What is the National Language of the Republic of the Philippines? What about the Official Language? Are they even the same?
Is it “Tagalog”? Is it “Pilipino”? Or is it, (BakitWhy’s policy of using “Pilipino” instead notwithstanding), in fact, “Filipino”?
Too many people, Pilipinos and Pilipino-Americans unfortunately included, are unable to differentiate between these three different languages, much less answer these questions with a high degree of certainty. The inter-relationships between “Tagalog”, “Pilipino”, and “Filipino” has led to many misunderstandings, including incorrectly assuming that these three are mutually interchangeable, which is oftentimes quite confusing for speakers and non-speakers alike.
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"Western" letters, such as F, J, C, X and Z - sounds of which were not indigenous to the islands before the arrival of the Spaniards and the Americans - were also included in the most recent revision of the Official Filipino Alphabet.
The Ivatan language of Batanes has an indigenous 'V' sound while the Ifugao language has an indigenous 'F' sound.
I am from the University of the Philippines,by the way.
I would also want to add that the use of Filipino instead of Pilipino is not un-nationalistic. As I have said, F is an indigenous phoneme. Moreover, Filipino pertains to the language and Pilipino, to the people. 'Ang wika ay BUHAY' is what professors of the UP Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas always say. Filipino is alive and is ever changing. It is open to new ideas while it preserves the old.
I speak only englishese :(
Q: What do you call someone who speaks 2 languages?
A: Bilingual
Q: What do you call someone who speaks 3 or more languages?
A: Multilingual or Polyglot
Q: What do you call someone who only speaks 1 language?
A: American
:)
While the constitution mandates that Filipino be enriched by other Philippine languages, we've yet to see that happen... All three languages are virtually the same but with different names...
The reason being is that using the term "taglish" would discredit the rest of the 76 to 78 other Major Language Groups and the 500 distinct, regional Dialects across the country, as well as the other foreign laguages that is the basis of Filipino.
I guess Filipino is more "modern" and "updated" -- taglish (mixture of tagalog-english) phrases that aren't really completely "Pilipino" are very much acceptable in "Filipino"
For example, when you say, "Nag-library ako" (I went to the library), that is already considered Filipino instead of the more vague term taglish.
Too bad the Philippine government isn't focusing on more nationalistic directions with things like this i.e sticking to Pilipino rather than Filipino with an "f".
I wonder who was at the forefront of this move in 1987.