Philippine language

Filipino Filipino (Wikang Filipino [wɪˈkɐŋ ˌfiːliˈpiːno]) is the official language of the Philippines along with English. It is based primarily on traditional Tagalog with influences and lexicon Spanish, English and other Philippine languages. Filipino is officially considered a pluricentric language, as it is further enriched and developed with the other existing Philippine languages in accordance with the mandate of the 1987 Constitution. Varieties of Filipino with grammatical properties that differ from Filipino have been observed to emerge. Tagalog in Greater Cebu and Greater Davao. Together with Greater Manila they comprise the three largest metropolitan areas in the Philippines.

History

There was no common language in the Philippine archipelago when the Spanish arrived in the 16th century. The four main languages of trade were Visayan, Pampango, Pangasinense, and Ilocano. As the Philippine languages were all closely related and therefore easy for Filipinos to learn, most of the smaller language speakers spoke two or more of such regional languages.

The Spanish established Manila as the capital of the islands, a population located in Tagalog-speaking territory. The first Tagalog dictionary, Vocabulario de la lengua tagala, was written by the Franciscan Pedro de San Buenaventura and published in 1613 by the "Father of Philippine Printing" Tomás Pinpin in Pila, Laguna. A final book of the same name was written by the Czech Jesuit missionary Paul Klein in the early 18th century. Klein spoke Tagalog and used it actively in several of his books. He wrote the first dictionary, which was later passed on to Francisco Jansens and José Hernández. A further compilation of his important work was prepared by Juan de Noceda and Pedro de Sanlúcar and published as Vocabulario de la lengua tagala in Manila in 1754, and then repeatedly republished with the latest edition being published in 2013 in Manila.

Designation as a national language

On November 13, 1936, the first Philippine National Assembly created the National Language Institute (currently called Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino), which selected Tagalog as the basis for a new national language (Wikang Pambansâ). In 1961, this language became known as Pilipino and was later called Filipino.

When the Tagalog-based national language was developed, Lope K. Santos wrote the Balarila ng Wikang Pambansa (Grammar of the National Language) and introduced abakada, an alphabet composed of 20 letters, of which only each one represents a significant and existing sound in Tagalog. The 20 letters of the abakada are written:

a b k d e g h i l m n ng o p r s t u w

The National Institute of Philippine Language started the language in 1973. Since it was intended to be lingua franca on the islands, it incorporates many words from the many languages and dialects spoken on the islands, although its grammar is based on Tagalog. In 1976, the alphabet consisted of 31 letters, including 26 of the English alphabet plus the Spanish characters ñ, ll, rr, and ch, next to the Tagalog ng. In practice, however, the digraphs are considered to be its two constituent letters. In 1987, the alphabet was revised and the symbols of Spanish origin rr, ll and ch were suppressed, making a total of 28 letters.

The national language of the Philippines has been the center of various controversies and misunderstandings, which still persist today. Most Filipinos hold one of the following thoughts when asked about the Filipino language:

1. Filipino is simply another name for the tagalo language, just like his previous name: Pilipino.
2. The Filipino is an amalgam of all the languages of the Philippines, with tagalo, Spanish and English influences.
3. The Filipino is tagalo with the added influence and lexicon of Spanish, Nahuatl, English and other Filipino languages; it is the tagalo as spoken in the Great Manila.

Most of the Filipino people consider Filipino essential and virtually identical to Tagalog. Thus, a Filipino from any region asks another if he speaks "Tagalog", not if he speaks "Filipino". Adherents of the second opinion maintain that Tagalog does not include words like "guapa" (beautiful) and that, although its meaning can be easily interpreted by Tagalog speakers, they are not terms used in areas where Tagalog is spoken. There are also people who believe that the Philippine language should include commonly used English terms, which Tagalog does not. However, this position is also highly criticized by the most respected linguists in the country and in general by the feelings of people who even call the language they speak "Taglish" due to the mixture that is made of both languages in a standard daily use.

Filipino, on the other hand, is strictly based on Tagalog, to the extent of trying to replace words of English or Spanish origin with artificially coined Tagalog root terms.

In academia there are those who define the Filipino language as an amalgamation of the languages spoken in the Philippines, and some even propose the inclusion of English terms in the lexicon. The problem here is that the Philippine languages are not dialects of the same language, but true languages per se, unintelligible from each other. If vocabulary and grammar were included in the lexicon, it would defeat the purpose of achieving a true lingua franca because people who speak Filipino Tagalog would not be able to communicate with those who speak Filipino Cebuano.

Specifically, perhaps Filipino is the only language spoken in Metro Manila. With the growing migrations, words from the other Philippine languages have been incorporated into the native Manileño speech. The Tagalog used in the capital, however, is difficult to serve as a standard. It evolves rapidly and there are no dictionaries or guides that define the correct use, or indicate which words are officially part of the language. Faced with this linguistic problem, many Filipinos who speak two or more languages, with English predominating among them, today speak Taglish (Tagalog profusely mixed with English) as their everyday language. Even when this language is suitable for informal communication, its implementation in formal and written communications remains difficult.

Filipino Language Alphabet