Filipino?... Taglish?... or Code-Switching?

[Mark Berkowitz]

Is it called Filipino?... Taglish?... or Code-Switching?

Are these just different labels for the very same thing?

My wife calls the version of Tagalog, which is spoken primarily in the Batangas province, “Deep Tagalog.”  When she moved to Batangas from Pampanga in the 1990’s, she learned that the Tagalog in the Batangas province was much different than the Tagalog that was spoken back in her hometown in Pampanga.

Online, some Filipinos describe ‘Filipino’ as being the Tagalog language when it adopts loanwords from Spanish, English and other native languages.

Formal Tagalog (or deep Tagalog) rarely uses loanwords, and when it does, the loanwords are spelled and slightly pronounced differently.

There is a also a claim that Tagalog is pure, while Filipino is much more open and inclusive, while other Filipinos will claim that Filipino is an offensive term to them, since they are also Filipinos but they speak other local languages, and their languages are just as Filipino as Tagalog.

A similar mixture of the Cebuano language with English could easily be called Cebuanish or code-switching or something else, but let’s get back to my original question regarding the Tagalog-based language.

I find it very hard to know if the mixture of Tagalog words with other languages (primarily English) should be labelled as code-switching, Taglish, or Filipino.

Are these the very same thing with different names?... or are there fundamental differences?

What do you think?

 

[hk blues]

6 minutes ago, Mark Berkowitz said:

Is it called Filipino?... Taglish?... or Code-Switching?

Are these just different labels for the very same thing?

My wife calls the version of Tagalog, which is spoken primarily in the Batangas province, “Deep Tagalog.”  When she moved to Batangas from Pampanga in the 1990’s, she learned that the Tagalog in the Batangas province was much different than the Tagalog that was spoken back in her hometown in Pampanga.

Online, some Filipinos describe ‘Filipino’ as being the Tagalog language when it adopts loanwords from Spanish, English and other native languages.

Formal Tagalog (or deep Tagalog) rarely uses loanwords, and when it does, the loanwords are spelled and slightly pronounced differently.

There is a also a claim that Tagalog is pure, while Filipino is much more open and inclusive, while other Filipinos will claim that Filipino is an offensive term to them, since they are also Filipinos but they speak other local languages, and their languages are just as Filipino as Tagalog.

A similar mixture of the Cebuano language with English could easily be called Cebuanish or code-switching or something else, but let’s get back to my original question regarding the Tagalog-based language.

I find it very hard to know if the mixture of Tagalog words with other languages (primarily English) should be labelled as code-switching, Taglish, or Filipino.

Are these the very same thing with different names?... or are there fundamental differences?

What do you think?

 

I have no idea but i know I find it irritating to listen to/read something in English and suddenly the language changes and I'm lost.  

[Jack Peterson]

6 minutes ago, hk blues said:

read something in English and suddenly the language changes and I'm lost.  

 In Spain with regard to Gibraltar it is called LLanito. Quite common amongst Spanish speaking Areas which The Philippines is to a large degree

[Gary D]

There are many foreign words in english so would said foreigner wonder why we keep throwing in words from their language.

[Mark Berkowitz]

5 hours ago, Gary D said:

There are many foreign words in english so would said foreigner wonder why we keep throwing in words from their language.

Without those foreign words, English would look like this:

Eft he axode, hu ðære ðeode nama wære þe hi of comon. Him wæs geandwyrd, þæt hi Angle genemnode wæron. Þa cwæð he, "Rihtlice hi sind Angle gehatene, for ðan ðe hi engla wlite habbað, and swilcum gedafenað þæt hi on heofonum engla geferan beon."

Instead of this:

Again he [St. Gregory] asked what might be the name of the people from which they came. It was answered to him that they were named Angles. Then he said, "Rightly are they called Angles because they have the beauty of angels, and it is fitting that such as they should be angels' companions in heaven."

 

[scott h]

10 hours ago, Mark Berkowitz said:

Filipino is an offensive term

I did some research several years ago into the tagalog/philippino language. The way I understand it, Tagalog is the native language of the major tribe in central  Luzon (Spanish colonized) and that several years ago congress changed the national language name to Filipino so as not appear to be biased to the tagalog (or imperial Manila) portion of the population. Though almost everyone still calls it Tagalog.

11 hours ago, Mark Berkowitz said:

I find it very hard to know if the mixture of Tagalog words with other languages (primarily English) should be labelled as code-switching, Taglish, or Filipino.

I just call it language, each language grows with time. Being fairly fluent in Spanish, I find that a lot more Spanish root words are used in everyday non technical language than English, pronunciation and spelling sometimes throws a person off as to the original root.

What I find really, really interesting is words that are used in everyday language, you can trace a cultures development at time through language. If we look closely you can trace the history of the Filipins . An example is the word for horse, obviously horses were not common  before the Spanish arrived, so they adopted the Spanish word  cabillo and they changed it to kabillo even though the Americans brought thousands of horses over during their occupation. Time in tagalog is given in Spanish, most likely there were not clocks when they arrived. When using numbers for small amounts under 10 tagalog is used, 10 to 50 Spanish is used, larger numbers English is used. What I find a bit funny is the word for work, Trabajo which is Spanish, So.....did the filipinos not have a word for work before colonization? Or did the Spanish overseers just shout "TRABAJO, TRABAJO" so much and so often is replaced the tagolog word for work.  

[Mike J]

It is my belief that:

Tagalog is the regional language spoken in most areas of Luzon.

Filipino is a constructed language and declared the national language in the 1987 Philippine constitution.  Many, perhaps most, of the Filipino words come from Tagalog with other coming from other regional languages.

English was also declared a national language in the 1987 constitution.  It is my understanding that all business documents must be in English.  School classes are supposed to be taught in English but I think that varies depending on the region and the school.

Taglish is a mix of Tagalog and English 

Filipinos will sometimes joke with one another about their ability to speak English.  Instead of calling it Taglish, they will say they speak Carabao English.  A reference to the province where many locals often speak little or no English.

[Mark Berkowitz]

9 minutes ago, scott h said:

What I find a bit funny is the word for work, Trabajo which is Spanish, So.....did the filipinos not have a word for work before colonization? Or did the Spanish overseers just shout "TRABAJO, TRABAJO" so much and so often is replaced the tagolog word for work.  

[earthdome]

13 hours ago, Mike J said:

Tagalog is the regional language spoken in most areas of Luzon.

Tagalog is a regional language, but originally only in the area around Manila. Most filipino's in the northern third of Luzon speak Ilocano and may speak a local language. Of course tagalog is becoming more common in other areas over time.

[Mark Berkowitz]

Well, no matter what we call it (Tagalog or Filipino or whatever), there is one big perk to know it if you come to Texas (as a Filipina, like my wife did).

She understands many of the words that her Spanish speaking co-workers are saying, especially the bad ones