IMAGE CREDIT: WWW.ARGELTIBURCIO.COMENGLISH PROFICIENCY MAKES THE PHILIPPINES A MAJOR GLOBAL CALL-CENTER HUB
I came across "The Politics of Philippine English" (2004) and "Wronging English" by Ruanni F. Tupas, but I haven't read the study or the article in full because the available copies online all seem to be behind paywalls.Some excerpts from Tupas:1. But ‘good English’ -- never mind if this term is vague -- did not fall from the heavens.
It was created as part of the multibillion dollar (or pound) business and cultural industry of the so-called native English-speaking (American, British, etc.) nations to make the world dependent on the English language.
2. Through our data, we show how call‐center agents in the Philippines espouse conflicting ideologies in the workplace that invoke unequal Englishes. On the one hand, they espouse ideologies of privilege by seeing themselves as being able to exploit the resources of English in the call‐center workplace, thus celebrating themselves as proficient users of the language. On the other hand, they also espouse ideologies of delegitimization borne out of pressures to subscribe to American Standard English and the belief in the inherent superiority of ‘native speaker’ Englishes and their varieties.
I have also come across "Languages Are Not Equal: Why Standard Philippine English Should Be Undemocratic and Elitist" at https://www.scribd.com/document/28989685/Languages-Are-Not-Equal-Why-Standard-Philippine-English-Should-Be-Undemocratic-and-Elitist by Blesilda Adlaon. Here, Badlaon disagrees with Tupas's contentions.
Some excerpts from Badlaon's study:1. "For sure, when we speak about teaching our localized variety of English in school, we cannot be talking about carabao English. At the very least, English that is taught in school must be rule bound. Otherwise, without consistent rules, how can it be taught in the first place?
"It is this 'rule bound' criteria that primarily disqualifies the variety of English spoken by the marginalized groups from being part of Standard Philippine English. How can they become standard when they have no standards to speak of in themselves? There is no system in their variation."
2. “Why, then, should Standard Philippine English be an exception? Why should Standard
Philippine English strive to be “democratic” when other Standard Englishes are unapologetically elitist?
"Standard Philippine English should, of course, be elitist as well. In fact, if anything, itshould strive to be even more elitist than either American or British English, because it has somuch to compensate for: a dire lack of economic and political power which, in the real world,are major factors for giving status to a language.”
Questions:1. I stand to be corrected, but it seems that Tupas is advocating that anything goes in Philippine English and that sticking to the standards of American English is some form of colonialism. Badlaon, on the other hand, asserts that we must bow to the reality that American Standard English rules the world.
Who do you think is correct, Tupas or Badlaon?
2. What are your thoughts about “Standard Philippine English”?
