Sense and Science: On language elitism and retarded nationhood

Scouting around for summer activities for the kids, I notice there’s been a proliferation of Filipino classes.   One sign I saw, offering Filipino as a second language, says it all: for some of our children, mainly upper and middle class, the first language is English.  

 

These problems arise when families decide to emphasize one language over the other, fearful that even two languages might be too many.   Between Filipino and English, preference is given to the latter, sometimes even banning the use of Filipino in some homes and schools.  

 

When one language dominates, it can affect the way the second language is learned, for example, children growing up with English as the dominant language will have problems learning to read in Filipino, despite what seems to be a simpler arrangement of consonants and vowels.  

 

Numerous studies on childhood acquisition of languages show that very young children —more or less below the age of five— can learn two or more languages at the same time without confusion.  This is because our brains have evolved to learn languages quickly during childhood.  Even without formal classes, children will pick up the sounds, grammar and syntax quickly, almost intuitively.  

 

There are actually advantages with multilingualism, mainly exposure to a wider range of phonemes or sounds.  If a child doesn’t hear “f”, then you’re going to have to deal with them pronouncing “fish” as “pish” (or “pis” if “sh” is missing as well).  People from the Visayas get teased mercilessly for confusing “e” and “I” and “o” and “u”, which can be prevented if a child hears a wider range of vowels from other languages.  

 

Exposure  to different vocabularies also sharpens the mind, and a curiosity about words.  My son once pulled a joke on his classmates telling him he had a “cow who barks”.  An even smarter classmate figured it out: in Minnan Chinese, “kao” (ie cow) means a dog. I can see future wordsmiths with these multilingual kids.

 

There has been interest in getting more Filipino children to learn foreign languages like Chinese Mandarin, Spanish, French as early as elementary school but here again, I worry that we might forget about local languages, and I’m not just talking about Filipino but other local languages. It is encouraging to see Filipino develop as a national language but this should not happen at the cost of other local languages declining.

 

Even if a child is growing up in Metro Manila, that should not mean forsaking the language of his or her parents, or grandparents.  I hear of growing efforts to “rescue” languages that are declining, for example Kiniray-a, which has been losing out to Ilonggo, and Ibanag, which is losing out to Ilokano.

 

There is value in learning more of our local languages, which can be quite different from each other.  Filipinos tend to make fun of each other’s languages when we should instead be appreciating the diversity of sounds, the richness in the ways of expressing feelings.  If you’re off to explore the Philippines this summer, use the opportunity to get the family members to learn important phrases beyond “how much is this?”  

 

Just to give one example, I’ve always felt uncomfortable when people greet me with the English “God bless”, which is tossed around too easily, and trivialized.  But I appreciate it when it’s said in Ilokano, “Dios ti agngina”. to which I reply, “Agyamanak” (I am indebted).  As with the Bikol “Dios mabalos” (sometimes just “mabalos”, God will repay you), “Dios ti agngina” can be used as a way of expressing thanks to someone.  

 

Get the family involved in picking up the nuances even within one language, for example, listening for the change in tones of Tagalog as you go south and the variations in vocabularies.  “Banas” for example means “irritated” in Manila and Bulacan but becomes “hot” in Laguna and Batangas.

 

Exposing our children to our many languages develops not just the linguistic ear, but also softens the tongue, making it easier for children to pick up other languages, including those outside of the Philippines.

 

Even a rudimentary knowledge of a local language makes it easier to make new friends.  As we learn more of each other’s languages, we just might be able to tear down the barriers of regionalism that have retarded the development of our sense of nationhood.— TJD, GMA News

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Michael L. Tan is a medical anthropologist and a veterinarian.  He is currently dean of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, and Clinical Professor at the College of Medicine at UP Manila.  He also writes the opinion-editorial column "Pinoy Kasi" for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He has been involved in numerous research projects on a range of issues from HIV/AIDS prevention to the culture of impunity. In 2012, he was elected to the National Academy of Science and Technology, the Philippines' highest science advisory body.