CHAPTER 1.

PHILIPPINE ENGLISH Most important indigenous ethnic

groups:
• Tagalogs on Luzon Island (the
ENCOUNTERING THE PHILIPPINES
majority population in and around
• Street signs are in English Manila)

• The disc jockey on the radio woos the • Cebuanos (or 'Visayans') in the
station’s listeners in dulcet American southern islands

• The bookstores are full of English • Ilocanos from northern Luzon

books (many penned by local writers)
• Front pages of the major newspapers
Creolized Philippine society with
assail readers with headlines written in
significant groups of:
English
• Philippine-Spanish
• Philippine-Chinese
THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC
BACKGROUND • Philippine-American
• The Republic of the Philippines
comprises 7,107 islands located close • Contemporary Filipinos are 'virtually
to the equator, south of the China "a race of races" ', and that although
mainland, east of Vietnam, and essentially Malay in racial composition,
northeast of the Indonesian archipelago. 'they also have Negrito, Indonesian,
Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Arab,
• Felipinas- coined in 1543 by the European, and American "bloods“’
Spanish explorer Ruy de Villalobos in (McFerson, 2002: 15).
honor of Crown Prince Felipe (or Philip),
later King Philip II of Spain (1556-98) • Spain- the first colonial power to rule
(Quimpo, 2003). the Philippines who governed the
country from Mexico from 1565 until
• Ethnically and racially, the majority of 1898.
Filipinos are considered - during this period, Catholicism became
Austronesian, having a kinship with strongly established throughout
similar populations in Indonesia and Philippine society, and today eighty
Malaysia, while there are over one percent of the population claim to be
hundred indigenous Austronesian Catholic.
languages spoken in the Philippines
• United States of America- occupied
(McFarland).
and colonized the Philippines after the
Philippine-American War of 1899-
1902, which immediately followed the
Spanish-American War, when Spain
also lost control over Cuba, Puerto Rico,
and Guam. The United States
essentially maintained colonial control good English-speaking ability,
over the Philippines until 1946, at which Filipinos are arguably the country's
time the Philippines became an greatest export' (Jinkinson, 2003).
independent nation.
• For those who remain in the
• Japanese- a third group of colonizers Philippines, the prospects for
who took control of the islands during domestic employment are usually
World War II, from 1941-1944. bleak, unless they have the support of a
well-off and well-connected family. To
complete this somewhat dismal picture,
Philippine Politics (Presidency) mention might also be made of the
• Ferdinand Marcos - 1965-1986 frequency of natural and man-made
• Corazon Aquino - 1986-1992 catastrophes, ranging from such natural
• Fidel Ramos - 1992-1998 disasters as drought, earthquake, and
• Joseph Estrada - 1998-2001 flood to fires, plane crashes, and
• Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo - 2001- shipwrecks, all of which have
2010 contributed to a national 'culture of
• Benigno Aquino III - 2010-2016 disaster' (Bankoff, 2003)
• Rodrigo Duterte - 2016-Present

• Economically and socially, there are PHILIPPINE ENGLISH

vast differences in wealth between the
upper classes of Philippine society ('the • The story of Philippine English has its
oligarchs') and the lower classes of the historical origins in the US intervention
cities and provinces (the masa, or of 1898, and the American teachers who
'masses'), at a time when increasing arrived here toward the end of the
numbers of the rural poor are migrating Philippine-American War.
to the cities.
• Thomasites- first teachers, (named
• Numerous economic reports have after the US army transport ship
indicated that the development of the Thomas), arrived as early as 1901 and
nation has lagged behind that of were soon dispersed throughout the
comparable Asian societies. One of the islands. They also acted as teacher-
major foreign exchange earners for the trainers, so that by 1921, 91 percent of
society continues to be the export of all teachers were native-born
human labor, and an estimated eight Filipinos.
million Filipinos now work overseas,
often in low-paid jobs, as domestic • 'Almost from the beginning, Filipinos
helpers, as nurses, or, in the case of learned English from Filipinos
males, as engineers, technicians, and and the seeds of what we now call
merchant seamen. Philippine English began' (Gonzalez,
1997: 26-27).

• In the words of a recent BBC report, 1918 Census Report

'[w]ith high literacy rates (87%) and
• around 47 percent of the population survey suggest that some 65 percent
claimed to speak English, and 55.6 of the population claim the ability to
percent claimed the ability to read and understand spoken and written
write the language English, with 48 percent stating that
they write English, but with only 32
1941 Census Report percent reporting that they speak the
• around 27 percent of the population language. The same report then goes
claimed to be able to speak English on to explain that these totals indicate a
marked decline in English proficiency
• The rapid spread of the English compared to results from 1993 and 2000
language in the Philippines was (Social Weather Stations, 2006).
unprecedented in colonial history, for
within the space of 41 years, the Call Center Industry and Related
American regime had done more to Business Processing Outsourcing
spread English than the Spanish Operations
Government did in 333 years (1565- • The total of employees in the call
1898) of colonization, for at the end of center industry in 2001 was around
the Spanish Period, only 2% spoke 2,000, but by 2006 that figure had risen
Spanish. (Gonzalez, 1997: 28) astonishingly to some 200,000 jobs.
One recent report noted that today ‘ [t]
Post-Independence Era after 1946 he call center business is the fastest
• English was retained as an official growing industry in the country ...
language in government and [m]ore than 100 centers around the
education, but was increasingly used country have created a new class of
alongside the national language, first relatively affluent and independent
termed Wikang Pambansa ('national young Filipinos’ (Greenlees, 2006).
language'), then later 'Pilipino', and
'Filipino'. • Nevertheless, despite the obvious
utility of English in employment,
• Over the decades, Philippine English the power and prestige of the language
began to develop as a 'variety' of continue to raise concerns among
English in its own right, associated with Filipino intellectuals.
a distinct accent, a localized
vocabulary, and even a body of • According to Tollefson's (1991) critique
creative writing by Philippine writers in of Philippine language policy, '[t]he key
English. From the 1960s onwards, local question in the politics of language in
linguists began to describe this localized the Philippines is: what language(s)
variety in some detail, despite anxieties should be used in education and in the
among some educators and policy- exercise of commerce, mass media,
makers that the recognition of politics and government?', as the
'Philippine English' somehow involved issue of language planning 'has a crucial
the acceptance of a less-proficient impact upon access to economic
variety of the language (Bautista, 1997). resources, to policy-making
institutions, and to political power’
• However, the latest results from a (1991: 141).
Social Weather Stations (2006)
Tollefson (143-61) then presents a • Thus, questions of power and
critique of the politics of language inequality overlap with the 'language
from the 1960s to the 1990s. This rights’ of Filipino citizens, as 'a
includes: commitment to democracy means the
• discussion of the communist New use of the mother tongue at work and
People's Army's promotion of school is a fundamental human right'
'Pilipino' (as it was then called) to (211).
ensure that 'the national language, art,
and literature shall be given
revolutionary content’ PHILIPPINE ENGLISH: LINGUISTIC
AND LITERARY PERSPECTIVES
• Marcos' promotion of English in
order to match the needs of the • The emergence of Philippine English
Philippine economy so that 'most as a variety of the English language has
students had to be educated for low- been paralleled by recognition accorded
paying jobs requiring a little English’ to Philippine writers in English over
recent years, with such novelists as F.
• the language policies of the Aquino Sionil Jose, Nick Joaquin, and Jessica
administration, which left English in a Hagedorn and others attracting
'dominant position substantial international interest.

• The dismal result of national • The Sociolinguistic Context

dissemination of English in the - origins and development of English in
Philippines - Filipinos still exclaim with Philippine society, education, and media
joy, "We are the third largest English- from Gonzalez, Bernardo, and Dayag
speaking country in the world!"- can be - theoretical questions of mixed
seen in the fact that the educated elite provenance from Tupas, Manarpaac,
and unlettered masses, though no two and Rafael (linguistic, literary,
kinds of people could be more anthropological)
dissimilar, are yet similar in one
regard - both tend to see the world • Linguistic Form
through American eyes, accepting the - linguistic description
American yardstick as the proper - Philippine languages
standard for measuring any kind of - Philippine English accents, vocabulary,
culture or life. (Tinio 1990: 86) and grammar
- forms of English, with reference to
• For Tollefson, the promotion of English accent, vocabulary, grammar and
is less an issue of nationalism and discourse, occurring in the call-center
more a problem of economic and context
social equity, as '[t]he impact of using
English as the language of government,
education, business, technology, and • Philippine Literature in English
the media is to sustain economic - forms of English, with reference to
inequalities within Philippine society' accent, vocabulary, grammar and
(Tollefson, 1991: 163).
discourse, occurring in the call center CHAPTER 2.1 A Favorable Climate
context and Soil: A Transplanted Language &
- stylistic analysis of the 'abrogation' and Literature
'appropriation' of language by Philippine
English writers
- genres of short fiction, poetry, and the PHILIPPINE ENGLISH exist because?
novel The American Language had its
- importance of diasporic Filipino writers widespread regime during the
in the US and elsewhere
American's colonization over the
- literary creativity is not confined to
Philippines. Knowing how the language
Manila, and that other regions, including
the Visayas, have their own histories of itself started and how it emerged in the
English country will help us find answers on why
and how “Philippine English” exists.
• Resources
- bibliographical resources for
researching English in the Philippines Now, to grasp such ‘whys’ and ‘hows’,
looking at the periods of American
Colonization and at the aspects of
REFERENCES Philippine English is necessary:
• S., B. M., & Bolton, K. (2008).
Philippine English: Linguistic and PERIODS:
literary perspectives. Hong Kong, China:
Hong Kong University • 1898-1920: The Beginnings of the
Press. English Language in the Philippines
Even before the arrival of the
• Blust, R. Andrew (2018, July 30).
Americans, English Language
Austronesian languages. Encyclopedia
Britannica. was.already studied by some of the
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Austro notable Philippines’ Scholars:
nesian-languages Jose Rizal – learned the English
Language on his own. Some of his
letters stated that he always urge her
Sister Saturnina to study the language
too.
Apolinario Mabini – known as the
brains of the emerging Philippine
Republic who prescribed English
Language as part of his study during his
secondary education
General Chaplain MacKinnon, an
American Catholic Priest, together with
his soldier-teachers, took the initiative to
teach the English Language to locals,
dated soon after 1898. Thebvery first and especially syllables. (Merriam
method used by them in teaching the Webster)
language is direct method.
In 1918, result from a census from 1903-
Finally, when elementary schools were 1918 stated that there were already
established and education system 8.7% English Speakers from the 10.3
was already in place, teaching English million people in the system.
Language occurred in three ways:
It was also noted that students already
• Direct Method; wrote compositions with the Victorian
Style of Writing. This style of writing
• Grammar Analysis, and;
was believed to be rapidly evolving into
• Translation Method Philippine Classroom Composition as a
style of writing
These methods were used in the Public
Schools in America, adapted by the Victorian Style of Writing is visually
team MacKinnon. characterized by its thick and full of big
words. Writing per se, it has extended
Thomasites - 523 recruited American descriptive sentences.
teachers who will teach English to the
locals right after education system and What was remarkable during this era
elementary schools were established. was that literature in American and
British English varieties was learned
- They were called ‘thomasites’ because quickly. As a matter of fact, in just less
they arrived in the country on August than a decade of learning the English
1901 thru the US Army Transport Ship Language, the University of the
called Thomas. Philippines produced its first College
- they taught the locals to learn the Folio of student literary writing, paving
English Language analytically von the way for the first harvests of Filipino
grammar, definitions of parts of speech, writers who used English Language as
exemplifications, and other exercises. their medium.

*However, the author said that it was From the first two decades of learning,
more of a testing rather than learning transplanted variety of the English
exercises. language was born and was called
Philippine English, a newly born
American Phonology wasn’t formally variety with its distinctive pronunciation,
taught, but a form of oratory and with its own academic style of writing,
declamation overladen with the and with its emerging Philippine
traditional Filipino oratorical manner and literature in English. Then, short poems,
delivery was common. essays of a literary of nature, and short
Reading was done via phonics – a stories were all born on native Philippine
method of teaching beginners to read soil – a remarkable achievement as an
and pronounce words by learning the example of language rapidly emerging in
phonetic value of letters, letter groups, new soil
 • 1920-1941 (The Golden Age): The 4. Lack of competing languages.
Second Generation
Considered to be the golden age of
Also called the golden age of young young writers of English, the following
writers of English. were the talented writers during this
period (Cruz, 2000):
During this era, most national agencies
and institutions including the • Salvador Lopez – participated in
Department of Public Instruction were competitions such as the annual
being occupied and led by Filipinos. The Commonwealth Contests in Poetry.
thomasites had also returned to
• Jose Garcia Villa – took part in
America, and others decided to get
experiments in poetry following
married here and had their own families.
American models.
(Gonzalez, 2003)
• Rafael Zulueta da Costa – famous for
- In this period, a total of 209 Filipino
his award-winning long poem “Like the
scholars called pensionados (supported
Molave”
fellows) were sent to America to pursue
their college degrees, including other • Alfredo Litiatco – devoted his special
graduate studies in law, medicine, and gifts in encouraging young writers to
veterinary science. publish their work in a publication called
Graphic. He died during the Japanese
- This period was the period of the ones
colonization because of Tuberculosis.
who had the best written outputs. These
students who were taught by the • Arturo Rotor – a trained physician
grammar analytic method and traditional who continued writing before and after
methods ended up having the best and the Japanese regime but returned to his
most correct English compositions. craft as a doctor afterwards.
Although, students from 1970s and
younger generations had higher scores • Carlos Bulusan – went to America for
in grammar and mechanical tests. greener pastures and had the light pen
for comedy and poignancy of exile. One
Reasons: of his most applauded and awarded
piece is his short story “My Father Goes
1. Notwithstanding the fact that they
to Court”
were not too exposed to formal and
traditional teachings of grammar, they
were exposed to native speakers and
native models of teaching the language. Philippine Commonwealth

2. Good Texts for reading and writing It came to existence in 1935 and marked
imitation were much more available. our beginnings of self-rule amidst the
threat of an impending invasion and war.
3. Learning packed occasions for In the perspective of language and
sustained writing were common and literature, its existence sparked new
practiced during those days. hopes as it mandated the search for the
National Language, which gave rise to
National Language Law of 1936, the foreign languages to Americans during
choice of Tagalog as the basis of the World War II.
national language in 1937, and the
Teaching of English as a Second
production of bilingual word lists
Language Approach was also adapted
(beginning of dictionary) and a
and incorporated into a theory,
grammar.
psychology, and a set of practices
Respectively, this led to the teaching of and materials (a methodology) which
Tagalog at summer’s teaching institute. later on introduce in the Philippines by
In 1940, Tagalog was also introduced Clifford Prator of UCLA. It was widely
into 4th year of High school, and it spread across the nation and as a
became the national language the same result, The Philippine Center for
year. (Gonzalez, 1980) Language Study was established with
funding from the Rockefeller
Foundation at the Department of
Laurel Government It was set up by Education. Later on, the approach was
the Japanese Military Government also introduced to Philippine Normal
under the rubric of the Greater East Asia College, a learning institution supported
Co-Prosperity Sphere, and Tagalog was by the Ford Foundation. (Prator, 1950)
confirmed as the official national
After the approach was introduced,
language although English continued to
there was a case study established by
be used for government works and
Filipino staff who were guided by
transactions.
specialists from UCLA, in which various
July 4, 1946 This is when the war came sets of learning materials were
into end. Attempts on having a normal distributed to schools. Such materials
functioning government were made and were used as learning materials with
classes resumed. In this period, English emphasis on pronunciation using
remained to be the official medium of microphonology, substitution drills
instruction. The only difference is that on lexicons and sentence patterns,
the official national language, Tagalog, and guided composition and initial
was taught daily from grade one to 4th reading.
year of High school as Wikang
Pambansa, which later became Filipino.
Contrary to initial expectations, result
stated mixed findings:
• 1946-1980s: Post-war Developments
• Improvement on pronunciation
In this period, Teaching of English as a
• Lower Communicative Fluency. The
Second Language Approach was
reason can be traced on the fact that
introduced. This approach was based on
learning was through memorization and
the technology learned by the American
repetition, and actual spontaneous
Structuralist Linguists in teaching
communication wasn’t common.
• Sentence patterns were learned Philippine Literature continues to
through rote rather than learning by flourish giving rise to new generation of
communication. young writers both at home and in
abroad.
In 1947, the TESL Program was
incorporated as part of a more Among Filipino writers abroad, Filipino
comprehensive bilingual education in exile as theme became passé.
program (with the use of Filipino). Themes revolve around the life of first-
or second-generation of Filipino
In 1980, English for Specific
Americans together with the various
Purposes was introduced for classes in
forms of struggle including inner
high school and in the last two decades,
conflicts that they are experiencing,
Content-Based Instruction (CBI) was
instead.
introduced
Among Filipino writers at home, the
Presently, we can observe the following
biggest challenge for them is to come up
practices which try to incorporate all the
with new themes that are of Filipino
features: Principles of Second
Authentication. To attain this, these
Language Learning are emphasized
writers write from their own background
at the lower grades, communicative
as Filipinos, not in exile. They really
language teaching at the intermediate
contributed to the clearly identifiable
grades, advanced reading and writing
corpus of Philippine English as their
(including ESP) at the upper grades,
works were published and translated
and ContentBased Instruction and
internationally, which made them as
ESP in special classes.
writers in English. Some of them are:
• Cirilo F. Bautista
Now, let’s explore the following aspects
• Isagani Cruz
of Philippine English:
• Ophelia Dimalanta
• Philippine English Literature and
Language • Marjorie Evasco
• Linguistic Features of Philippine • F. Sionil Jose – who write with Filipino
English voices in English.
• Code-switching and Varieties of
Philippine English
Philippine English has caused
• The Linguistic Repertoire of the changes not only in the lexicon of
Filipino English Language, but also in
“Filipinisms” (special loan
translations from Filipino to English)
ASPECTS: and in restructuring of English
grammar (e.g. tense-aspects, article
• Philippine English Literature and systems). These two are big parts in
Language
the Asianization of the English (publísh), three-syllable words
Language. This now has resulted in (sémester) and in polysyllabic words,
language and literature becoming an the stress is usually placed on the
expressions of culture and practices – a antepenultimate syllable (testímony).
common observance among Asian
7. Lexicons has local names and terms,
Literature.
and loan translations from local idioms.
Presently, we can observe that our (‘buksan ang radyo – ‘open the radio’
vernaculars and Philippine English are instead of ‘turn on the radio’)
influenced by the failed imitation of
8. Local use of prepositions after certain
sound systems and other features of the
verbs and adjectives. (result to instead
English language by the Filipino
of result in)
teachers under the tutelage of
Thomasites. This entails that from the 9. Recasting of American Idioms as well
beginning then, local varieties of as direct translations from local phrases.
Philippine English are based on the first ( ‘I am ashamed to you' rather than 'I am
language of the learners. embarrassed in front of you’)
10. Writing was learned in school from
Original American Models, but these
• Linguistic Features of Philippine
structures tended to be imitative and to
English
leave room for creativity, resulting in the
1. Speaking is syllable-time rather than tendency of using formal tones in
stress-time with full pronunciation of the informal context. Joos (1967) called it
vowels. (Hence, the tendency of spelling “consultative or “informal style”.
pronunciation)
11. Creativity and Experimentation
2. Intonation and other expressive began earlier in poetry than in prose.
features are clearly local, often with a
rise in intonation in wh-questions and in
tag questions. • Code-switching and Varieties of
Philippine English
3. In the segmental phonemes, the
vowel inventory is reduced. In here, there are lects of formality and
informality. However, for informal
4. In the consonants, some members of
communications, bilingual or even
cultural communities do not pronounce
multilingual Filipinos would rather use
/f/ and /v/ but collapse them into /p/
the national language Filipino or their
and /b/.
home vernacular. When they have to
5. There is the use of the tapped /r/ speak in English but would like to do so
rather than the retroflex /r/ of American informally, they deliberately code-switch,
English. which presupposes competence in both
the local language and English.
6. Stress is distinctively placed in
syllables including two-syllable words
CHABACANO *Basilect – a variety often spoken by
least educated people.
- A Philippine pidgin.
Notion: Since the quality of school is a
- A blend of a local Central Philippine
function of tuition fees, the school is
Language and Spanish.
reflective of the socio-economic
- Chabacanos, speakers of Chabacano background of students’ families.
didn’t know enough Spanish words but However, there are exemptions,
used some local terms and even content because the level of spoken English
words from Spanish so that they will be Language in public schools can be
understood by their Spanish master adequate and compare equally “well”
with the standard of private schools.
Contemporary Code-switching -
Unlike in Chabacano, speakers are Llamzon claimed in 1969, based on
knowledgeable in both languages but models of reputable English speakers in
switch to bring familiarity and informality universities and among country leaders,
to the situation. When they do not have that the Philippine English is
enough English words to explain “standardized”. However, this position
themselves, they switch to Filipino, and was challenged and which nowadays
vice-versa. On the other hand, when Llamzon no longer claims.
they need to discuss scientific and
Other subvarieties of the Philippine
technical terms but have no Filipino
English can be seen on cultural
word for the terms, they switch to
communities where one can
English. Of course, these situation are
immediately detects where the speakers
not permanent, as they might change in
belong especially Cebuanos,
the future.
Hiligaynons, Ilokanos, and Maranaos.
Standards for Philippine English are not
Philippine English Varieties - The best so much determined by socio-economic
way to describe the subvarieties of status but by the type of school one has
Philippine English is to refer them attended; one may belong from the
“edulects” more than “acrolects”, lower SES but can be a scholar to an
“mesolects”, and “basilects”, since the elite school where he/she can learn the
levels are a function of the education language. And if there is to be a
of the speaker and the kind of standard to be accepted, it will be the
English Language tuition he/she edulects from the schools where the
received in school. (Gonzalez & dialectal substratal manifestations
Bautista, 1985) have been minimized in favor of the type
of English described by its specific and
*Acrolect – a variety with no significant distinct characteristics – its acceptability
difference from Standard English. in international communications and in
*Mesolect – a variety w/c has unique global conferences
grammatical features that distinguish it
from Standard English.
Relative, one that may promotes the But, in the last quarter of the twentieth
most acceptable variety, which in turn century, there was a concern voiced out
may become the standard, is the use of by parents who complained to the
Philippine English in international Department of Education and to the
communications and for the mass media National Leadership that English
(TV Broadcast), as well as the print Competence had “deteriorated” and it
medium (daily newspapers) was time to renew the teaching of
English.
To heed to the said concern, there’s an
• The Linguistic Repertoire of the
immediate return of using English
Filipino
language in seminars and meetings and
As per prehistory is concerned, the there was a movement for the renewal
inhabitants of the nation have been of methodology and retraining of
multilingual who can speak their local teachers in oral competence and
vernaculars but also speak a regional reading skills.
Lingua Franca for intertribal
Although, English Language, still, plays
communication. When we were
dominant roles in its following stable
colonized by the Spaniards and
domains:
Americans, Spanish and English,
respectively, were added. Then in 1937, • Print Media
the use of Tagalog, renamed into
• Higher Education
Pilipino, and then now Filipino was
added because of the development of • Business Transactions in Multinational
National Language Law. Presently, 85% and Internationally- oriented companies
of people across the nation speak
different colloquial variety of Filipino • Diplomacy and International Relations
language, or what we in psycholinguistic • And as a Global Lingua Franca for
terminology would call Basic relations with the world
Interpersonal Communicative Skills
(BICS)
Prior to the rise of fervent nationalism, Foreign Market is the biggest incentive
the repertoire of educated Filipinos was for improving one’s English Language
dominated by the English Language. Competence. Filipinos with English
However, younger generation Competence are very much in demand
condemned this because according to not only as health professionals
them, there was a 'miseducation' of (doctors, nurses, medical
Filipinos in foreign language. Hence, technologists, x-ray technologists,
there was a conscious attempt to use and now midwives and caregivers)
Filipino not only for everyday but also as elementary school
communication but also for formal teachers in parochial schools in
occasions and class use. United States, and Hotel and
Restaurants works across the world.
Moreover, the largest source of foreign CHAPTER 2.2 English in Philippine
exchange is our Overseas Filipino Education SOLUTION OR PROBLEM?
Workers (OFW) contribution, which is
Introduction:
expected to grow. Hence, the prognosis
for the restoration of the English A history of criticism and debate in
language competence is favorable English in Philippine Education
The English language is well entrenched
in Philippine formal education. English
References:
was introduced into the formal
• S., B. M., & Bolton, K. (2008). educational system when the United
Philippine English: Linguistic and literary States of America colonized the
perspectives. Hong Kong, China: Hong Philippines. On April 7, 1900, US
Kong University Press. President William McKinley issued a
Letter of Instruction declaring that
• Nordquist, R. (2019). Definition and
English should be the medium of
Examples of Acrolects in Language.
instruction at all levels of the public
Retrieved from
educational system in the
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-
Philippines.
acrolect-1689057

PRACTICAL CONDITIONS:
1. There were no teachers and teaching
materials in the Philippine languages.
2. American colonial government
adopted the English- only policy for
political and governance reasons as
well.
3. English was thought of as a unifying
language that could harmonize Filipinos
from the different regions who spoke
different languages and dialects.
4. English was seen 'as the language
that would provide the Filipinos access
to civilization...the life of reason and
prudence'.

Since then, the policy has been

criticized, upheld, denounced,
sustained, eventually modified, and is
still being debated at all levels of 3. A recommendation made by Prator
educational policy making (Bernardo, (1950) introducing the idea of teaching
2004). There are many proponents English as a second language.
calling for the reinstatement of English
Sustaining English in a Bilingual
as the sole medium of instruction at all
education program - These strong
levels of the educational system.
criticisms and denunciations of English
were not powerful enough to dislodge
English from Philippine education. A
Early criticisms of the English-
compromise policy was approved in the
language policy - There has been cons
early 1970s which provided for bilingual
i s tent and sys tematic documentation
education in Philippine basic education.
of students' learning difficulties
associated with using English as the The Bilingual Education Policy (BEP)
medium of instruction. Such reports of 1974 mandated the use of both
were noted very early in the English and Pilipino as medium of
implementation of the English language instruction in elementary and high
policy. Jose V. Aguilar conducted one of school.
the more famous of these studies. The
Aguilar study and others suggested that
Filipino students learned more Current debates - It is this bilingual
effectively when they were taught using education system that is presently being
their native languages. criticized by some sectors of society.
These sectors blame the poor outcomes
of Philippine education on the shift from
The 'decline' of English in education - an English-only policy to the bilingual
A convergence of 3 factors diminished policy. The basis of this seems to be
the pre-eminence of English in mainly anecdotal reports from leaders of
Philippine education around the late these sectors about how good their
1950s: English-only education was.
1. Positive results of experiments However, an evaluation of the BEP,
involving native languages as media for conducted by Gonzalez and Sibayan
instruction. (1988), revealed that the shift to BEP did
not result in any significant gains or
2. UNESCO proclaiming the need to
losses in overall student achievement.
begin schooling in the students' mother
The study asserted that the perceived
tongue because they understand it best
deterioration of student learning was
and to begin their school life in the
related to other factors including
mother tongue will make the break
inadequate teacher training, textbooks,
between the home and school as small
and learning materials. It seems that the
as possible
discourse on the role of English in
education is one that is not shaped
simply by empirical evidence.
 Competing Discourses: Past and access to the wealth of knowledge at
Present that time.
Bernardo (2004) elaborated on 5
themes in the competing discourses
c. The usefulness of English in the
on the role of English in Philippine
economic and intellectual domains,
education:
English would be the better medium to
a. The use of English for social
give Filipinos access to the knowledge
integration and/ or control -
of other civilizations. These arguments
Similar arguments for social integration are still valid as most of the knowledge
have also been proposed in recent in the various domains of learning is
decades, asserting that English serves documented in the English language.
as a unifying element and that its use
English is also the language used in
forestalls a contentious and divisive
most of the 'controlling domains' in the
debate about which Philippine
Philippines. Sibayan (1994) defined the
languages to use as media for
controlling domains as the domains of
instruction.
power and prestige, which control the
Many scholars have argued that the use national and individual lives of people. In
of English has developed in Filipinos a almost all these domains, the
national identity that is defined in terms institutions, structures, and processes
of the agenda of the American require English proficiency.
colonizers, and they note that the
underlying worldview still persists over
half a century after independence from d. The colonizing and oppressive
the colonizer. power of English
As Constantino (1982) asserted, the use
of English was instrumental in the 'mis-
b. The pragmatic difficulties in
education' of Filipinos, as 'education
shifting away from English
saw to it that the Filipino mind was
These difficulties existed during the subservient to that of the master'.
American colonial period when there
Other scholars have argued that the true
was a concern about the American
liberation of the Filipino people from
teachers' inability to teach using the
their colonial/ postcolonial ties can begin
local languages, the lack of local
only when the use of English in formal
teachers who could teach using the local
education and in many of the controlling
languages, the absence of textbooks
domains is rejected.
and other learning materials in the local
languages. There was also a concern In a similar ideological vein, more recent
that the local languages were not scholarship has also argued that the
intellectualized enough to provide continued use of English serves to
further the divide between the 'haves'
and the 'have- nots' of Philippine knowledge. In contrast, the small
society. Gonzalez (1980) and Tupas proportion of Filipino children who
(2001,2004) have observed that the acquire English language proficiency in
intellectual, social, and economic a privileged milieu have good
advantages that are supposed to be opportunities to benefit from English
gained with English proficiency have language education.
been limited to the sectors of Philippine
Therefore, the supposed usefulness of
society that are already privileged.
English seems to be restricted to this
sector of Philippine society.
e. The harmful effects of using
English in the learning of the typical
The discourse of ‘Global
Filipino student.
Competitiveness’
The research reveals several
In its most simple form, the argument for
interrelated conclusions:
strengthening English language
● Students learn better in their mother education and for using English as the
tongue; medium of instruction states that
Filipinos will become more competitive
● Students do not learn as well in
in the global labor market if they have
English and that, in some cases, they do
high levels of proficiency in English.
not learn at all;
● Using English as the medium of
instruction in some learning areas The global labor market - The
prevents students from learning as globalization of economies and the rise
much as they could, and that sometimes of multinational and transnational
specific obstacles to learning are companies have had an effect on the
associated with English language requirements for English language skills
difficulties; and even for local employment. At present,
the purported English language
● Those who benefit most from
proficiency of the Filipino worker is
education in the English language are
supposed to be one of the competitive
those with good levels of proficiency in
advantages of the Philippines as a
English to start with and/ or those who
possible investment site for foreign
grow up in environments that abound
companies.
with English language inputs, materials,
and resources. It is apparent that English language
proficiency will allow Filipinos to
The overwhelming majority of Filipino
compete for jobs globally and locally.
children find their limited proficiency in
English a major stumbling block in their
efforts to learn in the various domains of
 Educating the globally-competitive The language problem in Philippine
worker Education
Is English language proficiency in and of There are two distinct (although related)
itself sufficient to make a worker globally questions that need to be resolved:
competitive?
1. What language(s) should Filipino
The obvious answer to this question is students be proficient in, in order to be
no. Other qualities related to technical competitive in the global labor market?
knowledge and skills, work-related
2. What language(s) should be used in
attitudes and values, among others, are
the teaching and learning experiences of
also extremely important qualities of a
Filipino students so that they acquire the
globally- competitive worker.
various competencies required to be
Many scholars who have studied the competitive in the global labor market?
relationship between education and
globalization have noted that with the
increased and more complex levels of Language proficiency
knowledge content in goods traded
internationally, educational systems in Given current global realities, it is hardto
many countries have had to refocus argue against the assertion that Filipino
their attention on higher education students should gain proficiency in
and the development of higher level English to become more competitive.
knowledge and skills in order to be This language problem in Philippine
more competitive. education relates to the role of Filipino
and other Philippine languages in the
Salmi (2000) proposes that globally attainment of English language
competitive persons must learn how to proficiency.
keep learning for the rest of their life. He
refers to the need for these individuals ARGUMENT:
to acquire 'methodological knowledge Advocates of a strong English-as-
and skills' related to being able to medium-of-instruction policy have
acquire new knowledge on one's own, proposed that Filipinos will best gain
involving skills such as being able to English proficiency if the formal
source, access, and apply knowledge to educational system uses English as the
a variety of emerging problem situations, exclusive language of instruction for
and characteristics such as being all subjects or learning areas, except for
creative, resourceful, flexible, and Filipino.
adaptable.
● We see that it seems to be premised
on a monolingual assumption and its
underlying fallacies:
The monolingual as sumption i s related
to Pennycook's (1994) observation of
the 'belief in monolingualism as the
norm' (135, 168) and underlies a Language for learning technical
number of related postulates: the knowledge and skills
monolingual fallacy, the code-separation
There are at least four possible positions
position, the maximum exposure fallacy,
regarding the relationship between
and the subtractive fallacy.
language and the acquisition and
performance of technical knowledge and
skills:
Monolingual Fallacy - the
presupposition that English as a foreign ● Null Relationship
language is best taught monolingually.
First, it could be posited that there is a
Code-Separation Postulate - the null relationship between language
presumption that the two languages of and the learning and performance of
the bilingual should be kept separate. technical knowledge. It could be argued
This presumption refers to the need to that technical knowledge is actually
preserve language purity and to avoid abstract and thus unaffected by
language-mixing, especially in the contextual factors such as language.
educational context.
Maximum Exposure Fallacy - related
● Language Proficiency Effect
to the notion that as far as language
learning is concerned, more is better Second, it could be asserted that there
is a language proficiency effect. That
Subtractive Fallacy - the use of more
is, technical knowledge and skills are
than one language in the important
best acquired if the medium is a
language domains will result in the
language in which the student is highly
decline of one or more of the languages.
proficient.

Although there seems to be a clear

● Language-Of-Learning Effect
imperative to develop the English
language proficiency of Filipino students Third, we could posit a language-of-
in order to be competitive for local and learning effect, which implies that
international jobs, this imperative does performance of technical knowledge and
not necessarily require that Filipino and skills is best in the language used to
other Philippine languages should be teach and learn it. Thus, the critical
sidelined in the process factor is the consistency in language use
in the acquisition and application phases
of learning.

● Structural-Fit Effect
Finally, there could be a structural-fit
effect. That is, certain languages might
be structurally more appropriate for CHAPTER 3: World Englishes or
representing and processing the content worlds of English?
and operations in the technical fields.
Pitfalls of a postcolonial discourse in
Philippine English
CONCLUSION
The long history of English in Philippine WORLD ENGLISHES?
education has shown the remarkable
The term World English (or World
resilience of English as a feature of· the
Englishes) refers to the English
Philippine educational system. It is not
language as it is variously used
unreasonable to predict that English will
throughout the world. It's also known
persist in some form or another in
as international English and global
Philippine schools for many more years.
English.
Whether English will be part of the
problem in Philippine education or part “phase in the history of the English
of the solution depends on how language”
educational decision-makers and
stakeholders construct and reconstruct Mother tongue of various nations ->
the roles of English in Philippine Language used in non-mother tongue
schools. settings
Worlds of English?
It refers to the different worlds or the
divisions that the varieties of the English
language has made.
Braj Kachru’s Concentric Circles of
English shows the varieties and spread
of English across the globe using the
Inner circle, Outer circle, and Expanding
circle.
“THREE CIRCLES OF ENGLISH” Braj
Kachru
1. Inner-Circle - UK, USA, AU, NZ,
etc. 380 million speakers
2. Outer-Circle – India, Nigeria,
Philippines, Bangladesh,
Pakistan, Malaysia, Tanzania,
Kenya, non- Anglophone South
Africa and Canada, etc. 150-300
million speakers
 3. Expanding Circle – China, colonized countries where ‘owning’
Russia, Japan, most of Europe, English or appropriating it according to
Korea, Egypt, Indonesia, etc. Up their own needs and aspirations is one
to one billion speakers. of the manifestations of independence
or self-determination.
Introduction
• Such postcolonial Englishes have
The political discourse of English is both
been a legitimate medium through which
enabling and disempowering: it fittingly
various significations of nationalism,
delegitimizes English’s traditional center
resistance and local histories and
of power and norms and, in the process,
cultures have been voiced.
rightly assaults the ‘sacred cows’ of
English language teaching and learning • Legitimized and institutionalized
all over the world; at the same time, It Englishes are, linguistically and
eschews important dimensions of the sociolinguistically, all equal with
nature of power relations in the post- erstwhile ‘old’ varieties of English,
independence, post-cold war era. such as American English and British
English.

POLITICS OF WORLD ENGLISH

World English views postcolonial as
According to Bolton (2005), Kachru’s
distinguishable from colonial.
paradigm went beyond the linguistic
dimensions of the Englishes around the English has two faces (Kachru, 1988) –
world. the face of the colonizer (Western,
Judeo-Christian) and the face of the
Assumptions in the field of World
colonized (e.g. African, Asian) – and is
English:
possible to look only at the face of the
• The phenomenal spread of English, ‘present’, that the facet of the English
which was carried by mainly through language which has opened up
globalization, has resulted in the democratically to the desires and cries
diffusion of the language. of the colonized whose sociolinguistic
fulfillment can be seen from the various
• Such diffusion has produced different novel ways the English language has
Englishes through sociolinguistic been ‘reinvented and ‘destroyed’.
practices usually referred to as
nativization, hybridization, Hybridized and indigenized Englishes in
localization, acculturation and/or this sense are sociolinguistic, liberatory
indigenization. phenomena that legitimize the ‘present’
face of the English language.
Example: English is no longer in Asia
POLITICS OF WORLD ENGLISH but, more importantly, of Asia and is an
• Such processes are part of the whole Asian language
project of decolonization among formerly
Kachru argues for an empowering Additionally, the globalization of power
notion of ‘nativeness’ which proposes relations referred to earlier has created
that the ‘non-native’ speakers of English a transnational alliance among
are themselves native speakers of the national elites whose interests are
language based on it unique and varied identical in terms of their pursuit of
functionalities. international capital and their support for
neoliberal infrastructures. They are the
However, WE’s narrative of
transnational capitalist class (TCC) or
hybridization, nativization, and
referred to as Davos man.
resistance in postcolonial era is
incomplete. It describes the conditions WE captures the spread of power from
of existence that have followed in which the colonial center to the rest of the
many basic power structure have yet to world through its narrative of hybridizing,
change in any substantive way (Young, nativizing, and resisting Englishes. From
2001:60). In other words, there are its colonizing source at the Center,
fundamental connections between power has dispersed across the ex-
the ‘past’ and the ‘present’; their faces colonial nations such that questions
constitute untransparent features of about linguistic norms and standards
power and struggle in the light of the have become both sociolinguistic and
onslaught of new forms of domination political question of ownership, struggle,
via capitalist globalization. World English and resistance.
is deployed across a postcolonial world
that is also witnessing the globalization
of power relations. Patterns of colonial Whose Englishes are legitimate and
domination exist, yet with new twists whose are not?
(Sernau, 2000:113).
THE POWER OF ENGLISH
According to Kachru (1986), the power
Reframing power in the globalizing of English can be seen through its
World range and depth. The range of English
refers to the totality of functions which
The processes of decolonization
it has acquired as it spreads around the
generally did not automatically result in
globe. Its depth refers to the amount of
genuine freedom for the colonized; to
societal penetration it has achieved as
some extent, they involved the transfer
it moved from the Inner Circle to the
of power from the colonizers to the
other circles.
national elites who as intermediaries
between the nation and the colonial The depth of the power of English,
power betrayed the legitimate Kachru says, can be viewed in a
aspirations of anti-colonial struggles by ‘horizontal sense’ where English
aligning themselves with the cultures moves away from its traditional center to
and ideologies of their former colonial its many other centers across the globe
masters (Fanon, 1965). through nativization and acculturation.
Kachru’s useful parameters of the Filipinos have started recreating the
power of English English language, a case of linguistic
emancipation which is parallel with
• Demographical and numerical:
economic and cultural emancipation.
unprecedented spread across cultures
and languages; on practically every Despite the independence given to the
continent… country in 1946, the Philippine
educational system continue to show
• Functional: provides access to most
large traces of American influence.
important scientific, technological, and
English has remained the language of
cross culture domains of knowledge and
power, prestige, and social mobility
interaction.
even after the introduction of the
• Attitudinal: symbolizes-certainly to a bilingual education policy in 1974. The
large group across cultures-one or more symbolic power of English has
of the following: neutrally, liberalism, remained very strong.
status and progressivism
English language has been implicated in
• Accessibility: provides intranational the political dynamics of nation-
accessibility in the Outer Circle and building and development in the
international country. This meant the crucial
utilization of educational resources, both
mobility across regions formal and non-formal, for export-driven
• Pluricentricity: this has resulted in the economic development.
nativization and acculturation of the The National College Entrance
language. These two are, then, Examination (NCEE) became the chief
responsible for ‘assimilation’ of English educational, and thus, social stratifier.
across cultures. With standards set with the central
• Material: a tool for mobility, economic government, the NCEE determined who
gains, and social status. among the high school graduates could
go on to college and earn their degrees.
Not only has English become the
The case of Philippine English language for labor, but it has also
remained an instrument for
Issuing from the paradigm of the WE, educational segregation
‘Philippine English’ is incriminated in a
similar discourse of post coloniality. Issues of language choice in
Gonzalez (1976) had already education and society are intricately
conceptualized the unique variety of interwoven with another crucial
English in the Philippines as an dimension of language politics in the
Philippines: the question of access not
assertion of self-identification and only to particular language of power, but
linguistic freedom which would also to particular varieties of English
indigenize the content of English framed within broad relations of power
language materials in the country; which are themselves constituted by an
intersection of historical, ideological, and grammatical correctness and
social political forces. In a broad sense, appropriateness of use.
we can refer do this as the political
There is a standard Philippine
economy of linguistic- communicative
English with its own logical system of
resources in a society which deals with
grammar and lexicon. However, there
issues of the availability, accessibility,
is still a ‘standard of standards’ which
and distribution of specific linguistic-
is largely based on American English
communicative skills such as
and is highly desirable in education and
competence in standard and literate
society (Bautista, 2000).
varieties of the language (Blommaert,
2001:136). Educated speakers of English in the
Outer Circle and Inner Circle share a
In the case of the Philippines this also
common political experience of being
brings us back to the nature of language
the source of linguistic norms of use
choice : is choice really an individual
and usage and of being the political
choice which has realistic material and
center of power itself toward which the
symbolic rewards to all, or is it a social
society’s privileges are usually drawn.
construction, an ideology meant to
advantage only a small circle of people
in society? Whose English is
legitimate in such a way that it is what Kachru’s concentric circles model is
is deemed correct in examinations, apt both valuable and inadequate.
for good jobs? In the Philippines, who It is useful in the sense that much
really owns English in such a way that knowledge production, including the
they can deploy it – or destroy it – for construction of language teaching
their own benefit? materials which perpetuate and/or
reinvent norms and rules still emanates
from BANA countries. However, it is
Filipino poet, Gemino Abad declares: inadequate for it does not capture the
phenomenon of class-based
‘English is now ours. We have colonized
transnational alliances where inner
it too’
circles both in traditionally native and
WE’s concentric circles - The people non-native countries share similar
who speak the English of the Philippines desires for international capital, a
which is presumably different from the singular global economy, and
one being spoken by native speakers in cosmopolitan lifestyles and identities.
the Inner Circle.
Perspective of class - Exclusive group
CONCLUSION
of people whose English is correct and
who share with other educated speakers While we acknowledge the usefulness of
of Englishes a sort of mutual intelligibility English In today‘s world, it is another
in English based on received notions of thing to de- center or eschews of power,
inequality, and poverty within which
English is implicated for the reason that, CHAPTER 4: TAGLISH, OR THE
say, its hybridized varieties have now PHANTOM POWER OF THE LINGUA
empowered their speakers and FRANCA
consequently have made English a
language of resistance and
empowerment. INTRODUCTION
It is important to continuously remind TAGLISH - is the combination of
ourselves that issues of hybridization, Tagalog and English, both in name and
indigenization, linguistic diffusion, in substance. It is the name given to the
empowerment, and resistance, are phenomenon where the two languages
worked out within structures of power are combined into one sentence in
and limited agencies, and that to talk everyday speech. It is also common to
about them is to talk about political see in writing too.
questions concerning the polemics of
globalization, power, postcolonialism, DOGEATERS - In the novel of the
class and so on. Filipina- American meztiza writer
Jessica Hagedorn it begins with her
The study of English need not only focus memory of watching Hollywood movie in
on the ‘Englishes’ of the world, but more a Manila theater in the 1950s. She
importantly, must take account of the recalls the pleasure of anonymous
‘worlds’ of English as well. looking in the company of foreign
images and unknown bodies.
In the novel, the meztiza girls of
• REFERENCES:
privileged Rio Gonzaga and her cousin
• Nordquist, Richard. (2020, August 27). Pucha Gonzaga and their chaperone
What Is World English? Retrieved from Lorenza watches a Hollywood movie
https://www.thoughtco.com/world- entitled “All that Heaven Allows” where
englishes-1692509 they’re absorbed in the intimated details
of the stars’ appearance. Emerging from
• S., B. M., & Bolton, K. (2008).
the movie as they emerge also into the
Philippine English: Linguistic and literary
light of the social differences signaled by
perspectives. Hong Kong, China: Hong
the workings of a vernacular sensibility.
Kong University Press. • Valpa, A.
(2020, April 25). Kachru Model “The Pucha: 'I don't like her face, I hate when
Three Circles of English”. Medium. Rock starts kissing her.'
https://agvalpa.medium.com/kachru-
Rio: 'What's wrong with it?'
model-the-three- circles-of-english-
b53b86e63d46 Pucha : 'Ay! Que corny! I dunno what
Rock sees in her'
Rio: 'It's a love story,'
Pucha : 'It's a corny love story, when
you think about it,'
Rio: 'What about Gloria Talbott? You Spanish mestizo Manuel Quezon-
liked her,didn't you? She's so ...' both credited with founding the dominant
fictions of Filipino nationhood.
Pucha: 'Ay! Puede ba, you have weird
taste! She's really cara de achay if
you ask me.'
Rio envied Pucha's fair skin, blond hair,
Rio:'She looks like a cat- that's why straight nose, and 'overdeveloped 36B'
she's so strange and interesting.' breasts
Pucha: 'She looks like a cat aw-right, To be mestizo/a is to imagine one' s
But if you ask me, prima, Gloria Talbott inclusion in a circuit of substitutions. It is
looks like a trapo. And what's more, to cultivate a relationship of proximity to
Kim. Novak should've been in this movie the outside sources of power without
instead of Jane Wyman. Jane's too old, being totally absorbed by them.
'Pobre Rock! Every time he has to kiss
her’
MEZTIZO/A - The doubleness of
The two cousins complains about the
meztizo/a identity has a linguistic
appearance of the stars. Their exchange
dimension
hinges on envy as a mode of
identification. Rio's fascination with the  They can speak mixed language
'interesting' and catlike Gloria Talbott popularly known in the
is ridiculed by Pucha, who disdains the Philippines Taglish.
actress's 'cara de achay’ (servant-like
face) and 'trapo' (dish rag)- like EX: Pucha talks in a combination of at
appearance. least three languages:
• English

MEZTIZA ENVY • Spanish

Meztizo/a enjoyed a priveleged position • Tagalog

in Philippine history:
• economic wealth, Pucha exclaims as she hears Rio’s
• political influence, and remaks on Gloria Talbott’s ‘interesting’
character,
• cultural hegemony
“’Ay! Puede ba, you have weird taste!
She’s really cara de achay if you ask
me’ [‘Oh! Spare me. She’s got the face
To occupy the position of mestizo/a is to
of a maid!’].”
invoke the legacy of the ilustrados,
the generation of mostly mixed-race,
Spanish-speaking, university-
educated nationalists, from the Pucha breaches the divisions among
Chinese mestizo Jose Rizal to the English, Spanish and Tagalog.
The singsong delivery of English rule or reclaiming the legacy of late
anticipates the bursts of Spanish and nineteenth century nationalist figures.
Tagalog fragments in her speech.

TAGALOG
MESTIZONESS - is the capacity to
• Grammatically codified and
speak in different registers, as if one's
phonetically reduced to Roman
identity were overlaid and occupied by
characters by Spanish missionaries for
other possible ones.
purposes of translating prayers and
Christian texts as early as the late
sixteenth century (Rafael, 1993).
BAKYA AND THE PROSPECTS OF
OVERHEARING • Latin and Spanish terms for Christian
concepts with no direct equivalents in
Tagalog were left untranslated, lodged
ENGLISH as the traces of an alien presence
periodically erupting into the fabric of the
• legacy of US colonialism vernacular texts.
• postwar neocolonial relations has • As the medium of conversion, it also
functioned as the language of higher tended to dislocate Christian-colonial
education meanings by supplying native hearers
• and until the mid-1970s, the dominant with an array of associations that
medium of instruction in public and exceeded missionary control. Tagalog
private schools. betrayed, in both senses of the word,
Spanish Christianity and colonialism.
• Used as a language for addressing a
SPANISH mass audience
• Less than 1% of the population has • Lent itself to the solicitation and
ever been fluent in Spanish in Spain's expression of deference with its
350 years of colonial rule. honorifics, such as ho and po to signal
• Practice of converting the native social and generational distance
populace in local vernaculars and between speakers.

• The learning of Spanish was limited to • Designated as the basis of the yet-to-
an elite, mostly mestizo (Chinese and be instituted national language (wikang
Spanish) minority with access to a pambansa) by the Commonwealth
university education in Manila and government in 1938 and again by the
Europe. Japanese occupation regime in 1943.

• Spanish became a way of signaling • Serve as the language of commercially

class attachments to an ersatz, driven mass media, specifically radio,
aristocratic lineage that predated US television, and film.
TAGLISH explicitly not meant for, the bakya crowd
(bakya being a reference to cheap
For Agoncillo, Taglish represented the
wooden clogs) was a way for the urban
dilution of Tagalog with English phrases
intelligentsia to conceptualize its other.
and Spanish malapropisms. It reflected
the ignorance of its speakers, largely • Jose F. Lacaba has written most
middle-class, university-educated, instructively about the bakya as
English speaking, Manila-based, 'anything that is cheap, gauche, naive,
postwar youth along with radio provincial and terribly popular; and in
announcers and movie personalities. this sense it is used more as an
adjective than as a noun' (1983b: 117).

'bastard language'
BAKYA
• For Agoncillo, Taglish is designed for
the marketplace rather than the task of • Within the natonalist framework it is
national unification. the depoliticized and indiscriminate
mass of consumers.
• The emergence of a truly national
language, one that in 'fusing' different • Bakya speech is precisely to see it as
Philippine vernaculars would merge the funny; but it also requires that one
interests of the masses with those of the reproduce such speech, setting oneself
nationalist elite (Agoncillo and Guerrero, apart from its ostensive speakers.
1960: 535-6).
• Lacaba does precisely this, retelling
• It placed English, Spanish, and apocryphal stories about a movie star:
Tagalog as equally substitutable rather
Movie idol on seeing the chandeliers at
than hierarchically related.
the Cultural Center: 'Wow, what
• In the late 1960s and early 1970s, beautiful chamberlains!' To a fan: 'Would
nationalist attempts to contain the you like my mimeograph?' To a waitress
effects of Taglish were reflected in the in a crowded, smoke-filled room: 'Please
urban, middle-class discourse regarding open the door. I'm getting sophisticated.'
the lower classes. On being offered a glass of wine after a
companion has replied, 'I'm afraid not':
• A new term emerged to designate this
'Me, I'm not afraid.' At the dinner table:
heterogeneous population: the bakya
'Please pass the salt. My hands cannot
crowd.
arrive.' On seeing a black cat pass by:
'That's a bad oinment' [i.e. omen]. After
singing a song that has met with
THE BAKYA CROWD appreciative applause: 'Thanks for the
• Coined in the early 1960s by Filipino clap.' (1983b: 121).
film director and national artist Lamberto The fictitious movie idol displays what
Avellana to describe the types of seems from the writer's perspective like
audiences his serious films were a failed relationship to the linguistic
order. In the mythical world of the
bakya, every attempt to speak English
IKABOD
is marked by mistakes. Even more
significant is the idol's failure to mark  In the early 1980s Marcelo
her/his mistakes. It is not only the case created a new series entitled !
that the bakya speaker misuses English, kabod.
For Lacaba, bakya speakers are unable
 Marcelo's use of Taglish
to recognize their mistakes. Therefore
permitted him to double code the
they’re unable to correct their mistake.
dialogue of the characters in
Those who identifies themselves as
ways that deflected even as it
non-bakya can recognize the mistake.
acknowledged the regime's
Lacaba positions himself as someone power to regulate discourse.
who has overheard something that the
speaker did not intend and was not
Through Taglish, one becomes party to
aware of. He serves as a medium for
a scene of hearing someone who has
relating the fragmentation and disruption
arrogated to himself the sole right to
of English. Through him, readers are
overhear, thereby seeing what was not
positioned to share in the joke: that
meant to be seen. The Marcos regime's
English, like Tagalog and Spanish, is a
attempt to hide its economic profligacy
language that can come across
and contain rumor s about its ill-gotten
otherwise. Through the bakya use of
wealth is exposed with a remarkable
English, Lacaba thus discovers the
economy of words: ' Merry Crises-mas!’
workings of Taglish
and 'Nineteen eighty poor’
To be bakya is to be stranded between
aesthetic sensibilities and geographies.
NONOY MARCELO’S PLAY OF
WORDS
KABAKYAAN
bes preng [best friend]
• In taglish Promdi or Promdi
wa-es [wise]
Probinsya.
donkworry [don't worry]
• from Provinces
wassamata? [what's the matter?]
• Unconsciously transitional, the bakya
speaker – speaks Taglish but thinks wajawang? [what do you want?]
s/he is speaking English.
dasbitor! [that's better!]

IKABOD AND THE POLITICS OF

TAGLISH coined words

TISOY - Taglish for Meztizo jeprox [hippie]

wardspeak (gay lingo): - less-educated viewers with lower
incomes and of humbler, perhaps
'Say mo?' ['What do you say to that?'].
provincial origins. While attracted
'Weno?!' for '0 ... e ano?!' ['Well, so to Hollywood blockbusters, these
what?'] audiences tend to prefer Filipino
films.

'CULTURAL ALIENATION'
FILIPINO FILMS
Marcelo highlights the ability of Taglish
to peel away from the grammatical and  Taglish serves to organize the
social contexts of English, Spanish, and signifying economy of the
Tagalog, juxtaposing them instead in a workplace and home.
relation of constant interruption.  Demarcating lines of authority
that separate managers from
One speaks and hears not just a surplus workers and ·parent s from
of referents; one also senses the children.
audible, material workings of translation
as one shuttles between languages Words used to signal social distance
spoken in a mode of exclamatory in a workplace:
urgency.
• Tagalog honorifics 'ho' and 'po' that
Taglish between 1983 and 1986 had intersperse speech.
been politicized by being made to stand
• Qualifies as sertions and reminders
outside the hierarchy of languages.
with the particle 'daw', signifying that
Taglish took on a radically public
what one says are not their words but
character and was reworked into an
something they overheard and is now
arena of uneven and ongoing
compelled to pass on.
translations.

BAKLAS
MOVIES AND THE LINGUA FRANCA
 Petit bourgeois male homosexual
CLASS DIVISION
who frequently appears in small
'As' and 'Bs' - discerning, educated, roles in many Filipino films.
urban, and economically well-off  Source of comedy
audiences fluent in English who watch  Source of shock effects in as
mostly Hollywood movies and the much as they embody the novel
occasional 'quality' Filipino film that may conjunctions of signs.
have garnered some kind of  The bakla would also approach
international reputation. the position of the mestizo/a
whose identity is poised between
'C' and 'D' - bakya crowd languages.
MARICRIS SIOSON: JAPAYUKI  As one who cannot be spoken of
as a 'he' or 'she'.
BAKLA: Gretchen, patayin mo muna.
 In Taglish Swardspeak
Mga loka kayo. liang linggo na nating
ginagawa ito? Ano ba naman yan?
Kaunti namang lambot ng inyong
CONCLUSION
katawan. Kaunti lang, parang awa niyo
na. Pupunta kayo sa Japan para maging  Movies routinize the shock of
dancers, para magsayaw, hindi para hearing and speaking otherwise.
maging executives. Kaya dapat bawat In consuming such films,
kilos ng inyong katawan at bawat lantik audiences buy into the pleasures
ng inyong mga daliri at bawat pungay ng of anonymous hearing and
inyong mga mata ay importante. The seeing.
end all and be all ng lahat ng mga  Audiences experience a mode of
dinadakdak ko dito ay entertainment na envy for those who appear most
ibinibigay ninyo sa mga lalaki doon sa fluent in Taglish.
audience. Saka ito, ha, tandaan ninyo  Movie stars in the Philippines are
ito. ltanim niyo sa kokote niyo: almost always mestizo/as
Magsasayaw kayo sa Japan hindi para
ipromote ang cultural heritage ng
Pilipinas. Hayaan niyong iba na ang REFERENCES:
gumawa noon. Magpupunta kayo sa
Japan para ipromote ang commercial • Bautista, L. & Bolton, K.
and entertainment value of Filipina (2009).Philippine English: Linguistic and
women! Kayo 'yon, gaga, kayo 'yon, Literary Perspectives, 1st ed. Hongkong
naintindihan ninyo? Kaya naman, kaunti University Press: Anvil Publishing Inc.
namang landi! Kaunting projection! • Bacher, Simon (March 2019) Taglish:
Kaunting giling! 0, ano, naintindihan The Unofficial Language of the
niyo? Janette, from the top! Philippines Retrieved from: https://ling-
BAKLA ROLE IN MOVIES AND IN app.medium.com/taglish-the-unofficial-
SOCETY language-of-the-philippines-
1337f34d4d0b#:~:text=Taglish%20is
 Position of a bugaw, or pimp %20the%20combination%20of,to
 Not a star but an ephemeral %20see%20in%20writing%20too.
players
 Class position coupled with his
sexual ambiguity places him on
the margins of mestizoness as its
perverse double
 Bakya speaker of English as one
whose desire is out of place, as
evidenced by the inability to
speak correctly.