![student assistant up diliman student assistant up diliman](https://tokosatriasurvey.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/leica-51.jpg)
![student assistant up diliman student assistant up diliman](https://alexisfraser.com/pictures/up-diliman-application-and-admission.jpg)
![student assistant up diliman student assistant up diliman](http://ovcsa.upd.edu.ph/ovcsa_wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/FRANCE.png)
In many large-scale societies, multilingualism emerges as a consequence of waves of migration, invasion, commerce and trade, and consequently language contact, a sociolinguistic phenomenon by which speakers of different languages or varieties interact and influence each other, which results in varying degrees of transfer of linguistic features from one language to another. In the Philippines, multilingualism comes in many different guises and situations. The different faces of multilingualism in the PhilippinesĪs stressed in this panel, multilingualism is the norm in many parts of the world hence, policy makers should start veering away from crafting policies and implementing programs anchored to a monolingual system. However, the existing linguistic theories, constructs, and ideologies, language documentation practices, and language policies, among others, potentially threaten the multilingual and highly diverse linguistic ecology in the Philippines. As one may note, the Philippine linguistic ecology is evidently rich and diverse. Furthermore, the Philippines has Filipino as the national language and Filipino Sign Language or FSL as the country’s official language of the Filipino deaf community. Being steeped in rich history and culture, the Philippines, as detailed by Santiago, also shelters a large number of languages that are genetically non-Philippine such as Chavacano, a Spanish-based creole spoken in Zamboanga City and Cavite province Lannang-Oe or the Philippine Hokkien spoken by the ethnic Chinese population in the Philippines and English, the country’s official language used in commerce, law, and education. Of the living languages, 175 are indigenous and 9 are non-indigenous. (2021), the Philippines is a home to 186 languages, wherein 184 are living and 2 are extinct. It is common knowledge that the Philippines, being an archipelagic country, is one of the regions in the world with a high index of linguistic diversity.
![student assistant up diliman student assistant up diliman](https://www.nsysu.edu.tw/var/file/0/1000/pictures/430/m/mcen1200x1200_large135075_587999836152.jpg)
The Philippines as a multilingual country However, multilingualism is now the norm and this calls for a paradigm shift in terms of how we should view and deal with linguistic diversity and multilingualism. In the context of the Philippines which is the focus of this panel, linguistic practices lean towards monolingualism despite the country’s multicultural and multilingual nature. This biblical narrative of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9 presumably accounts for the origin of the multiplicity of languages, which is perceived as a divine punishment.Īlthough several centuries have already passed since the fall of Babel, there remains bias against multilingualism, which is reflected in various language policies and current linguistic practices and perspectives, among others. Enraged by this arrogant pursuit of power, God mixed up the language of the builders so they could no longer understand each other and dispersed them all over the earth. In biblical literature, the Babylonians, who were believed to speak a single language at that time, attempted to build a tower tall enough to reach the heavens. Probably, some are perplexed by the panel title, particularly the term ‘Counter-Babel’ consisting of the prefix counter – which denotes opposition, and Babel which is a biblical allusion to the Tower of Babel. The six speakers comprising this panel are academics who came from diverse backgrounds and field communities, namely, Louward Zubiri, a PhD student at University of Hawai’i at Manoa Vincci Santiago, instructor at UP Diliman Assistant Professor Diane Manzano of UP Los Baños Jeconiah Dreisbach, lecturer at De La Salle University Sociolinguist Ruanni Tupas of University College London and Assistant Professor Maria Kristina Gallego of UP Diliman who also moderated the virtual discussion. In particular, the speakers look into the different aspects, challenges, and issues in accounting for multilingualism in the Philippines. One of the five panel discussions held at the recently concluded 14 th Philippine Linguistics Congress organized by the University of the Philippines Department of Linguistics essentially highlights how linguistically diverse the Philippines is and how ironically predisposed the linguistic practices are towards the perspective of monolingualism.