Philippine English: A case of Language Drift

PHILIPPINE ENGLISH:

a case of language drift

Jonathan MALICSI

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Reporters: Doren W. Gumemba, Vince Mae Pegarido and Jason Algeria

• The common perception that English in the Philippines has been deteriorating can be seen as a case of indigenization, resulting in a language variety which qualifies as a dialect even if the process that gave rise to it differs from the traditional account of dialectalization.

• It has particular linguistic features that arose out of a gradual drift in language learning away from the native language speakers, such that generations of Filipino learners of English have picked up the forms and rules of English from Filipino second language learners trained by other Filipino second-language learners.

• Like genetic drift, in which random mutations eventually spread out in species through genetic transmission, language drift refers to random changes in forms and rules that diffuse throughout a speech community through cultural transmission and have become regular and systematic.

Examples

Syntax

Spelling

Pronunciation

Idioms

• Organization

(stress on the second syllable)

• Characteristics

(stress on the second syllable)

• Clandestine

(stress on the first syllable)

• If worse comes to worst
• Birds of the same feather flock together

• Everyday (used as adverb)

• It's about time we unite.
• Students are not understanding their books.

• Language drift has resulted in the various English dialects among nonnative speakers of English.
• Many would identify that Pinoy English is a broken English of show-biz and political personalities.
• Yet, one of the feature of language allows convenience sampling, and this is the fact that language development in some communities, even the majority, is strongly affected by certain communities, or certain serctors in society. This heteronomy, or the srong influence of one variety on the development of another variety, means that the linguistic output of the leaders of a society is the best data source for the language variety of the society.
• Based on the feature, let us try describing Pinoy English based on the outputs of educated Filipinos, say, the Inaugural address of President Gloria Macapagal-Aroyo.

Pinoy English

Some of the forms which differ from those expected in INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH are:

1. All insurgence shall have turned their swords into plowshares.- "Insurgence" should have been "insurgents" - Although biblical in origin, the metaphor "swords into plowshares" sounds anachronistic. 2. They {the insurgents} will have become so absorbed into one society that the struggles of the past will be just a stuff of legend. -The use of numeral "one" detracts from the expected "our" as determiner of "society" which can be interpreted as the insurgents' forming a society of their own apart from mainstream Philippine Society. 3. Only the lesson of the unity, courage and just a closure left alive in their hearts. -Possibly a stylistic fragment. A verb tense is missing.

4. We fight for what we believed in. -The past tense "believe" is unexpected since the time fram is present. The resulting sense is ridiculous since the past tense form indicates present untruth, and the sentence can be paraphrased as "we fight for what we no longer believe in" 5. I pledge to reduce spending where government does not work. - The modifying clause "where government does not work" is ambiguous in IE, meaning "where there is no goverments agency", "where government employees are not working but merely collect their salaries" or "where government work is not effective". 6. I challenge our young men and women; there is no role to play in the re-creation of our nation, some in honest public service, most in productive private endeavor. -The shift in point of view - from addressing the young men and women directly, to an existential "there is" sentence - is inappropriate. -In IE phrases "honest public service" and "productive private endeavor" also communicate the sense that public service is not productive. and private endeavor is dishonest.

7. I look up to Congress to seize this moment in history. Its like it will not come again.- In IE reference, "look up to" is listed as meaning "admire" or "respect." Since the sentence carries the meaning of "expect" or "hope", the IE form is "look to". -"Its like it will not come again" is probably "Its like will not come again" 8. I shall make good and I shall do good of all and not just for the cameras. - In IE, "make good" without a compliment means "earn well" or "make money". The IE idiom closest to the sentence is "make good on one's word or promise". -The form "not just" is part of the correlative conjunction "not just ... bu also" which makes the sentence most likely spelled out as "not just for the cameras, but also for the people".

.04

House BILL 305

The impact of presidents' speeches on Pinoy English is appreciated in light of the strong effect of the leaders of the society on the development of a language or language variety. Prime Minister Churchill is said to have influenced teachers abd editors of English to accept prepositions or particles at the end of clauses (EXCEPT of course, compound prepositions); US President Eisenhower is said to influenced the acceptance of "it's me" The diffirence is that Churchill and Eisenhower are first-language speakers of English, influencing other first-language speakers. Philippine President are second-language speakers and may not have the same effect on the other Filipino second-language speakers.

authored by Representative Eduardo R. Gullas imposed English as the primary medium of instruction and it passed by the House of Representative upon Third and Finsl Reading.

If pupils nationwide get to learn the English of the Departments of Education, here are some of the forms and rules they will get, drawn from the department's seven press releases (18-30 July 2008):

PE lexicon:-use of enjoin to mean "request, encurage, or invite". In IE, enjoin means "require" if follwed by to+ verb stem, or "prohibited" if followed by from +verb+-ing. -different Idioms Lapus welcomes DILG's funding support to public schools (IE: SUPPORT FOR) .....that will compel parents to constantly keep their children to school. (IE: KEEP THEIR CHILDREN IN SCHOOL OR KEEP MAKING THIER CHILDREN GO TO SCHOOL.) -different meaning for some prepositions -Among the measures currently implemented by DepEd to ease dinancial obstacle to parents and keep their children in school are no collection and no uniform policy, school feeding program and alternative learning sysytem for learners outside of the formal school system.

-omitted prepositions -It will spearhead the mainstreaming peace education concepts, skills and values in the learning content of the basic education and alternative learning system (ALS). (IE: mainstreaming of peace) PE NP: -omission of articles from nouns that require articles in IE The much awaited payment of the 1999 "over-and-above" allowances of NCR public school teachers will finally happen with the release of funds from DepEd 2007 NCR savings. (IE: the DepEd 2007 NCR savings) -use of the quatifier some to mark a specific numeral. In IE, some is used to mean "approximately" DepEd is currently implementing en enhanced curriculum in some 261 tech-voch-secondary schools nationwide to give students a wider employment or entrepreneurship berth in case they are unable to immediately pursue a 4-year college degree.

PE VP -use of the present perfect for an action before a past time frame. Lapus has earlier called on LGU's city and municipal councils to come up with and antitruancy ordinance.....(IE: had earlier called) PE Adverbs -placement of the time adverb before the verb Some 49 public schools in Pangasinan and Zambales affected by typhoon Cosme in May recieved teachers' and students' packs contatining school supplies and reference materials from the Education in Emergencies Cluster (EEC), the Department of Education today said. (IE: said today) PE Embedding: -an embedded clause does not carry its original meaning as a core sentence Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said , " DepEd will incorporate peace education where it matters because we believe in the power of education t change the mindset of people towards peace". (Where it matters comes from a core sentence it matters Adv-place. As embedded, it seems as if there are some areas where peace peace education does not matter,)

PE Spelling: -different spelling of compounds Among the services which require funding are pre-school classes, utilities, security and janitorial needs. (IE: preschool) PE Punctuation: -the end punctuation for a qouted sentence may be omitted "Our teachers deserve this. They have worked to tediously to establish government's accountability and have lobbied tireslessly for it" said Lapus. -the end punctuation for a qouted sentence may be a period even if the qouting sentence still follows "The department is steadfast in boosting not only the competency of our teachers, but also their morale as government attends to their compensation and benefits". The Education Chief said.

-the full date, written as month-day-comma-year, is not followed by a comma if a word comes after PHSA is a special school founded on June 11, 1977 and established by President Decree(PD) 1287. -the agreement of verb and subject is optional -a numeral-noun sequence is hyphenated Recently, DepEd has released guidelines to implement the Civil Service Commission ruling which allow teachers 6-hours a day of actual clasroom teaching. (IE: allows to agree with which assumes the number of ruling; six hours a day) -the plural is understood -the quantifier "some" can mark a specific numeral -the sequence adverb-adjective is hyphenated -the verb "quip" means to make a formal statement Recently, DepEd granted scholarship to some 198 public school teachers who underwent training in the care and mentoring of visually-impaired students. "We hope that this program will open equal opportunities to other differently-able children," he equipped. (IE: granted scholarships to 198 public school teachers; visually impaired students; differently able or physically challenged; he stated.)

Conclusion

• The growth of Pinoy English is inexorable
• Too many teachers and learners of English, a dictionary is a definitive source of information on spealling, pronunciation, grammatical category and meaning of words.

• The weakening of the direct linguistic connection with native English speakers has led to the sitiation of Filipinos learning English mainly from each other.

Diffusion Model of Human Behavior

This model clearly explains how all these random changes in English have spread out in Philippine Society. This model has five conditions (Lave and March):

1. Generation/Possession: The individuals has the object of difussion.

2. Contact: The individual must be connected with another by some kind of relevant communication link.3. Transmission: The individual must transmit the object of diffusion, 4. Acceptance: The other individual must accept the object of diffusion. 5. Storage: After diffusion has happened, the object of diffusion is in both individuals involved, indefinitely.

Thanks for your attention

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