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 ...

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 ...

portmanteaux A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsFilipinos in overseas communities. It also has several variants, including

coño English Taglish or Englog is code-switching and/or code-mixing in the use of Tagalog language, Tagalog and English language, English, the most common languages of the Philippines. The words ''Taglish'' and ''Englog'' are portmanteaux of the words ''Taga ...

, jejenese and swardspeak.

Description

Taglish is very widespread in the Philippines and has become the de facto

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

among the urbanized and/or educated

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...

. It is largely considered the "normal acceptable conversation style of speaking and writing" in informal settings. It is so widespread that a non-native speaker can be identified easily because they predominantly speak Tagalog, whereas a native speaker would switch freely with English. According to the linguist Maria Lourdes S. Bautista, there are two contrasting types of code-switching in the Philippines: deficiency-driven and proficiency-driven. Deficiency-driven code-switching is when a person is not competent in one language and thus has to switch back to the language they are more familiar with. This is common among younger children, as in the example below given by Bautista: Proficiency-driven code-switching, on the other hand, is when a person is fully competent in both languages being used and can switch between them easily. It is the main type of code-switching in the islands. The example below is given by Bautista, taken from an interview with the television journalist Jessica Soho: Proficiency-driven code-switching is characterized by frequent switching of the Matrix Language (ML) between Tagalog and English, demonstrating the high proficiency of the speakers in both languages. There are also a wide range of strategies involved, including: the formation of bilingual verbs by the addition of prefixes, suffixes, and infixes (e.g. Nagsa-''sweat'' ako = "I was sweating"); switching at the morphological, word, phrasal, or clausal levels; and the use of system morphemes (like

enclitic In morphology and syntax, a clitic (, backformed from Greek "leaning" or "enclitic"Crystal, David. ''A First Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics''. Boulder, CO: Westview, 1980. Print.) is a morpheme that has syntactic characteristics of a wo ...

s, conjunctions, etc.) within long stretches of ML content; and even the inversion of the

verb–subject–object A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...

word order of Tagalog into the subject-verb-object order of English. According to Bautista, the reason for this type of code-switching is what she termed "communicative efficiency", wherein a speaker can "convey meaning using the most accurate, expressive, or succinct lexical items available to them." The linguist Rosalina Morales Goulet also enumerated several reasons for this type of code-switching. They are: "for precision, for transition, for comic effect, for atmosphere, to bridge or create social distance, for snob appeal, and for secrecy."

Characteristics

Taglish was originally a manner of speaking in

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...

involving the mixing of Tagalog/

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 ...

and

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 ...

together. However, this practice has spread to other areas where both English and Tagalog/Filipino are spoken. It is characteristically a form of Tagalog/

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 ...

that mixes in

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 ...

words, where Tagalog/

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 ...

is the

substratum In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or sup ...

and

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 ...

is the superstratum. Next to code-switching between sentences, clauses, and phrases in "pure" Tagalog and English, Taglish speech also code-mixes especially with sentences that follow the rules of Tagalog grammar with Tagalog

syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...

and

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

, but that occasionally employs English nouns and verbs in place of their Tagalog counterparts. Examples: English

verb A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...

s and even some

noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...

s can be employed as Tagalog verb roots. This is done by the addition of one or more

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...

es or infixes and by the doubling of the first sound of the starting form of the noun or verb, consistent with Tagalog

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

but usually retaining English

spelling Spelling is a set of conventions that regulate the way of using graphemes (writing system) to represent a language in its written form. In other words, spelling is the rendering of speech sound (phoneme) into writing (grapheme). Spelling is one ...

for the

roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

. The English verb ''drive'' can be changed to the Tagalog word ''magda-drive'' meaning ''will drive'' (used in place of the Tagalog word ''magmamaneho''). The English noun ''

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

'' can also be changed to the Tagalog word ''nag-Internet'' meaning ''have used the Internet''. Taglish also uses sentences of mixed English or Tagalog words and phrases. The conjunctions used to connect them can come from any of the two. Some examples include: Because of its informal nature,

experts An expert is somebody who has a broad and deep understanding and competence in terms of knowledge, skill and experience through practice and education in a particular field. Informally, an expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable s ...

of English and Tagalog discourage its use. There are examples of modern

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

s in Taglish: the adventure novel ''Bullet With A Name'' (2018) by Kirsten Nimwey, the love

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

''Aeternum Dream'' (2018) by Harkin Deximire, and more.

Forms

Swardspeak

Swardspeak is a kind of Taglish/Englog LGBT slang used by the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

demographic of the Philippines. It is a form of

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

that uses words and terms primarily from

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 adjac ...

, Tagalog/

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 ...

, and/or Cebuano and Hiligaynon, and occasionally as well as Japanese, Korean,

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 va ...

,

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 ...

, or other languages. Names of celebrities, fictional characters, and trademarks are also often used.

Coño English

Coño English ('' tl, Konyo'') or Colegiala English () is a

sociolect In sociolinguistics, a sociolect is a form of language ( non-standard dialect, restricted register) or a set of lexical items used by a socioeconomic class, profession, an age group, or other social group. Sociolects involve both passive acquisi ...

of Taglish/Englog that originated from the younger generations of affluent families in Manila. The word ''coño'' or '' tl, konyo'', itself came from '' es, Coño, lit=Cunt.'' It is a form of

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 adjac ...

that mixes Tagalog/

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 ...

words, where opposite to Taglish,

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 ...

is the

substratum In linguistics, a stratum (Latin for "layer") or strate is a language that influences or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum or substrate is a language that has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum or sup ...

and Tagalog/

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 ...

is the superstratum. The most common aspect of Coño English is the building of verbs by using the English word ''"make"'' with the

root word A root (or root word) is the core of a word that is irreducible into more meaningful elements. In morphology, a root is a morphologically simple unit which can be left bare or to which a prefix or a suffix can attach. The root word is the prima ...

of a Tagalog

verb A verb () is a word (part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descri ...

: And adding the English conjunctions ''"like so"'' before using a Tagalog

adjective In linguistics, an adjective (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that generally grammatical modifier, modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Tra ...

to finish the sentence. Examples: Sometimes, Tagalog interjections such as ''ano'', ''naman'', ''pa'', ''na'' (or ''nah''), ''no'' (or ''noh''), ''a'' (or ''ha''), ''e'' (or ''eh''), and ''o'' (or ''oh'') are placed to add emphasis. However, ''eh'' as an interjective in English is found chiefly in

Canadian English Canadian English (CanE, CE, en-CA) encompasses the varieties of English native to Canada. According to the 2016 census, English was the first language of 19.4 million Canadians or 58.1% of the total population; the remainder spoke French ( ...

, although stereotypically, and as a tag question or an expression of apathy or lack of enthusiasm in English varieties within the Western world including Australia and New Zealand. But especially in New Zealand, ''eh?'' is used much more than in Canada to elicit a response. '' tl, 'No/Noh / A/Ah'' ( contractions from '' tl, Ano, lit=What'') are used for

question A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammar, grammatical forms typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are inte ...

s and are added only to the end of a sentence. '' tl, Ano, lit=What'', is also used for questions and is placed in the front or the end. It may also be used as an interjection, ''no?'', (equal to the Spanish ''¿no?'' and the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

''nicht?'') and is pronounced as or , with a pure vowel instead of the English glide, which shows influence from Spanish in

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 ...

. ''"E"''/''"Eh"'' (added to answers to questions) and "''o"''/''"oh"'' (for statements) are used for exclamations and are added to the front only. '' tl, pa, lit=yet'' (not yet; not yet done; to continue; still) and '' tl, na, lit=already; now'' can be placed in the middle or end. '' tl, naman, lit='' (particle used to soften requests or put emphasis) is placed anywhere. English

adjectives In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the mai ...

are often replaced with Tagalog verbs. The language also occasionally uses Spanish words or Spanish

loanwords A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because the ...

from

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 ...

/ Tagalog, like ''baño/banyo'' ("bathroom"), ''tostado'' ("toasted") and ''jamón'' ("ham"). The feminine sound of Coño English makes male speakers sometimes overuse the '' tl, pare, lit=dude; pal; bro; buddy'' to make it sound more masculine. Sometimes '' tl, tsong, lit=dude; pal; bro; buddy'' is used instead of ''pare'' or along with it:

References

External links

Wikang Taglish, Kamulatang Taglish
article by

Virgilio S. Almario Virgilio Senadrin Almario (born March 9, 1944), better known by his pen name Rio Alma, is a Filipino visual artist, author, poet, critic, translator, editor, teacher, and cultural manager. He is a National Artist of the Philippines. He formerly se ...

{{Interlanguage varieties English language Tagalog language Code-switching

Description

Characteristics

Forms

Swardspeak

Coño English

See also

References

External links