books in the Philippines.
Title
...
'' (Christian Doctrine), printed in 1593. The ''Doctrina'' was written in Spanish and two transcriptions of Tagalog; one in the ancient, then-current
Baybayin script and the other in an early Spanish attempt at a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
orthography for the language.
![Vocabulario de la lengua tagala 1794](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Vocabulario_de_la_lengua_tagala_1794.jpg)
Throughout the 333 years of Spanish rule, various grammars and dictionaries were written by Spanish clergymen. In 1610, the Dominican priest Francisco Blancas de San Jose published the ''Arte y reglas de la lengua tagala'' (which was subsequently revised with two editions in 1752 and 1832) in Bataan. In 1613, the Franciscan priest Pedro de San Buenaventura published the first Tagalog dictionary, his ''
Vocabulario de la lengua tagala
''Vocabulario de la lengua tagala'' () was the first dictionary of the Tagalog language in the Philippines, It was written by the Franciscan friar Pedro de San Buena Ventura and published in Pila, Laguna in 1613. Juan de Plasencia had written a vo ...
'' in
Pila, Laguna
Pila, officially the Municipality of Pila ( tgl, Bayan ng Pila), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 54,613 people.
Pila is a third class municipality in the ...
.
The first substantial dictionary of the Tagalog language was written by the
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
Jesuit missionary
Pablo Clain Paul Klein (25 January 1652 in Cheb, Bohemia, now Czech Republic – 30 August 1717 in Manila, Philippines; often used in Spanish: Pablo Clain, Latin: ''Paulus Klein'', Czech: ''Pavel Klein'') was a Jesuit missionary, pharmacist, botanist, author of ...
in the beginning of the 18th century. Clain spoke Tagalog and used it actively in several of his books. He prepared the dictionary, which he later passed over to Francisco Jansens and José Hernandez. Further compilation of his substantial work was prepared by P. Juan de Noceda and P. Pedro de Sanlucar and published as ''
Vocabulario de la lengua tagala
''Vocabulario de la lengua tagala'' () was the first dictionary of the Tagalog language in the Philippines, It was written by the Franciscan friar Pedro de San Buena Ventura and published in Pila, Laguna in 1613. Juan de Plasencia had written a vo ...
'' in Manila in 1754 and then repeatedly reedited, with the last edition being in 2013 in Manila.
Among others, ''Arte de la lengua tagala y manual tagalog para la administración de los Santos Sacramentos'' (1850) in addition to early studies of the language.
The indigenous poet
Francisco Balagtas
Francisco Balagtas y de la Cruz (April 2, 1788 – February 20, 1862), commonly known as Francisco Balagtas and also as Francisco Baltasar, was a Filipino Tagalog litterateur and poet during the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is ...
(1788–1862) is known as the foremost Tagalog writer, his most notable work being the 19th-century
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 co ...
''.
Official status
![Diariong Tagalog](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Diariong_Tagalog.jpg)
Tagalog was declared the official language by the first revolutionary constitution in the Philippines, the
Constitution of Biak-na-Bato
The Constitution of the Philippines ( Filipino: ''Saligang Batas ng Pilipinas'' or ''Konstitusyon ng Pilipinas'', Spanish: ''Constitución de la República de Filipinas'') is the constitution or the supreme law of the Republic of the Philippine ...
in 1897.
In 1935, the Philippine constitution designated English and Spanish as official languages, but mandated the development and adoption of a common national language based on one of the existing native languages. After study and deliberation, the National Language Institute, a committee composed of seven members who represented various regions in the Philippines, chose Tagalog as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of the Philippines.
President
Manuel L. Quezon
Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina, (; 19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also known by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier and politician who served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 until his de ...
then, on December 30, 1937, proclaimed the selection of the Tagalog language to be used as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of the Philippines.
In 1939, President Quezon renamed the proposed Tagalog-based national language as ''Wikang Pambansâ'' (national language).
[ Under the Japanese puppet government during ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Tagalog as a national language was strongly promoted; the 1943 Constitution specifying: The government shall take steps toward the development and propagation of Tagalog as the national language.".
In 1959, the language was further renamed as "Pilipino".[ Along with English, the national language has had official status under the 1973 constitution (as "Pilipino") and the present 1987 constitution (as Filipino).
]
Controversy
The adoption of Tagalog in 1937 as basis for a national language is not without its own controversies. Instead of specifying Tagalog, the national language was designated as ''Wikang Pambansâ'' ("National Language") in 1939. Twenty years later, in 1959, it was renamed by then Secretary of Education, José Romero, as '' Pilipino'' to give it a nation
A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective Identity (social science), identity of a group of people unde ...
al rather than ethnic
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
label and connotation. The changing of the name did not, however, result in 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 ...
, especially Cebuanos who had not accepted the selection.
The national language issue was revived once more during the 1971 Constitutional Convention. The majority of the delegates were even in favor of scrapping the idea of a "national language" altogether. A compromise solution was worked out—a "universalist" approach to the national language, to be called ''Filipino'' rather than ''Pilipino''. The 1973 constitution makes no mention of Tagalog. When a new constitution was drawn up in 1987, it named Filipino as the national language. The constitution specified that as the Filipino language evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages. However, more than two decades after the institution of the "universalist" approach, there seems to be little if any difference between Tagalog and Filipino.
Many of the older generation in the Philippines feel that the replacement of English by Tagalog in the popular visual media has had dire economic effects regarding the competitiveness of the Philippines in trade and overseas remittances.
Use in education
Upon the issuance of ''Executive Order No. 134'', Tagalog was declared as basis of the National Language. On April 12, 1940, ''Executive No. 263'' was issued ordering the teaching of the national language in all public and private schools in the country.
Article XIV, Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines specifies, in part:
Under Section 7, however:
In 2009, the Department of Education
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
promulgated an order institutionalizing a system of mother-tongue based multilingual education ("MLE"), wherein instruction is conducted primarily in a student's mother tongue (one of the various regional Philippine languages) until at least grade three, with additional languages such as Filipino and English being introduced as separate subjects no earlier than grade two. In secondary school, Filipino and English become the primary languages of instruction, with the learner's first language taking on an auxiliary role. After pilot tests in selected schools, the MLE program was implemented nationwide from School Year (SY) 2012–2013.
Tagalog is the first language of a quarter of the population 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 ...
(particularly in Central and Southern Luzon) and the second language for the majority.[Philippine Census, 2000. Table 11. Household Population by Ethnicity, Sex and Region: 2000]
Extent of use
In the Philippines
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority
The Philippine Statistics Authority (Filipino: ''Pangasiwaan ng Estadistika ng Pilipinas''), abbreviated as PSA, is the central statistical authority of the Philippine government that ''collects, compiles, analyzes and publishes statistical inf ...
, as of 2014, there were 100 million people living in the Philippines, where the vast majority have some basic level of understanding of the language. The Tagalog homeland, Katagalugan
Tagalog Republic ( fil, Republika ng Katagalugan, more precisely "Republic of the Tagalog Nation/People"; es, República Tagala) is a term used to refer to two revolutionary governments involved in the Philippine Revolution against the Spanish ...
, covers roughly much of the central to southern parts of the island of Luzon
Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...
—particularly in Aurora
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
, Bataan
Bataan (), officially the Province of Bataan ( fil, Lalawigan ng Bataan ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the enti ...
, 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 La ...
, 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 ...
, 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 southwest ...
, Laguna, 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 seat of government and one of three defined metropolitan areas in ...
, 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 ...
, 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 ...
, and Rizal. Tagalog is also spoken natively by inhabitants living on the islands of Marinduque and Mindoro
Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ) and has a population of 1,408,454 as of 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of Luz ...
, as well as Palawan
Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in t ...
to a lesser extent. Significant minorities are found in the other Central Luzon provinces of Pampanga
Pampanga, officially the Province of Pampanga ( pam, Lalawigan ning Pampanga; tl, Lalawigan ng Pampanga ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Lying on the northern shore of Manila Bay, Pampanga is bordered by Tarlac ...
and Tarlac
Tarlac, officially the Province of Tarlac ( pam, Lalawigan ning Tarlac; pag, Luyag/Probinsia na Tarlac; ilo, Probinsia ti Tarlac; tgl, Lalawigan ng Tarlac; ), is a landlocked province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. It ...
, Ambos Camarines
Ambos Camarines ( es, ambos, meaning "both"; commonly known as Camarines), officially the Province of Ambos Camarines, was a historical province in the Philippines found on the northern end of the Bicol Peninsula. It now exists as two separat ...
in Bicol Region, and the Cordillera
A cordillera is an extensive chain and/or network system of mountain ranges, such as those in the west coast of the Americas. The term is borrowed from Spanish, where the word comes from , a diminutive of ('rope').
The term is most commonly u ...
city of Baguio
Baguio ( ,
), officially the City of Baguio ( ilo, Siudad ti Baguio; fil, Lungsod ng Baguio), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", ...
. Tagalog is also the predominant language of Cotabato City
Cotabato City, officially the City of Cotabato ( Maguindanaon: ''Kuta nu Kutawatu'', Jawi:
كوتا نو كوتاواتو; Iranun: ''Bandar a Kotawato'', بندر ا كوتاواتو; fil, Lungsod ng Cotabato), is a third class independent c ...
in Mindanao
Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...
, making it the only place outside of Luzon with a native Tagalog-speaking majority.
At the 2000 Philippines Census, it is spoken by approximately 57.3 million Filipinos, 96% of the household population who were able to attend school; slightly over 22 million, or 28% of the total Philippine population, speak it as a native language.
The following regions and provinces of the Philippines are majority Tagalog-speaking (from north to south):
* Central Luzon Region
Central Luzon ( pam, (Reyun ning) Kalibudtarang Luzon, pag, (Rehiyon na) Pegley na Luzon, tgl, (Rehiyon ng) Gitnang Luzon, ilo, (Rehion/Deppaar ti) Tengnga ti Luzon), designated as Region III, is an administrative region in the Philippines, ...
** Aurora
An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...
** Bataan
Bataan (), officially the Province of Bataan ( fil, Lalawigan ng Bataan ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the enti ...
** 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 ...
** 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 ...
**Zambales
Zambales, officially the Province of Zambales ( fil, Lalawigan ng Zambales; ilo, Probinsia ti Zambales; Pangasinan: ''Luyag/Probinsia na Zambales''; xsb, Probinsya nin Zambales), is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon re ...
* 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 seat of government and one of three defined metropolitan areas in ...
(National Capital Region)
* Southern Luzon
Southern Tagalog ( fil, Timog Katagalugan, also known colloquially as ''Rehiyong Timog Tagalog''), designated as Region IV, was an administrative region in the Philippines that comprised the current regions of Calabarzon and Mimaropa, the provi ...
(Calabarzon
Calabarzon (), formally known as the Southern Tagalog Mainland, is an administrative region in the Philippines, designated as Region IV-A. The region comprises five provinces: Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Quezon, and Rizal; and one highly urba ...
and Mimaropa)
** 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 La ...
** 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 southwest ...
** Laguna
** Rizal
** 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 ...
** Marinduque
** Occidental Mindoro
Occidental Mindoro ( tl, Kanlurang Mindoro), officially the Province of Occidental Mindoro, is a province in the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. The province occupies the western half of the island of Mindoro. Its capital is Mambu ...
** Oriental Mindoro
Oriental Mindoro ( tl, Silangang Mindoro), officially the Province of Oriental Mindoro, is a province in the Philippines located on the island of Mindoro under Mimaropa region in Luzon, about southwest of Manila. The province is bordered by the ...
** Romblon
Romblon ( , ), officially the Province of Romblon, is an archipelagic province of the Philippines located in the Mimaropa region. Its main islands include Tablas, the largest, which covers nine municipalities; Sibuyan with its three towns; as w ...
(This is one the few provinces in Southern Tagalog area wherein Tagalog is not the majority native language; instead, the majority native languages belong to Visayan group.)
** Palawan
Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in t ...
(Historically, Palawan was a non-Tagalog-speaking province; due to waves of cross-migration from various regions, Tagalog is now one of the main spoken languages in Palawan alongside Palawanic and Visayan groups.)
* Bicol Region
Bicol, known formally as the Bicol Region or colloquially as Bicolandia ( bcl, Rehiyon kan Bikol; Rinconada Bikol: ''Rehiyon ka Bikol''; Waray Sorsogon, Masbateño: ''Rehiyon san Bikol''; tl, Rehiyon ng Bikol), is an administrative region of ...
(While the Bikol languages
The Bikol languages or Bicolano languages are a group of Central Philippine languages spoken mostly in the Bicol Peninsula in the island of Luzon, the neighboring island province of Catanduanes and the island of Burias in Masbate.
Inter ...
have traditionally been the majority languages in the following provinces, heavy Tagalog influence and migration has resulted in its significant presence in these provinces and in many communities, Tagalog is now the majority language.)
** Camarines Norte
Camarines Norte ( bcl, Amihanan na Camarines; fil, Hilagang Camarines), officially the Province of Camarines Norte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region in Luzon. Its capital is Daet. The province borders Quezon to the w ...
** Camarines Sur
Camarines Sur ( bcl, Habagatan na Camarines; tl, Timog Camarines), officially the Province of Camarines Sur, is a province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region on Luzon. Its capital is Pili and the province borders Camarines Norte an ...
* Bangsamoro
ar, منطقة بانجسامورو ذاتية الحكم فى مسلمى مينداناو
, native_name =
, settlement_type = Autonomous region
, anthem = Bangsamoro Hymn
, image_skyline ...
** Maguindanao (While Maguindanao has traditionally been the majority language of the province, Tagalog is now the main language of "mother tongue" primary education in the province and is the majority language in the regional center of Cotabato City
Cotabato City, officially the City of Cotabato ( Maguindanaon: ''Kuta nu Kutawatu'', Jawi:
كوتا نو كوتاواتو; Iranun: ''Bandar a Kotawato'', بندر ا كوتاواتو; fil, Lungsod ng Cotabato), is a third class independent c ...
, and is the ''lingua franca'' of Bangsamoro.)
* Davao Region
**Metro Davao
Metro Davao, officially called Metropolitan Davao ( ceb, Kaulohang Dabaw; fil, Kalakhang Davao), is a metropolitan area in the Mindanao island group, Philippines. It includes the cities of Davao City, Digos, Mati, Panabo, Samal and Tagum and sp ...
(While Cebuano is the majority language of the region, a linguistic phenomenon has developed whereby local residents have either shifted to Tagalog or significantly mix Tagalog terms and grammar into their Cebuano speech, because the older generations speak Tagalog to their children in home settings, and Cebuano is spoken in everyday settings, making Tagalog the secondary lingua franca.)
Tagalog speakers are also found in other parts of the Philippines and through its standardized form of Filipino
Filipino may refer to:
* Something from or related to the Philippines
** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines.
** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
, the language serves the national '' lingua franca'' of the country.
Outside of the Philippines
Tagalog serves as the common language among Overseas Filipinos
An overseas Filipino ( fil, Pilipino sa ibayong-dagat) is a person of full or partial Filipino origin—i.e., people who trace back their ancestry to the Philippines but living or residing outside the country. This term generally applies to ...
, though its use overseas is usually limited to communication between Filipino ethnic groups
The Philippines is inhabited by more than 182 Ethnolinguistic group, ethnolinguistic groups, many of which are classified as "Indigenous Peoples" under the country's Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997. Traditionally-Muslim peoples from the ...
. The largest concentration of Tagalog speakers outside the Philippines is found in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, wherein 2013, the United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...
reported (based on data collected in 2011) that it was the fourth most-spoken non-English language at home with almost 1.6 million speakers, behind Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
, French (including Patois, Cajun, Creole), and Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
(with figures for Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...
and Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
combined). In urban areas, Tagalog ranked as the third most spoken non-English language, behind Spanish and Chinese varieties but ahead of French.
A study based on data from the United States Census Bureau’s 2015 American Consumer Survey shows that Tagalog is the most commonly spoken non-English language after Spanish in California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
, and Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
states.
Tagalog is one of three recognized languages in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, California, along with Spanish and Chinese, making all essential city services be communicated using these languages along with English. Meanwhile, Tagalog and Ilocano (which is primarily spoken in northern Philippines) are among the non-official languages of Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
that its state offices and state-funded entities are required to provide oral and written translations to its residents. Election ballots in Nevada include instructions written in Tagalog, which was first introduced in the 2020 United States presidential elections
The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala H ...
.
Other countries with significant concentrations of overseas Filipinos and Tagalog speakers include Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
with 938,490, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
with 676,775, Japan with 313,588, United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
with 541,593, Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
with 187,067, and Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
with 620,043.
Dialects
At present, no comprehensive dialectology Dialectology (from Greek , ''dialektos'', "talk, dialect"; and , '' -logia'') is the scientific study of linguistic dialect, a sub-field of sociolinguistics. It studies variations in language based primarily on geographic distribution and their ass ...
has been done in the Tagalog-speaking regions, though there have been descriptions in the form of dictionaries and grammars of various Tagalog dialects. Ethnologue lists Manila, Lubang, Marinduque, Bataan (Western Central Luzon), 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 La ...
, Bulacan (Eastern Central Luzon), Tanay-Paete (Rizal-Laguna), and Tayabas (Quezon and Aurora) as dialects of Tagalog; however, there appear to be four main dialects, of which the aforementioned are a part: Northern (exemplified by the 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 ...
dialect), Central (including Manila), Southern (exemplified by Batangas), and Marinduque.
Some example of dialectal differences are:
* Many Tagalog dialects, particularly those in the south, preserve the glottal stop found after consonants and before vowels. This has been lost in Standard Tagalog. For example, standard Tagalog ''ngayón'' (now, today), '' sinigáng'' (broth stew), ''gabí'' (night), ''matamís'' (sweet), are pronounced and written ''ngay-on'', ''sinig-ang'', ''gab-i'', and ''matam-is'' in other dialects.
* In Teresian- Morong Tagalog, is usually preferred over . For example, ''bundók'' (mountain), ''dagat'' (sea), ''dingdíng'' (wall), ''isdâ'' (fish), and ''litid'' (joints) become ''bunrók'', ''ragat'', ''ringríng'', ''isrâ'', and ''litir'', e.g. "sandók sa dingdíng" ("ladle on a wall" or "ladle on the wall", depending on the sentence) becoming "sanrók sa ringríng".
* In many southern dialects, the progressive aspect infix of ''-um-'' verbs is ''na-''. For example, standard Tagalog ''kumakain'' (eating) is ''nákáin'' in Aurora, Quezon, and Batangas Tagalog. This is the butt of some jokes by other Tagalog speakers, for should a Southern Tagalog ask ''nákáin ka ba ng patíng?'' ("Do you eat shark?"), he would be understood as saying "Has a shark eaten you?" by speakers of the Manila Dialect.
* Some dialects have interjections which are considered a regional trademark. For example, the interjection ''ala e!'' usually identifies someone from Batangas as does ''hane?!'' in Rizal and Quezon provinces.
Perhaps the most divergent Tagalog dialects are those spoken in Marinduque. Linguist Rosa Soberano identifies two dialects, western and eastern, with the former being closer to the Tagalog dialects spoken in the provinces of Batangas and Quezon.
One example is the verb conjugation paradigms. While some of the affixes are different, Marinduque also preserves the imperative affixes, also found in Visayan and Bikol languages, that have mostly disappeared from most Tagalog early 20th century; they have since merged with the infinitive.
Northern and central dialects form the basis for the national language.
Phonology
Tagalog has 33 phoneme
In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-wes ...
s: 19 of them are consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wi ...
s and 14 are vowel
A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...
s. Syllable structure is relatively simple, being maximally CrVC, where Cr only occurs in borrowed words such as ''trak'' "truck" or ''sombréro'' "hat".
Vowels
Tagalog has ten simple vowels, five long and five short, and four diphthongs.[ Before appearing in the area north of the Pasig river, Tagalog had three vowel qualities: , , and . This was later expanded to five with the introduction of Spanish words.
* an ]open central unrounded vowel
The open central unrounded vowel, or low central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in many spoken languages. While the International Phonetic Alphabet officially has no dedicated letter for this sound between front and back , it ...
roughly similar to English "father"; in the middle of a word, a near-open central vowel similar to Received Pronunciation "cup"; or an open front unrounded vowel
The open front unrounded vowel, or low front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. It is one of the eight primary cardinal vowels, not directly intended to correspond to a vowel sound of a specific language b ...
similar to Received Pronunciation or California English "hat"
* an open-mid front unrounded vowel
The open-mid front unrounded vowel, or low-mid front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is a Latinised variant of the Greek lower ...
similar to General American English "bed"
* a close front unrounded vowel
The close front unrounded vowel, or high front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound that occurs in most spoken languages, represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet by the symbol i. It is similar to the vowel sound in the English wo ...
similar to English "machine"
* a mid back rounded vowel
The mid back rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. While there is no dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents the exact mid back rounded vowel between close-mid and open-mid , it i ...
similar to General American English "soul" or Philippine English "forty"
* a close back rounded vowel similar to English "flute"
Nevertheless, simplification of pairs and is likely to take place, especially in some Tagalog as second language, remote location and working class registers.
The four diphthongs are , , , and . Long vowels are not written apart from pedagogical texts, where an acute accent is used: ''á é í ó ú.''[
The table above shows all the possible realizations for each of the five vowel sounds depending on the speaker's origin or proficiency. The five general vowels are in bold.
]
Consonants
Below is a chart of Tagalog consonants. All the stops are unaspirated. The velar nasal
The voiced velar nasal, also known as agma, from the Greek word for 'fragment', is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is the sound of ''ng'' in English ''sing'' as well as ''n'' before velar consonants as in ''Englis ...
occurs in all positions including at the beginning of a word. Loanword variants using these phonemes are italicized inside the angle brackets.
* between vowels has a tendency to become as in ''loch'', German ''Bach'', whereas in the initial position it has a tendency to become , especially in the Manila dialect.
*Intervocalic and tend to become , as in Spanish ''agua'', especially in the Manila dialect.
* and were once allophones, and they still vary grammatically, with initial becoming intervocalic in many words.[
*A glottal stop that occurs in pausa (before a pause) is omitted when it is in the middle of a phrase,][ especially in the Metro Manila area. The vowel it follows is then lengthened. However, it is preserved in many other dialects.
*The phoneme is an alveolar rhotic that has a free variation between a trill, a flap and an approximant ().
*The phoneme may become a consonant cluster in between vowels such as ''sadyâ'' .
Glottal stop is not indicated.] Glottal stops are most likely to occur when:
*the word starts with a vowel, like ''aso'' (dog)
*the word includes a dash followed by a vowel, like ''mag-aral'' (study)
*the word has two vowels next to each other, like ''paano'' (how)
*the word starts with a prefix followed by a verb that starts with a vowel, like ''mag-aayos'' (ill ILL may refer to:
* '' I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom
* Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland
* Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility
* Interlibra ...
fix)
Stress and final glottal stop
Stress
Stress may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition
* Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...
is a distinctive feature
In linguistics, a distinctive feature is the most basic unit of phonological structure that distinguishes one sound from another within a language. For example, the feature oicedistinguishes the two bilabial plosives: and There are many diff ...
in Tagalog. Primary stress occurs on either the final or the penultimate syllable of a word. Vowel lengthening accompanies primary or secondary stress except when stress occurs at the end of a word.
Tagalog words are often distinguished from one another by the position of the stress and/or the presence of a final glottal stop. In formal or academic settings, stress placement and the glottal stop are indicated by a diacritic
A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...
(''tuldík'') above the final vowel. The penultimate primary stress position (''malumay'') is the default stress type and so is left unwritten except in dictionaries.
Grammar
Writing system
Tagalog, like other Philippines languages today, is written using the Latin alphabet. Prior to the arrival of the Spanish in 1521 and the beginning of their colonization in 1565, Tagalog was written in an abugida
An abugida (, from Ge'ez: ), sometimes known as alphasyllabary, neosyllabary or pseudo-alphabet, is a segmental writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as units; each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel n ...
—or alphasyllabary
An abugida (, from Ge'ez: ), sometimes known as alphasyllabary, neosyllabary or pseudo-alphabet, is a segmental writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as units; each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel nota ...
—called Baybayin. This system of writing gradually gave way to the use and propagation of the Latin alphabet as introduced by the Spanish. As the Spanish began to record and create grammars and dictionaries for the various languages of the Philippine archipelago, they adopted systems of writing closely following the orthographic customs of the Spanish language and were refined over the years. Until the first half of the 20th century, most Philippine languages were widely written in a variety of ways based on Spanish orthography.
In the late 19th century, a number of educated Filipinos began proposing for revising the spelling system used for Tagalog at the time. In 1884, Filipino doctor and student of languages Trinidad Pardo de Tavera
Trinidad Hermenegildo José María Juan Francisco Pardo de Tavera y Gorricho (13 April 1857 – 26 March 1925) was a Filipino physician, historian and politician of Spanish and Portuguese descent who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the Phil ...
published his study on the ancient Tagalog script ''Contribucion para el Estudio de los Antiguos Alfabetos Filipinos'' and in 1887, published his essay ''El Sanscrito en la lengua Tagalog'' which made use of a new writing system developed by him. Meanwhile, Jose Rizal, inspired by Pardo de Tavera's 1884 work, also began developing a new system of orthography (unaware at first of Pardo de Tavera's own orthography). A major noticeable change in these proposed orthographies was the use of the letter ⟨k⟩ rather than ⟨c⟩ and ⟨q⟩ to represent the phoneme .
In 1889, the new bilingual Spanish-Tagalog ''La España Oriental'' newspaper, of which Isabelo de los Reyes
Isabelo de los Reyes Sr. y Florentino, also known as Don Belong (July 7, 1864 – October 10, 1938), was a prominent Filipino politician, writer, journalist, and labor activist in the 19th and 20th centuries. He was the original founder of the ...
was an editor, began publishing using the new orthography stating in a footnote that it would "use the orthography recently introduced by ... learned Orientalis". This new orthography, while having its supporters, was also not initially accepted by several writers. Soon after the first issue of ''La España'', Pascual H. Poblete
Pascual H. Poblete ( Filipino: ''Pascual Poblete Hicaro''; May 17, 1857—February 5, 1921) was a Filipino writer, journalist, and linguist, remarkably noted as the first translator of Dr. José Rizal's novel '' Noli Me Tangere'' into the Ta ...
's ''Revista Católica de Filipina'' began a series of articles attacking the new orthography and its proponents. A fellow writer, Pablo Tecson was also critical. Among the attacks was the use of the letters "k" and "w" as they were deemed to be of German origin and thus its proponents were deemed as "unpatriotic". The publishers of these two papers would eventually merge as ''La Lectura Popular'' in January 1890 and would eventually make use of both spelling systems in its articles. Pedro Laktaw, a schoolteacher, published the first Spanish-Tagalog dictionary using the new orthography in 1890.
In April 1890, Jose Rizal authored an article ''Sobre la Nueva Ortografia de la Lengua Tagalog'' in the Madrid-based periodical La Solidaridad. In it, he addressed the criticisms of the new writing system by writers like Pobrete and Tecson and the simplicity, in his opinion, of the new orthography. Rizal described the orthography promoted by Pardo de Tavera as "more perfect" than what he himself had developed. The new orthography was however not broadly adopted initially and was used inconsistently in the bilingual periodicals of Manila until the early 20th century. The revolutionary society Kataás-taasan, Kagalang-galang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng̃ Bayan or Katipunan
The Katipunan, officially known as the Kataastaasan, Kagalanggalangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan or Kataastaasan Kagalang-galang na Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK; en, Supreme and Honorable Association of the Children of the Nation ...
made use of the k-orthography and the letter k featured prominently on many of its flags and insignias.
In 1937, Tagalog was selected to serve as basis for the country's national language
A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...
. In 1940, the ''Balarílà ng Wikang Pambansâ'' ( en, Grammar of the National Language) of grammarian Lope K. Santos introduced the Abakada
The Abakada alphabet was an "indigenized" Latin alphabet adopted for the Tagalog-based Filipino national language in 1940.
The alphabet, which contains 20 letters, was introduced in the grammar book developed by Lope K. Santos for the newly-d ...
alphabet. This alphabet consists of 20 letters and became the standard alphabet of the national language. The orthography as used by Tagalog would eventually influence and spread to the systems of writing used by other Philippine languages (which had been using variants of the Spanish-based system of writing). In 1987, the ABAKADA was dropped and in its place is the expanded Filipino alphabet.
Baybayin
Tagalog was written in an abugida
An abugida (, from Ge'ez: ), sometimes known as alphasyllabary, neosyllabary or pseudo-alphabet, is a segmental writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as units; each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel n ...
(alphasyllabary
An abugida (, from Ge'ez: ), sometimes known as alphasyllabary, neosyllabary or pseudo-alphabet, is a segmental writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as units; each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel nota ...
) called Baybayin prior to the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines, in the 16th century. This particular writing system
A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable fo ...
was composed of symbols representing three vowel
A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...
s and 14 consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wi ...
s. Belonging to the Brahmic family
The Brahmic scripts, also known as Indic scripts, are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and parts of East Asia. They are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India ...
of scripts, it shares similarities with the Old Kawi
The Kawi or or Old Javanese script is a Brahmic script found primarily in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia between the 8th century and the 16th century.Aditya Bayu Perdana and Ilham Nurwansah 2020Proposal to encode Kawi/re ...
script of Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
and is believed to be descended from the script used by the Bugis in Sulawesi.
Although it enjoyed a relatively high level of literacy, Baybayin gradually fell into disuse in favor of the Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and th ...
taught by the Spaniards during their rule.
There has been confusion of how to use Baybayin, which is actually an abugida
An abugida (, from Ge'ez: ), sometimes known as alphasyllabary, neosyllabary or pseudo-alphabet, is a segmental writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as units; each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel n ...
, or an alphasyllabary
An abugida (, from Ge'ez: ), sometimes known as alphasyllabary, neosyllabary or pseudo-alphabet, is a segmental writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as units; each unit is based on a consonant letter, and vowel nota ...
, rather than an alphabet
An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syllab ...
. Not every letter in the Latin alphabet is represented with one of those in the Baybayin alphasyllabary. Rather than letters being put together to make sounds as in Western languages, Baybayin uses symbols to represent syllables.
A "kudlit" resembling an apostrophe is used above or below a symbol to change the vowel sound after its consonant. If the kudlit is used above, the vowel is an "E" or "I" sound. If the kudlit is used below, the vowel is an "O" or "U" sound. A special kudlit was later added by Spanish missionaries in which a cross placed below the symbol to get rid of the vowel sound all together, leaving a consonant. Previously, the consonant without a following vowel was simply left out (for example, ''bundok'' being rendered as ''budo''), forcing the reader to use context when reading such words.
Example:
Latin alphabet
Abecedario
Until the first half of the 20th century, Tagalog was widely written in a variety of ways based on Spanish orthography consisting of 32 letters called 'ABECEDARIO' ( Spanish for "alphabet"). The additional letters from the 26-letter English alphabet
The alphabet for Modern English is a Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 letters, each having an upper- and lower-case form. The word ''alphabet'' is a compound of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, ''alpha'' and '' beta''. ...
are: ch, ll, ng, ñ, n͠g / ñg, and rr.
Abakada
When the national language was based on Tagalog, grammarian Lope K. Santos introduced a new alphabet consisting of 20 letters called ''ABAKADA'' in school grammar books called ''balarilà''. The only letter not in the English alphabet
The alphabet for Modern English is a Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 letters, each having an upper- and lower-case form. The word ''alphabet'' is a compound of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, ''alpha'' and '' beta''. ...
is ng.
Revised alphabet
In 1987, the Department of Education, Culture and Sports
The Department of Education (abbreviated as DepEd; fil, Kagawaran ng Edukasyon) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for ensuring access to, promoting equity in, and improving the quality of basic education. It ...
issued a memo stating that the Philippine alphabet had changed from the Pilipino-Tagalog Abakada version to a new 28-letter alphabet to make room for loans, especially family names from Spanish and English. The additional letters from the 26-letter English alphabet
The alphabet for Modern English is a Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 letters, each having an upper- and lower-case form. The word ''alphabet'' is a compound of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, ''alpha'' and '' beta''. ...
are: ñ, ng.
''ng'' and ''mga''
The genitive marker ''ng'' and the plural marker ''mga'' (e.g. ''Iyan ang mga damit ko.'' (Those are my clothes)) are abbreviations that are pronounced ''nang'' and ''mangá'' . ''Ng'', in most cases, roughly translates to "of" (ex. ''Siya ay kapatid ng nanay ko.'' She is the sibling ''of'' my mother) while ''nang'' usually means "when" or can describe how something is done or to what extent (equivalent to the suffix ''-ly'' in English adverbs), among other uses.
* ''Nang si Hudas ay nadulás.''—When Judas
Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betr ...
slipped.
* ''Gumising siya nang maaga.''—He woke up early.
* ''Gumalíng nang si Juan dahil nag-ensayo siya.''—Juan greatly improved because he practiced.
In the first example, ''nang'' is used in lieu of the word ''noong'' (when; ''Noong si Hudas ay madulas''). In the second, ''nang'' describes that the person woke up (''gumising'') early (''maaga''); ''gumising nang maaga''. In the third, ''nang'' described up to what extent that Juan improved (''gumaling''), which is "greatly" (''nang ''). In the latter two examples, the ligature ''na'' and its variants ''-ng'' and ''-g'' may also be used (''Gumising na maaga/Maagang gumising''; ''Gumaling na /Todong gumaling'').
The longer ''nang'' may also have other uses, such as a ligature
Ligature may refer to:
* Ligature (medicine), a piece of suture used to shut off a blood vessel or other anatomical structure
** Ligature (orthodontic), used in dentistry
* Ligature (music), an element of musical notation used especially in the me ...
that joins a repeated word:
*''Naghintáy sila nang naghintáy.''—They kept on waiting" (a closer calque: "They were waiting and waiting.")
''pô/hô'' and ''opò/ohò''
The words ''pô/hô'' originated from the word "Panginoon." and "Poon." ("Lord."). When combined with the basic affirmative ''Oo'' "yes" (from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) is the reconstructed ancestor of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, which is by far the largest branch (by current speakers) of the Austronesian language family. Proto-Malayo-Polynesian is ancestral to all Austronesi ...
*heqe), the resulting forms are ''opò'' and ''ohò''.
"Pô" and "opò" are specifically used to denote a high level of respect when addressing older persons of close affinity like parents, relatives, teachers and family friends. "Hô" and "ohò" are generally used to politely address older neighbours, strangers, public officials, bosses and nannies, and may suggest a distance in societal relationship and respect determined by the addressee's social rank and not their age. However, "pô" and "opò" can be used in any case in order to express an elevation of respect.
*Example: "''Pakitapon naman pô/hô yung basura.''" ("Please throw away the trash.")
Used in the affirmative:
*Ex: "''Gutóm ka na ba?" "Opò/Ohò''". ("Are you hungry yet?" "Yes.")
''Pô/Hô'' may also be used in negation.
*Ex: "''Hindi ko pô/hô alam 'yan.''" ("I don't know that.")
Vocabulary and borrowed words
Tagalog vocabulary is mostly of native Austronesian or Tagalog origin, such as most of the words that end with the diphthong -iw, (e.g. giliw) and words that exhibit reduplication (e.g. halo-halo, patpat, etc.). Besides inherited cognates, this also accounts for innovations in Tagalog vocabulary, especially traditional ones within its dialects. Tagalog has also incorporated many Spanish and English loanwords; the necessity of which increases in more technical parlance.
In precolonial times, Trade Malay was widely known and spoken throughout Maritime Southeast Asia
Maritime Southeast Asia comprises the countries of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and East Timor. Maritime Southeast Asia is sometimes also referred to as Island Southeast Asia, Insular Southeast Asia or Oceanic Sout ...
, contributing a significant number of Malay vocabulary into the Tagalog language. Malay loanwords, identifiable or not, may often already be considered native as these have existed in the language before colonisation.
Tagalog also includes loanwords from Indian languages (Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
and 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, nativ ...
, mostly through Malay), Chinese language
Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the ...
s (mostly Hokkien
The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages ...
, followed by Cantonese
Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...
, Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
, etc.), Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
, 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 ...
and Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
.
Due to the colonial trade with Mexico using the Manila galleon
fil, Galyon ng Maynila
, english_name = Manila Galleon
, duration = From 1565 to 1815 (250 years)
, venue = Between Manila and Acapulco
, location = New Spain (Spanish Empire ...
s from the 16th to the 19th centuries, some words from several Amerindian languages such as Nahuatl (Aztec), Quechua
Quechua may refer to:
*Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru
*Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language
**So ...
, and Taino were introduced to Tagalog.
English has borrowed some words from Tagalog, such as abaca, barong, balisong, boondocks
The boondocks is an American expression from the Tagalog (Filipino) word ''bundók'' ("mountain"). It originally referred to a remote rural area, but now, is often applied to an out-of-the-way area considered backward and unsophisticated by c ...
, jeepney
Jeepneys (), sometimes called jeeps (), are minibus-like public transportation, public utility vehicles, serving as the most popular means of Transportation in the Philippines, public transportation in the Philippines. They are known for their ...
, Manila hemp, pancit
Pancit ( ), also spelled pansít, is a general term referring to various traditional noodle dishes in Filipino cuisine. There are numerous types of pancit, often named based on the noodles used, method of cooking, place of origin, or the ingr ...
, ylang-ylang, and yaya. Some of these loanwords are more often used in Philippine English
Philippine English (similar and related to American English) is any variety of English native to the Philippines, including those used by the media and the vast majority of educated Filipinos and English learners in the Philippines from adj ...
.
Tagalog has contributed several words to Philippine Spanish
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 ...
, like ''barangay'' (from ''balan͠gay,'' meaning ''barrio''), the ''abacá'', ''cogon'', ''palay'', ''dalaga'' etc.
Tagalog words of foreign origin
Taglish (Englog)
''Taglish'' and ''Englog'' are names given to a mix of English and Tagalog. The amount of English vs. Tagalog varies from the occasional use of English loan words to changing language in mid-sentence. Such code-switching is prevalent throughout the Philippines and in various languages of the Philippines other than Tagalog.
Code-mixing also entails the use of foreign words that are "Filipinized" by reforming them using Filipino rules, such as verb conjugations. Users typically use Filipino or English words, whichever comes to mind first or whichever is easier to use.
City-dwellers are more likely to do this.
The practice is common in television, radio, and print media as well. Advertisements from companies like Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...
, Wal-Mart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
, Albertsons
Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho.
With 2,253 stores as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2020 and 270,000 employees as of fiscal year 2019, the company is the second-larg ...
, McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...
and Western Union
The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company cha ...
have contained Taglish.
Cognates with other Philippine languages
Austronesian comparison chart
Below is a chart of Tagalog and a number of other Austronesian languages comparing thirteen words.
Religious literature
Religious literature remains one of the most dynamic components to Tagalog literature. The first Bible in Tagalog, then called ''Ang Biblia'' ("the Bible") and now called ''Ang Dating Biblia'' ("the Old Bible"), was published in 1905. In 1970, the Philippine Bible Society translated the Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
into modern Tagalog. Even before the Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...
, devotional materials in Tagalog had been in circulation. There are at least four circulating Tagalog translations of the Bible
* the ''Magandang Balita Biblia
The Magandang Balita Biblia (or the Tagalog Popular Version) is one of the two most widely circulated translations of the Cristian Bible in the Tagalog language he other entitled ''Ang Bagong Ang Biblia'', a revision of the earlier ''Ang Biblia' ...
'' (a parallel translation of the ''Good News Bible
Good News Bible (GNB), also called the Good News Translation (GNT) in the United States, is an English translation of the Bible by the American Bible Society. It was first published as the New Testament under the name ''Good News for Modern Man'' ...
''), which is the ecumenical version
* the '' Bibliya ng Sambayanang Pilipino''
* the 1905 ''Ang Biblia'', used more by Protestants
* the ''Bagong Sanlibutang Salin ng Banal na Kasulatan'' (''New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT) is a translation of the Bible published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society; it is used and distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses. The New Testament portion was released first, in 1950, ...
''), exclusive to the Jehovah’s Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ev ...
When the Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...
, (specifically the Sacrosanctum Concilium
''Sacrosanctum Concilium'', the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, is one of the constitutions of the Second Vatican Council. It was approved by the assembled bishops by a vote of 2,147 to 4 and promulgated by Pope Paul VI on 4 December 1963. ...
) permitted the universal prayers to be translated into vernacular languages
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines was one of the first to translate the Roman Missal
The Roman Missal ( la, Missale Romanum) is the title of several missals used in the celebration of the Roman Rite. Along with other liturgical books of the Roman Rite, the Roman Missal contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of th ...
into Tagalog. The Roman Missal
The Roman Missal ( la, Missale Romanum) is the title of several missals used in the celebration of the Roman Rite. Along with other liturgical books of the Roman Rite, the Roman Missal contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of th ...
in Tagalog was published as early as 1982.
Jehovah's Witnesses were printing Tagalog literature at least as early as 1941 and ''The Watchtower
''The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom'' is an illustrated religious magazine, published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. Jehovah's Witnesses distribute ''The Watchtower—Public Edition'', along with its compa ...
'' (the primary magazine of Jehovah's Witnesses) has been published in Tagalog since at least the 1950s. New releases are now regularly released simultaneously in a number of languages, including Tagalog. The official website of Jehovah's Witnesses also has some publications available online in Tagalog. The revised bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
edition, the ''New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures,'' was released in Tagalog on 2019 and it is distributed without charge both printed an
online versions
Tagalog is quite a stable language, and very few revisions have been made to Catholic Bible translations
The Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. all of the Bible has been translated into 724 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,617 languages, a ...
. Also, as Protestantism in the Philippines is relatively young, liturgical
Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...
prayers tend to be more ecumenical.
Examples
Lord's Prayer
In Tagalog, the Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...
is known by its incipit, ''Amá Namin'' (literally, "Our Father").
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
This is 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, ...
(''Pángkalahatáng Pagpapahayag ng Karapatáng Pantao'')
Numbers
Numbers (''mga bilang/mga numero'') in Tagalog follow two systems. The first consists of native Tagalog words and the other are Spanish-derived. (This may be compared to other East Asian languages, except with the second set of numbers borrowed from Spanish instead of Chinese.) For example, when a person refers to the number "seven", it can be translated into Tagalog as "''pito''" or "''siyete''" (Spanish: ''siete'').
Months and days
Months and days in Tagalog are also localised forms of Spanish months and days. "Month" in Tagalog is ''buwán'' (also the word for moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
) and "day" is ''araw'' (the word also means sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
). Unlike Spanish, however, months and days in Tagalog are always capitalised.
Time
Time expressions in Tagalog are also Tagalized forms of the corresponding Spanish. "Time" in Tagalog is ''panahón'' or ''oras''.
Common phrases
*Pronouns such as ''niyo'' (2nd person plural) and ''nila'' (3rd person plural) are used on a single 2nd person in polite or formal language. See Tagalog grammar
Tagalog grammar (Tagalog: ''Balarilà ng Tagalog'') is the body of rules that describe the structure of expressions in the Tagalog language, the language of the Tagalog region of the Philippines.
In Tagalog, there are nine basic parts of speech: ...
.
Proverbs
''Ang hindî marunong lumingón sa pinánggalingan ay hindî makaráratíng sa paroroonan''. (José Rizal)
One who knows not how to look back from whence he came, will never get to where he is going.
''Unang kagat, tinapay pa rin.'' It means :"First bite, still bread." or "All fluff no substance."
''Tao ka nang humarap, bilang tao kitang haharapin.''
(A proverb in Southern Tagalog that made people aware the significance of sincerity in Tagalog communities. It says, "As a human you reach me, I treat you as a human and never act as a traitor.")
''Hulí man daw (raw) at magalíng, nakáhahábol pa rin.''
If one is behind but capable, one will still be able to catch up.
''Magbirô ka na sa lasíng, huwág lang sa bagong gising.''
Make fun of someone drunk, if you must, but never one who has just awakened.
''Aanhín pa ang damó kung patáy na ang kabayo?''
What use is the grass if the horse is already dead?
''Ang sakít ng kalingkingan, damdám ng buóng katawán.''
The pain in the pinkie is felt by the whole body.
(In a group, if one goes down, the rest follow.)
''Nasa hulí ang pagsisisi.''
Regret is always in the end.
''Pagkáhabà-habà man ng prusisyón, sa simbahan pa rin ang tulóy.''
The procession
A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner.
History
Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...
may stretch on and on, but it still ends up at the church.
(In romance: refers to how certain people are destined to be married. In general: refers to how some things are inevitable, no matter how long you try to postpone it.)
''Kung 'dî mádaán sa santóng dasalan, daanin sa santóng paspasan.''
If it cannot be got through holy prayer, get it through blessed force.
(In romance and courting: ''santóng paspasan'' literally means 'holy speeding' and is a euphemism for sexual intercourse. It refers to the two styles of courting by Filipino boys: one is the traditional, protracted, restrained manner favored by older generations, which often featured serenades
In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italian w ...
and manual labor for the girl's family; the other is upfront seduction, which may lead to a slap on the face or a pregnancy out of wedlock. The second conclusion is known as ''pikot'' or what Western cultures would call a 'shotgun marriage
A shotgun wedding is a wedding which is arranged in order to avoid embarrassment due to premarital sex which can possibly lead to an unintended pregnancy. The phrase is a primarily American colloquialism, termed as such based on a stereotypic ...
'. This proverb is also applied in terms of diplomacy and negotiation.)
See also
*Dambana
Indigenous Philippine shrines and sacred grounds are places regarded as holy within the indigenous Philippine folk religions. These places usually serve as grounds for communication with the spirit world, especially to the deities and ancestra ...
*Abakada alphabet
The Abakada alphabet was an "indigenized" Latin alphabet adopted for the Tagalog-based Filipino national language in 1940.
The alphabet, which contains 20 letters, was introduced in the grammar book developed by Lope K. Santos for the newly-d ...
*Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino
, logo =
, logo_width =
, logo_caption =
, seal = Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF).svg
, seal_width =
, seal_caption =
, formed = 1937 (first formation)1991 (reformed)
, preceding1 ...
*Filipino alphabet
The modern Filipino alphabet ( fil, makabagong alpabetong Filipino), otherwise known as the Filipino alphabet ( fil, alpabetong Filipino), is the alphabet of the Filipino language, the official national language and one of the two official langu ...
*Old Tagalog
Old Tagalog, also known as Old Filipino ( tl, Lumang Tagalog; Baybayin: pre-virama: , post-virama rus kudlit ; post-virama amudpod ), is the earliest form of the Tagalog language during the Classical period. It is the primary language of pre- ...
*Filipino orthography
Filipino orthography ( fil, Ortograpiyang Filipino) specifies the correct use of the writing system of the Filipino language, the national and co-official language of the Philippines.
In 2013, the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino released the ''Ort ...
*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 ...
*Filipino language
Filipino (; , ) is an Austronesian language. It is the national language ( / ) of the Philippines, and one of the two official languages of the country, with English. It is a standardized variety of Tagalog based on the native dialect, sp ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
Tagalog Dictionary
Tagalog Lessons Dictionary
Tagalog Quotes
Patama Quotes
Tagalog Translate
Tagalog Forum
* Kaipuleohone Kaipuleohone is a digital ethnographic archive that houses audio and visual files, photographs, as well as hundreds of textual material such as notes, dictionaries, and transcriptions relating to small and endangered languages. The archive is stored ...
br>archive of Tagalog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tagalog language
Languages attested from the 10th century
Languages of the Philippines
Central Philippine languages
Agglutinative languages
Subject–verb–object languages
Verb–object–subject languages
Verb–subject–object languages