Blog The Filipino language(s)
The Rich Linguistic Culture of the Philippines
This post is not meant to be a deep study of the myriad languages and dialects of the Filipino culture. It is, however, meant to be an extremely simplified and informal OVERVIEW of the way Filipino languages are used in that culture. The hope is that our members, MARPPIO students and non-Filipino modern arnis students, by viewing this blog, can gain a better understanding of the culture and people of Philippines. Note that this blog will contain terminology that will be unfamiliar to you and so we have included a glossary and pronunciation guide (for American English speakers) at the end of this article.
Tagalog
Firstly, when one speaks of the Filipino language generally, they are referring to the most common and widely used dialect in the Philippines. They are talking about Tagalog.
Tagalog is the official language of the Philippines and is the most commonly used language by Filipinos. Tagalog is the dialect used in governmental business — it is the language used in official documents, governmental functions and courts. Have a look at this site:
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=PH
This site has listed many different languages that are currently being used or was once used by the people of that island nation. Tagalog just happens to be most widely used dialect. Please note that, although Tagalog is the primary dialect of the Philippines, there are regions within that country that consider other dialects the primary spoken language.
For example, in Manila/Quezon City/Makati region of the Philippines, Tagalog is the primary dialect. Manila is the capital of the country and is a large urban area.High government, international business, universities and a cosmopolitan culture exists there. Tagalog and a hybrid Tagalog-English (Taglish) is commonly spoken there, although there are other dialects used by different subcultures within that city.
If you head directly North of Manila, for example, you will leave the urban area and head for the provinces (provincias). At some point, you will hit the Ilocos region and here they speak the Ilocano dialect. For the untrained ear, listening to Tagalog and Ilocano side by side is a jarring experience — neither of them may have common phrases except for things that are described using the Spanish language. (This came from over 300 years of Spanish rule which began in 1565 and ended in 1898 after the Americans defeated the Spanish and took possession of the Philippines as a colony).
In the Ilocos region, Ilocano is the primary language for the people of that region. It is common for some Ilocano speakers to have absolutely no idea how to speak Tagalog and for Tagalog speakers to have no inkling of how to communicate in Ilocano. So, it is not uncommon for residents in Manila and the Ilocos region to have no idea what to say to one another even though the distance between the two is only a few hundred miles.
Modern Arnis
Most of the language we will cover on this website as it related to modern arnis will generally be in Tagalog. Some of the terminology are in Spanish, but as it has been filtered through the Filipino culture and adopted into the Tagalog dialect (for example, the term espada y daga which in Spanish means sword and dagger).
Grandmaster Remy A. Presas and the Presas family are from the Negros region of the Philippines. This is an area of islands south of Luzon (the big island where Manila is located). Cebu is one of those islands and is considered the birthplace for a lot of the Filipino martial arts including Doce Pares, Caballes Serrada Systems, kali, etc… One dialect used in this area is Ilongo and some of the terminology used in all FMA comes from this (for example, olisi is the Ilongo word for stick). However, most of the terms used to describe objects and concepts in modern arnis will generally be in Tagalog.
Future blogs
And so, this is the first proper blog for MARPPIO and we will continue to do more of this in the future. Please look at the glossary and the pronunciation guide at the end of this blog and use these terms and concepts freely at your next class or at your next gathering devoted to Filipino culture. If you have any questions about any of this stuff, just write to us and we will clarify these concepts further. Finally, if you are so moved, leave a comment on this blog and express yourself to the MARPPIO community.
Glosarry and Pronunciation Guide
generally speaking, when you see the letter ‘o’ in a Tagalog word that is combined with a consonant (’on’, ‘og’, ‘ot’, etc…) you must pronounce it as if you are saying ‘awe’ as in ‘law’.
- Tagalog (tug-AH-lawg) - the primary dialect of the Filipino languages.
- Taglish (no pronunciation as it is an English term) - the combination of Tagalog and English words in a sentence used in common conversation
- Manila (muh-NEEL-ah or [old school version] my-NEEL-ah) - the capital of the Philippines
- Quezon (keh-SAWN) City - the city that borders Manila and is considered the more modern version of Manila and is nearly four times the size with new housing, office buildings, etc…a
- Makati (muh-KAH-tee) - another city that borders Manila in the south and is considered an even more modern version of Manila with condominiums, gated communities, tech businesses, etc…
- Metro Manila - (from Wikipedia) Metro Manila is the general term for the metropolitan area that contains the city of Manila, as well as fifteen surrounding cities including Quezon City, the capital from 1948 to 1976, and the Municipality of Pateros. The name "Metro Manila" came about and was generally adapted in the 1980s as previously, cities which are now part of the MM area were part of the neighbouring provinces. Metro Manila is the political, economic, social, and cultural center of the Philippines, and is one of the more modern metropolises in Southeast Asia. It is much more economically developed compared to the other major cities in the country.
- Ilocos (eel-LAW-cuss) - a region in the Philippines that is the furthest northwest area of the island of Luzon.
- Ilocano (eel-law-CON-gnaw) - a dialect spoken by people of the Ilocos region in the Philippines
- provincias (praw-VIN-shuzz) - the provinces (taken from Spanish)
- espada y daga (ess-PAH-duh - ee - DUH-gah) - literally sword and dagger (taken from Spanish) and is a set of techniques used in Modern Arnis using a long stick and a short stick or, if you like, a short sword and a knife
- Luzon (lew-ZAWN) - one of the big three islands of the Philippines; the northernmost of the big three islands which includes Metro Manila
- Cebu - (seh-BOO) - one of the middle islands in the Philippines south of Luzon; this area is considered to be the birthplace of Filipino martial arts styes
- Negros (NEH-gross) - one of the middle islands in the Phillipines south of Luzon, west of Cebu; birthplace of Remy A, Presas and home of the Presas family.
- Doce Pares (DOH-seh-PAH-riss) - in Tagalog literally means ‘twelve friends’ and is one of the largest Filipino martial arts systems in the world: see Wikipedia for more information
- Cabales Serrada Eskrima (kuh-BAWL-ess - sir-RAW-duh - ess - KREE-mah) - another Filipino martial art system with a large American following currently based in Stockton, California USA: see Wikipedia for more information
- Ilongo (eel-LONG-gaw) - another dialect of the Philippines spoken primarily in the Negros/Cebu region of the Philippines
Please note with espada y daga, the pronunciation of the word daga is VERY SPECIFIC. In this context, you must pronounce it with the emphasis on the first syllable. In this way, daga means a dagger - a knife. Pronouncing it with emphasis on the second syllable (duh-GAH) means rodent. You don’t want to fight with a stick and rodent in both hands, now do you?
