Papers by Louward Allen Zubiri
Teaching and Learning Resources for Endangered Languages, 2023
It has been over a decade since the Philippine Department of Education issued Order No. 74 in 200... more It has been over a decade since the Philippine Department of Education issued Order No. 74 in 2009 that institutionalised mother tongue-based multilingual education in the Philippines. However, mother tongue educators still lack adequate educational resources to manage language instruction and address language promotion of non-dominant languages. Moreover, materials on extant Indigenous scripts are exceptionally scarce, considering that most Philippine languages have orthographies based on the Latin script. As part of a continuing intervention to maintain and revitalise Indigenous scripts on the island of Mindoro, the Mangyan Heritage Center has developed learning resources collaboratively with people’s organisations of local Indigenous cultural communities. A community-based participatory process of script documentation and materials development has ensured that the output materials are empirically sound, culturally salient, and consensus-driven. Regular community assemblies and discussions provide opportunities for timely adjustments to the materials. This process is time-consuming and more costly than those without regular checks and frequent community validation. The value of this process lies in the constant reflection on emergent themes, which have included: diversity of forms and purpose, distress over the notion of access, detachment from multi-script familiarity, and inadequacy of input.
The Archive Special Publication No. 17, 2021
Multlilingualism is the norm in many parts of the world (Grosjean 2010: 13, Thomason 2001: 31), b... more Multlilingualism is the norm in many parts of the world (Grosjean 2010: 13, Thomason 2001: 31), but current linguistic practices remain to be biased towards the perspective of monolingualism. For instance, our current knowledge of language is typically based on the contexts of large-scale, monolingual societies (Adamou 2021: 3-7, Stanford 2016: 525-526, Stanford & Preston 2009: 6-12). Linguistic theories and constructs are largely derived from monolingual language use and processing. Measurements of linguistic skills and proficiencies are mostly based on monolingual competencies. Language documentation practices mainly focus on documenting a single, ancestral code, and much is still left to be done on documenting the language use of multilingual speakers and communities. Finally, as Inabaknon in Capul Island, and the Sinama languages in and around the Sulu Archipelago, Sabah, and Indonesia around the Celebes Sea. There are Spanish-based creoles in Cavite and Zamboanga. There is also what we call FSL or Filipino Sign Language, with documented regional variations. Finally, we have Filipino as the national language of the country, as well as English, which is declared as an official language, used in commerce, law, and education. LZ In terms of determining the actual number of languages in the country, which is an ongoing issue in Philippine linguistics and language studies, this concerns the matter of linguistic boundaries. Using mutual intelligibility as one of the criteria in distinguishing boundaries, it can be said that the Philippines is one of the countries in the world with a high linguistic diversity, with each language having more than two dialects. There are languages which are characterized as L-simplex, a simple clearcut system that is located in a specific area and is distinguishable from others around it. However, there are also languages which are characterized as L-complex (see Hockett [1958] for a characterization of L-simplex and L-complex), also called chains or continuums, which are groups of lects or varieties with diminishing degrees of mutual intelligibility among themselves. We also have macrolanguages (see Eberhard, Simons & Fennig 2021), introduced in the ISO-639-3 standard, which refer to strongly divergent dialects of the same language or very closely related languages, such as the Bicol languages, also known as the Bicol macrolanguage.
Frontiers in Genetics, 2022
The Philippines, with the recent discovery of an archaic hominin in Luzon and an extensive ethnol... more The Philippines, with the recent discovery of an archaic hominin in Luzon and an extensive ethnolinguistic diversity of more than 100 Indigenous peoples, is crucial to understanding human evolution and population history in Island Southeast Asia. Advances in DNA sequencing technologies enable the rapid generation of genomic data to robustly address questions about origins, relatedness, and population movements. With the increased genetic sampling in the country, especially by international scientists, it is vital to revisit ethical rules and guidelines relevant to conducting research among Indigenous peoples. Our team led fieldwork expeditions between 2019 and February 2020 in Zamboanga and the Sulu Archipelago, a chain of islands connecting the Mindanao and Borneo landmasses. The trips concluded with a collection of 2,149 DNA samples from 104 field sites. We present our fieldwork experience among the mostly sea-oriented Sama-Bajaw and Tausug-speaking communities and propose recommendations to address the ethical challenges of conducting such research. This work contributes toward building an enabling research environment in the Philippines that respects the rights and autonomy of Indigenous peoples, who are the rightful owners of their DNA and all genetic information contained therein.
This study examined the implementation of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education at the natio... more This study examined the implementation of Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education at the national level with special focus on selected places in the Philippines.
This is part of UNESCO Bangkok’s regional study that involves four countries, namely Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. Its overall objective is to examine the dynamics of language use in classrooms and what implications it has on classroom practices and pedagogy and how it is translated into learning. The following are the specific objectives.
● To examine language dynamics, teaching and learning conditions, types of learning materials in schools that are employing MTB-MLE and how actual school and community conditions are facilitating the implementation of MTB-MLE
● To study the provision of pre-service and in-service training for teachers teaching in MTB-MLE settings as well as the working conditions of teachers
● To document innovative pedagogy and promising practices put in place by countries for improving the quality of mother tongue based teaching and addressing ethnolinguistic minority learners
● To assess experience of minority children in classrooms and schools and the social and educational impacts of MTB-MLE on learners and local communities
This study revolves around notes and critiques of Bikol lexicography. Based on a selection of six... more This study revolves around notes and critiques of Bikol lexicography. Based on a selection of six dictionaries, the structure and diachronic development of Bikol lexicography were analyzed. Half of the selected dictionaries were authored in full or part by Malcolm Mintz, a renowned Bikol expert. These enabled a linear analysis of changes in lexicography that have occurred within the span of four decades. The dictionaries studied include the earliest and most influential Bikol dictionary of Lisboa (1865). The study presents a preliminary description of lexicographic work done in Bikol and traces the shift in the paradigm of dictionary making from the Spanish era to the present.
The metonym NANG refers to the category that includes the forms ng and nang in Filipino. In vario... more The metonym NANG refers to the category that includes the forms ng and nang in Filipino. In various literatures, these morphemes are typically treated as linkers, markers and particles, among others . If we look at the different attributes of these elements, such as their syntactic distribution and formal and functional characteristics, we find that there is a motivation to group such morphemes into a single category.
For several decades, education and language policies in the Philippines have been a popular subje... more For several decades, education and language policies in the Philippines have been a popular subject of debate especially among policy makers and school administrators. The 1974 Bilingual Education Policy (BEP) and the 1987 constitutional mandate on the status of Filipino, in particular, were significant issues contributing to the course of the Philippine education system (Rubrico, 1998;
Talks by Louward Allen Zubiri
Documenting Philippine Languages, 2018
Origins and Transformations: Linguistics, 2018
Identifying and Documenting Philippine Intangible Cultural Heritage, 2019
Tadyawan, Bangon, and Ratagnon: Context, Status, and Challenges, 2019
Engaging Indigenous Cultural Communities, 2019
Conference Presentations by Louward Allen Zubiri
Panay is the Philippines’ sixth largest island and is home to the lingua franca of Western Visaya... more Panay is the Philippines’ sixth largest island and is home to the lingua franca of Western Visayas, Hiligaynon. Within Panay, the northwestern region is especially diverse, having at least five different languages comprising its local linguistic ecology. These languages include Aklanon (and Malaynon), Kinaray-a and Caluyanen from the Western Visayan branch, besides Inati and Capiznon from the Peripheral Visayan branch.
Aklanon is particularly known for its unique feature among Visayan languages of having a voiced velar fricative [ɣ]. Spatial distribution of phonological and lexical features within the province of Aklan and nearby areas will be presented using Voronoi mapping. Particular isoglosses and bundles of isoglosses marking major divisions between dialects at the municipal level will be identified. A similarity matrix based on these lexical and phonological features will also be calculated.
Supplementary interpretations will be postulated based on distance-based clustering algorithms.
Recent developments in linguistic fieldwork and community language work have shown an emergent sh... more Recent developments in linguistic fieldwork and community language work have shown an emergent shift from an informant-as-subject and community-as-subject to informant-as-partner and community-as-partner perspective (see Czaykowska-Higgins, 2009; Rice, 2011, 2018). A community-based approach emphasizes development in situ, social & practical value, and partnership. The value of community-based linguistics lies not only in its inclusiveness but more on its potential in entrenching among community members something traditionally considered as purely academic such as orthography or grammar or endangerment. Meaningful conversations and consultations on viability, directionality, and prospects shape much of the discussion.
We present a case of a collaborative research project on two Philippine Indigenous Scripts - Surat Mangyan and Surat Buhid. The project continues prior orthography development in Surat Mangyan (1986, 2002, 2013) by Antoon Postma with the Mangyan Heritage Center, and legacy efforts in language documentation from early scholarly work (see Meyer et al., 1895; Postma, 1971).
Surat Mangyan and Surat Buhid along with the other Philippine Paleographs have been declared as National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum of the Philippines and has been included in the Memory of the World Register of UNESCO. Scripts, as the representational medium of language, is an essential domain of intangible cultural heritage as it incorporates identity formation, artistry, and heritage into practice.
The collaboration between the people's organizations, the community members, and the Mangyan Heritage Center emphasizes conducting language research on, for, and with the community. In community-based linguistics, linguists act as facilitators and instigators of local capacity building.
Members of the speech communities participate and engage in activities traditional done by a linguist such as data elicitation, process documentation, and demographic profiling. The use of the mother tongue in oral communication and the research instruments is also an integral component of localization.
Alabat Agta is listed as an endangered language in three different publications: Encyclopedia of ... more Alabat Agta is listed as an endangered language in three different publications: Encyclopedia of World’s Endangered Languages, UNESCO Atlas of World’s Languages in Danger, and Ethnologue Languages of the World published by Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). It is one of the most endangered languages in the Philippines.
This presentation is an introduction and a report on the current project status of documenting and reinvigorating Alabat Agta. The Inagta Alabat documentation project combines the traditional archival approach of language documentation with community development focused on bilingual literacy, public awareness, and shared cultural heritage. The project aims to supplement grassroots efforts and advocacy and to highlight the plight of endangered languages in the Philippines.
The prevalence of discussions and debates on inclusivity, diversity, and community empowerment ac... more The prevalence of discussions and debates on inclusivity, diversity, and community empowerment across various disciplines has impacted the practice of linguistics. ‘Language documentation’ has become a trendy word not only in the Asia-Pacific region but also countries that have traditionally prioritized a select few languages such as the Philippines.
There have been recent changes in language policies in the Philippines. Both macrolevel language policy (ex. MTBMLE) and micro level language policy (ex. Ilokano Code) have been designed to protect and promote local languages and to establish the right to use and maintain those languages. Some of these policies, by giving de jure status to local languages, can be used as an indicator to raise the vitality rating of these languages.
According to Ethnologue (2017), the vitality profile of the Philippines is that out the 183 extant languages in the country, fourteen are in trouble and eleven are dying. This is a conservative count as some linguists remarked that the Philippines has at least thirty endangered languages and that all Negrito groups speak endangered languages (Headland, 2003).
It is not only languages that are endangered in the Philippines. Indigenous scripts, also known as the Philippine Paleographs, are endangered. The Philippine Paleographs include Surat Tagbanua in Palawan and Surat Mangyan & Surat Buhid in Mindoro. These have been declared as National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum of the Philippines and has been included in the Memory of the World Register of UNESCO.
The Philippines has one of the highest linguistic diversity in the region, and it also has a high degree of endangerment. Philippine languages and cultures are under pressure from the national language, the regional lingua francas, and English. This is an examination of the status and trends of language documentation in the Philippine context.
This paper makes a case for linguistic rights based on a common Austronesian heritage and paralle... more This paper makes a case for linguistic rights based on a common Austronesian heritage and parallel experiences, integrating lessons from language endangerment, language advocacy, and mother tongue education.
Indigenous languages in the Philippines and Taiwan belong to the same language family, the Austronesian language family. This language family is one of the biggest language family in terms of the number of member languages and has the broadest geographical span before the spread of colonial languages.
Promotion and advocacy of this Austronesian heritage remain asymmetrical when comparing the two countries. Culture and heritage studies and institutions such as museums promoting these disciplines manifest Taiwan’s acceptance of this Austronesian heritage. The Philippines, on the other hand, despite having a higher diversity index, has markedly sidelined Austronesian, remaining much in favor of more traditional models such as the Waves of Migration theory.
Both countries do have institutionalized macro-level policies promoting indigenous languages and cultures. Taiwan's Indigenous Peoples Basic Law supplemented by the Indigenous Languages Development Act parallels the Philippines’ Indigenous People's Rights Act and Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education. The Philippine’s experience in promoting the mother tongue can provide some guidance especially since many of Taiwan’s indigenous languages are classified as endangered.
The language endangerment and documenting endangered languages remains one of the critical issues in linguistics. Both the Philippines and Taiwan are considered language hotspots, areas in the world with high diversity and high endangerment. While the Philippines has been petrified in a documentation era, Taiwan has moved to a revitalization era, trying to invigorate many of its dying languages.
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Papers by Louward Allen Zubiri
This is part of UNESCO Bangkok’s regional study that involves four countries, namely Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. Its overall objective is to examine the dynamics of language use in classrooms and what implications it has on classroom practices and pedagogy and how it is translated into learning. The following are the specific objectives.
● To examine language dynamics, teaching and learning conditions, types of learning materials in schools that are employing MTB-MLE and how actual school and community conditions are facilitating the implementation of MTB-MLE
● To study the provision of pre-service and in-service training for teachers teaching in MTB-MLE settings as well as the working conditions of teachers
● To document innovative pedagogy and promising practices put in place by countries for improving the quality of mother tongue based teaching and addressing ethnolinguistic minority learners
● To assess experience of minority children in classrooms and schools and the social and educational impacts of MTB-MLE on learners and local communities
Talks by Louward Allen Zubiri
Conference Presentations by Louward Allen Zubiri
Aklanon is particularly known for its unique feature among Visayan languages of having a voiced velar fricative [ɣ]. Spatial distribution of phonological and lexical features within the province of Aklan and nearby areas will be presented using Voronoi mapping. Particular isoglosses and bundles of isoglosses marking major divisions between dialects at the municipal level will be identified. A similarity matrix based on these lexical and phonological features will also be calculated.
Supplementary interpretations will be postulated based on distance-based clustering algorithms.
We present a case of a collaborative research project on two Philippine Indigenous Scripts - Surat Mangyan and Surat Buhid. The project continues prior orthography development in Surat Mangyan (1986, 2002, 2013) by Antoon Postma with the Mangyan Heritage Center, and legacy efforts in language documentation from early scholarly work (see Meyer et al., 1895; Postma, 1971).
Surat Mangyan and Surat Buhid along with the other Philippine Paleographs have been declared as National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum of the Philippines and has been included in the Memory of the World Register of UNESCO. Scripts, as the representational medium of language, is an essential domain of intangible cultural heritage as it incorporates identity formation, artistry, and heritage into practice.
The collaboration between the people's organizations, the community members, and the Mangyan Heritage Center emphasizes conducting language research on, for, and with the community. In community-based linguistics, linguists act as facilitators and instigators of local capacity building.
Members of the speech communities participate and engage in activities traditional done by a linguist such as data elicitation, process documentation, and demographic profiling. The use of the mother tongue in oral communication and the research instruments is also an integral component of localization.
This presentation is an introduction and a report on the current project status of documenting and reinvigorating Alabat Agta. The Inagta Alabat documentation project combines the traditional archival approach of language documentation with community development focused on bilingual literacy, public awareness, and shared cultural heritage. The project aims to supplement grassroots efforts and advocacy and to highlight the plight of endangered languages in the Philippines.
There have been recent changes in language policies in the Philippines. Both macrolevel language policy (ex. MTBMLE) and micro level language policy (ex. Ilokano Code) have been designed to protect and promote local languages and to establish the right to use and maintain those languages. Some of these policies, by giving de jure status to local languages, can be used as an indicator to raise the vitality rating of these languages.
According to Ethnologue (2017), the vitality profile of the Philippines is that out the 183 extant languages in the country, fourteen are in trouble and eleven are dying. This is a conservative count as some linguists remarked that the Philippines has at least thirty endangered languages and that all Negrito groups speak endangered languages (Headland, 2003).
It is not only languages that are endangered in the Philippines. Indigenous scripts, also known as the Philippine Paleographs, are endangered. The Philippine Paleographs include Surat Tagbanua in Palawan and Surat Mangyan & Surat Buhid in Mindoro. These have been declared as National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum of the Philippines and has been included in the Memory of the World Register of UNESCO.
The Philippines has one of the highest linguistic diversity in the region, and it also has a high degree of endangerment. Philippine languages and cultures are under pressure from the national language, the regional lingua francas, and English. This is an examination of the status and trends of language documentation in the Philippine context.
Indigenous languages in the Philippines and Taiwan belong to the same language family, the Austronesian language family. This language family is one of the biggest language family in terms of the number of member languages and has the broadest geographical span before the spread of colonial languages.
Promotion and advocacy of this Austronesian heritage remain asymmetrical when comparing the two countries. Culture and heritage studies and institutions such as museums promoting these disciplines manifest Taiwan’s acceptance of this Austronesian heritage. The Philippines, on the other hand, despite having a higher diversity index, has markedly sidelined Austronesian, remaining much in favor of more traditional models such as the Waves of Migration theory.
Both countries do have institutionalized macro-level policies promoting indigenous languages and cultures. Taiwan's Indigenous Peoples Basic Law supplemented by the Indigenous Languages Development Act parallels the Philippines’ Indigenous People's Rights Act and Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education. The Philippine’s experience in promoting the mother tongue can provide some guidance especially since many of Taiwan’s indigenous languages are classified as endangered.
The language endangerment and documenting endangered languages remains one of the critical issues in linguistics. Both the Philippines and Taiwan are considered language hotspots, areas in the world with high diversity and high endangerment. While the Philippines has been petrified in a documentation era, Taiwan has moved to a revitalization era, trying to invigorate many of its dying languages.
This is part of UNESCO Bangkok’s regional study that involves four countries, namely Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. Its overall objective is to examine the dynamics of language use in classrooms and what implications it has on classroom practices and pedagogy and how it is translated into learning. The following are the specific objectives.
● To examine language dynamics, teaching and learning conditions, types of learning materials in schools that are employing MTB-MLE and how actual school and community conditions are facilitating the implementation of MTB-MLE
● To study the provision of pre-service and in-service training for teachers teaching in MTB-MLE settings as well as the working conditions of teachers
● To document innovative pedagogy and promising practices put in place by countries for improving the quality of mother tongue based teaching and addressing ethnolinguistic minority learners
● To assess experience of minority children in classrooms and schools and the social and educational impacts of MTB-MLE on learners and local communities
Aklanon is particularly known for its unique feature among Visayan languages of having a voiced velar fricative [ɣ]. Spatial distribution of phonological and lexical features within the province of Aklan and nearby areas will be presented using Voronoi mapping. Particular isoglosses and bundles of isoglosses marking major divisions between dialects at the municipal level will be identified. A similarity matrix based on these lexical and phonological features will also be calculated.
Supplementary interpretations will be postulated based on distance-based clustering algorithms.
We present a case of a collaborative research project on two Philippine Indigenous Scripts - Surat Mangyan and Surat Buhid. The project continues prior orthography development in Surat Mangyan (1986, 2002, 2013) by Antoon Postma with the Mangyan Heritage Center, and legacy efforts in language documentation from early scholarly work (see Meyer et al., 1895; Postma, 1971).
Surat Mangyan and Surat Buhid along with the other Philippine Paleographs have been declared as National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum of the Philippines and has been included in the Memory of the World Register of UNESCO. Scripts, as the representational medium of language, is an essential domain of intangible cultural heritage as it incorporates identity formation, artistry, and heritage into practice.
The collaboration between the people's organizations, the community members, and the Mangyan Heritage Center emphasizes conducting language research on, for, and with the community. In community-based linguistics, linguists act as facilitators and instigators of local capacity building.
Members of the speech communities participate and engage in activities traditional done by a linguist such as data elicitation, process documentation, and demographic profiling. The use of the mother tongue in oral communication and the research instruments is also an integral component of localization.
This presentation is an introduction and a report on the current project status of documenting and reinvigorating Alabat Agta. The Inagta Alabat documentation project combines the traditional archival approach of language documentation with community development focused on bilingual literacy, public awareness, and shared cultural heritage. The project aims to supplement grassroots efforts and advocacy and to highlight the plight of endangered languages in the Philippines.
There have been recent changes in language policies in the Philippines. Both macrolevel language policy (ex. MTBMLE) and micro level language policy (ex. Ilokano Code) have been designed to protect and promote local languages and to establish the right to use and maintain those languages. Some of these policies, by giving de jure status to local languages, can be used as an indicator to raise the vitality rating of these languages.
According to Ethnologue (2017), the vitality profile of the Philippines is that out the 183 extant languages in the country, fourteen are in trouble and eleven are dying. This is a conservative count as some linguists remarked that the Philippines has at least thirty endangered languages and that all Negrito groups speak endangered languages (Headland, 2003).
It is not only languages that are endangered in the Philippines. Indigenous scripts, also known as the Philippine Paleographs, are endangered. The Philippine Paleographs include Surat Tagbanua in Palawan and Surat Mangyan & Surat Buhid in Mindoro. These have been declared as National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum of the Philippines and has been included in the Memory of the World Register of UNESCO.
The Philippines has one of the highest linguistic diversity in the region, and it also has a high degree of endangerment. Philippine languages and cultures are under pressure from the national language, the regional lingua francas, and English. This is an examination of the status and trends of language documentation in the Philippine context.
Indigenous languages in the Philippines and Taiwan belong to the same language family, the Austronesian language family. This language family is one of the biggest language family in terms of the number of member languages and has the broadest geographical span before the spread of colonial languages.
Promotion and advocacy of this Austronesian heritage remain asymmetrical when comparing the two countries. Culture and heritage studies and institutions such as museums promoting these disciplines manifest Taiwan’s acceptance of this Austronesian heritage. The Philippines, on the other hand, despite having a higher diversity index, has markedly sidelined Austronesian, remaining much in favor of more traditional models such as the Waves of Migration theory.
Both countries do have institutionalized macro-level policies promoting indigenous languages and cultures. Taiwan's Indigenous Peoples Basic Law supplemented by the Indigenous Languages Development Act parallels the Philippines’ Indigenous People's Rights Act and Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education. The Philippine’s experience in promoting the mother tongue can provide some guidance especially since many of Taiwan’s indigenous languages are classified as endangered.
The language endangerment and documenting endangered languages remains one of the critical issues in linguistics. Both the Philippines and Taiwan are considered language hotspots, areas in the world with high diversity and high endangerment. While the Philippines has been petrified in a documentation era, Taiwan has moved to a revitalization era, trying to invigorate many of its dying languages.
Focusing specifically on the expression of the negative existential, Philippines languages manifest all three main Negative Existential Cycle (NEC) types, identified in Croft (1991).
The first type is characterized by the expression of the negative existential as a combination of the standard negator and the positive existential. This type is exemplified by Itbayaten, spoken in Itbayat Island and a member language of the Bashiic microgroup.
(1) Itbayaten
nin-anyit alih u=maxahay
AV.PFV-laugh NEG DET.ABS=child
'The child did not laugh.'
ara=lih u=problema
EXIST=NEG DET.ABS=problem
'There is no problem.'
In (1), the first sentence is an example of a negative declarative construction and the standard negator alih, which occurs post-verbally, can be observed. There second sentence is an example of a negative existential construction. Here, the standard negator alih cliticizes to the positive existential ara.
The second type is characterized by a different expression of the negative existential in comparison to the standard negator. An example of this is Tina Sambal, a language spoken in Pampanga and a member language of the Central Luzon microgroup. In (2), the standard negator kai contrasts with the negative existential humin.
(2) Tina Sambal
kai n-umli yay=nakabayo
NEG AV.PFV-laugh DET.ABS=bachelor
'The bachelor did not laugh.'
humin tawu ha=bali
NEG.EXIST person DET.LOC=house
'There is no one in the house.'
The third type is characterized by the same expression of the negative existential and the standard negator. An example of this is T’boli, a language spoken in Cotabato and a member language of the Bilic microgroup. In (3), both the negative declarative and the negative locative is marked by laen.
(3) T'boli
laen k<em>uli yom=nga=logi
NEG <AV>laugh DET.ABS=child=man
'The boy did not laugh.'
laen=no be=gono yom=nga=libun
NEG=LNK DET.LOC=house DET.ABS=child=woman
'The girl is not at home.'
However, T’boli manifest gradience on how it expresses ELP (Existential, Locative, Possessive), another morphosyntactic complex negation often interacts with. In (4), true existentials are marked by endu but the negative locative is marked by the standard negation.
(4) T'boli
endu tau be=gono
NEG.EXIST person DET.LOC=house
'There is no one in the house.'
laen=no be=gono yom=nga=libun
NEG=LNK DET.LOC=house DET.ABS=child=woman
'The girl is not at home.'
This paper aims to describe the manifestation of the Negative Existential Cycle in Philippines languages and how it is related to both TAM restriction and the occurrence of Jespersen cycle. TAM restriction refers to the limitation of negation markers to specific TAM categories while Jespersen cycle is one of the well-known negative linguistic cycle. Special focus will also be given to Bashiic languages as these languages are best candidate for the occurrence of Jespersen Cycle within the Philippine group.
Each language occupies a unique niche in the overall Philippine landscape. However, the issue of language endangerment and vitality is often set aside in the periphery of academic discussion and in community development. Language and linguistic research tend to focus on the “bigger” languages of the Philippines. Both intellectualization and material development follow this same focus on “bigger” languages.
Language documentation in the Philippines is a niche endeavor. Most of the documentation work is done by either SIL Philippines or a linguistic department in one of the universities in the Philippines. With the recent shift to a mother tongue based multilingual education in the Philippines, there is an increasing awareness regarding the plight of these languages. However, there is a pervasive mentality of a one-size-fits-all model. As scholars has been familiar in studying Tagalog, or its standardized counterpart, Filipino, the methodology in documenting Tagalog has been applied to other languages. Cases where documentation of a language of lower vitality focused more on tokenism documentation, rather than actual community development.
There is a dire need to document Philippine languages. However, language documentation should be sensitive, appropriate, and urgent. This paper is an attempt to highlight the status of vitality assessment in the Philippines, what vitality means within the Philippine context, and the problems encountered in the vitality assessment and language documentation of Philippine languages of various vitality rating.
(1) Ni-la~langaw ang=pagkain.
PV-IPFV~swarm.by.fly DET.ABS=food
‘The food is being swarmed by flies.’
(2) Nag-SM na ako.
AV.PFV-go.SM already 1SG.ABS
‘I already went to SM.’
(3) S<in>apatos ni=Maria si=Pedro.
<PV.PFV>hit.with.shoe DET.ERG=Maria DET.ABS=Pedro
‘Maria hit Pedro with a shoe.’
These constructions are often viewed under the lens of lexical derivation, and not noun incorporation. However, this paper maintains that these sentences are examples of an operation in the syntactic interface. The analysis predicts that Tagalog noun incorporation preserves Patient Primacy and that incorporated nominals belong to a natural class with a restricted semantic range. In contrast to classical noun incorporation, Tagalog noun incorporation utilizes a phonologically unrealized verb.
Using a variationist approach, Bikol Daet is explored within the context of Camarines Norte and nearby areas. Lexical data based on a 500-word list are elicited from native speakers residing in twelve towns in Camarines Norte and one town each from the nearby provinces of Camarines Sur and Quezon. These towns include Vinzons, Daet, Mercedes, Basud, Talisay, San Lorenzo Ruiz, San Vicente, Sta. Elena, Labo, Capalonga, Jose Panganiban, and Paracale in Camarines Norte, Ragay in Camarines Sur, and Calaug in Quezon.
Bikol Daet is undeniably a Bikol language and that there are evidences that point to a conclusion that it is different from Bikol Naga. This study also supports the claim by McFarland (1974) that Bikol Daet is a young variety of Bikol but rejects the notion that it did not have any contact-induced changes.
Negation holds a unique position in resolving this dilemma. Negation markers are categorically-constrained. This means negation markers are specific to a particular natural class. This correspondence between negation markers and natural classes may provide insight and additional criterion in determining the syntactic category of the negated element.
However, positing reconstructions is not always as straightforward. Examining the studies dealing with the reconstruction of PPh phonemes, we find differences in the number and forms of the reconstructed proto-phonemes. Focusing primarily on a commonly occurring phoneme in Philippine languages, the glottal stop /ʔ/, we are confronted with a number of issues regarding the reconstruction of its proto-form.
The difference in this particular reconstruction may, in some ways, be due to the interface of phonology and orthography, in that a wide array of graphemes is used in the representation of the glottal stop. These include <?>, <>, <->, <’>, and most importantly, <q>.
This paper investigates the status of the glottal stop in Philippine languages. A survey of the representations of the phoneme in several literatures is given, with the assumption that this resulted to the complications in the reconstruction of its proto-form. In the end, reconstructing the proto-phoneme as either *q or *ʔ presents an important implication regarding PPh, in that this proto-phoneme may either be (1) a Proto-Austronesian (PAn) and Proto-Malayo-Polynesian (PMP) retention (PMP *q > PPh *q); or (2) a PPh innovation (PMP *q > PPh *ʔ).
This study is divided into two parts. It documents and provides an investigation of the linguistic features of this language in a brief grammatical description or a grammatical sketch and it also looks into how this language is currently used in everyday life.
Reid (1994b:470) observes that the Negritos living in the northern region of the Philippines are "multilingual, speaking not only their own language but also Ilokano and Tagalog, as well as one or more of the regional languages adjacent to their hunting range." This phenomenon is not unique to the northern group but can be observed in other places as well. In the case of the Iriga Agta, most of its speakers also spoke the regional lingua franca, Bikol, and two other languages, Rinconada and Buhinon, which are spoken by low-land Christian communities surrounding Mt. Asog. In addition to these languages, Filipino is also taught in schools.
Language contact, language displacement and "linguicide" are factors that were identified and investigated on in this paper that contribute to the rapid demise of Iriga Agta. These factors shape and continue to reshape the domains and arenas where Iriga Agta is used. The paper also examines the related concepts of prestige and language loyalty and the erosion of these values in the Agta community. Analysis of narratives and functional usage of the language helped identify the prevalent attitude concerning the outlook of Iriga Agta.
Research on color categories is divided into two: those that adhere to the universality of the concept of color (Berlin & Kay, 1969) and those that don’t (Wierzbicka, 2005). This is highlighted by the difficulty in determining the equivalent term of the word “color” in the studied languages. This paper aims to investigate the commonality of color terms in Tagalog, Bikol and Hiligaynon. Color terms are identified and classified into types. Subsequently, the languages are categorized based on their stage in evolutionary sequence of color terms. (Kay & Maffi, 1999)
The use of color terms is influenced by a variety of factors and its usage reflects the fuzziness of the said categories. Societal and environmental changes result in the need for more color terms.
The final outputs include a primer that contains a brief introduction to the language, an alphabet chart, and a phrase list, as well as a hardcover compilation of illustrated localized literature in the vernacular.
Linguist Louward Zubiri, the Project Lead, reported that the materials have already been distributed throughout the community, sparking discussions among local officials on incorporating their use to facilitate language revitalization. He added that the elders, elated to receive a complete set of instructional materials for the very first time, confirmed their decision to aggressively promote the re-learning of Inagta Alabat, starting with their own families and home units.