Are our languages dying?



By Gemma Cruz Araneta

HERE is a message from Save Our Languages Through Federalism (SOLFED): The attached table shows a decline in the number of users of Filipino languages other than Tagalog. Through the years, Tagalog users have steadily increased in number; from 19 percent of the population in 1948 (a decade after Pres. M. Quezon decreed Filipino as the national language) to 29.30 percent in 1995. The rise of Tagalog is far from spectacular, until compared to the decline of other local languages. Yet, the SOLFED woefully predicts that in about fifty more years, many of the other vernacular languages will cease to exist, perhaps from lack of usage. To illustrate the urgency of the situation, Zambali is spoken only in four obscure towns of Zambales.


Until I began tackling the language at my radio program "Krus na Daan" I never imagined that it could be such a thorny issue, infinitely more passionate and polemical than religion and politics combined. As adolescents, we were often warned by our elders about bringing up religion or attacking the political views of others at dinner parties for we might forget our upbringing during heated discussions. We were also forbidden to even mention, let alone describe in detail our physical ailments, or that of relatives no matter how close, because in polite society that was considered vulgar and rude. They should have included language in the short list of tabooed topics.

How I wish I had more time to discuss the language issue with Brother Andrew Gonzalez, the much lamented and sorely missed erstwhile Secretary of Education. At the Malacañang state dining room, during Cabinet meetings, I was always sandwiched between Secretary V. Rivera of Transportation and Communications and Bro. Andrew, the linguist. Even before he joined government, Bro. Andrew had made extensive studies of the Capampangan language and believed that we Filipinos had already developed three linguas franca (trust not my Latin!) – Ilocano, Cebuano and Tagalog – which he would have wanted students to use at the primary level. After having mastered a "mother tongue." one can rapidly gain proficiency in English or any other foreign language. Bro. Andrew set up a pilot project to test the validity of his linguistic vision; unfortunately, this was discontinued after the untimely demise of the Estrada administration.

On the other hand, in cyberspace one can visit numerous sites, blogs, and chat groups that keep many of our Filipino languages very much alive. Let the debate continue and may a hundred languages bloom. (gemma601@yahoo.com)

I think the Philippines should have 4 official languages. Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano and English. Tagalog for southern Luzon and parts of Mindanao, Cebuano for Visayas and parts of Mindanao, Ilokano for northern Luzon and English for communicating with foreign people

^ I sort of don't agree with that. Over the years, since the turn of the 20th century, Ilocano has suplanted the Cordilleran languages.

Putting Cebuano and Ilocano alongside with English anf Filipino as official languages won't save our "dying" languages.

It's better for the regions to have their own official languages

Ilocos may have Ilocano; Cagayan Valley Ilocano, Gaddang, Ivatan, etc.. Cordillera Ibaloi, Kankanai, Tuwali, Kalanuya, Ilocano(OK since Abra is now Ilocano-dominated)...

I heard Butuanon is dying?

The mainstream (Those hispanized) seem to always forget the so called indigenous people(Igorots, Moros,etc)

Mao ba Diay! Aw! Hihihihihihihihihi

Welcome to this forum, post lang ng post ha!!!!!

Maybe I should help stop our Filipino languages by dying by learning Kapampangan (my paternal ancestry)

Dapat lahat ng salitang Pilipino gawing opisyal, kagaya ng African Union binigyan nila ng opisyal na status ang lahat ng mga salita sa Africa. Tangkilikin natin ang ating mga wika!

"And hindi magmahal sa sariling wika ay higit pa sa hayop at malansang isda" - Jose Rizal



Sa tingin ko may status na auxiliary official languages yata yung Ilokano, Ilongo, Kinaray-a, at ibang pang hindi ko maalalang salita sa kanilang mga rehiyon.

Who cares anymore in 20 years the official language will be butchered american english lol.

^ Man that would totally suck. Absolutely pathetic.

maybe tagalog is losing its grip but illonggo people LOVE their lnguage. another benefit is if u speak bisaya, ilonggo, and karay-a... then u can EASILY understand bahasa indonesia.



ergo... THE PILIPINO NATIONAL LANGUAGE SHOULD BE HILIGAYNON (ILONGGO)

Who cares about the other languages anyway? It's not like the world would end if they disappear.

Our national language is Filipino, which coincidentally is based on Tagalog. And I believe there was an election way back when for deciding which should be the national language. I think it was between Tagalog, Cebuano and some other languages. Tagalog was chosen to be the basis of the national language, so here we are now. We must accept that, and focus our energies to more meaningful things, instead of bickering about languages. There are greater things for us Filipinos to worry about.

Plus, I'm sure if it was your regional language that was chosen to be the basis of the national language, you wouldn't have any qualms about it.

The United States of America was made up of different ethnicities from Europe yet they only adopt one language which is English. And look at them now. They are already into space exploration while we're still whining about languages.

Who cares? One language means easier business deals. The time spent learning another language could be spent on an education. But it's a pendelum. Once everyone starts speaking one language, regional differences will return and new languages will bud off.

our languages are dying because the national language policy of our nation have given too much importance to tagalog, they spent the nation's money for research into the tagalog language, literature, culture and history but neglects the importance of the other languages, dismissing it as insignificant to national unity. and so they encourage all the inhabitants of this nation to become tagalog in all their ways. for according to them "to be tagalog is to be filipino". they brainwashed our children into thinking that you have to be tagalog to be nationalistic and patriotic. our children spent their "Linggo ng Wika" speaking tagalog the entire week, and reminding them: "si Gat Jose Rizal siya ay nagwika, ang hindi raw marunong magmahal sa sariling wika ay higit pa ang amoy sa malansang isda." but taught the children the language of the tagalogs and not the languages of their island or their villages. how dumb!

the Department of Education is so centralized that even the procurement of books are done by those in manila, with publishers from luzon (NCR) and in luzon (NCR), written by people from luzon and of course written in the tagalog language. i hope you've heard about the complaints by some parents and concerned citizen about the books that were full of factual errors. why dont we just give the money to the local govenment and let them educate their children in their own way. to impose a "national" system where everything had to come from the very top (manila) is very imperialistic. no wonder people would all blame the president for even the most simple problem. if we just give the power (money) to the local governors to manage their local education, economy, health and infrastractures. i dont see any reason why people would still blame everything on the president. the people would now have to blame themselves for electing their governors and if the governors are inefficient, there would be no need to remove the president, all they need to do is remove their governors.

That's why a federal form of government needs to be instituted replacing the current unitary system, which is possibly the worse kind of system you can use in a country like the Philippines.

If Tagalog as the Official Language in not implemented in schools in the Philippines, the Langauge may die. Most people in Visayas and Mindanao don't even know how to speak tagalog.

I think parents should at least teach some Filipino language to their kids who grew up in a foreign land, maybe some history...

Would everyone agree to use English as the national language, and the native languages as secondary?

I am willing to compromise for unity's sake, but do you think this idea would be popular to most Filipinos?

I hope it will, but I am not holding my breath.

as a person who have been studying and learning to speak different languages. i discovered that language is important because it is the soul of the people. One word can tell you a lot about the people's way of life and the people's history and culture. to preserve the language is to preserve their culture, philosophy and history. no need to make it an official language or a national language. just don't dismiss it as insignificant and forget about it. instead, there should be at least an effort to preserve it even only in books by funding research into these languages. we can start by helping the people create a dictionary or preserve their oral traditions, build a record of the people's literature and share some of it to the other inhabitants of this nation by incorporating it in our lessons in school throughout the archipelago.

we cannot compare ourselves to america because america is a land of migrants. even if irish-americans would only speak engish that wont be a problem because they can still go back to ireland and re-learn their celtic language. but if surigaonon or butuanon are no longer spoken in surigao and butuan then that would probably be the end of their existence.

Don't lose hope, tagalog is already spreading around the world.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language

Yes it is unfortunate but its apparent from most of the responses from this thread that most young filipinos dont care too much about this part of our culture. Its easy to see why so many young filams are so confused about thier own identity. I would never agree to english as the oficial language as i would neve agree for ilokano or cebuano to be the official language of Luzon or Visayas.










Its easy to why the Moros are so pissed at the rest of the country we treat them like they arent even filipino.

if that is the case that are language is dying that is basically our fault...ang tanong papayag ba tayo na mamatay ang ating sariling wika na ganun na lang?

^ Apparently some of the board members in here like RL33 and philippines do. Just read their shameful posts on the last page. They're like "Who cares"?

no. it should be chavacano!!!

LOL!!! Ur funny .

Hehe

LOL OMG.

BAHAHAHAHA You sound like a girl.

tagalog