is one of the largest ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines, and they were the indigenous inhabitants of several provinces in Luzon, among them, Rizal, Bulacan, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, Quezon, and what is now known as the capital center, Metro Manila.
To understand the answer to “what language are we learning here, anyway?” a short history lesson will help. The Philippines was occupied by three main colonial powers: Spain (1565–1898); the United States (1899–1942); and the Japanese (1942–1945).* Several expeditions by the Spaniards in the 16th century led to their colonization of the islands which they named Las Islas Filipinas, after Spain’s King Felipe II. In spite of initial resistance and sporadic peasant revolts, Spain ruled the country for three hundred years, defeated only through the Philippine revolution of 1896. Independence was declared on June 12, 1898, but was short-lived.
On December 10 of that same year, the Treaty of Paris was signed by two nations at war—Spain and the United States, and the Philippine delegate was excluded from the sessions and negotiations. Among the provisions of the treaty was the surrender of the Philippines to the United States for the sum of twenty million dollars. The occupation of the islands by the new colonial power was met with strong resistance, resulting in the Philippine-American War (also known as the Philippine War of Independence) from 1899 to 1902. It was only in 1935 that a Commonwealth government was established following several independence missions to the United States. And only in 1946, after Japanese occupation during World War II, did the Philippines become an independent nation.
How did the colonial experience affect the language? In three ways—vocabulary, language policy, and orthography or letters.
Vocabulary
Let us first look into vocabulary. When you listen to Filipinos speak to one another, you may be able to understand a few words here and there. That’s because many words are derived from Spanish and English. For example, words such as mesa (Spanish—mesa; English—table), kabayo (Spanish—caballo; English—horse), and sarswela (Spanish—zarzuela, a type of play with music) are words that represent the dominance of the colonial culture introduced by the Spaniards. Similarly, words such as taksi (taxi), hamburger, and Amerikana (referring to suits worn by men) are used, either retaining the English spelling (hamburger) or using a Filipino one (taksi), or by giving a new meaning to the word (Amerikana).
You may also know of the term “Taglish” or “Tagalog English,” which refers to code-switching, or the shifting from one language to another mid-sentence or mid-conversation. For example, while shopping, a Filipino might ask a sales clerk: “Excuse me, magkano po ang blouse na ito? Can I see iyong gray blouse?” (Excuse me, how much is this blouse? Can I see the gray blouse?)
Also, many recent words brought about by technology, such as “computer,” “flight,” and “x-ray,” obviously have no indigenous equivalents, so are just used as they are. As a learner, you should feel comfortable just using these words instead of looking for equivalents which you will probably not find in a dictionary anyway.
Language Policy
You may be curious as to why many Filipinos choose to speak in English or in Taglish, and why those coming from old, affluent families speak Spanish. The colonial experience affected language policies, and during the Spanish colonial period, Spanish was the official language used for documents, communications and courts, and was considered to be the language only of the elite and the educated.
During the American colonial rule, both Spanish and English were the official languages, and English became the medium of instruction. In 1935, with the installation of the Commonwealth government, then-President Manuel Quezon established the Surian ng Wikang Pambansa (Institute of National Language). It was the Surian that chose Tagalog as the basis for the national language in 1937; and in 1959, the Department of Education issued a memorandum that specified for the teaching of a national language called Pilipino.
Language policy changed again in 1973, a year after martial law was declared by President Ferdinand Marcos, and both Pilipino and English became the official languages of the country. With the ousting of Marcos in 1986 through what is now called the “People Power revolt” and with the promulgation of a new constitution in 1987 came yet another change. The national language became known as Filipino.
According to Article XIV, Section 6 of the 1987 constitution: “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.”
This meant that no longer shall Tagalog be the only basis for the language called Filipino, but other Philippine languages shall be as well. How many other Philippine languages are there? According to the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (Commission on the Filipino Languages) there are 175 indigenous languages, four of which have no known speakers.
Orthography
This brings us now to the changes in the letters of Tagalog/ Pilipino/Filipino. While Tagalog has twenty letters (a, b, k, d, e, g, h, i, l, m, n, ng, o, p, r, s, t, u, w and y), Filipino has 8 more (c, f, j, ñ, q, v, x, z). These letters are not only found in the Spanish and English languages—the Cordillera language has f, the Ibanag has v, and Ivatan has f.
Let me give a few examples. Should you, by chance, encounter Tagalog documents written or published in the 18th or 19th centuries, you will notice that Spanish letters were used then—thus letters such as k and w were not used. For example, what is now spelled as kapantay (meaning “equal”) was spelled capantay, and what is now spelled as malinaw (meaning “clear”) was spelled malinao. However, in 1935, the letters k and w were added to the alphabet by the government, so capantay became kapantay, and malinao became mali-naw. Today, some people would retain the original spelling of the word “computer”; others would spell it “kompyuter,” using the letter k.
What language are you learning in this book? This is how I would explain it—we are using Filipino the national language, that is primarily based on the Tagalog language. We are studying the everyday language of the political and business center Metro Manila.
So it doesn’t matter if you say, “Nag-aaral ako ng Tagalog/ Pilipino/Filipino.” (I study Tagalog/Pilipino/Filipino.) And even if you forget the verb “aral” (study) and say, “Nagsastudy ako ng Tagalog/Pilipino/Filipino,” there is no language police. Just speak the language the best that you can!
* Britain declared war against Spain in 1762, and Manila was captured by the British. With the signing of the “Peace of Paris,” in 1763, the British left Manila the following year, and Spain continued its colonial rule of the islands.
INTRODUCTION
A, B, C ... the Tagalog and Filipino Alphabets
The Tagalog language has only twenty letters, a, b, k, d, e, g, h, i, l, m, n, ng, o, p, r, s, t, u, w and y. However, the Filipino language, as it is used today, has 28, because of the addition of 8 letters, c, f, j, ñ, q, v, x, and n.
The Unfamiliar Letters Ñ and Ng
Two letters in the alphabet may be unfamiliar to you.
First, ñ—this is the Spanish ñ. Pronounce it the way it is pronounced in Spanish. For example, the word for pineapple is piña, also spelled as pinya.
When spelled with an ñ, it is pronounced PIN-ya, with the accent on the first syllable (approximating a more “Spanish” sound).
When spelled with the letters n and
