What Languages Are Spoken In The Philippines

The Languages That Are Spoken In The Philippines

The Philippines is native to 134 indigenous ethnic groups. The majority population of the Philippines includes 8-10 diverse ethnic groups that have influenced the languages and culture of the country immensely. There are 185 languages with different dialects spoken in the country. Although the official language of the Philippines is Filipino and English, 19 regional languages are also given importance in its constitution.

Filipino is the national language and is widely spoken by many nationalities residing in Filipino. The people of this country were influenced by the English when Britishers invaded the region. All the syllabus at schools and official business transitions in the Philippines are conducted in the English language. At present, English is spoken by around 40 million Filipino.

The Philippines is such a country that didnt become a Spanish speaking country despite Spanish rule. Yet the Spanish language is still popular in various regions of the world. In the islands of Luzon and Mindanao, the Creoles of the Spanish language are used. The other languages spoken in the country include French, German, Hokkien, Korean, Japanese, and Arabic. Immigrants usually speak these languages.

Major Languages In The Philippines

The Philippines has a diverse culture. An archipelago of about 7641 islands, it has a plethora of religions, cultures, and practices. Apropos of that, there are up to 187 languages spoken in this nation. Every language has its origin, dialect, and history with this country. A lot of them are native indigenous dialects that are spoken in small regions and populations. The major languages of the Philippines are Filipino and English.

Africa The Caribbean And South Asia

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English is spoken widely in southern Africa and is an official or co-official language in several countries. In , English has been spoken since 1820, co-existing with and various African languages such as the and . Today, about 9 percent of the South African population speaks as a first language. SAE is a non-rhotic variety, which tends to follow RP as a norm. It is alone among non-rhotic varieties in lacking intrusive r. There are different L2 varieties that differ based on the native language of the speakers. Most phonological differences from RP are in the vowels. Consonant differences include the tendency to pronounce /p, t, t, k/ without aspiration , while r is often pronounced as a flap instead of as the more common fricative.

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Nigerian English is a spoken in . It is based on British English, but in recent years, because of influence from the United States, some words of American English origin have made it into Nigerian English. Additionally, some new words and collocations have emerged from the language, which come from the need to express concepts specific to the culture of the nation . Over 150 million Nigerians speak English.

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Proposals To Conserve Philippine Languages

There have been numerous proposals to conserve the many languages of the Philippines. According to the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, there are 135 ethnolinguistic groups in the country, each having their own distinct Philippine language.

Among the proposals include “establishing a dictionary & sentence construction manual” for each of the 135 living languages in the country, “video documentation” of all Philippine languages, “revival of the ancient scripts of the Philippines” where each ethnic group’s own script shall be revived and used in schools along with the currently-used Roman script in communities where those script/s used to be known, “teaching of ethnic mother languages first” in homes and schools before the teaching of Filipino and foreign languages , and “using the ethnic mother language and script first in public signs” followed by Filipino and foreign languages and scripts, for example, using Cebuano first followed by Filipino and English underneath the sign.

Currently, only the fourth proposal has been made by the national government of the Philippines. A National Script bill has been filed in Congress in support of the third and fifth proposal, however, the bill only mandates the usage of the ancient script compatible with the national language, which is Filipino.

Filipino Vs Tagalog Languages: Are They The Same

For all practical purposes, Filipino and Tagalog are the same language.

Filipino is basically a formalized version of the Manila dialect of Tagalog, so this site uses both terms interchangeably.

Differences emerge as you get farther from Metro Manila. For instance, if you head north to Bulacan or south to Batangas, you’re still in Tagalog-speaking places…but the dialects are substantially different from Filipino, i.e., the Manila standard.

Native speakers can mostly understand each other, which is more or less the definition of a dialect . Still, it quickly becomes clear that Tagalog includes much more than the Filipino language as heard around Manila and on national TV.

Speaking of which, the name “Filipino” is a fairly recent phenomenon. As far as I can tell, it was an official label in the 1960s, intended to convey national unity.

There’s just one problem. The majority does not live anywhere around Manila and therefore does not speak Tagalog as a first language.

That’s not really controversial around Manila, but it can be elsewhere in the country. Understandably, some find it offensive to attach the country’s name–“Filipino”–to the capital’s language and dialect.

Of course, any student of languages knows it happens all over the world, e.g., in using “French” for the Parisian dialect of centuries past.

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Nouns And Noun Phrases

English nouns are only inflected for number and possession. New nouns can be formed through derivation or compounding. They are semantically divided into and common nouns. Common nouns are in turn divided into concrete and abstract nouns, and grammatically into and .

Most count nouns are inflected for plural number through the use of the plural –s, but a few nouns have irregular plural forms. Mass nouns can only be pluralised through the use of a count noun classifier, e.g. one loaf of bread, two loaves of bread.

Regular plural formation:

• Singular: man, woman, foot, fish, ox, knife, mouse
• Plural: men, women, feet, fish, oxen, knives, mice

Possession can be expressed either by the possessive –s , or by the preposition of. Historically the -s possessive has been used for animate nouns, whereas the of possessive has been reserved for inanimate nouns. Today this distinction is less clear, and many speakers use –s also with inanimates. Orthographically the possessive -s is separated from a singular noun with an apostrophe. If the noun is plural formed with -s the apostrophe follows the -s.

Possessive constructions:

• With -s: The woman’s husband’s child
• With of: The child of the husband of the woman

Adjectives

Pronouns, case, and person

Both the second and third persons share pronouns between the plural and singular:

Prepositions

The Philippines Language Report: What Language Is Spoken In The Philippines

One of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world is the Philippines. As such, I thought it was high time to answer some language questions in relation to this beautiful part of the world. What language do they speak in the Philippines? Read on to find out. Whats the difference between Tagalog versus Filipino? Again, keep reading. How many languages are spoken in the Philippines? To find out you guessed it read on.

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Mandarin Chinese In The Philippines

is the primary taught academically to in and across other schools and institutions in the , especially as the formal .

Both and are taught and spoken in the Philippines depending on the school, with some schools and speakers using , some using , and some using a mixture of both. Meanwhile, Chinese language publications have traditionally used Traditional Chinese characters.

Mandarin Chinese is formally used in in and books in the Philippines, such as , , , and many others.

Take A Look At The Most Popular Non

1 | Pouting Lips

One distinct Filipino non-verbal language is the use of lips when pointing. They tend to pucker or pout their lips instead of raising their finger or arm to point at an object or person. Dont be alarmed and confuse the gesture as an invitation for a kiss.

2 | Handshaking

Like in most countries, handshaking is a common gesture when meeting someone for the first time.

3 | Cheek to cheek

Locally referred to as beso-beso, the gesture is usually practised by women especially those who are already comfortable with each other, not when meeting someone for the first time.

4 | Bless

Bless, or pagmamano, is a traditional way to show respect to elders, especially to parents, grandparents, and godparents. This is done by a younger person asking the hand of the elder and touching it with their own forehead while bowing at the same time.

5 | Arm in arm

Walking arm in arm is a common gesture in the Philippines especially among women. This is generally a sign of affection, friendship, and support for each other.

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History Of The Tagalog Language

The Tagalog language has existed for thousands of years ago, but there are no documents or archeological evidence directly confirming the earliest sources of it. The name is known to be derived from taga-ilog which means settlers of the river in English. No one knows when it began to exist but based on theories. It is believed that the majority of the features of the language were developed based on Sanskrit, and it used to be written using a script called the Baybayin writing system.

Historical data also shows that aside from Sanskrit, Tagalog was also from the Malayo-Polynesian race , which is why it is now part of the Austronesian language family.

The initial development of the Tagalog words and grammar structures is related to the Malays and Chinese, but the Spanish and American colonization brought about major changes.

The Differences Between Filipino And Tagalog

The differences between Tagalog and Filipino arent as many as one would expect. In fact, Filipino can be viewed as an upgraded, better-sounding version of Tagalog.

There are some contrasts in terms of the alphabet. The Tagalog alphabet consists of 20 letters, while the Filipino alphabet has 28 letters 20 letters from Tagalog and 8 letters from European languages such as f, c, x, j, and z.

Still, the two languages share the same grammatical structures.

Overall, it is estimated that Filipino and Tagalog share up to 90% of their vocabulary. The remaining 10% of Filipino vocabulary consists of nativized words from English, Spanish, and Chinese.

Interestingly, many English words are transliterated in Filipino, meaning that they can be spelled as the local people pronounce them. For instance, computer in Filipino is spelled kompyuter while driver is written like drayber.

Tagalog is spoken by approximately 82 million Filipinos. There are around 22 million native Tagalog speakers or 20% of the total Philippine population.

Most of its speakers are centered in Manila, but there are Tagalog speakers spread in varying degrees in all parts of the country.

In 2010, the US Census Bureau reported that in the US there were 1.5 million Tagalog speakers, making it the 4th most spoken language at home in the country.

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Language Data For The Philippines

There are over 120 languages spoken in the Philippines. Filipino, the standardized form of Tagalog, is the national language and used in formal education throughout the country. Filipino and English are both official languages and English is commonly used by the government. Filipino Sign Language is the official sign language. The maps, documents, and datasets below provide information about languages spoken throughout the country.

Curated datasets

What About The Remaining 168 Languages

In the Philippines, there are 13 languages with at least 1 million speakers all over the country. These languages are Cebuano, Tagalog, Bikol, Albay Bikol, Pangasinan, Maguindanao, Maranao, Tausug, Hiligayno, Ilokano, Kapampangan, Kinaray-a, and Waray Waray. Most of these languages, derived from Malayo-Polynesian roots

There are hundreds of dialects found in the Philippines, with variations between towns on the same island. While there are many native speakers of these regional languages, most Filipinos speak a mix of Filipino derived from Arabic, Spanish, and Chinese as well as the English language.

The islands dont have influences of English and Filipino only.

The Filipino people have their ancestors in Malays, who came from Southeast Asia, the area which is now called Indonesia. And long before Europeans began to set foot on these islands, the natives were familiar with Chinese and even Japanese. All these languages have left a mark on the language spoken presently in the Philippines Islands.

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What Are The Official Languages Of The Philippines

There are two official languages in the country: English and Filipino.

This means that both English and Filipino are used in more formal settings and official documents, while the native languages are used colloquially as a means of everyday communication between the people.

Filipino and Tagalog

One of the two official languages in the Philippines is the Filipino language, which is based on the Tagalog language.

The Filipino language is derived from the Tagalog language, but it also consists of a considerable amount of Spanish, Chinese, and English words. These words were nativized and are now a part of the Filipino language.

Prayers Words And Sentences

Numbers:

• My name is John. Juan ya ing lagyu ku.
• I am here! Atyu ku keni!
• Where are you? Nukarin ka ?
• I love you. Kaluguran daka.
• What do you want? Nanu ya ing buri mu?
• I will go home. Muli ku.
• They don’t want to eat. Ali la bisang mangan.
• He bought rice. Sinali yang nasi.
• She likes that. Buri ne ita.
• May I go out? Malyari ku waring lumwal?
• I can’t sleep. Ali ku mipapatudtud.
• We are afraid. Tatakut kami.
• My pet died yesterday. Mete ya ing sese ku napun.
• How old are you? Pilan na kang banua?
• How did you do that? Makananu meng gewa ita?
• How did you get here? Katnamu ka miparas keni?
• How big is it? Makananu ya karagul?
• When will you be back? Kapilan ka mibalik?

Footnotes

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Regional Languages Of The Philippines

Twenty-one languages are spoken regionally. These include: Aklanon, Basian, Bikol, Cebuano, Chavacano, Hiligaynon, Ibanag, Ilocano, Ilonggo, Ivatan, Maranao, Tagalog, Kapampangan, Kinaray-a, Waray, Maguindanao, Pangasinan, Sambal, Surigaonon, Tausug, and Yakan.

Each of these represents a major indigenous language of Philippines that is spoken in areas inhabited by large populations of native speakers. The majority of these regional languages belong to the Malayo-Polynesian language family sub-group, and this sub-group belongs to the Austronesian language family. This is true with the exception of Chavacano, which is a Spanish-based creole language. It is the only Spanish-based Creole language in Asia and has been spoken for around 400 years. This makes the language one of the oldest Creole languages in the world. Chavacano has an estimated 1.2 million speakers.

Which Is The Most Spoken Language In Mindanao

Actually, southeastern Mindanao is populated with Ilocano, Tagalog, and other dialects, but Cebuano has become the dominant dialect in that area.. The Ilocano dialect has spread out from its origin in the western coast , which was also probably facilitated by Spanish and American policies.

Which is the indigenous language of Central Luzon?

Bolinao or Binubolinao A language from Central Luzon used in Bolinao and Anda of Pangasinan. Bontoc or Finalig An indigenous language of the Bontoc people of the Mountain Province.

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Influence On The Languages Of The Philippines

There are approximately 4,000 Spanish words in Tagalog , and around 6,000 Spanish words in Visayan and other Philippine languages. The Spanish counting system, calendar, time, etc. are still in use with slight modifications. Archaic Spanish words have been preserved in Tagalog and the other vernaculars, such as pera , sabon , relos , and kwarta .

Is English Widely Spoken In Philippines

The Philippines is one of the worlds largest English-speaking nations, with the majority of its citizens having some level of fluency in the language. Filipino speakers are estimated to be over 14 million, making English one of the countrys official languages.

The Power Of Tagalog In The Philippines

Despite Tagalogs dominant presence, the Philippines official language is English, with the rest of the population speaking it. English is the global language of business, education, and the media. It is the language of the majority of Filipino residents living in metropolitan areas as well. Tagalog is the most spoken language in the country, despite the fact that English is its dominant language. This is due primarily to the fact that it is the language of the majority of the population, including many second-language speakers.

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Dialects Accents And Varieties

Dialectologists identify many , which usually refer to regional varieties that differ from each other in terms of patterns of grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. The pronunciation of particular areas distinguishes dialects as separate . The major native dialects of English are often divided by linguists into the two extremely general categories of and . There also exists a third common major grouping of English varieties: Southern Hemisphere English, the most prominent being and .