Filipino language:

Filipino is the national language of the Philippines and, along with English, is an official language; designated in the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Filipino is an Austronesian language that is based on various existing native languages in the Philippines, with a significant number of Spanish words in the vocabulary. In fact, about 40% of everyday (informal) Filipino conversation is practically made up of Spanish loanwords. The Filipino language is in evolution, development and further enrichment on the basis of existing languages of the Philippines and other languages.^[4] It is the first language of Filipinos living in Metro Manila and the second language of most Filipinos.^[5]

Sometimes the name "Filipino" is incorrectly used as the generic name for all the languages of the Philippines which, in turn, would be incorrectly termed as "dialects". Also, because of its similarity to the language on which it is based,^[6] it is still incorrectly identified with, if not identified as, Tagalog.

The Commission on the Filipino Language (Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino), the regulating body of Filipino, envisions a process of popularizing regional dialect usage derived from regional languages as the basis for standardizing and intellectualizing the language, thus forming a lingua franca.

History

On November 13, 1936, the Surian ng Wikang Pambansa (National Language Institute) selected Tagalog as the basis of Wikang Pambansâ ("National Language") based on the following factors:^[7]

In 1959, the language became known as Pilipino in an effort to dissociate it from the Tagalog ethnic group.^[8]

Later, the 1973 Constitution provided for a separate national language to replace Pilipino, a language which it named Filipino. The pertinent article, though, Article XV, Section 3(2), mentions neither Tagalog nor Pilipino as the basis for Filipino, instead calling on the National Assembly to:

In 1987, the New Constitution introduced many provisions for the language.^[9] Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:

Republic Act No. 7104, approved on August 14, 1991, created the Commission on the Filipino Language, reporting directly to the President and tasked to undertake, coordinate and promote researches for the development, propagation and preservation of Filipino and other Philippine languages.^[10] On May 13, 1992, the commission issued Resolution 92-1, specifying that Filipino is the

However, as with the 1973 and 1987 Constitutions, 92-1 neither went so far as to categorically identify nor dis-identify this language as Tagalog. Definite, absolute, and unambiguous interpretation of 92-1 is the prerogative of the Supreme Court in the absence of directives from the KWF, otherwise the sole legal arbiter of the Filipino language.

Filipino was presented and registered with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), by then Ateneo de Manila University student Martin Gomez, and was added to the ISO registry of languages on September 21, 2004 with it receiving the ISO 639-2 code fil.^[12] In June 2007, Ricardo Maria Nolasco, then Chair of the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (Commission on the Filipino Language), acknowledged that Filipino was simply Tagalog in syntax and grammar, with as yet no grammatical element or lexicon coming from Ilocano, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, or any of the other Philippine languages. This is contrary to the intention of Republic Act No. 7104 that requires that the national language be developed and enriched by the lexicon of the country's other languages, something that the commission is working towards.^[13] Furthermore, on August 24, 2007, Dr. Nolasco elaborated further on the relationship between Tagalog and Filipino:

Classification

Filipino is considered by Ethnologue to be a variant of Tagalog, a Central Philippine language within the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family.^[16] In practical terms, however, Filipino is a synonym for or the formal name of the Tagalog language, especially as used by non-Tagalogs, who may sometimes refuse to refer to their national language as Tagalog-based.^[17] Tagalog is also a slang term for the national language.^[18]

One famous event in which the definition between Filipino and Tagalog was challenged was during the impeachment trial of the former President Joseph Estrada. When the presiding justice Hilario Davide, a Cebuano, asked which language the witness Emma Lim preferred to testify in, Lim promptly answered "Tagalog", to which Davide did not agree. According to Davide, nobody could testify in Tagalog because it is not the official language of the Philippines and there is no available interpreter from Tagalog to Filipino. However, the then-President of the Senate, Franklin Drilon, an Ilonggo, defended the oneness of the two by saying that an interpreter will not be needed because everybody would understand the testimony in Tagalog.^[19]

Phonology

Grammar

Orthography

Alphabet

Learning Resources

Many of the following books are published in the Philippines. Many are available on www.amazon.com.

See also

References

^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=PH.
^ Results from the 2000 Census of Population and Housing: Educational Characteristics of the Filipinos, National Statistics Office, March 18, 2005, http://www.census.gov.ph/data/sectordata/sr05153tx.html, retrieved 2008-01-21
^ http://www.google.com.ph/language_tools?hl=tl
^ "REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7104 - Commission on the Filipino Language Act". http://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno7104.htm.
^ Inquirer.net. "New center to document Philippine dialects". Asian Journal Online. http://www.asianjournal.com/?c=53&a=20983. Retrieved 2008-10-25.
^ Andrew Gonzalez, FSC. "Language planning in multilingual countries: The case of the Philippines". http://www.sil.org/asia/ldc/plenary_papers/andrew_gonzales.pdf#search=%27andrew%20gonzalez%20fsc%27. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
^ Paraluman Aspillera (1993). "Pilipino: The National Language, a historical sketch". from Basic Tagalog for Foreigners and Non-Tagalogs, Charles E. Tuttle Publishing Co., Inc., Tokyo. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/3727/tagalog2.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-24.
^ Andrew Gonzalez (1998). "The Language Planning Situation in the Philippines" (PDF). Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 19 (5, 6). http://www.multilingual-matters.net/jmmd/019/0487/jmmd0190487.pdf. Retrieved 2007-03-24. ^(p.487)
^ "1987 Philippine Constitution, Article XIV, Sections 6-9". Chanrobles Law Library. http://www.chanrobles.com/article14language.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-08.
^ "Commission on the Filipino Language Act". Chanrobles law library. http://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno7104.htm. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
^ "Resolusyon Blg. 92-1" (in Filipino). Commission on the Filipino Language. 13 May 1992. http://wika.pbwiki.com/Resolusyon%20Blg%2092-1. Retrieved 2007-03-24.
^ "Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: fil". Summer Institute of Linguistics. http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/documentation.asp?id=fil. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
^ Inquirer (2007). "New center to document Philippine dialects". Asian Journal. http://www.asianjournal.com/?c=53&a=20983. Retrieved 2007-06-30.
^ Filipino and Tagalog, Not So Simple
^ Inquirer.net,3 Bulacan courts to use Filipino in judicial proceedings
^ "Filipino: A language of the Philippines". Ethnologue. http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=fil. Retrieved 2007-06-26.
^ A similar situation exists with Valencian, which is the name for the Catalan language in Valencia.^{[citation needed]}
^ A similar situation exists with Valencian, which is the name for the Catalan language in Valencia.^{[citation needed]}
^ A similar situation exists with Valencian, which is the name for the Catalan language in Valencia.^{[citation needed]}

External links

Questions for article: always in filipino languages, ang diksyunaryong filipino, ano ang definition ng wikang filipino ayon sa komisyon sa wikang filipino, reso. blg. 92-1 may 13, 1992, article 14 section 7 kapampangan language, article about english as a second language for filipinos, article about filipino language, article about filipino languages, article about philippine language, article for the development of filipino language, article ng wikang filipino, article on filipino language

Filipino language

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