Filipino language
Filipino (formerly called
Pilipino) is the national
language and one of the official languages of the
Philippinesâ€"along with
Englishâ€"as designated in the 1987 Philippine Constitution. The language, a member of the
Austronesian languages, is a
standardized dialect of
Tagalog. It is sometimes referred to as, albeit incorrectly, the generic name for the several different languages of the Philippines.
On
November 13,
1937, the First National Assembly created the National Language Institute, which selected
Tagalog, the indigenous language with the most developed and extensive written literary tradition (mirroring that of the
Tuscan dialect of
Italian), as the basis of a new national language. In
1961, this language became known as
Pilipino, which was later renamed to
Filipino in the 1972 Constitution.
Originally, the
Balarila ng Wikang Pambansa introduced the
Abakada of 20 letters in which only one letter represents one meaningful sound in Tagalog. The 20 letters of Abakada are written as
a b k d e g h i l m n ng o p r s t u w y. The National Language Institute of the Philippines initiated the new language in
1973. In 1976, the alphabet consisted of 31 lettersâ€"the 26 letters of the English alphabet, the
Spanish ñ,
ll,
rr, and
ch, and the
ng of Tagalog. In practice, however, the digraphs are considered as their two constituent letters. In
1987, the alphabet was revised and
rr,
ll and
ch, all of which are of Spanish origin, were removed, leaving 28 letters.
The national language of the Philippines has been subject to several controversies and misunderstandings, even to this day. The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, Article XIV, Section 6 merely states: "The national language of the Philippines is
Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages."
The development and formal adoption of a common national language to be known as Filipino had been mandated in Section XV of the 1973 Constitution. Whether the Filipino language should be based on Tagalog is not stated, although a large number of people assumed that Filipino is equivalent to
Pilipino, the national language at that time which is clearly based on Tagalog. Most Filipinos will have one of the following three views when questioned regarding the Filipino language:# Filipino, like its older version, Pilipino, is simply another name for the Tagalog language.# Filipino is the amalgamation of all Philippine languages, with English and Spanish serving as possible vocabulary sources.# Filipino is Tagalog with borrowings from English and other Philippine languages; it is Tagalog as spoken in Metro Manila today.
Most people in the Philippines still consider Filipino as essentially and practically the same language as Tagalog. Filipinos are more likely to ask their countrymen if they speak "Tagalog" rather than "Filipino." Proponents of the second view however, specifically state that Tagalog does not include words such as
guapa (beautiful), those terms whose meaning can be easily guessed by native Tagalog speakers but are not generally considered or used in the Tagalog-speaking region. Some people also point out that Filipino should include English words commonly used by Filipinos whereas Tagalog does not. During the time when the language was still known as Pilipino (before the name was changed to Filipino), the tendency was to use pure Tagalog, even trying to replace words of Spanish or English origin with new artificially coined words that are based on Tagalog. To some people, this differentiates Filipino from Pilipino.
In 2004, Martin Gomez, a student at the Ateneo de Manila University, presented and registered the Filipino language with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It was approved and added to the ISO registry of languages in 2004-09-21, and was given the 632-2 code
fil. The ramifications of this are quite extensive given today's information and communications technology.
A number of academics define the Filipino language as an amalgamation of Philippine languages. Some of these academics have proposed that English words be included in the Filipino lexicon. The problem with this view is that linguistically, Philippine languages are not
dialects of the same language, but are separate and distinct languages in their own right. If the grammatical structure and all the words from other Philippine languages are to be included in Filipino, then the purpose of a lingua franca is forfeited: people speaking Tagalog Filipino will not be able to communicate effectively with someone speaking Cebuano Filipino.
If Filipino is accepted as an amalgamation of indigenous languages, Spanish, as well as English that is based on Tagalog, then perhaps its most realistic embodiment is the Tagalog dialect spoken in
Metro Manila. With Manila's migrant population swelling, words from other Philippine languages have been absorbed into dialect. Tagalog as spoken in the capital, however, is difficult to use as a standard. It is rapidly and constantly evolving, and there is no dictionary or guidebook to define what is proper usage or which words are considered to be officially part of the language. This is compounded by the problem that middle- and upper-class Filipinos are bilingual or multilingual, predominantly using English or
Taglish (Tagalog heavily mixed with English) in everyday conversation. Taglish essentially is used for informal communication, however, and it is generally not acceptable in formal written communication for government, academia, or business.
*
Commission on the Filipino language (Official regulating body of Filipino)
*
UP Filipino Dictionary*
Filipino alphabet*
Languages of the Philippines*
Filipino vs. Tagalog*
Commission on the Filipino Language*
The only blog using 2001 Filipino spelling
*
The Metamorphosis of Filipino as a National Language
