Tagalog language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tagalog
Spoken in:	Philippines and a small number of the populations of  Australia  Bahrain  Brunei  Canada  Guam  Hong Kong  Japan  Kuwait  Malaysia  Northern Mariana Islands  Palau  Qatar  Saudi Arabia  Switzerland  United Arab Emirates  United Kingdom  United States
Region:	Central and South Luzon
Total speakers:	First language (in the Philippines): 22 million[1] Overall (worldwide): ≈ 90 million total speakers
Ranking:	51
Language family:	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian Philippine    Central Philippine     Tagalog
Writing system:	Latin (Tagalog or Filipino variant); Historically written in Baybayin
Official status
Official language in:	Philippines (in the form of Filipino) Recognized minority language  Canada  Hong Kong  Malaysia  United Kingdom  United States
Regulated by:	Commission on the Filipino Language
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	tl
ISO 639-2:	tgl
ISO 639-3:	tgl
The locations where Tagalog is spoken. Red represents countries where it is an official language (as Filipino), maroon represents where it is recognized as a minority language, pink represents other places where it is spoken significantly.
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken in the Philippines by about 22 million people^[2]. It is related to such languages as Indonesian, Malay, Fijian, Maori (of New Zealand), Hawaiian, Malagasy (of Madagascar), Samoan, Tahitian, Chamorro (of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands), Tetum (of East Timor), and Paiwan (of Taiwan). It is the lingua franca of the Philippines' Region IV (CALABARZON and MIMAROPA) and is the basis^[3] for the national and the official language of the Philippines, Filipino^[4].

[edit] History

The Tagalog Baybayin script.

The word Tagalog derived from tagailog, from tagá- meaning "native of" and ílog meaning "river." Thus, it means "river dweller." Very little is known about the history of the language. However, according to linguists such as Dr. David Zorc and Dr. Robert Blust, the Tagalogs originated, along with their Central Philippine cousins, from Northeastern Mindanao or Eastern Visayas.^[5][6]

The first written record of Tagalog is in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, written in the year 900 and uses fragments of the language along with Sanskrit, Malay, and Javanese. Meanwhile, the first known book to be written in Tagalog is the Doctrina Cristiana (Christian Doctrine) of 1593. It was written in Spanish and two versions of Tagalog; one written in the Baybayin script and the other in the Latin alphabet. Throughout the 333 years of Spanish occupation, there were grammar and dictionaries written by Spanish clergymen such as Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala by Pedro de San Buenaventura (Pila, Laguna, 1613), Vocabulario de la lengua tagala (1835) and Arte de la lengua tagala y manual tagalog para la administración de los Santos Sacramentos (1850). Poet Francisco Baltazar (1788–1862) is regarded as the foremost Tagalog writer. His most famous work is the early 19th-century Florante at Laura.

In 1937, Tagalog was selected as the basis of the national language by the National Language Institute. In 1939, Manuel L. Quezon named the national language "Wikang Pambansâ" ("National Language").^[7] Twenty years later, in 1959, it was renamed by the Secretary of Education, Jose Romero, as Pilipino to give it a national rather than ethnic label and connotation. The changing of the name did not, however, result in acceptance at the conscious level among non-Tagalogs, especially Cebuanos who had not accepted the selection.^[8].

In 1971, the language issue was revived once more, and a compromise solution was worked out—a "universalist" approach to the national language, to be called Filipino rather than Pilipino. When a new constitution was drawn up in 1987, it named Filipino as the national language.^[8] The constitution specified that as the Filipino language evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.

[edit] Classification

Tagalog is a Central Philippine language within the Austronesian language family. Being Malayo-Polynesian, it is related to other Austronesian languages such as Javanese, Indonesian, Malay, Fijian, Maori (of New Zealand), Hawaiian, Malagasy (of Madagascar), Samoan, Tahitian, Chamorro (of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands), Tetum (of East Timor), and Paiwan (of Taiwan). It is closely related to the languages spoken in the Bicol and Visayas regions such as Bikol and the Visayan group including Hiligaynon, Waray-Waray, and Cebuano.

Languages that have made significant contributions to Tagalog are Spanish, English, Hindi, Arabic, Sanskrit, Old Malay, Chinese, Javanese, Japanese, and Tamil.

[edit] Features

[edit] Geographic distribution

The Tagalog homeland, or Katagalugan, covers roughly much of the central to southern parts of the island of Luzon - particularly in Aurora, Bataan, Batangas, Bulacan, Camarines Norte, Cavite, Laguna, Metro Manila, Nueva Ecija, Quezon, Rizal, and large parts of Zambales. Tagalog is also spoken natively by inhabitants living on the islands, Marinduque, Mindoro, and large areas of Palawan. It is spoken by approximately 64.3 million Filipinos, 96.4% of the household population^[9]. 21.5 million, or 28.15% of the total Philippine population^[10], of which speak it as a native language.

Tagalog speakers are found in other parts of the Philippines as well as throughout the world, though its use is usually limited to communication between Filipino ethnic groups. It is the fifth most-spoken language in the United States with over a 1.4 million speakers (2005 census) ^[11]. In Canada it is spoken by 235,615 ^[12].

[edit] Official status

Predominantly Tagalog-speaking regions in the Philippines.

Tagalog was declared the official language by the first constitution in the Philippines, the Constitution of Biak-na-Bato in 1897.^[13]

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.^[14] 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.^[15][8] 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.^[15] In 1939 President Quezon renamed the proposed Tagalog-based national language as wikang pambansâ (national language).^[8] In 1939, the language was further renamed as "Pilipino".^[8]

The 1973 constitution designated the Tagalog-based "Pilipino", along with English, as an official language and mandated the development and formal adoption of a common national language to be known as Filipino.^[16] The 1987 constitution designated Filipino as the national language, mandating that as it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.^[4]

As Filipino, Tagalog has been taught in schools throughout the Philippines. It is the only one out of over 170 Philippine languages that is officially used in schools and businesses, (info from culturegrams)^{[citation needed]} though Article XIV, Section 7 of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines does specify, in part:

Subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, the Government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system.^[4]

The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein.^[4]

Other Philippine languages have influenced Filipino, primarily through migration from the provinces to Metro Manila of speakers of those other languages.

Besides the Philippines, the language enjoys relative minority status in Canada], the United Kingdom, and also Hong Kong, where street signs commonly display the language. In the United States, the language is used in censuses and elections.^[17] It also enjoys official status in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia.^[18]

[edit] Phonology

Tagalog has 21 phonemes; 16 consonants and five vowels.^[19] Syllable structure is relatively simple. Each syllable contains at least a consonant and a vowel,^[20], and begins in at most one consonant, except for borrowed words such as trak which means "truck", or tsokolate meaning "chocolate".

[edit] Vowels

Before appearing in the coastal region of Manila, Tagalog had three vowel phonemes: /a/, /i/, and /u/. This was later expanded to five vowels with the introduction of Kapampangan and Spanish words.

They are:

• /a/ an open central unrounded vowel similar to English "father"; in the middle of a word, a mid central unrounded vowel similar to English "cup"
• /ɛ/ an open-mid front unrounded vowel similar to English "bed"
• /i/ a close front unrounded vowel similar to English "machine"
• /o/ a close-mid back rounded vowel similar to English "forty"
• /u/ a close back unrounded vowel similar to English "flute"

There are four main diphthongs; /ai/, /oi/, /au/, and /iu/.^[20]

[edit] Consonants

Below is a chart of Tagalog consonants. All the stops are unaspirated. The velar nasal occurs in all positions including at the beginning of a word.

[edit] Stress

Stress is phonemic in Tagalog. Primary stress occurs on either the last or the next-to-the-last (penultimate) syllable of a word. Vowel lengthening accompanies primary or secondary stress except when stress occurs at the end of a word. Stress on words is highly important, since it differentiates words with the same spellings, but with different meanings, e.g. tayo(to stand) and tayo(us; we)

[edit] Sounds

• /a/ is raised slightly to [ɐ] in unstressed positions and also occasionally in stressed positions (‘inang bayan’ [in'ɐŋ 'bɐjən])
• Unstressed /i/ is usually pronounced [ɪ] as in English "bit"
• At the final syllable, /i/ can be pronounced as [i ~ e ~ ɛ] as [e ~ ɛ] was an allophone of [ɪ ~ i] in final syllables.
• Unstressed /ɛ/ and /o/ can sometimes be pronounced as [i ~ ɪ ~ e] and [u ~ ʊ ~ ɔ] except final syllables. [o~ ʊ ~ ɔ] and [u ~ ʊ] were also former allophones.
• Unstressed /u/ is usually pronounced [ʊ] as in English "book"
• The diphthong /aɪ/ and the sequence /aʔi/ have a tendency to become [eɪ ~ ɛː].
• The diphthong /aʊ/ and the sequence /aʔu/ have a tendency to become [oʊ ~ ɔː].
• /k/ between vowels has a tendency to become [x] as in Spanish "José", whereas in the initial position it has a tendency to become [kx].
• Intervocalic /g/ and /k/ tend to become [ɰ] (see preceding).
• /ɾ/ and /d/ are sometimes interchangeable as /ɾ/ and /d/ were once allophones in Tagalog.
• A glottal stop that occurs at the end of a word is often omitted when it is in the middle of a sentence, especially in the Metro Manila area. The vowel it follows is then usually lengthened. However, it is preserved in many other dialects.
• /o/ tends to become [ɔ] in stressed positions.
• /niy/, /siy/, /tiy/, and /diy/ may be pronounced as [nj]/[nij], [sj]/[sij], [tj]/[tij] and [dj]/[dij], respectively, especially in but not limited to rural areas.
• /ts/ may be pronounced as [ts], especially in but not limited to rural areas.
• /e/ or /i/ before s-consonant clusters have a tendency to become silent.
• /n/ and /ŋ/ can be in free variation in the end of the word.
• /ɾ/ can be pronounced as [r].
• /b/ can be pronounced as [ɓ].

[edit] Historical changes

Tagalog differs from its Central Philippine counterparts with its treatment of the Proto-Philippine schwa vowel *ə. In Bikol & Visayan, 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 *ngajan (name) and *hajək (kiss) became Tagalog ngalan and halík.

Proto-Philippine *R merged with /g/. *tubiR (water) and *zuRuʔ (blood) became Tagalog tubig and dugô.

[edit] Grammar

[edit] Writing system

[edit] Baybayin

Tagalog was written in an abugida called Baybayin prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century. This particular writing system was composed of symbols representing three vowels and 14 consonants. Belonging to the Brahmic family of scripts, it shares similarities with the Old Kawi script of Java and is believed to be descended from the script used by the Bugis in Sulawesi.

Although it enjoyed a relatively high level of literacy, the script gradually fell into disuse in favor of the Latin alphabet during Spanish colonial rule.

There has been confusion of how to use Baybayin. Each letter in the Latin Alphabet is not represented with one of those in the Baybayin alphabet. Rather than letters being put together to make sounds as in Western languages, Baybayin uses symbols to represent syllables.

A "kudlit" resembling an apostrophe is used above or below a symbol to change the vowel sound after its consonant. If the kudlit is used above, the vowel is an "E" or "I" sound. If the kudlit is used below, the vowel is an "O" or "U" sound. A special kudlit was later added by Spanish missionaries in which a cross placed below the symbol to get rid of the vowel sound all together, leaving a consonant. Previously, the final consonant was just left out, leaving the reader to use context to determine the final consonants.

Example:

Baybayin is encoded in Unicode version 3.2 in the range 1700-171F under the name "Tagalog".

[edit] Latin alphabet

Until the first half of the 20th century, Tagalog was widely written in a variety of ways based on Spanish orthography. When the national language was based on Tagalog, grammarian Lope K. Santos introduced a new alphabet consisting of 20 letters called ABAKADA in school grammar books called balarilà; A B K D E G H I L M N Ñ Ng O P R S T U W Y.

[edit] ng and mga

See also: ng (digraph)

The genitive marker ng and the plural marker mga are abbreviations that are pronounced nang [naŋ] and mangá [mɐ'ŋa]. Ng means "of" (ex. Siya ay kapatid ng nanay ko. She is the sibling of my mother) while nang means "when" or "while". Mga (pronounced as "muh-NGA") denotes plurality (ex. Iyan ang mga damit ko. (Those are my clothes).

Ex#1: Nang si Hudas ay madulas. - When Judas slipped.

Ex#2: Siya ay kumain nangnakatayo. - He ate while standing.

Comment: Ex#2 is one of many common "permissible mistakes" in Tagalog grammar. Due to the persistence in common parlance of these errors, they have been thought of as correct. The above example based on the English translation is really "Siya ay kumain habang nakatayo.". If the idea "He ate standing up." is translated "Siya ay kumain NA nakatayo.". To make things more complicated, Ex#2 may mean "He ate something (which is) standing.".

[edit] Vocabulary and borrowed words

Tagalog vocabulary is composed mostly of words of Austronesian origin with borrowings from Japanese, Tamil, Sanskrit, Min Nan Chinese (also known as Hokkien), Javanese, Malay, Arabic, Persian, Kapampangan, languages spoken on Luzon, and others, especially other Austronesian languages.

Due to trade with Mexico via the Manila galleon from the 16th to the 19th centuries, many words from Nahuatl, a language spoken by Native Americans in Mexico, were introduced to Tagalog.

English has borrowed some words from Tagalog, such as abaca, adobo, aggrupation, barong, balisong, boondocks, jeepney, Manila hemp, pancit, and yaya, although the vast majority of these borrowed words are only used in the Philippines as part of the vocabularies of Philippine English.

[edit] Tagalog words of foreign origin chart

For the Min Nan Chinese borrowings, the parentheses indicate the equivalent in standard Chinese.

[edit] Austronesian comparison chart

Below is a chart of Tagalog and seventeen other Austronesian languages comparing thirteen words; the first thirteen languages are spoken in the Philippines and the other four are spoken in Indonesia, Hawai'i, and Madagascar.

[edit] Contribution to other languages

Tagalog itself has contributed a few words into English.

• boondocks: meaning "rural" or "back country," was imported by American soldiers stationed in the Philippines following the Spanish American War as a mispronounced version of the Tagalog bundok, which means "mountain."
• cogon: a type of grass, used for thatching. This word came from the Tagalog word kugon (a species of tall grass).
• ylang-ylang: a type of flower known for its fragrance.
• Abaca: a type of hemp fiber made from a plant in the banana family, from abaká.
• Manila hemp: a light brown cardboard material used for folders and paper usually made from abaca hemp.
• Capiz: also known as window oyster, is used to make windows.

Yo-yo is reportedly a Tagalog word; however, no such word exists in Tagalog.

Tagalog has contributed several words to Philippine Spanish, like barangay (from balan͠gay meaning barrio), the abacá, cogon, palay, etc.

[edit] Religious literature

Religious Literature remains to be one of the most dynamic contributors to Tagalog literature. In 1970, the Philippine Bible Society translated the Bible into Tagalog, the first translation to any of the Philippine languages. Even before the Second Vatican Council, devotional materials in Tagalog had been circulating. At present, there are three circulating Tagalog translations of the Holy Bible—the Magandang Balita Biblia (a parallel translation of the Good News Bible), which is the ecumenical version; the Ang Biblia, which is a more Protestant version; and the Bagong Sinlibutang Salin ng Banal na Kasulatan, one of about sixty parallel translations of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures published by Jehovah's Witnesses. The latter was released in the year 2000. Jehovah's Witnesses previously published a hybrid translation: Ang Biblia was used for the Old Testament, while the Bagong Sinlibutang Salin was used for the New Testament.

When the Second Vatican Council, (specifically the Sacrosanctum Concilium) permitted the universal prayers to be translated into vernacular languages, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines was one of the first to translate the Roman Missal into Tagalog. In fact, the Roman Missal in Tagalog was published as early as 1982, while not published in English until 1985.

Jehovah's Witnesses were printing Tagalog literature at least as early as 1941^[21] and The Watchtower (the primary magazine of Jehovah's Witnesses) has been published in Tagalog since at least the 1960s. New releases are now regularly released simultaneously in a number of languages, including Tagalog. The official website of Jehovah's Witnesses also has some publications available online in Tagalog. [1]

Tagalog is quite a stable language, and very few revisions have been made to Catholic Bible translations. Also, as Protestantism in the Philippines is relatively young, liturgical prayers tend to be more ecumenical.

[edit] Examples

[edit] The Lord's Prayer (Ama Namin)

Ama namin, sumasalangit Ka,

Sambahin ang ngalan Mo.

Mapasaamin ang kaharian Mo.

Sundin ang loob Mo

Dito sa lupa, para nang sa langit.

Bigyan Mo kami ngayon ng aming kakanin sa araw araw.

At patawarin Mo kami sa aming mga sala,

Para nang pagpapatawad namin

Sa mga nagkakasala sa amin.

At huwag Mo kaming ipahintulot sa tukso,

At iadya Mo kami sa lahat ng masama.

Sapagkat Iyo ang kaharian, at kapangyarihan,

At ang kadakilaan, magpakailanman.

Amen.

[edit] Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Isinilang na malaya at pantay-pantay sa karangalan at mga karapatan ang lahat ng tao. Pinagkalooban sila ng katwiran at budhi at dapat magpalagayan ang isa't isa sa diwa ng pagkakapatiran.

(Every person is born free and equal with honor and rights. They are given reason and conscience and they must always trust each other for the spirit of brotherhood.)

[edit] Numbers

[edit] Common phrases

• Filipino: Pilipino [ˌpiːliˈpiːno]
• English: Ingglés [ʔɪŋˈglɛs]
• Tagalog: Tagalog [tɐˈgaːlog]
• What is your name?: Anó ang pangalan ninyo? (plural) [ɐˈno aŋ pɐˈŋaːlan nɪnˈjo], Anó ang pangalan mo?(singular) [ɐˈno aŋ pɐˈŋaːlan mo]
• How are you?: kumustá [kʊmʊsˈta]
• Good morning!: Magandáng umaga! [mɐgɐnˈdaŋ uˈmaːga]
• Good noontime! (from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.): Magandáng tanghali! [mɐgɐnˈdaŋ taŋˈhaːlε]
• Good afternoon! (from 1 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.): Magandáng hapon! [mɐgɐnˈdaŋ ˈhaːpon]
• Good evening!: Magandáng gabí! [mɐgɐnˈdaŋ gɐˈbε]
• Good-bye: paálam [pɐˈʔaːlam] (literal - "with your blessing")
• Please: Depending on the nature of the verb, either pakí- [pɐˈki] or makí- [mɐˈki] is attached as a prefix to a verb. ngâ [ŋaʔ] is optionally added after the verb to increase politeness.
• Thank you: salamat [sɐˈlaːmat]
• That one: iyan [ʔiˈjan]
• How much?: magkano? [mɐgˈkaːno]
• Yes: oo [ˈoːʔo]
• No: hindî [hɪnˈdɛʔ]
• Sorry: pasensya pô (literally - "patience") or paumanhin po [pɐˈsɛːnʃa poʔ] patawad po [pɐtaːwad poʔ] (literally - "forgiveness")
• Because: kasí [kɐˈsɛ]
• Hurry!: Dalí! [dɐˈli], Bilís! [bɪˈlis]
• Again: mulí [muˈli] , ulít [ʊˈlɛt]
• I don't understand: Hindî ko maintindihan [hɪnˈdiː ko mɐʔɪnˌtɪndiˈhan]
• Where's the bathroom?: Nasaán ang banyo? [ˌnaːsɐˈʔan ʔaŋ ˈbaːnjo]
• Generic toast: Mabuhay! [mɐˈbuːhaɪ] [literally - "long live"]
• Do you speak English? Marunong ka bang magsalitâ ng Ingglés? [mɐˈɾuːnoŋ ka baŋ mɐgsaliˈtaː naŋ ʔɪŋˈglɛs]
• It is fun to live. Masaya ang mabuhay! [mɐˈsa'ya ʔaŋ mɐ'buːhaɪ]

[edit] Proverbs

Ang hindî marunong lumingón sa pinanggalingan ay hindî makaráratíng sa paroroonan. (José Rizal)
He who does not look back to his origin will never reach his destination.

Ang hindî magmahál sa kanyang sariling wika ay mahigít pa sa hayop at malansang isdâ. (José Rizal)
One who does not love his own language is worse than an animal and a putrid fish.

Hulí man daw at magalíng, nakákahábol pa rin. (Hulí man raw at magalíng, nakákahábol pa rin.)
It was said that even if he is late and excellent, he still catches up.

Magbirô ka na sa lasíng, huwág lang sa bagong gising.
Make fun of a drunk person, not to one who just woke up.

Ang sakít ng kalingkingan, ramdám ng buong katawán.
The pain of a small finger is felt by the whole body.

[edit] See also

• Filipino language
• Commission on the Filipino Language

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Tagalog language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tagalog language edition of Wiktionary, the free dictionary/thesaurus

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Tagalog

Tagalog language repository of Wikisource, the free library

• Tagalog dictionary
• Tagalog: A Brief Look at the National Language
• Searchable version of Calderon's English-Spanish-Tagalog dictionary.
• Calderon's English-Spanish-Tagalog dictionary for cell phone and PDA
• KalyeSpeak - Free Filipino Language Lessons Audio samples and Filipino lessons
• Tagalog-Sugbuanon Translator, an English to dialects of Tagalog and Sugbuanon languages Translator]

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