Role/Status of English

in the Philippines
Linguistic Features of
Philippine English
Peoples Attitudes
toward using English

History of English in the Philippines

1521

1762

1898

Peoples Attitudes toward English

1. Filipinos with poor English skills become a target victim of
criticism and cyberbullying
2. On the contrary, those who possess or seem to possess high
English proficiency tend to receive/assert a higher status
(people with high educational background, call center agents,
Filipinos who teach English in , and those who have
experienced
living in countries like USA, Canada, England, and
the like)

How about in Korea?

Cyberbullying
Lets pray for her uncle.

Correct sentence:
My ankle hurts

Linguistic Features of Philippine English

1. Grammar
Follows American English
spelling and grammar
Redundancy and pleonasm
2. Phonology
Differences in diction and
pronunciation due to L1
3. Vocabulary and Context
Differences of terms used
for certain nouns

Grammar
(1) Subject-verb agreement
(e.g.) One of the boys give a report to the teacher every morning.*
(2) Verbs that are generally transitive used intransitively:
(e.g.) Did you enjoy?*
I cannot afford.*
I don't like.*
(3) Tautologies
(e.g.) Redundancy I will be the one who will go
I will go
Pleonasm At this point in time
Now

Pronunciation
(1) /r/ in Philippine English vs. /r/ in American English (AmE)
(2) Intonation - singsong.
(3) Varying success with the vowel contrasts in sheep/ship, full/fool,
and boat/bought.
(4) Few Filipinos have the // in AmE mask; instead, they use //
as in AmE father.
(5) Replace [p] for [f] & vice-versa; No distinction of [b] and [v], Soft
th [] becomes [t]; hard th [] becomes [d]

surface
purchase

private
mountain history
candidate captain

mastery

Schwa in unstressed sounds is pronounced in full vowels

No glottal stops or flaps

Epenthesis, Suprasegmentals,
Yod-coalescence

Epenthesis older generations pronunciation of star, stampede, sky

become istar, istampede, isky due to Spanish influence

Suprasegmentals emphasis on the wrong syllable

Ex. Putting stress on the 2nd syllable of category & ceremony

Yod-coalescence - clusters [dj], [tj], [sj] and [zj] are turned into [d], [t], []
and [] respectively.
Ex. dew, tune, tube
- occurs in Australian, Cockney, Estuary English, South African
English, etc

Vocabulary and Context

1. Giving commands
Can you switch the light on?
Can you open the light?
2. Asking someone to repeat what has been said
Philippines: Come again?
America: Pardon?/I beg your pardon?
3. Asking for some personal information
Philippines: Where do you live?
America: Where are you from?

Philippine English

American English

comfort room

bathroom/restroom

cabinet

closet

rubber shoes

sneakers

brownout

blackout

take-out (food)

to-go/take-out

References:

https://www.academia.edu/3997144/Philippine_English_Vocabul
ary_A_Semantic_Study
http://www.slideshare.net/rhinautan/development-of-english-in-the
-philippines
http://americanenglish.ph/misunderstanding-english-pinoy-vs-ameri
can-vs-british/
http://asianjournal.com/news/40-filipino-terms-added-to-oxford-eng
lish-dictionary/
http://www.thedailypedia.com/2015/03/facebook-status-updates
/