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19 August 2003
From Adasen to Yogad
 ADASEN is spoken
in northwestern Abra province while Yogad is a language used in Echague
town in the northeastern province of Isabela. They are among the 172
languages spoken in the Philippines and listed in the website of the
Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), an organization of American
linguists who try to track down the world's languages. The linguists do
this mainly to translate the Bible, but in the process they have helped
to preserve many languages.
The information on Philippine languages carried by the SIL website
reminds us how diverse our linguistic situation is. We're talking here
about languages, each one distinct from the other. While there are many
shared words, say between Cebuano and Tagalog, there are enough
differences such that the two languages are not mutually understandable.
For example, if you dial a phone number in Cebu, someone is likely to
ask you, "Kinsa mani?" a far cry from the Tagalog "Sino
ito?" [Who is this?].
Many people still use the term "dialect" to refer to these
languages but dialects are just variations of a language. For example,
when the Spaniards colonized the Philippines there were areas where
Spanish began to "mutate," mixing Spanish words with local
ones, and transforming grammar and syntax rules until it became
Chavacano. This creole [mixed] language, in turn, has several
geographically based dialects. Besides, the most well-known Zamboangueño
variety, SIL's website lists two Chavacano dialects for Cavite (Caviteqo
and Ternateno), as well as Ermitano (Manila), Davawenyo and Cotobato
versions.
Why are there so many languages in the Philippines? A clue could be the
fact that the most number of Philippine languages are those spoken by
Negritos, a partial sample of which would include Agta (Isarog), Agta
(Mount Iraya), Agta (Remontado), Ayta (Bataan), Ayta (Mag-anchi), Ayta (Sorsogon).
The number of languages reflects the earlier nomadic lifestyles of the
Negritos, with small bands splitting up as natural resources in one area
diminished. As people moved and lost contact with their original
community, their language evolved, developing into dialects and, with
prolonged separation, into a new language.
Other non-Negrito groups also went through this process-people's
migrations leading to new languages. Thus, even "Bikolano"
actually refers to seven different languages: Albay Bicolano, Central
Bicolano, Iriga Bicolano, Northern Catanduanes Bicolano, Southern
Catanduanes Bicolano, Masbate Sorsogon (Sorsogon Bicolano) and Waray
Sorsogon (Bikol Sorsogon).
Reading through the list, I had the feeling I was going through a list
of endangered plant or animal species. Many Negrito languages have fewer
than a hundred speakers left, with Ata listed as spoken by "nine or
more families" in Mabinay town in the province of Negros Oriental
in the central Philippines. The entry ends with an ominous description:
"Nearly extinct." Many other languages of indigenous peoples
may also be disappearing. For example, Madukayang Kalinga in the
Cordillera has 1,500 speakers while Ratagnon has 2,000, limited to the
southern tip of Mindoro Island.
It was University of the Philippines' Professor Edru Abraham (of
Kontra-gapi fame) who reminded me once, during a conversation, about the
plight not just of indigenous people's languages but also of other
"minor" languages. An example he gave was Kiniray-a, spoken in
Iloilo and Antique provinces in the central Philippines. When I
mentioned the language recently in an anthropology class, several
students asked where that was spoken. A SIL study estimates there were
in 1994 some 377,000 Kiniray-a speakers, not a small number. Yet, many
Filipinos are unaware of its existence.
These languages are often overshadowed by the language of a more
dominant ethnolinguistic group. In the case of Kiniray-a, this would be
Ilonggo. Younger Kiniray-a use less of their language because Ilonggo is
perceived as a prestige language, associated with the more developed
cities of Iloilo and Bacolod. Similar situations exist for other
languages -- younger Ibanag in the northeastern province of Cagayan, for
example, are losing knowledge of their language as they shift to Ilocano,
Tagalog and English.
Like plant and animal species, the extinction of a language is a loss to
humanity. We risk losing knowledge since each word and phrase in a
language will have its own distinct meaning, different from all other
languages. A language that goes extinct means we become poorer in the
way we get to describe the world around us. Inquirer's Frank Cimatu
wrote several years back about a word for "ice" in one of the
northern Cordillera languages. I have lost track of the article but
remember him pointing out that words like that should be integrated into
Filipino. Instead, we stick to the Spanish-derived "yelo."
Let me give another example. The Department of Filipino at the
University of the Philippines in Quezon City has a course that surveys
the different literatures in our country. The course title is "Suroy-Suroy
sa Wika." Suroy-suroy, originally a Cebuano word -- now supposedly
adopted by Filipino -- means leisurely traveling around, with
connotations of strolling. Notice how many English words I had to use to
translate the term?
We need to record all these languages and encourage their use in homes
and schools. As an ethnic Chinese, I would even bat for recording the
way the Minnan Hokkien language is used by local Chinese, which has over
time developed several geographically based dialects with differences in
words and intonation. The Chinese in Cebuano areas, for example, often
use "man" to end a sentence, even when speaking Minnan Hokkien,
as the Cebuano do.
Some of you might argue, well, we need to develop one national language
so it's just as well that the smaller ones die out. But there is no
contradiction involved here. In developing a national language, we need
to encourage the continuing usage of other languages, recognizing them
as part of our national heritage. As things stand, we dodder along with
anemic efforts to develop a national language, even as our other
languages begin to disappear. My worst nightmare is that our national
language will be a clumsy and pathetic Taglish [Tagalog-English] drawing
mainly from American English slang.
Even as we develop our national language, we should pay more attention
to all our other languages, appreciating each of them for the stories,
experiences, values and aspirations they tell of different peoples.
Languages are time capsules helping us to link ourselves to the past and
to the future. The more of our local languages we appreciate, the more
we might learn about ourselves -- why we remain so divided, as well as
how we might overcome those divisions and move toward nationhood.
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