Tagalog Language
Tagalog Language
(/təˈɡɑːlɒɡ/, tə-GAH-log;[4] Tagalog pronunciation: [tɐˈɡaːloɡ]) is an Austronesian
language spoken as a first language by the ethnic Tagalog people, who make up a quarter of the
population of the Philippines, and as a second language by the majority.[5][6] Its standardized
form, officially named Filipino, is the national language of the Philippines, and is one of two official
languages alongside English.
Tagalog is closely related to other Philippine languages, such as the Bikol languages, Ilocano,
the Visayan languages, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan, and more distantly to other Austronesian
languages, such as the Formosan
languages of Taiwan, Malay (Malaysian and Indonesian), Hawaiian, Māori, and Malagasy.
Contents
1Classification
2History
o 2.1Official status
o 2.2Controversy
o 2.3Use in education
3Geographic distribution
4Dialects
5Code-switching with English
6Phonology
o 6.1Vowels
o 6.2Consonants
o 6.3Stress and final glottal stop
7Grammar
8Writing system
o 8.1Baybayin
o 8.2Latin alphabet
8.2.1Abecedario
8.2.2Abakada
8.2.3Revised alphabet
8.2.4ng and mga
o 8.3pô/hô and opò/ohò
9Vocabulary and borrowed words
o 9.1Tagalog words of foreign origin
o 9.2Cognates with other Philippine languages
10Austronesian comparison chart
11Religious literature
12Examples
o 12.1Lord's Prayer
o 12.2Universal Declaration of Human Rights
o 12.3Numbers
o 12.4Months and days
o 12.5Time
13Common phrases
o 13.1Proverbs
14See also
15References
16Further reading
17External links
Classification[edit]
Tagalog is a Central Philippine language within the Austronesian language family. Being Malayo-
Polynesian, it is related to other Austronesian languages, such
as Malagasy, Javanese, Malay (Malaysian and Indonesian), Tetum (of Timor), and Yami (of Taiwan).
[7]
It is closely related to the languages spoken in the Bicol Region and the Visayas islands, such as
the Bikol group and the Visayan group, including Waray-Waray, Hiligaynon and Cebuano.[7]
Tagalog differs from its Central Philippine counterparts with its treatment of the Proto-
Philippine schwa vowel *ə. In most Bikol and Visayan languages, this sound merged with /u/ and [o].
In Tagalog, it has merged with /i/. For example, Proto-Philippine *dəkət (adhere, stick) is
Tagalog dikít and Visayan & Bikol dukot.
Proto-Philippine *r, *j, and *z merged with /d/ but is /l/ between vowels. Proto-
Philippine *ŋajan (name) and *hajək (kiss) became Tagalog ngalan and halík.
Proto-Philippine *R merged with /ɡ/. *tubiR (water) and *zuRuʔ (blood) became
Tagalog tubig and dugô.
History[edit]
Main article: Old Tagalog
The Tagalog Baybayin script
Throughout the 333 years of Spanish rule, various grammars and dictionaries were written by
Spanish clergymen. In 1610, the Dominican priest Francisco Blancas de San Jose published the
"Arte y reglas de la lengua tagala" (which was subsequently revised with two editions in 1752 and
1832) in Bataan. In 1613, the Franciscan priest Pedro de San Buenaventura published the first
Tagalog dictionary, his "Vocabulario de la lengua tagala" in Pila, Laguna.
The first substantial dictionary of the Tagalog language was written by
the Czech Jesuit missionary Pablo Clain in the beginning of the 18th century. Clain spoke Tagalog
and used it actively in several of his books. He prepared the dictionary, which he later passed over
to Francisco Jansens and José Hernandez.[11] Further compilation of his substantial work was
prepared by P. Juan de Noceda and P. Pedro de Sanlucar and published as Vocabulario de la
lengua tagala in Manila in 1754 and then repeatedly[12] reedited, with the last edition being in 2013 in
Manila.[13]
Among others, Arte de la lengua tagala y manual tagalog para la administración de los Santos
Sacramentos (1850) in addition to early studies[14] of the language.
The indigenous poet Francisco Balagtas (1788–1862) is known as the foremost Tagalog writer, his
most notable work being the early 19th-century epic Florante at Laura.[15]
Official status[edit]
Main article: Filipino language
Diariong Tagalog (Tagalog Newspaper), the first bilingual newspaper in the Philippines founded in 1882 written
in both Tagalog and Spanish.
Tagalog was declared the official language by the first revolutionary constitution in the Philippines,
the Constitution of Biak-na-Bato in 1897.[16]
In 1935, the Philippine constitution designated English and Spanish as official languages, but
mandated the development and adoption of a common national language based on one of the
existing native languages.[17] After study and deliberation, the National Language Institute, a
committee composed of seven members who represented various regions in the Philippines, chose
Tagalog as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of the Philippines.[18]
[19]
President Manuel L. Quezon then, on December 30, 1937, proclaimed the selection of the
Tagalog language to be used as the basis for the evolution and adoption of the national language of
the Philippines.[18] In 1939, President Quezon renamed the proposed Tagalog-based national
language as Wikang Pambansâ (national language).[19] Under the Japanese puppet government
during World War II, Tagalog as a national language was strongly promoted; the 1943 Constitution
specifying: The government shall take steps toward the development and propagation of Tagalog as
the national language.".
In 1959, the language was further renamed as "Pilipino".[19] Along with English, the national language
has had official status under the 1973 constitution (as "Pilipino")[20] and the present 1987 constitution
(as Filipino).
Controversy