Philippine English & Studies of Philippine English

PHILIPPINE ENGLISH
& STUDIES OF
PHILIPPINE ENGLISH
PHILIPPINE ENGLISH
(BACKGROUND)
Background
▸ Filipino experience of Western

colonialism and its linguistic effects
has been unique, in that there have
been two colonizers in succession:
Spain from the 16th century and the
US from 1898, when English arrived in
the islands. It spread rapidly, to the
detriment of SPANISH, because it was
the new language of government,
preferment, and education.
Background
▸ Incentives to learn English, included

recruitment into the civil service and
study in the US. In 1935, US-
educated pensionados (scholars)
became leaders of the Senate and
the House of Representatives as well
as members of the cabinet. English
was used universally in the
elementary-school system set up by
the colonial government, which
brought in American teachers.
Background
▸ In the Philippines there are some

85 mutually unintelligible though
genetically related languages of the
Malayo-Polynesian family, such as
TAGALOG, Cebuano, Ilocano,
Hiligaynon, Waray, and Bicol. These
languages of the home serve as
SUBSTRATES whose features have
variously influenced the
development of Philippine English.
Background
▸ SUBSTRATE
A LANGUAGE or aspect of a
language which affects another
usually more dominant language,
often where the speech of a colonized
people influences the superimposed
language of the conquering group
Background
▸ Philippine English is a legitimate

nativized variety of English. It is the
language used by Filipinos in
controlling domains such as science
and technology, the judiciary, the
legislature, bureaucracy, higher
education, scholarly discourse, and
the like.
phonology
Philippine English is a rhotic accent mainly
due to the influence of Philippine languages,
which are the first language of most of its
speakers. Another influence is the rhotic
characteristic of General American English,
which became the longstanding standard in
the archipelago since Americans introduced
the language in public education.
For non-native speakers, Philippine
English phonological features are
heavily dependent on the speaker's
mother tongue, although foreign
languages such as Spanish also
influenced many Filipinos on the way of
pronouncing English words.
The most distinguishable feature is the
lack of fricative consonants,
particularly /f/, /v/ and /z/. Another feature
is the general absence of the schwa /ə/,
and therefore pronounced by its
respective full equivalent vowel although
the r-colored variant [ɚ] is increasingly
popular in recent years.
CONSONANTS
▸ The fricatives /f/ and /v/ are approximated into the
stop consonants [p] and [b], respectively.
▸ The fricative [ʒ] may be devoiced into [ʃ] in words
such as measure or affricated into [dʒ] in words
such as beige.
▸ The letter "z" is usually pronounced (and
sometimes spelled) as a "zey" /zeɪ/ like
in Jamaican English. However in standard
Philippine English, it is pronounced as the
American "zee".
▸ Th-stopping:The
consonants /θ/ and /ð/ becomes /t/ and /d/,
respectively.
Vowels
▸ Words that end in -le that succeeds a
consonant (such as Google) are generally
pronounced with an [ɛl], except for words that
end -ple, -fle or -ble (apple, waffle and humble),
which are pronounced with an [ol].
▸ The /ɪ/ in words such as knowledge or college,
it is pronounced as a diphthong /eɪ/, making it
rhyme with age.
▸ The rhotic vowel /ər/ may be pronounced as
an [ɛr] (commander), [ir] (circle) or
an [or] (doctor), usually by non-native
speakers outside urban areas or the elderly.
▸ The /ɪ/ phoneme may be merged or replaced
by the longer /i/ for some speakers. The
words peel and pill might sound the same.
Non-native
pronunciation
▸ Filipinos' first languages have generally
different phonological repertoires (if not more
simplified compared to English), and this leads
to mis- or distinct pronunciations particularly
among basilectal and to some extent
mesolectal speakers.
*basilect - a less prestigious dialect or variety of a

particular language
* Mesolect - an intermediate dialect or variety of
a particular language (used especially in the
study of Creoles).
▸ Some examples of non-native pronunciation
include:
▸ Awry = [ˈari]
▸ Filipino = [piliˈpino]
▸ Victor = [bikˈtor]
▸ Family = [ˈpɐmili] or [ˈpamili]
▸ Varnish = [ˈbarnis]
▸ Guidon = [ɡiˈdon]
▸ Seattle = [ˈsʲatɛl]
▸ Twenty- (one, two, etc.) (many speakers)
= [ˈtwejnti]
▸ Official = [oˈpisʲɐl] or [oˈpiʃɐl]
▸ Very = [ˈbɛri] or [ˈbejri]
STUDIES OF
PHILIPPINE ENGLISH
• 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.
▸ Gonzales and Alberca (1978)
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
▸ 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.
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

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PHILIPPINE ENGLISH

▸ Filipino experience of Western

▸ Incentives to learn English, included

▸ In the Philippines there are some

▸ Philippine English is a legitimate

*basilect - a less prestigious dialect or variety of a

provides the first official description of

noted distinctive features of PE phonology as:

noted distinct variation in word order, article

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