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 cultural heartland, Manila, being the capital city of the Philippines. They are native to the Metro Manila and Calabarzon regions of southern Luzon, and comprise the majority in the provinces of Bulacan, Bataan, Nueva Ecija and Aurora in Central Luzon and in the islands of Marinduque and Mindoro in Mimaropa.

Etymology

The commonly perpetuated origin for the endonym "Tagalog" is the term ''tagá-ilog'', which means "people from longthe river" (the prefix ''tagá-'' meaning "coming from" or "native of"). However, this explanation is a mistranslation of the correct term ''tagá-álog'', which means "people from the ford".

Historical usage

Before the colonial period, the term "Tagalog" was originally used to differentiate river dwellers (''taga-ilog'') from mountain dwellers (''taga-bundok'', less common ''tingues'') between Nagcarlan and Lamon Bay, despite speaking the same language. Further exceptions include the present-day Batangas Tagalogs, who referred to themselves as people of Kumintang - a distinction formally maintained throughout the colonial period.

Allegiance to a bayan differentiated between its natives called ''tawo'' and foreigners, who either also spoke Tagalog or other languages - the latter called ''samot'' or ''samok''.

Beginning in the Spanish colonial period, documented foreign spellings of the term ranged from ''Tagalos'' to ''Tagalor''.

History

Prehistory and origins

Like the majority of Filipinos, the Tagalog people primarily descend from seafaring Austronesians who migrated southwards to the Philippine islands from the island of Taiwan some 4,000 years ago. Contact with the much earlier Negritos resulted in a gradually developed scenario seen throughout the Philippine archipelago of coastal, lowland, predominantly Austronesian-speaking seafaring settlements and land-based Negrito hunter-gatherers confined to forested and mountainous inlands, along with inland Austronesians oriented towards rivers. Both groups variably mixed with each other from millennia of general coexistence, yet even up to Spanish advent social distinctions between them still remained.

As Filipinos, the Tagalogs are related to the Austronesian-speaking peoples of present-day Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia, and the more distant Micronesians, Polynesians, and Malagasy.

Specific origin narratives of the Tagalog people contend among several theories:

* Eastern Visayas - Research on the Philippine languages hypothesize a Greater Central Philippine subfamily that includes, among others, the Bisayan languages and Tagalog, the latter vaguely assumed to have originated somewhere in the eastern Visayas.

* Borneo via Panay - The controversial Maragtas dates events from around the early 13th century, which tells of a great migration of ten datus and their followers somewhere from Borneo northwards and subsequent settlements in Panay, escaping the tyranny of their Bornean overlord, Rajah Makatunaw. Sometime later, three datus Kalengsusu, Puti, and Dumaksol sailed back from Panay to Borneo, then intended to make return for Panay before blowing off course further north to the Taal river area in present-day Batangas. Datu Puti continued to Panay, while Kalengsusu and Dumaksol decided to settle there with their barangay followings, thus the story says is the origin of the Tagalogs.
* Sumatra or Java - A twin migration of Tagalog and Kapampangan peoples from either somewhere in Sumatra or Java in present-day Indonesia. Dates unknown, but this theory holds the least credibility regardless for basing these migrations from the outdated out-of-Sundaland model of the Austronesian expansion.

Barangay period

Tagalog and other Philippine histories in general are highly speculative before the 10th century, primarily due to lack of written sources. Most information on precolonial Tagalog culture is documented by observational writings by early Spanish explorers in the mid-16th century, alongside few precedents from indirect Portuguese accounts and archaeological finds.

The maritime oriented barangays of pre-Hispanic Tagalogs is shared with other coastal peoples throughout the Philippine archipelago. The roughly three-tiered Tagalog social structure of ''maginoo'' (royalty), '' timawa''/'' maharlika'' (freemen usually of lower nobility), and '' alipin'' (bondsmen, slaves, debt peons) have almost identical cognates in Visayan, Sulu, and Mindanawon societies. Most barangays were networked almost exclusively by sea traffic, while smaller scale inland trade was typified as lowlander-highlander affairs. Barangays, like other Philippine settlements elsewhere, practiced seasonal sea raiding for vengeance, slaves, and valuables alongside headhunting, except for the relatively larger suprabarangay '' bayan'' of the Pasig River delta that served as a hub for slave trading. Such specialization also applied to other large towns like Cebu, Butuan, Jolo, and Cotabato.

Tagalog barangays, especially around Manila Bay, were typically larger than most Philippine polities due to a largely flat geography of their environment hosting extensive irrigated rice agriculture (then a prestigious commodity) and particularly close trade relations with Brunei, Malacca, China ( ''sangley''), Siam, Champa, and Japan, from direct proximity to the South China Sea tradewinds. Such characteristics gave early Spanish impressions of Tagalogs as "more traders than warriors," although raids were practiced. Neighboring Kapampangan barangays also shared these characteristics.

10th-13th centuries

Although at the periphery of the larger Maritime Silk Road like much of Borneo, Sulawesi and eastern Indonesia, notable influences from Hinduism and Buddhism were brought to southwest Luzon and other parts of the Philippine archipelago by largely intermediate Bornean, Malay, Cham, and Javanese traders by this time period, likely much earlier. The earliest document in Tagalog and general Philippine history is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription (LCI), bearing several place names speculated to be analogous to several towns and barangays in predominantly Tagalog areas ranging from present-day Bulacan to coastal Mindoro.

The text is primarily in Old Malay and shows several cultural and societal insights into the Tagalogs during time period. The earliest recognized Tagalog polity is Tondo, mentioned as Tundun, while several other place names are theorized to be present-day Pila or Paila, Bulacan (Pailah), Pulilan (Puliran), and Binuangan. Sanskrit, Malay, and Tagalog honorifics, names, accounting, and timekeeping were used. Chiefs were referred as either ''pamagat'' or ''tuhan'', while ''dayang'' was likely female royalty. All aforementioned polities seem to have close relations elswhere with the polities of Dewata and Mdang, theorized to be present-day area of Butuan in Mindanao and the Mataram Kingdom in Java.

Additonally, several records from Song China and Brunei mention a particular polity called Ma-i, the earliest in 971. Several places within Tagalog-speaking areas contend for its location: Bulalacao (formerly ''Mait''), Bay, and Malolos. Ma-i had close trade relations with the Song, directly importing manufactured wares, iron, and jewelry and retailing to "other islands," evident of earlier possible Tagalog predominance of resaling Chinese goods throughout the rest of the Philippine islands before its expicit role by Maynila in the 16th century.

15th-16th centuries: Malacca and Brunei affairs

The growth of the Malacca as the largest Southeast Asian entrepôt in the Maritime Silk Road led to a gradual spread of its cultural influence eastward throughout insular Southeast Asia. Malay became the regional lingua franca of trade and many polities enculturated Islamic Malay customs and governance to varying degrees, including Tagalogs and other coastal Philippine peoples. According to Bruneian folklore, at around 1500 Sultan Bolkiah launched a successful northward expedition to break Tondo’s monopoly as a regional entrepot of the Chinese trade and established Maynila (Selurong?) across the Pasig delta, ruled by his heirs as a satellite. Subsequently Bruneian influence spread elsewhere around Manila Bay, present-day Batangas, and coastal Mindoro through closer trade and political relations, with a growing Tagalog-Kapampangan diaspora based in Brunei and beyond in Malacca in various professions as traders, sailors, shipbuilders, mercenaries, governors, and slaves.

File:Naturales 4.png, ''Maginoo'' couple
File:Naturales 3.png, '' Timawa'' or '' maharlika'' couple
File:Naturales 1.png, '' Alipin''
The Pasig delta bayan of Tondo-Maynila was the largest entrepot within the Philippine archipelago primarily from retailing Chinese and Japanese manufactured goods and wares throughout Luzon, the Visayan islands (where Bisaya would mistakenly called Tagalog and Bornean traders alike as ''Sina''), Palawan, Sulu, and Maguindanao. Tagalog (or Kapampangan) traders also worked elsewhere as far as Timor and Canton. Bruneian, Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Siamese, Khmer, Cham, and traders from the rest of the Philippine archipelago alike all conducted business in Maynila, and to a lesser extent along the Batangas and Mindoro coasts. However, in a broader scope of Southeast Asian trade the bayan served a niche regional market comparable to smaller trade towns in Borneo, Sualwesi, and Maluku.

Spanish colonial period

1565-1815: Galleon era

On May 19, 1571, Miguel López de Legazpi gave the title "city" to the colony of Manila. The title was certified on June 19, 1572. Under Spain, Manila became the colonial entrepot in the Far East. The Philippines was a Spanish colony administered under the Viceroyalty of New Spain and the Governor-General of the Philippines who ruled from Manila was sub-ordinate to the Viceroy in Mexico City. Throughout the 333 years of Spanish rule, various grammars and dictionaries were written by Spanish clergymen, including '' Vocabulario de la lengua tagala'' by Pedro de San Buenaventura ( Pila, Laguna, 1613), Pablo Clain's ''Vocabulario de la lengua tagala'' (beginning of the 18th century), ''Vocabulario de la lengua tagala'' (1835), and ''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 first substantial dictionary of Tagalog language was written by the Czech Jesuit missionary Pablo Clain in the beginning of the 18th century. 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'' in Manila in 1754 and then repeatedly re-edited, with the last edition being in 2013 in Manila. The indigenous poet Francisco Baltazar (1788–1862) is regarded as the foremost Tagalog writer, his most notable work being the early 19th-century epic '' Florante at Laura''.

Prior to Spanish arrival and Catholic seeding, the ancient Tagalog people used to cover the following: present-day Calabarzon region except the Polillo Islands, northern Quezon, Alabat island, the Bondoc Peninsula, and easternmost Quezon; Marinduque; Bulacan except for its eastern part; and southwest Nueva Ecija, as much of Nueva Ecija used to be a vast rainforest where numerous nomadic ethnic groups stayed and left. When the polities of Tondo and Maynila fell due to the Spanish, the Tagalog-majority areas grew through Tagalog migrations in portions of Central Luzon and north Mimaropa as a Tagalog migration policy was implemented by Spain. This was continued by the Americans when they defeated Spain in a war.

The first documented Asian-origin people to arrive in North America after the beginning of European colonization were a group of Filipinos known as "Luzonians" or Luzon Indians who were part of the crew and landing party of the Spanish galleon ''Nuestra Señora de la Buena Esperanza''. The ship set sail from Macau and landed in Morro Bay in what is now the California coast on October 17, 1587, as part of the Galleon Trade between the Spanish East Indies (the colonial name for what would become the Philippines) and New Spain (Spain's Viceroyalty in North America). More Filipino sailors arrived along the California coast when both places were part of the Spanish Empire. By 1763, "Manila men" or "Tagalas" had established a settlement called St. Malo on the outskirts of New Orleans, Louisiana.

The Tagalog people played an active role during the 1896 Philippine Revolution and many of its leaders were either from Manila or surrounding provinces. The first Filipino president was Tagalog creole Emilio Aguinaldo. The Katipunan once intended to name the Philippines as ''Katagalugan,'' or the Tagalog Republic, and extended the meaning of these terms to all natives in the Philippine islands. Miguel de Unamuno described Filipino propagandist José Rizal (1861–1896) as the "Tagalog Hamlet" and said of him “a soul that dreads the revolution although deep down desires it. He pivots between fear and hope, between faith and despair.” In 1902, Macario Sakay formed his own Republika ng Katagalugan in the mountains of Morong (today, the province of Rizal), and held the presidency with Francisco Carreón as vice president.

1821-1901

Tagalog was declared the official language by the first constitution in the Philippines, the Constitution of Biak-na-Bato 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 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). In 1959, the language was further renamed as "Pilipino". The 1973 constitution designated the Tagalog-based "Pilipino", along with English, as an official language and mandated the development and formal adoption of a common national language to be known as Filipino. The 1987 constitution designated Filipino as the national language mandating that as it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.

Culture and society

The Tagalog number around 30 million, making them the largest indigenous Filipino ethno-linguistic group in the country. The second largest is the Sebwano with around 20 million. Tagalog settlements are generally lowland, commonly oriented towards banks near the delta or ''wawà'' ( mouth of a river). With the Filipino language nearly monopolizing every national mainstream media outlet and the relatively vast area occupied by Tagalogs today, most tend to identify by province or town (''Batangueno'', ''Caviteno'', ''Bulakenyo'', ''etc'') before ethnicity. Likewise, most cultural aspects of the Tagalog people orient towards decentralized specializations of provinces and towns.

Cuisine and dining customs

Tagalog cuisine is not defined ethnically or in centralized culinary institutions, but instead by town, province, or even region with specialized dishes developed largely at homes or various kinds of restaurants. Nonetheless, there are fundamental characteristics largely shared with most of the Philippines:

* rice is the primary staple food, while tuber are typically prepared as vegetables
* varying combinations of palm vinegar, soy sauce, calamansi, chilis, garlic, and onions in most dishes
* prominence of seafood and pork, along with other usual meats of poultry and beef
* ''panaderias'' or neighborhood bakeries inherited from Hispanic culture

Bulacan is known for ''chicharon'' (fried pork rinds), steamed rice and tuber cakes like puto'','' ''panghimagas'' (desserts), like '' suman'', ''sapin-sapin'', '' ube halaya'', ''kutsinta'', '' cassava cake'', and ''pastillas de leche''. Rizal is also known for its '' suman'' and cashew products. Laguna is known for ''buko pie'' and ''panutsa''. Batangas is home to Taal Lake, home to 75 species of freshwater fish. Among these, the '' maliputo'' and ''tawilis'' are unique local delicacies. Batangas is also known for '' kapeng barako'', '' lomi'', '' bulalo'', and ''goto''. ''Bistek Tagalog'' is a dish of strips of sirloin beef slowly cooked in soy sauce, calamansi juice, vinegar and onions. Records have also shown that ''kare-kare'' is the Tagalog dish that the Spanish first tasted when they landed in pre-colonial Tondo.

Dining customs and etiquette

Outlets

Aside from panaderias, numerous roadside eateries serve local specialities. Batangas is home to many lomihan, gotohan, and bulalohan.

File:Tagalog dress, early 1800s.jpg, Tagalog clothing during the 19th century. From ''Aventures d'un Gentilhomme Breton aux iles Philippines'' by Paul de la Gironiere, published in 1855.
File:A Manila Man (c. 1900, Philippines).jpg, A working-class Tagalog man, c. 1900
File:A Manila Girl (c. 1900, Philippines).jpg, A Tagalog woman in traditional dress, c. 1900

Literature

The Tagalog people are also known for their tanaga, an indigenous artistic poetic form of the Tagalog people's idioms, feelings, teachings, and ways of life. The tanaga strictly has four lines only, each having seven syllables only.

Visual arts

The Tagalog people were also craftsmen. The katolanan, specifically, of each barangay is tasked as the holder of arts and culture, and usually trains craftfolks if ever no craftfolks are living in the barangay. If the barangay has a craftsfolk, the present crafts-folks would teach their crafts to gifted students. Notable crafts made by ancient Tagalogs are boats, fans, agricultural materials, livestock instruments, spears, arrows, shields, accessories, jewelries, clothing, houses, paddles, fish gears, mortar and pestles, food utensils, musical instruments, bamboo and metal wears for inscribing messages, clay wears, toys, and many others.

Woodworking

Paete, Baliuag furniture, Taal furniture, precolonial boat building, joinery, and woodcarving (Paete carving, Pakil woodshaving and whittling)

Weaving

Notable Tagalog weaving customs include:
* Barong tagalog
* Baro't saya
*Taal and Lumban embroidery
*Basketry

The majority of Tagalogs before colonization wore garments woven by the locals, much of which showed sophisticated designs and techniques. The Boxer Codex also illuminates the intricate and high standard in Tagalog clothing, especially among the gold-draped high society. High society members, which include the datu and the katolonan, also wore accessories made of prized materials. Slaves on the other hand wore simple clothing, seldom loincloths.

During later centuries, Tagalog nobles would wear the ''barong tagalog'' for men and the ''baro't saya'' for women. When the Philippines became independent, the barong Tagalog became popularised as the national costume of the country, as the wearers were the majority in the new capital, Manila.

Metalworking

Metalworking is one of the most prominent trades of pre-colonial Tagalog, noted for the abundance of terms recorded in Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala that is related to metalworking, signifying a sophisticated practice of this art which has died down during the colonial period.

Ceramics

Machuca tiles, tapayan

Architecture

File:Bahay Kubo sa Batangas sa Pilipinas.jpg, ''bahay kubo''
File:Taal town proper - old houses side (Taal, Batangas)(2018-07-30).jpg, typical Taal ''bahay na bato''
File:634Exterior of the Paete Church 04.jpg, Earthquake baroque church of Paete
bahay kubo, bahay na bato, religious architecture (churches, convents, monasteries), precolonial architecture types

Papercraft

pabalat

Miscellaneous arts

singkabas

Musical and performing arts

Colonial (including syncretic): rondalla, pandanggo, subli, jota, kundiman

other folk genres:

precolonial:

Religion

The Tagalog mostly practice Christianity (majority Catholicism and minority Protestantism) with a minority practicing Islam, Buddhism, indigenous Philippine folk religions (Tagalog religion), and other religions as well as no religion.

Precolonial Tagalog societies were largely animist, alongside a gradual spread of mostly syncretic forms of Islam since roughly the early 16th century. Subsequent Spanish colonization in the latter part of the same century ushered a gradual spread of Roman Catholicism, resulting as the dominant religion today alongside widespread syncretic folk beliefs both mainstream and rural Since the American occupation there is also a small minority of Protestant and Restorationist Christians. Even fewer today are muslim 'reverts' called ''balik-islam'', and revivals of worship to pre-Hispanicized anito.

Anitism

File:Coconut palm trees on the beach of Sabang, Palawan, Philippines.jpg, The coconut palm is considered the primeval tree of life among Tagalogs, providing sustenance and materials for tools and shelter for the first humans. One creation myth tells its form born from two primordial deities, grown by Bathala.
File:LakeSampalocjf7329 03.JPG, Natural formations and phenomena like flora, fauna, mountains, bodies of water, and various activities are considered domains of specific earthly anito. Mt. Banahaw is one of several sacred mountains venerated by animists and Christians alike.
File:Anitos of Northern tribes (c. 1900, Philippines).jpg, These ''bulul'' from the northern Cordilleras are reminiscent of anthropomorphic anito carvings once ubiquitous throughout the Philippines, including among Tagalogs. Called either ''likha'', ''larawan'', or ''taotao'', these served as mere vessels to accompany anito during invocations.

Most pre-Hispanic Tagalogs at the time of Spanish advent followed indigenous polytheistic and animist beliefs, syncretized primarily with some Hindu-Buddhist and Islamic expressions from a long history of trade with kingdoms and sultanates elsewhere in Southeast Asia. ''Anitism'' is the contemporary academic term for these beliefs, which had no documented explicit label among Tagalogs themselves. Many characteristics like the importance of ancestor worship, shamanism, coconuts, swine, fowl, reptilians, and seafaring motifs share similarities with other indigenous animist beliefs not just elsewhere in the Philippines, but also much of maritime Southeast Asia, Taiwanese aboriginal cultures, the Pacific islands, and several Indian Ocean islands.

Bathala is the supreme creator god who sends ancestor spirits and deities called anito as delegates to intervene in earthly affairs, and sometimes as intercessors for invocations on their behalf. Katalonan and the dambana, known also as ''lambana'' in the Old Tagalog language.tribhanga
http://asj.upd.edu.ph/mediabox/archive/ASJ-01-01-1963/Francisco%20Buddhist.pdf

Abrahamic

Christianity

File:8869San Bartolome Apostol Parish Church of Nagcarlan 25.jpg, Like elsewhere in the Philippines, church architecture in Tagalog areas is typically characterized as Earthquake Baroque, with wider frames, massive buttresses and belfries, and relatively simpler ornamentation.
File:Feast of Black Nazarene, Quiapo, Manila.JPG, Feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila, held every 9th of January.
File:Nuestra Señora De Guia.jpg, Nuestra Señora de Guia enshrined in Ermita Church, widely venerated among travellers and seafarers. Pandan foliage decorating her base is reminiscent of its syncretic worship in early colonial Manila.
File:Agimat.jpg, Agimat or ''anting-anting'' talismans, traditionally believed to grant certain powers. Typical motifs are esoteric symbols inspired primarily by Christian iconography.

= Roman Catholicism

=
Roman Catholicism arrived in Tagalog areas in the Philippines during the late 16th century, starting from the Spanish conquest of the Maynila and its subsequent claim for the Crown. Augustinian friars, later followed by Franciscans, Jesuits, and Dominicans would subsequently establish churches and schools within Intramuros, serving as base for further (but gradual) proselytization to other Tagalog areas and beyond in Luzon. By the 18th century, the majority of Tagalogs are Catholics; indigenous Tagalog religion was largely purged by missionaries, or otherwise undertook Catholic idioms which comprise many syncretic folk beliefs practiced today. The '' Pista ng Itim na Nazareno'' (Feast of the Black Nazarene) of Manila is the largest Catholic procession in the nation.

Notable Roman Catholic Tagalogs are St. Lorenzo Ruiz of Manila, Venerable Alfredo Obviar, the cardinals Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle and Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales.

= Protestantism

=
A minority of Tagalogs are also members of numerous Protestant and Restorationist faiths such as the Iglesia ni Cristo, the Aglipayans, and other denominations introduced during American rule.

Islam

A few Tagalogs practice Islam, mostly by former Christians either by study abroad or contact with Moro migrants from the southern Philippines. By the early 16th century, some Tagalogs (especially merchants) were Muslim due to their links with Bruneian Malays. The old Tagalog-speaking Kingdom of Maynila was ruled as a Muslim kingdom, Islam is prominent enough in coastal areas of Tagalog region that Spaniards mistakenly called them "Moros" due to abundance of indications of practicing Muslim faith and their close association with Brunei.

Language and orthography

The language of the Tagalog people evolved from Old Tagalog to Modern Tagalog. Modern Tagalog has five distinct dialects:
* Northern Tagalog ( Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, and Bataan) has loanwords from Kapampangan and Ilocano languages.
* Southern Tagalog (Batangas and Quezon, southern Cavite, southeastern Laguna, and eastern Rizal except Tanay) is unique as it necessitate the use of Tagalog without or with some combination of the English language. (While Aurora is in Central Luzon, the Aurora dialect is considered Southern Tagalog dialect as it is closer to Quezon dialect, the reason Aurora was part of Southern Tagalog region; the Aurora-Quezon dialect also has loanwords from Ilocano origin like Northern Tagalog.)
* Central Tagalog (Manila, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal except Tanay) is predominantly a mixture of Tagalog and English.
* Tanay Tagalog retains a large fraction of indigenous words not present in other dialects; it is the only highly preserved Tagalog dialect in mainland Luzon and the most endangered Tagalog dialect.
* Marinduque Tagalog dialect is considered the 'purest' of all dialects with preserved Central Philippine languages' features shared with neighboring Visayan languages, with little influence from Spanish and English & strong influence of Bikol and Visayan languages.

Baybayin is the indigenous Tagalog writing system. Few people today know how to read and write in Baybayin, yielding the script as nearly extinct. A bill in Congress was filed to make Baybayin the country's national script, yet remains pending in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Nowadays, the Baybayin is artistically expressed in calligraphy, drawing new forms and from old writings.

Colonial period

The Tagalog people were skilled Spanish speakers from the 18th to 19th centuries due to the Spanish colonial occupation era. When the Americans arrived, English became the most important language in the 20th century. At present-time, the language of the Tagalogs are Tagalog, English, and a mix of the two, known in Tagalog pop culture as Taglish. Some Spanish words are still used by the Tagalog, though sentence construction in Spanish is no longer used. Tagalogs even speak Filipino, being a standardized version of Tagalog, which is spoken as their lingua franca between different dialects.

See also

* Tagalog literature

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tagalog people

Ethnic groups in Luzon
Ethnic groups in the Philippines
History of Manila