Assimilation of Filipino English in the Philippines

You may have learned about Carabao English, American English and British English but surely Filipino English is something new to the ears of many. In fact, one can sometimes doubt if such entity actually exists. This paper brings a concise discussion on the origins of Filipino English and how applicable or realistic it is in the current society of the Philippines.

The Origin of Filipino English

As with American English being a bastardization of British English, the Filipino English is somehow a bastardization of American English. The development of a new variety of English in the Philippines is said to have primarily occurred due to the colonial history and linguistic background of the country. (Kirkpatrick 2007) Walking back through time, the Philippines was once a colony of the United States and for a couple of decades, the primary medium of communication in the Philippines is not one of the native tongues but English. As to how the bastardization occurred and how blatant it may have been, there’s no concrete answer. 

The very first massive introduction of English to the Philippines occurred in 1901 when 540 US teachers used the language as a medium for instruction in schools. The English-medium education has then started a swift change in the linguistic development of the Philippines. Moreover, the American English that it brought has been indigenized, expounding the vocabulary by adapting terminologies from local dialects and modifying pronunciation and grammar. (McArthur 2002) Perhaps, we can say that this triggered the creation of what is now known as Filipino English. 

Only in Filipino English

The website 8list.ph listed some terminologies that are unique to the Filipino English speakers that you can check here. These are just few of the unique slangs of Filipino English. It is noteworthy to know that these are cognitively embedded to Filipino speakers with out them knowing it. These are product of cultural diversity, societal transformation and other things that have been influential to the use of English in the Philippines.

How extensive is Filipino English?

As of today, there is a limited literature which tackles Filipino English. Most of the current works are much focused on bilingualism in the Philippines and extrapolating on the nature of the English speakers of the country is relatively not something that is studied properly. As to how extensive Filipino English is, we might be able to extract substantial guess from other researches. 

The results of the survey of Social Weather Stations in 2006 showed that more than a quarter of the Philippine’s population claims to have the ability to understand, speak and write English well. (Bautista, et. al. 2009) With a higher rate of literacy, one can speculate that there is a great tendency for people who are not well accustomed to the English language to used barbarized terminologies or slangs to compensate for their inadequacy. 

As English is used as a primary medium for business, education and governance in the Philippines, Filipino English is presumably on larger schema that what we might be thinking of. Whether it is extensively used or not, it surely is there and it is something that is global in scope. 

A Bid for Better English

While nothing is wrong with Filipino English, this paper strongly believes that we must start building the standards of this (new) form of English to ensure that it will stay as efficient and well-aligned with other “customized English languages” across the globe. Being young as it is, Filipino English is evolving and becoming something that is global as the Philippines becomes a power hub for English speaking workforce. It is something that has given this nation an edge among its neighbors. As we know that languages are infinitely evolving, we must always be ready to make Filipino English a superb and eloquent one.

References

• Tom McArthur, The Oxford Guide to World English. Oxford University Press, 2002
• Andy Kirkpatrick, World Englishes. Cambridge University Press, 2007
• Walter Ang, 8 Instances of Filipino English vs. American English. 8list, 2013 (retrieved from http://8list.ph/american-english-vs-pinoy-english on June 22, 2014)
• Ma. Lourdes S. Bautista and Kingsley Bolton, Philippine English: Linguistic and Literary Perspectives. Hong Kong University Press, 2009