Languages of the Philippines
The Phiilippines are a group of islands between Malaysia and Taiwan. Many different groups of people live on the Philippines. Between 120 and 187 languages are spoken on the Phiilippines.[1][2][3] For over three centuries, the Philippines were a colony of Spain. Amongst others, the Spanish introduced free public schools, which taught in Spanish.[4] For a long time, the United States controlled the Philippines, so English is also commonly understood. In 1935, both English and Spanish were national langues. In the 1970s, when the Phliipppines had become independent, Spanish was dropped as an official language, and standardized version of Tagalog, called Filiipino was added. The 1987 constitution designates Filipino, a standardized version of Tagalog, as the national language and an official language along with English. Fililipino serves as a lingua franca. It allows people from different language families to communicate.[5] On October 30, 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act 11106, which declares Filipino Sign Language or FSL to be the country's official sign language and as the Philippine government's official language in communicating with the Filipino Deaf.[6]
Filpino is used in everyday life, and when people from different language groups want to communicate. The government operates mostly using English. Including second-language speakers, there are more speakers of Filipino than English in the Philippines.[7] The other regional languages are given official auxiliary status in their respective places according to the constitution but particular languages are not specified.[8] Some of these regional languages are also used in education.[9]
The indigenous scripts of the Philippines (such as the Kulitan, Tagbanwa and others) are used very little; instead, Philippine languages are today written in the Latin script. Before they became independen in 1946, the Philippines had been a Spanish and a United States colony. Baybayin, though generally not understood, is one of the most well-known of the Philippine indigenous scripts and is used mainly in artistic applications such as on the Philippine banknotes, where the word "Pilipino" is inscribed using the writing system. Additionally, the Arabic script is used in the Muslim areas in the southern Philippines.
Languages Of The Philippines Media
"United States" keyboard layout Created in Inkscape. Text converted to paths due to use of an uncommon font.
Language map of the 12 recognized regional Philippine languages based on maps from Ethnologue.
Sign in Palawan in English, Filipino, Cebuano, Chinese, Korean and Russian.
A warning sign in Banton, Romblon in English, Filipino, and Bantoanon.
Major languages by region. Regions marked with black diamonds denote the language comprises only a substantial minority of the populace.
References
- ↑ "Philippines". Ethnologue. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
- ↑ McFarland, C. D. (1994). "Subgrouping and Number of Philippine Languages". Philippine Journal of Linguistics. 25 (1–2): 75–84. ISSN 0048-3796.
- ↑ The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino enumerated 134 Philippine languages and 1 national language (Filipino) present in the country through its Atlas Filipinas map published in 2016.
- ↑ "Philippines – Education". CountryStudies.us. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
- ↑ Filipino, not English, is the country’s lingua franca, Inquirer, Feb 27, 2014
- ↑ "[Republic Act No. 11106] An Act Declaring the Filipino Sign Language as the National Sign Language of the Filipino Deaf and the Official Sign Language of Government in All Transactions Involving the Deaf, and Mandating Its Use in Schools, Broadcast Media, and Workplaces" (PDF). Official Gazette. Government of the Philippines. October 30, 2018.
- ↑ Eberhard, David M.; Gary F. Simons; Charles D. Fennig, eds. (2021). "Philippines". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (Twenty-fourth ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
- ↑ The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein... Article XIV Section 7.
- ↑ "DepEd adds 7 languages to mother tongue-based education for Kinder to Grade 3". GMA News Online. July 13, 2013. http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/317280/news/nation/deped-adds-7-languages-to-mother-tongue-based-education-for-kinder-to-grade-3. Retrieved August 6, 2018.