English in the Philippines: A Timeline
- English comes to the Philippines (1898-1935)
- Humanitarian Imperialism: Reversing 300 years of Spanish neglect (In 1898 only 3% can speak Spanish--no permanent school buildings) Teach "proper thinking" through social engineering
- Winning the hearts of Filipinos through transportation, sanitation, and education.
- English the great equalizer through schools for the masses ( by 1900 100,000 in schools run by soldiers)
- Thomasites--forerunner of the Peace Corps
- By 1935 26.3% of population of 16 million claim to speak English--the most common and widespread language
- Nationalism and the rise of Tagalog (1936-1973)
- Finding a national language--controversy over Tagalog (Tagalog 25%, Cebuano 40%)
- Tagalog spreads through comics, movies, and radio.
- War destroys the schools--private schools take over for English
- Golden Age for English--English for integrative rather than instrumental purposes. In 1973 51% of families in Catholic schools spoke English to their children in the home
- Bilingual education and the rise of Taglish (1974-present)
- Tagalog/Pilipino/Filipino for music, physical education, health, values education, civics, and social sciences.
- English for mathematics, natural sciences and technical education (home economics, industrials arts, agricultural arts, and entrepreneurship)
- Intellectualizing Tagalog for the schools--which source for new words? English vs Spanish vs Tagalog (book vs libro vs aklat, teacher vs maestro vs guro) Taglish takes over.
- English fails in the schools--what kind of English should be taught? Academic or Interpersonal? Which materials? English for exporting Filipinos?
- In 1993 74% understand spoken English. (42% think in English, only 7% claim no ability)
- Private vs public schools (1997-98)
- elementary: 21 % private, 79% public
- secondary: 40 % private, 60% public
- tertiary: 79% private, 21% public
- Today: (1987 Constitution)
- National Language: Filipino
- Official Languages: Filipino and English
- Auxiliary Official Languages: Regional languages (Tagalog, Cebuano, Hiligaynon/Ilonggo, Waray, Bicol, Ilocano, Kapampangan, Pangasinan)
- Optional and Voluntary Languages: Spanish and Arabic
- Setting local standards for English--endonormative vs exonormative
- Pronunciation: American English the target
- but without vowel reductions (establish, ceremony, diplomatically, local)
- these, three ==> dese, tree
- seize ==> cease
- hat = hot, sheep = ship, full = fool
- Grammar: British rather than American tends to set standard though Australia gaining influence
- overuse of progressive and perfect tenses (He is going to school regularly. He has seen him yesterday)
- lack of verb agreement (He go to school. The men who arrived yesterday is here.)
- use "the" in generalizations (the Filipino heroes, the food rather than Filipino heroes, food)
- mass nouns as count nouns (his gray hairs, He has a research)
- Vocabulary:
- Spanish and Tagalog words: merienda (snack break) querida (mistress) carabao (water buffalo) baranguay (community)
- loan translations: eggs (testicles--huevos) open the radio
- new meanings: bold (nude or semi-nude) comfort room or CR (toilet), bed-spacer (one who rents a bed in a dorm), hold-upper (robber), presidentiable (candidate for president), carnap (steal a car)