Spanish in the Philippines
|
|
tl:Wikang Espanyol sa Filipinas es:Español de las Filipinas Spanish is a language of historical and cultural significance. It is percieved as the language of the elite. It used to be an official language until 1987.
According to the 1990 census, there are 2,658 Spanish speakers and 292,630 creole (Chavacano ) speakers in the Philippines. The Philippines was a Spanish colony for 333 years (1565-1898). There are thousands of Spanish words in 170 Filipino dialects and around 13 million Spanish documents in the Philippine archives. Courts of law still recognize documents written in Spanish.
| Contents |
The Spanish colonial era
Spanish was first introduced to the Philippines in 1565, when the Conquistador Miguel López de Legaspi founded the first Spanish settlement on the island of Cebu.
Although the language was never compulsory while under Spanish colonial rule, and its learning was in fact discouraged or explicitly prohibited from the natives by the Spanish colonial authorities, Spanish was at one time spoken by around 10% of the population. It was the first and only language of the Spanish and Spanish-mestizo minority, and the second but most important language of the educated native Ilustrados. The stance of the Roman Catholic Church and its missionaries was also to preach to the natives in local languages, and not Spanish.
In 1593, the first printing press was founded. A great portion of the colonial history of the Philippines is written in Spanish. Up until recently, many land titles, contracts, newspapers and literature were still written in Spanish, and though it is no longer an official language legal documents in Spanish are still recognized in Filipino courts of law.
The Universidad de Santo Tomas, the oldest educational institution, inaugurated in 1611. In 1863, Queen Isabel II of Spain decreed the establishment of a public school system.
The American era
With the era of the Philippines as a Spanish colony having just ended, a considerable amount of media, newspapers, radios, government proceedings, education, etc. were still in Spanish. Even in the early 20th century a hegemony of Spanish was still in force.
Although English had begun to be heavily promoted and used as the medium of education and government procedings, the majority of Spanish literature by native Filipinos was produced at this time. This was because the upper class minority were educated in Spanish, and for the first time they experienced a greater degree of freedom of expression and even support, since the Spanish authorities weren't too receptive to Filipino writers and intellectuals during the colonial period. As a result, while at that time the majority of the population was comprised of the uneducated native who had no understanding of the language, Spanish was nonetheless the most important language in the country.
In his 1899 book “Yesterdays in the Philippines”, the American John Early Stevens wrote: Spanish, of course, is the court and commercial language and, except among the uneducated native who have a ling of their own or among the few members of the Anglo-Saxon colony, it has a monopoly everywhere. No one can really get on without it, and even the Chinese come in with their peculiar pidgin variety. (Page 11).
The new Philippine Republic established Spanish as the official language in the constitution of 1898, drawn up during the Constitutional Convention in Malolos, Bulacan. The language was then free to be taught and learned by all the natives, and not just by the select few. Its officialization was in an attempt to increase its speakers so it would serve as a common language in a nation of over 170 different local languages, each with its many dialects. The efforts failed, and the number of speakers steadily declined. Today it is spoken by less than 0.01% of the population; 2,658 speakers (1990 Census). Spanish was abolished as a compulsory school subject in 1968 and as an official language in 1973.
While the 1903 census officially reported the number of Spanish speakers at only 1% of the population, it only considered the Spanish-born and completely disregarded the mestizos, the Chinese population, and the native illustrado class which would have placed the numbers at 10% of the 8 million Filipinos speaking Spanish, though mostly as a second language.
In 1924, the Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language was created. In 1936, Filipino films in Spanish began to be produced.
A 17th century book to learn Castillian
In the early seventeenth century a Tagalog printer, Tomas Pinpin, set out to write a book in romanized phonetic script to teach Tagalogs how to learn Castilian. His book, published by the Dominican press where he worked, appeared in 1610, the same year as Blancas's arte. Unlike the missionary's grammar (which Pinpin had set in type), the Tagalog native's book dealt with the language of the dominant rather than the subordinate other. Pinpin's book was the first such work ever written and published by a Philippine native. As such, it is richly instructive for what it tells us about the interests that animated Tagalog translation and, by implication, Tagalog conversion in the early colonial period. Pinpin construed translation in ways that tended less to oppose than to elude the totalizing claims of Spanish signifying conventions.
The role of Spanish in rising nationalism
During the Spanish colonial era, and also through the early American period, Philippine nationalism, government reforms, the country's first constitution and historic novels were written in Spanish. While not widely understood by the majority of the population, Spanish at this time was nonetheless the unifying language since Tagalog was not as prominent or ubiquitous as it is today and each region had their own culture and language, and would rather speak in their local languages. Denizens of each region thought of themselves as Ilocano, Cebuano, Bicolano, et cetera, and not as Filipinos.
Throughout the colonial era the term "Filipino" originally referred to only the Spanish and Spanish-mestizo minority; while the Malay natives referred to them as 'Kastila'.
The intelectuals Ilustrados, which included both the Kastilas and natives Malays, were the educated elite who promoted and propagated nationalism and a modern Filipino consciousness. The unifying force is primary reasons historians say that the Spanish authorities did not want to promote the language.
Jose Rizal propagated Filipino consciousness and identity in Spanish. One material highly instrumental in developing nationalism was the novel Noli Me Tangere which exposed abuses of the Spanish government and clergy. Rizal of course, wrote in Tagalog also and did promote Tagalog. However, the majority of his works are in Spanish.
The novel Noli Me Tangere's very own notoriety among the Spanish authorities, government and clergy, propelled its popularity even more among Filipinos. Reading it was forbidden because it exposed and caricatured Spanish clergy and government authority.
Decline of the Spanish language
Spanish has been in decline since the 20th century, though some families within the mestizo minority to this day continue to use Castillian as the language of the home.
While the 1903 census officially reported the number of Spanish-speakers at only 1% of the population, it only considered those who were monolingual in the language and had Spanish as their one and only tongue, ie. Peninsulares (Spanish-born Spaniards) and Insulares (Filipino-born Spaniards). It completely disregarded the bilingual Spanish-mestizo and multilingual Chinese-mestizo and Chinese minorities who - although spoke two or more languages - utilized Spanish as their primary language of business and culture. Furthermore, the native-Filipino illustrado class, who were academically instructed in the Spanish language, also used Spanish as their primary language despite having any one of the many native languages as their mother tongue. These together would have placed the numbers at 10% of the 8 million Filipinos of that era as Spanish-speakers.
Reason given as to the decline of Spanish in the Philippines include the fact that the archipelago wasn´t a direct colony of Spain, but instead was administered from Mexico City (in what was then New Spain) thereby lessening the ties, and disabling the large scale Spanish migration experienced across the Americas.
After World War II and during the Marcos regime, many of the old Spanish-speaking families of Philippines migrated to Europe or the Americas, including United States. By 1940 the number of Spanish-speakers in the Philippines was approximately 6 million, however, as a percentage of the total population the numbers had actually dropped. By the 1950 Census Spanish-speakers constitued 6% of the population, down from a 10% peak. In the Philippines today, the language is spoken by less than 0.01% of the population; 2,658 speakers (1990 Census).
The state of Spanish today
Spanish ceased to be an official language in 1973, and a required subject in college in 1987 during the Cory Aquino Administration. It is still spoken and maintained by mestizo families, and many Filipinos, even during the 60s and 70s, grew up with Spanish being their first and primary language, even before they learned to speak Tagalog or English. Speakers are typically, but not always, the 'elite'. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a member of the Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language. Many of the older people speak it well in Zamboanga where the general population speak the creole, Chabacano.
The propagation and/or imposition of Spanish as an official language is still in heavy dispute. On one side, much of the history and culture is embedded in the language. There are an estimated 13 million manuscripts from the 16th century to 1898 which include government documents, economics, trade disputes, legal matters, patriotic material, religious material, registrations etc. Up to the 60s, birth certificates were in both English and Spanish. There is still a very strong need to translate a great number of historical documents.
On the other side, Spanish is accused by some as representing colonization and has less relevance than English for practical usage or Filipino in terms of nationalism. Certain advocates maintain that Spanish was used by the first Filipino patriots. For example, Spanish was used to write the country's first constitution, Constitución Política de Malolos, Noli Me Tangere, the original national anthem, nationalistic propaganda material,etc and thus should be considered a national language. Philippine nationalism was first propagated in the Spanish language.
Manila is home to the main East Asian branch of the Instituto Cervantes, the Spanish government's official overseas institute for the promotion of Spanish language and Latin American culture. The Spanish language enjoys popularity as a language of choice for learning a foreign language among Filipinos.
Influence on the languages of the Philippines
There are approximately 4,000 Spanish words in Tagalog, and around 6,000 Spanish words in Visayan and other dialects. The Spanish counting system, calendar, time, etc are still in use with slight modifications. Archaic Spanish words have been preserved in Tagalog and the other vernaculars such as pera (perra - coins), sabon [jabón (the j used to be pronounced as in French and Portuguese:'jsh' or roughly the j sound in beige or garage) - soap], relos [reloj (with the j sound) - watch], kwarta (cuarta), etc. The Spaniards and the language were referred to as Kastila after Castila, the name of the Spanish language.
Chabacano, also called Zamboangueño, is a Spanish creole spoken in the Philippines. Chabacano is concentrated mostly in the South, in the provinces of Zamboanga, with some speakers found in Cavite. As a large number of workers to build military and other Spanish establishments in Zamboannga and other areas in the South, were imported from different linguistic regions, Chavacano developed as a lingua franca.
False friends
False friends, also known as False cognates are words that exist in two languages, but mean different things. Here is a list of word in Filipino languages that are Spanish, or appear to be Spanish, and which have changed in meaning.
| Language | Meaning | Spanish | Spanish meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ya | Chabacano | denotes past tense | Ya | already |
| Donde andas? | Chabacano | where are you going? | andar | to walk, to operate |
| Siguro | Tagalog,Chabacano,Cebuano,Ilonggo | maybe | seguro | secure, stable, sure |
| Syempre | TagalogChabacano,Cebuano,Ilonggo | of course | siempre | always |
| Pirmi | Ilonngo, Cebuano, Chabacano | always | firme | firm, steady |
| Basta | Tagalog,Chabacano,Cebuano,Ilonggo | as long as | basta | enough!, stop! |
| Maske, Maski | Tagalog,Chabacano,Cebuano,Ilonggo | even if | más que | more than |
| Kubeta | Tagalog | toilet, outhouse | cubeta | bucket |
| Casilyas | Cebuano, Chabacano | toilet, toilet seat, to excrement | casillas | square, cube, hut |
| Lamierda, lamyerda | Tagalog | paint the town red | la mierda | shit, excrement |
| Puto | Tagalog | a type of rice cake | puto | male prostitue |
| Baho | Tagalog | pungent, smelly | bajo | below, descend |
| Sabi | Tagalog | to say | saber | to know |
| Barkada | Tagalog | groupfriend | barcada | boatload |
| Sugal | Tagalog | gambling | jugar | to play |
| Mamon | Tagalog | fluffy bread | mamón (de "mamar"), mamón (de "mamas") | suckle (from "to suckle") mammary glands (from "mammaries") |
| Pera | Tagalog | money | perra | silver coin |
| Kasí, kasé | Tagalog | because | casi | almost |
| Silbí | Tagalog | use | servir | to serve |
| Palengke | Tagalog | market | palenque | palisade |
| Kontrabida | Tagalog | villain | contra vida | against life |
| Aparador | Tagalog | clothes cabinet | aparador | sideboard |
List of Spanish words of Philippine origin
Although the greates linguistic impact and wordloans has been from Spanish to the languages of the Philippines, the Filipino languages have also loaned some words to Spanish.
The following words can be found in the DRAE, "Diccionario de la Lengua Española, Real Academia Española" (Diccionary of the Spanish language, Royal Academy of the Spanish Language).
- carabao
- barangay
- yoyo
- abaca
- cogon - a grass.
- sampaguita- a flower
- gumamela - a flower
- baguio - typhoon/hurricane
- bolo - A big knife/ short sword.
See also
- Hispanic culture in the Philippines
- Latin Union
- Chavacano
- Spanish Language
- Literature of the Philippines
- Black Legend
References
- Hispanofilipino Circle (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hispanofilipino)
- Spanish for Filipinos and others (http://filipinokastila.tripod.com/)
- "Statistics: Spanish Language in the Philippines" (http://de.geocities.com/hispanofilipino/Articles/EstadisticasEng.html)
- Archives,Spanish (http://www.pnm.my/motw/philippines/3national_archives.htm)
- La Solidaridad article on teaching of Spanish during the Spanish Period (http://www.thefreeman.com/opinion/index.php?fullstory=1&issue=articles_20040627&id=19361)
- Los Indios Bravos Filipino Solidarity Project (http://www.los-indios-bravos.com/)
- Philippine Spanish Literature by Professor Resil Mojares (http://www.ncca.gov.ph/culture&arts/cularts/arts/literary/literary-philspain.htm)
- Spanish words in Tagalog (http://filipinokastila.tripod.com/hispani.html)
- [1] (http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/j/m/jml34/sww.pdf)