By Danilo P. Padua, PhD
The month of August is considered as the leanest month in many parts of the Philippines. Low agricultural production- both for crops and fish catch. Income from businesses normally dives a bit compared to other months.
It is very significant though in the country as it is declared as the Buwan ng Wika. It is not any wika, it is for our national language. That is the main reason why I am writing about it in this piece.
The Buwan ng wika, coincIdes with the birth of the late former President, Manuel Luis Quezon which is August 19.
And what is our national language? Is it Tagalog, Pilipino or Filipino?
We have to thank a visionary president, Manuel Luis Quezon, for insisting that we have to have one national language. Clearly discerning that the whole country was not exactly easy to unify because of the presence of more than 170 diverse dialects of various groups spread throughout the archipelago, he signed Executive Order #134 in Dec, 1937 for the development of a national language. As a start he proclaimed that Tagalog should be the basis of such language, but incorporating words from various local dialects and other languages.
MLQ is therefore considered as the father of our national Language.
Tagalog is not our national language. In 1959, our national language was declared Pilipino, but about 30 years later, it was legally changed into Filipino by the 1987 Phil. Constitution. So our national language is called Filipino. But in the international arena, Tagalog is recognized as our national tongue. It is now spoken and understood in practically all corners of the Philippines.
A lot of international language scholars consider Tagalog as very unique and is the most misunderstood language in Asia.
At the same time, practically every linguist in the world worth his/her salt, is fascinated by Tagalog as a basis of Code-switching. In fact, the mixing of Tagalog and English (called Tag-lish) is the most studied code-switching in the world.
It developed gradually without the benefit of any government intervention or the facilitation of any law. It was, for all intent and purposes, a creation by the population at large, especially the middle class and those who are educated.
What is that code-switching that we are talking about here? It is defined as the practice of switching between two or more languages, dialects within the same conversation or social setting. Most Filipinos speak 2-3 languages, dialects if you wish, as we come from different linguistic groups. We speak our native tongue, Tagalog, and English plus other dialects. So even in one sentence we easily glide from one language to another without difficulty. This either confuses or mesmerizes other people listening to us. They become more confused when start mixing two languages making something like a Taglish seem like another language.
When we effortlessly do this and we perfectly understand each other, other people listening to us, especially the linguists, it arouses their interests.
During my college days in Los Banos, and that is half a century ago, Taglish was already very common. The older ones then, can’t seem to accept such reality. Some Professors were heard saying “you either speak a sentence entirely in English or in Tagalog. Do not mix them so you could be understood better.”
The development of Taglish or “Iloklish”, or “Ceblish” or other mixes were so spontaneous, it became acceptable to our population at large in no time at all.
Curiously, Taglish is the most dominant of such mixes or switches. So wherever there is a Filipino community in any place around the world, Taglish had become a lingua franca to them.
Partly because of this, I believe many people around the world-especially in Africa, Middle East, Asia, Oceana, and North America had started to learn and speak Tagalog. It is actually now being offered as foreign language course in so many foreign Universities worldwide.
We should not be surprised when the time comes that Tagalog will become one of the major Languages spoken in the world.
It is not startling that many of our classic or folk songs, many of them originally in Tagalog, are being used as winning contest pieces in international choral singing competitions. These indlude Sampaguita, Bayan Ko, Leron Leron Sinta, Bahay Kubo, Sitsiritsit Alibangbang, Katakataka, Dahil Sa Iyo, Paru Parong Bukid, Pen Pen de Sarapen, etc. Some countries that sung such songs are: Switzerland, Italy, USA, Canada, Romania, South Korea, Singapore, Germany, Indonesia, Russia, New Zealand, Thailand, Serbia.
Its so nice to hear other countries singing those songs in competitions with excellent pronunciation.**
