Standard Filipino English Philippine English

Standard Filipino English = Philippine English
The linguistic development of Philippine English (PE) or Standard Filipino English
(SFE) is influenced by the Spanish language and primarily of American English. The extensive
use of English in education and by 65 per cent of the Filipino population (Bautista & Bolton,
2006), as well as the infusion of Spanish, English, and local words in its vocabulary and some
modifications in grammar and pronunciation resulted in an resulted in an indigenized variety of
English (McArthur, 2002). Today, in the domain of World Englishes, PE is categorized as one
variety of English from the Outer Circle of nations (Kachru, 1983).
The characteristics of Philippine English today are described in terms of its linguistic
features such as phonological features, grammatical features, lexical features, and discourse
features. Teodozo Llamzon’s monograph Standard Filipino English provides the first official
description of the phonological features of Philippine English and some expressions in its
grammar and lexicon which he called Filipinism (e.g. Close the light). Llamson (1969) notes the
distinction between Filipino and the American variety in the production of vowel sounds, stress,
syllables. This study was expanded by Gonzales and Alberca (1978) who noted distinctive
features of PE phonology as: absence of vowel reduction rule and possible spelling
pronunciation, absence of schwa sound, substitution of voiceless fricatives for voiced fricative,
absence of aspiration of initial voiceless stops, simplification of consonant clusters, different
stress patterns in individual words, among others.
In describing grammar, Gonzales and Alberca (1978) noted distinct variation in word
order, article usage, noun subcategorization, as well as some errors in pronoun-antecedent
agreement, tense-aspect usage, and subject-verb agreement. Bautista (2000) noted similar
findings in subject-verb agreement, articles, prepositions, mass and count nouns, word order, and
comparative constructions. Instead of errors, Bautista adopted D’Souza’s recommendation of
categorizing variants which were rule governed, widespread, and used by competent users as
distinct features of Philippine English.
In terms of discourse, Gonzales (1982) concluded that Filipinos typically have mastery of
the formal style or classroom English. Gonzales also concluded that there are minimal
differences in the formal and informal written discourses. Loan words, nicknames and
contractions as often used in informal style, and code-switching to the vernacular is generally
prevalent in informal discourses.
In sum, Philippine English is: a highly intelligible and acceptable language, its
vocabulary is dynamically expanding, and its rules and conventions in grammar, style, and usage
is flexible and eclectic. Because of these characteristics, Philippine English is continually
evolving, benefitting from a multi-dimensional effort of propagation through education, media,
and literature, and the dominance of “accented” Filipino agents in the business process
outsourcing industry.
References:
Bautista, M.L. (2002). Studies of Philippine English: Implications for English language teaching
in the Philippines. Journal of Southeast Asian Education, 1(2), 271-295.
Bautista, M. L. & Bolton, K. (2009). Philippine English: Linguistics and perspective. Hong
Kong University.
D’Souza, J. (1998) Review of Arjuna Parakrama’s De-hegemogenizing language standards
Learning from (post) colonial Englishes about “English”. Asian Englishes, 1 (2), 86-94
Gonzales, A. (1982). English is the Philippine mass media. New Englishes. Rowley, MA
Newbury House Publishers, Inc.
Gonzales, A. (1985) Studies on Philippine English. Occasional Papers No. 39. Singapore:
SEOMEO Regional Language Centre.
Gonzales, A. & Alberca, W. (1978). Philippine English of the mass media, preliminary edition.
Manila: De La Salle University Research Council.
Kachru, B. (1983). Models for non-native Englishes. In K. Bolton & B.B. Kachru (Eds.) World
Englishes: Critical concepts in linguistics. London: Routledge.
Llamson, S. (1969). Standard Filipino English. Philippines: Ateneo University Press.
McArthur, T. (2002). The Oxford Guide to World English. Oxford University Press.
Martin, I. (2014). Philippine English revisited. World Englishes. 33 (1), pp. 54-59.
Notes on English in the Philippines. Retrieved on June 10, 2015 from
http://www.grammar.about.com
Philippine English. Retrieved on June 10, 2015 from http://www.encyclopedia.com
Wilang, J.D. & Teo, A. (2012). Comprehensibility of Englishes within ASEAN: A synopsis of
results. Proceedings of the 1st Mae Fah Luang University International Conference.
Thailand: Prince of Songkla University.

Standard Filipino English Philippine English

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Standard Filipino English = Philippine English

The linguistic development of Philippine English (PE) or Standard Filipino English

modifications in grammar and pronunciation resulted in an resulted in an indigenized variety of

variety of English from the Outer Circle of nations (Kachru, 1983).

absence of aspiration of initial voiceless stops, simplification of consonant clusters, different

stress patterns in individual words, among others.

order, article usage, noun subcategorization, as well as some errors in pronoun-antecedent

distinct features of Philippine English.

prevalent in informal discourses.

is flexible and eclectic. Because of these characteristics, Philippine English is continually

evolving, benefitting from a multi-dimensional effort of propagation through education, media,

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