Language, ethnicity, and class in the Philippines

=Class=

Intro to Class
Class, in the Philippines, is mostly organized by religion and education. Most of the population, however, falls into the category of Middle Class, which there was also extensive information on compared to other classes.

Religion's Influence in the Middle Class
In the Philippines, the middle class mindset is one that greatly stresses close-knit family relationships and religion. In contrast to the American stress of self-identity, the Philippine mentality is that there is a shared identity. This is identified as the Kapwa, which expresses the unity of self and others.

Niels Mulder described the implications for this mentality in the middle-class family in his book Inside Southeast Asia: “…family-type relationships, socialization practices, and inescapable togetherness all foster the intensive experience of oneself as a member of a closed group rather than as a separate self.” “In this way of thinking, one’s conscience is located in tangible relationships with other known people; one’s conscience is consciousness of them and their opinion “To develop an independent self-esteem, a child needs first of all to distance itself from its parents.””(Mulder, p.59)

Thus, we can draw that the middle class family is very concerned with closeness, and, as a result, this can cause some tension within the dynamic. In Freudian terms, the ego is lost in this perspective, and there is a kind of "unself-aware individualism" as Mulder describes it, that occurs as a result. Within the household of the middle class, spirituality is also a component. Many supernatural beliefs connote protection. As one Philippine described it, "In the Philippines, miracles happen every day. Think about this seminary. Every week I need 10,000 pesos to feed here and I can only account for a thousand or so. Yet the money is here, every week. Obviously God provides. Well, He should, because if we are expected to carry out His work, then He had better see to it that the money is there to do it." (Mulder, p.65)

=Ethnicity=

Intro
The Philippines has a variety of ethnic groups. They are one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the world. With a population of about 103,775,002(CIA World fact book), a little over 90% of the population is made up of lowland Christians, also known as Christian Malays, and the other 10% of the population is made up of Indigenous Peoples, the Chinese, and the Muslim population. The ethnic make-up of the Philippines includes mixtures of Negrito, Polynesian, and Mongoloid racial elements, with some admixture of Chinese, American Indian, Arab, Spanish and American elements. http://www.mapsofworld.com/philippines/philippines-political-map.html

Lowland Population
The lowland Christians, also known as Christian Malays, make up a little over 90% percent of the entire population. They are located mainly in Metro Manila and adjacent provinces to the north, east, and south. Within this population there are a number of distinct ethnic groups. The Tagalogs are one of the most recognized, prominent and westernized ethnic groups. The Tagalog culture is influenced particularly by Spanish, Chinese and American cultural traditions. And it is from their language that the national language is derived. The Cebuanos, inhabited “Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, Negros Oriental, Leyte, and Southern Leyte provinces, and parts of Mindanao”(Dolan). Cebu was conquered by the Spaniards as their first base for conquest and conversion of the Philippines. Early exposure to imperialization made the Central Visayas a heavily acculturated region. Ilocanos or Illokano inhabited the provinces of Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union, some parts of Pangasinan, Tarlac, Isabela, Cagayan, Nueva Vizcaya and Nueva Ecija(Dolan). They are the 3rd largest ethnolinguistic group in the Philippines, and have a reputation for being hardworking, resourceful, and frequent migrants not only within the Philippines but to the United States. Their migration in large numbers to the Cotabato and Lanao areas of Mindanao led to intense friction between them and the local Muslim inhabitants and the outbreak of fighting between the two groups in the 1970s. The homeland of the Bicolanos, or "Bicolandia" was the southeastern portion of Luzon together with the islands of Catanduanes, Burias, and Ticao, and adjacent parts of Masbate. The Waray-Warays lived mostly in eastern Leyte and Samar in the Eastern Visayas. This location is where the first spread of Catholicism began. The Pampangan homeland was the Central Luzon Plain and especially Pampanga Province. “The Pangasinense culture is a rich mix of Malayo-Polynesian, Hispanic, American, and Chinese influences” (Ethnic Groups). http://climateandcapitalism.com/files/2012/08/Manila-Flood-Victims.jpg
 * A great website that gives a more detailed look at the different cultures of the lowland population with pictures of each ethnic group and distinct cultural markers is: ethnicgroupsthephillipines.com
 * 1) A Picture located in Metro Manila of Filipinos after a flood

Negritos
One of the main ethnic groups is known as the Negritos. The Negritos were one of the earliest inhabitants, who helped to develop the lowland Philippine agricultural life as it is known in the modern period. As the Malay ethnic group began to spread the Negritos absorbed into the population through intermarriage, then they began to spread into separate groups into the isolated pockets on Mindanao, northern Luzon, and other larger islands. There are three main divisions of the Negrito groups, the Agta, Ati, and Ayta which are further separated by occupying different geographical areas, and using a range of dialects. The Negritos are characterized as being," short, dark-skinned, kinky-haired, thick-lipped, and small-nosed"(Ethnic Groups of the Philippines).


 * 1) A slide show of Negritos in the Philipines

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The Chinese
The Chinese make up a small percentage in the 10% of minority groups in the Philippines. In 1990, “The approximately 600,000 ethnic Chinese made up less than 1 percent of the population”(Dolan). The Chinese initially came to the Philippines because Manila is close to Taiwan and the mainland of China. This location attracted both Chinese traders and semi-permanent residents. Like seen with many other cultures, in the Philippines the Chinese were viewed as a source of “cheap labor and capital business enterprise” (Dolan). That being said, the government policy toward Chinese immigration has differed among the various regimes. They have experienced mixed periods of easy and restricted immigration into the country, which may attribute to one of the reasons they are one of the least accepted minority groups. There has been a fair amount of intermarriage between the Chinese and lowland Christians, although the exact amount is impossible to determine because after years of residing in the Philippines, many have chosen to identify as Filipino.

http://www.top-destination-choice-the-philippines.com/images/emilio-aguinaldo.jpg
 * 1) Emilio Aguinaldo famous Chinese Filipino

Mestizos
Mestizos were first introduced into Filipino Culture during the time of Spanish rule. Mestizos is a term that essentially means mixed race but is a descriptor of two main groups in the Philippines. The main groups who are labeled as Mestizos are the Spanish-Indios(Spanish and Filipino mix) and the Chinese Indios(Chinese and Filipino mix). http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Noel's%20Images/chinese_mestizo_costume.jpg
 * 1) An image of a typical 1800, Spanish-Indio Mestizo http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Noel's%20Images/spanish_mestizo_costume.jpg
 * 2) An image of a typical 180 Chinese Indio Mestizo

Endangered Groups in the Philippines
The Batak are one of many Indigenous Groups in the Philippines that are jeopardy of being extinct. The Batak reside on the Palawan Island and are 1 of 20 indigenous groups that speak a language similar to that of the Visayan group. Labeled as negritos, there population decline is attributed to complex interactions of high mortality at all age levels, low fertility, difficulties in obtaining adequate nutrition, and vulnerability to epidemic disease as measles and tuberculosis. In an attempt to help preserve the culture they were given reservations in the 1930’s along the coastal plain of their ancestral lands. But due to invasion and overrun of the areas by settlers, they deserted the lands. Currently they have only 8 local groups left. At one point in time they were once as populated as 800 Batak to every 1000 settlers but are now decreased to  300 to every  1000. “The Batak used to be a culturally distinct, relatively isolated and largely self-sufficient group of forest food collectors but today they are engulfed by a homestead of lowland Filipinos and have become enmeshed in the economic ,social, and cultural fabric of wider Philippine society “(Sponsel)

http://assets.survivalinternational.org/pictures/293/phil-ba-dn-42-medium_screen.jpg

Muslim Filipinos
About 5% of the total population is comprised of Muslim Filipinos. They are one of the most significant minorities in the Philippines. Although undifferentiated racially from other Filipinos, in the 1990s they remained outside the mainstream of national life, set apart by their religion and way of life. After gaining independence the Philippine government created agency to have open communication with the Muslim minority and created the Commission for National Integration in 1957, which was later replaced by the Office of Muslim Affairs and Cultural Communities. Filipino nationalists envisioned a united country in which Christians and Muslims would be offered economic advantages and the Muslims would be assimilated into the dominant culture. But, unfortunately the idea was fiercely opposed by The Muslim groups which, has led the two groups to be officially separate, in laws, practices, and religion. Recently, this October the government signed a framework peace plan with Muslim rebels to help end the 40-year conflict which will set up an autonomous region in part of the south where Muslims are the majority (BBC News)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8gcaOoNDVKY/UDCIYFW6oKI/AAAAAAAAHf4/XsRcHDUdkhI/s1600/ramadan-philipines.JPG

=Language=

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Phillanguages.jpg Map of the dominant ethnolinguistic groups of the Philippines. A good visual representation of the relationships between the many Filipino languages can be found here: http://www.ethnicgroupsphilippines.com/people/language-trees/

Filipino
Filipino is the official national language of Philippines. Because the Philippines is a very linguistically diverse place, the need for a national language was urgent. It was declared a national language in 1987, stated as: "the national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages."

In 1908, Filipino was enforced as the main language to be used in schools. However, there was much dispute about this as many felt the need to preserve the native languages in schools as well.

"If we may assume that one of the national objectives of the Philippines will be to preserve the important native languages, as far as practicable, the schools may contribute to the realization of this national objective by abandoning English as the sole medium of instruction in the elementary schools . . ." (Rubrico)

The ultimate decision that although schools would be taught mainly in Filipino, there would also be a "bilingual approach" to teaching in Phillipine schools, by grades three and four, children are taught in both the national language of Filipino and English. (English is used predominantly in business.)

"This bilingual approach serves to promote the intellectualization of the national language --that is, to use it as medium of intellectual exchanges in the academe, government offices, as well as in other disciplines in the process of acquiring knowledge about the world which could be expressed by the said language. In addition, it will bring about a national unity and identity among Filipinos, as they can now express themselves and communicate with each other in a common language." (Rubrico)

Development
As the language developed, it was first very Tagalong based.

Here is a chart with the different elements which contributed to the Filipino language (just scroll down to see chart):



Video of someone speaking Filipino so you can get a sense of what it sounds like: n5D_XU19g0A

Interestingly, the maker of this video interchangeably uses "Tagalong" and "Filipino" to describe the language. This suggests that since Tagalong was the original language Filipino rooted from, they still have very close ties. English also has had some distinct influences on the language, as mentioned in the article by Rubrico: "At the moment, it is very clear that English borrowing has a dominant and pervading influence in the shaping of the lingua franca which is the penultimate form of Filipino, the national language. But will this trend continue? Language is dynamic. This researcher is of the opinion that as long as English remains the official language of commerce, science,and technology the trend will continue." Here, Rubrico mentions that language is a dynamic. Clearly, this is a language with a rich history and heavy cultural influences.

Language and Cultural Identity
Video on native language preservation: ewSA9JQxzvc

This video touches on an the important idea that language serves as an identity for many people. These native languages are important to these people as it enables them to talk about and share their individual histories. The only way to tell these stories is through native language. With a loss of language comes a loss of family history, and, consequently, identity as well.

=Bibliography= "Batak - Survival International." Batak - Survival International. Survival International Charitable Trust, 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. .

Bellwood, Peter, and Craig Austin. "The Philippines: Ethnicity." The Philippines Ethnicity. Historical Boys Clothing, June 2007. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. .

"Central Intelligence Agency." CIA World Fact Book. CIA, 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. .

Dolan, Ronald E. Philippines: A Country Study. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1993. Print.

"Ethnic Groups of the Philippines." Ethnic Groups of the Philippines. Ethnic Groups Philippines, 2011. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. .

"Manila Flood Disaster: A Political Response Is Needed." Climate Capitalism. Climate and Capitalism, 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. .

Mulder, Niels. "Filipino Religiosity as an Expression of Family Relationships." Inside Southeast Asia: Religion, Everyday Life, Cultural Change. Amsterdam: Pepin, 1996. Print.

Oghogho, Samuel. "Muslim Filipinos Celebrate Eid Al-Fitr | Latest World News." Muslim Filipinos Celebrate Eid Al-Fitr | Latest World News. Free World Gist, 19 Aug. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. .

"Philippine National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB)." NSCB News. National Statistic Coordination Board, Nov. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. .

"Philippines Profile." BBC News. BBC, 21 Oct. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. .

"Regional Cultures." SEAsite - SE Asian Languages and Cultures. Center for Southeast Asian Studies Northern Illinois University, 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. .

Rubrico, Jessie. "The Metamorphosis of Filipino as National Language." Language Links. N.p., 2006. Web. 30 Nov. 2012. .

Sponsel, Leslie E. "The Batak of the Philippines." Endangered Peoples of Southeast and East Asia: Struggles to Survive and Thrive. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000. N. pag. Print.