Massive brainwashing to foist the “one nation, one language” myth

[maudionisio]

Elementary pupils in the 1960s were taught that Filipinos speak various dialects, and that the national language was Pilipino. The government conducted the massive brainwashing to foist on that generation the myth of one nation, one language. The government wanted to forge a nation out of a collection of tribes speaking various languages.

However, elementary graders of that generation referred to Pilipino as the name of an academic subject. For them, the national language was Tagalog and the other languages were dialects. Up to now, some of those pupils still refer to the various Philippine languages as “dialects.” The brainwashing they went through in the elementary grades had not been undone.

The government has renamed Pilipino as “Filipino” However, it remains the same Tagalog-based language. Today’s elementary pupils are taught that Filipino is the national language. Outside their classrooms, they continue to refer to the national language as Tagalog. Pilipino remains an academic subject for them.

To many Filipinos, Pilipino and Tagalog are interchangeable. The constitutionally-mandated Filipino is unknown to them. Filipino exists  only in the Constitution and the directives of the Department of Education. Newspaper articles sometimes refer to “Filipino” when attributing quotations in Tagalog.

That encapsulates the education of two generations of Filipinos on the national language.

[renzphotography]

The concept of a lingua franca is not exclusive to the Philippines. Imagine India without the Hindu language or China without Mandarin.

If you want to know the difference between Filipino and Tagalog try listening to the conversations of people from Quezon, Bulacan, Laguna and Batangas and you will know what I mean.

A national language is a unifying tool. The greatest controversy about our national language lies in the choice of language. It should have been Visayan, the language of the majority, until the national language bill was hijacked by a Tagalog lawmaker during the era of Pres. Quezon.

It could have been a trivial matter except language and economic development are closely related.

[madgirl09]

I have always considered our Philippine dialects as languages. I think, dialects are so called because they lack definitive grammatical rules and are just often a variety of other languages. Our languages/ dialects are not so close to their neighboring languages, and also have clear and consistent grammar rules, so must be considered separate languages  on their own. I always feel proud calling our country as a place of many languages. Well, go ahead, call Visayan a language. It has lots of Spanish vocabulay as well.

The world describes Papua New Guinea as a unique country with more than 360 languages. I think, their languages should be called just dialects because of the small number of speakers using each language (just a tribe or two) and there are no written (published) grammatical rules to define each language (not very sure though). My students who were representatives of the various tribes never  showed nor talked about their native language.

I always feel proud describing our country to be a multi-lingual country, with people speaking more than one language, usually three or four. I would have been a lot happier if the native language of my grandparents- Ilocano, was chosen as the national language instead. Our teachers in college told us that it was Tagalog that was chosen because it was the richest in expression and vocabulary among the three top contenders: Visayan, Ilocano and Tagalog. I think, there were other reasons apart from that, and "politics" could be one of them.

[renzphotography]

To illustrate the difference between dialect and language allow me to give you these examples:

English is the language but British English, American English, Australian English, Filipino English, etc. are dialects.

Spanish is the language but Mexican Spanish, Chavacano (Philippine Spanish), Argentinian Spanish, Columbian Spanish, etc. are the dialects.

Visayan is the language but Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Ilonggo, etc. are the dialects.

Tagalog is the language but Cavite Tagalog, Batangas Tagalog, Bulacan Tagalog, Quezon Tagalog are the dialects.

As for standardization as the basis for determining which is a language or merely a dialect is potentially controversial thus I would not venture that way if I were you. This could give rise to notions of superiority and inferiority among peoples and set rifts instead of promote healing among them.

As for foreign influences, contacts through the trade routes, wars, political links, etc. have paved the way for countless cultural encounters that give rise to shared experiences resulting in language influences.

That is why many European languages have Greek, Latin, German, French or even Slavic influences. Even the Chinese and Japanese languages were not spared from Indian and more recently Western influences.

More importantly languages evolve. You would be surprised at the many Tagalog terms that are no longer used today but were commonly used in the past, to say the least.

[maudionisio]

RENZPHOTOGRAPHY, Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Ilonggo are not dlalects of Visayan. They are languages themselves. In the case of Ilonggo and Hiligaynon, they are one and the same language. The language is called “Ilonggo” in Iloilo City and its environs, and “Hiligaynon” in the far-flung barangays of Iloilo province. Chavacano is not Philippine Spanish. It is a form of pidgin Spanish developed in Zamboanga City and Ternate in Cavite. The Zamboanga variety is a mixture of Spanish and Bisaya, while the Ternate version has a sprinkiling of Tagalog and Spanish.

MADGIRL, The number of speakers does not demote a language into a dialect, which is a mere variation of a particular language. As for grammar, a language cannot be brush aside as a dialect on grounds that it has no sophistciated grammar. Take Bahasa Indonesia, it has an irregular grammar, but it is spoken in a huge island chain covering various tribes and races.

[renzphotography]

Thank you for your feedback maudionisio. Actually the relationship between Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray, etc to Visayan is that Visayan refers to the family of languages. For sure you are right about Ilonggo and Hiligaynon as being one and the same (unfortunately someone told me that they are different). However, Chavacano is officially a Spanish dialect (believe it or not).

Below are my references:

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

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

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

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

[maudionisio]

Chavacano is a Philippine language, but it is not a dialect of Spanish. It is a form of pidgin Spanish. The Zamboanga variety contains words from Spanish and Bisaya, and that is Cavite, Spanish and Tagalog. The structure is a combination of the three languages. A dialect on the other hand is a mere variation of a particular language. As you have pointed out, the Spanish of Latin America is a dialect ofd Spanish. A good example of a language that began as in pidgin form is Afrikaans, which is spoken by the descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa. Over the last century, Afrikaans has veered away from Dutch and developed into a dfferent language. A Dutch speaker would find it hard to undestand a person talking in Afrikaans. In th e same way, a Spaniard or a Latin American would have difficulty understanding a Chavacano speaker. As for Ilonggo and Hiligaynon, they are one and the same language. Make a reasearch to erase the doubts from your mind.