Name Game: The Case of the Philippine National Language

Throughout the course of history, the Philippine national language changed its identity, not just once but twice. Originally, it was called “Tagalog.” Then it was renamed “Pilipino.” Now it is known as “Filipino.”

But why the name change? What was achieved by this “name game”? To answer these questions, let us explore the history of our national language.


Prior to 1935 Philippine Constitution

Prior to the promulgation of the 1935 Constitution, the official languages of the Philippines were English and Spanish (both non-Philippine languages). Quite remarkable is the fact that no Philippine language was of official standing — no legal standing in the courts, government transactions, education, commerce, and industry — during this period.


Language provision of the 1935 Philippine Constitution

Article XIII Section 3 (Pasimio, 1991:119)
The National Assembly shall take steps toward the development and adoption of a common language based on one of the existing native languages (emphasis mine). Until otherwise provided by law, English and Spanish shall continue as official languages.

In accordance with the provision on the Constitution, a body was formed “to make a general study of Philippine dialects (languages)1 for the purpose of evolving a common national language based on one of the existing native tongues and to recommend to the president of the Commonwealth (Manuel L. Quezon) its adoption as such” (SIL, 1971). This body was known as the Institute of National Language (INL).

A year after its creation, the INL recommended Tagalog as the basis of the national language from among the languages studied. This recommendation was based on (among other things) number of speakers and periodicals and the status of Tagalog as the language spoken in Manila — the most populous city in the country and the seat of government and major universities.

Studies conducted separately from, some even prior to, that of the INL showed that Tagalog had a great potential of becoming a national language. American linguist, Conant Everett Blake (Philippine literature p.457, 1908) had this to say about the Philippine languages:

Some persons, struck by the great resemblance which the various Philippine languages bear to one another, have thought that it would be possible to fuse these languages into one, but such an artificial scheme is certainly impracticable. If the Filipinos are destined ever to have a national language in which a national literature can be written, that language will most surely be Tagalog, the language of the capital city, a language admirably suited by the richness of form and its great flexibility for literary development, and needing but the master hand of some great native writer to make it realize its latent possibilities.


The Language Provision of the 1943 Philippine Constitution

Though it was claimed that Tagalog was simply the “basis” for the national language, there were manifestations that it was, indeed, the national language. Moreover, the Philippine Constitution under the Japanese government, in an attempt to erase Western influences in the country, named Tagalog as such.

Article IX Section 2 (Pasimio, 1991:156)
The government shall take steps toward the development and promotion of Tagalog which is the national language. (Translation mine. Please see the original Tagalog version in Pasimio, 1991:156 or refer to the footnote.)2


Problems with Tagalog

The choice of Tagalog as the basis of national language did not go unchallenged. In fact, this issue had divided the nation. Critics interpreted it as a form of discrimination against non-Tagalog speakers. Regional groups also contested the claim that Tagalog was the most widely spoken among the Philippine languages. They cited Cebuano as having the most number of speakers, with Tagalog coming only next.

Figures in the 1949 census showed that Cebuano indeed had more native speakers. However, Tagalog had both native and a significant number of nonnative speakers, making it the most widely spoken Philippine language.


Name Change: Tagalog to Pilipino

Realizing the division among ethnolinguistic groups caused by the adoption of Tagalog as national language, the name Tagalog was changed to Pilipino in 1959. However, this name change did not effectively eradicate the ethnolinguistic divide the choice of Tagalog as “basis” for the national language had created. To the contrary, this only heightened the tension. Different groups viewed this change as an attempt to mask the fact that both Tagalog and Pilipino referred to the same living language — Tagalog. Critics insisted that the only difference between Tagalog and Pilipino was sociological.

It then became apparent that more than just a name change was necessary.


Language Provision of the 1973 Philippine Constitution

Article XV Section 3 (Pasimio, 1991:273)
(2) The National Assembly shall take steps toward the development and formal adoption of a common national language to be known as Filipino.
(3) Until otherwise provided by law, English and Pilipino shall be the official languages.

Studying the provision closely, one might say that the Filipino mentioned in the Constitution that was to become the national language was still technically nonexistent and that it was not apparent what the basis of this language would be. Moreover, one might ask what to become of Pilipino, which, from being a national language, was appointed “official language.”

What is this Filipino being referred to? How is it similar to or different from Tagalog and Pilipino?

Even the language experts themselves had opposing views on what Filipino is. Some sectors believed that the Filipino mentioned in the Constitution was the purist Tagalog/Pilipino that was already in use while others believed that this Filipino was still to be created.

Those who believed that Filipino was still nonexistent were further divided into two groups: the group of Dr. Demetrio Quirino and that of Dr. Ernesto Constantino of the University of the Philippines.

Dr. Demetrio Quirino and his group proposed that this Filipino to be created be based on all the existing Philippine languages and that the percentage of contribution from each language be based on the number of speakers. They also proposed that complete amalgamation or mixing of linguistic components—phonology, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary—from these languages be applied and that only 30% of Tagalog elements shall make up the Filipino to be created. The remaining 70% shall come from all the other Philippine languages.

The group of Dr. Constantino, on the other hand, proposed using the universal approach. This approach means that the Filipino to be created shall be based on a national lingua franca plus other languages (multi-based). This is, in part, similar to the Filipino of Dr. Quirino except on the concept of complete amalgamation where the linguistic contribution of each language is determined by the number of speakers.

INL, however, denied the claims of different sectors that the Filipino being spoken of in the Constitution was the purist Tagalog/Pilipino or that it was still to be created. INL claimed that this Filipino was already in existence—that it was the Filipino that was based on Pilipino which, in turn, was based on Tagalog. It is “an evolution of Tagalog, a conglomeration of Philippine and nonnative languages.”

In his analysis of several issues on language development presented as appendix in the SWP 50th anniversary publication (1987), SWP Director Ponciano B.P. Pineda reiterated the institute’s stand against the Filipino proposed by Drs. Quirino and Constantino.

…the following questions arise: How much, and which parts of speech of a particular language should be taken? Must all the peculiarities of the sounds, stresses, and intonations in each language be included? Or must others be sacrificed for the preferred ones? Which of the opposing affixation systems—Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, Pampango, for instance—should be adopted? …

Such kind of language has no root; no speech community to speak of. It has neither rhetoric (n)or idiom; no literature. Filipino born out of this system of language engineering has no culture. It is doomed to fail like Esperanto, Volapuk, and other artificial languages.


The Language Provision of the 1987 Philippine Constitution

Article XIV Section 6: (Pasimio, 1991:409)
The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.

Apparently, the Constitution still had not exactly defined the Filipino which is now the national language of the country. However, the language committee of the Constitutional commission, during one of their sessions (September 10, 1986), made this definition:

“…the nucleus of the Filipino will be Pilipino with the mixture of words from other dialects and said Filipino language has already been existing as lingua franca… Filipino is the expansion of Pilipino and it is the lingua franca that has naturally evolved throughout the country, based on Tagalog and other Philippine languages and foreign languages.”

So what is Filipino? It is the Philippine language whose nucleus is Tagalog, characterized by massive borrowings of lexical items from Philippine and non-Philippine languages. It is different from Tagalog in that it is permeable to foreign words and from Taglish in that it follows the structure of Tagalog, its nucleus. Taglish, according to SWP and Linguistic Society of the Philippines, is merely a “variation” of (spoken) Filipino. [seb/2003]



Footnote

1 Though the words language and dialect are technically different, these terms are used interchangeably in this paper because some of the materials I directly quoted used these terms interchangeably.
2 Ang pamahalaan ay gagawa ng mga hakbanging tungo sa ikauunlad at ikalalaganap ng Tagalog na siyang wikang pambansa. (Pasimio:1991:156)


Bibliography

Books/Published Articles

Espiritu, Clemencia. Language Policies in the Philippines.

Pasimio, Renato R. 1991. The Philippine Constitution (Its Evolution and Development) and Political Science. Metro Manila: National Book Store, Inc.

Summer Institute of Linguistics. 1971. Fifty Most Frequently Asked Questions About the National Language.

Surian ng Wikang Pambansa. 1987. Limampung Taon ng SWP. Manila: SWP.
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Unpublished Research Work

Benosa, Sherma E. and Mary Kathleen de Fiesta. 1997. Ang Nasyonal Langgwej (A paper submitted to the Department of Linguistics, UP Diliman in partial fulfillment of the requirements of Linguistics 130)


Decrees

Executive Order No. 136. 1937. Proclaiming the National Language of the Philippines Based on the “Tagalog” Language. (Manuel L. Quezon, President of the Philippines, Dated December 30, 1937).

Philippine Commonwealth Act No. 184. 1936. An Act to Establish a National Language Institute and Define its Powers and Duties. (First National Assembly, Special Session, November 30, 1936).


Copyright 2003 Sherma E Benosa