Filipino Spanish
The Spanish language is of great historical importance in the Philippines as a result of centuries of Spanish colonial rule. It was the official language until 1973 and a compulsory subject in Filipino schools until 1987.
At the last count, two to three million Filipinos spoke Spanish (1990) and 1,200,000 Filipinos (1996) spoke the Creole language Chavacano . There are also thousands of Spanish loanwords in all 170 Filipino languages, as well as 13 million documents in the Filipino archives that are in Spanish and approved by the government.
history
Spanish colonial times
The Spanish language came to the archipelago in 1565 when the conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi founded the first Spanish settlement on the island of Cebu . For the following 333 years (1565–1898) the Philippines was Spanish territory.
Although the Spanish colonial rulers had expressly forbidden the indigenous population to learn the Spanish language, around ten percent of the locals soon spoke Spanish. For the Spaniards and the mixed Hispanic-indigenous population, it was the only spoken language, for the educated locals ( ilustrados ) it became an important second language. The priests and missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church also preached in the regional languages. They hired local translators and thus created a bilingual social class known as Ladinos .
The indigenous population was usually not introduced to the Spanish language, bilingual people such as the poet and interpreter Gaspar Aquino de Belén wrote the first poems in Tagalog in Latin script. Works such as Pasyon , written by de Belen and depicting the life and death of Jesus Christ , have been reproduced in different versions. Later the Spanish chivalric novels formed a template for secular literature. Short stories and comedies were performed in the regional languages for the uneducated majority.
Reasons why Spanish never really flourished in the archipelago was that the Philippines were not a direct colony of Spain. The island empire was ruled from Mexico , which was part of New Spain . It was only ruled from Madrid after Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821 .
The first printing house was founded in 1593. Much of the Philippines' colonial history has been written in Spanish. Property rights, newspapers, literature and contracts were also written in Spanish. Documents from this period are still recognized today by the judges in the Philippines.
In the early 17th century, the local printer Tomas Pinpin was commissioned to print a dictionary with which the Tagalog-speaking population could learn the Spanish language. His book was published by the Dominican press and appeared in 1610. Unlike the Dominicans commissioned, Pinpin used the more sophisticated Spanish of the upper classes in his dictionary instead of the colloquial language of the lower classes. Pinpin's book was the first ever written and published by a local.
In 1611 the Universidad de Santo Tomás was founded. In 1863 the Queen of Spain Isabella II decreed the Philippines a uniform school system.
Role of Spanish in the Filipino National Movement
During Spanish rule and the slow rise of Filipino nationalism, most of the literature was created in the Spanish language. The first constitution of the Philippines was also written in Spanish and made the language the national language of the country. An important reason for this was that Tagalog was not understood by all residents at that time, as it was not as widespread as it is today. The inhabitants of the different parts of the country only understood their respective mother tongues, for example Cebuano, Ilocano, Bicolano, Visayas or Bisaya ( see also Filipino languages ).
During the colonial period, the name Filipino was only intended for Spaniards who were born in the Philippines or for the children of mixed marriages. In the course of the Filipino national movement of the late 19th century, the name Filipino was expanded to include all residents of the country. The liberalization of trade from 1830 and the opening of the Suez Canal initially created a new wealthy class of mestizos and locals who came into contact with liberal ideas from Europe and had the money to finance their children’s studies. The members of the resulting educated class, some of whom studied in Europe, called themselves Ilustrados (German: educated) and contributed significantly to the formation of the Filipino national consciousness. For the Ilustrados it was a sign of emancipation, education and equality to speak and write Spanish, which the most prominent among them also did with great self-confidence.
José Rizal , who had Chinese and Spanish ancestors and was therefore also considered a mestizo , was the most famous of the ilustrados . His work Noli me tangere (Latin for German: “Don't touch me”), written in Spanish, was of great importance for the emerging nationalism in the Philippines. The book, begun in Madrid and completed in Berlin in 1887, criticized the Spanish government and the clergy and was therefore banned by the Spanish authorities and the Church. Rizal also wrote in Tagalog, thus promoting this language. However, he wrote the majority of his works in Spanish, including the novel El Filibusterismo , the continuation of Noli me Tangere , which was completed in Biarritz in 1891 . It is about the pros and cons of reform and revolution.
The Filipino newspaper La Solidaridad , which appeared in Spanish in Europe from 1889 to 1895, was the main organ of the Filipino reform movement, which advocated reforms in the Philippines and seats in the Spanish Parliament ( Cortes ). It was written by Filipino commoners who had studied in Europe and had come into contact with liberal ideas. Graciano López Jaena was the editor-in-chief , but Rizal and the rhetorical Marcelo H. del Pilar also wrote for this newspaper. The writings and ideas of the Filipino reform movement were of crucial importance for the later anti-Spain revolution .
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Another newspaper was La Ilustración Filipina, it first appeared on November 7, 1891 in Manila and was published over time during the last decade of Spanish colonial rule, the Philippine Revolution from 1896 to 1898 and the beginning of the 20th century. The last edition appeared in 1905.
American era
The government of the First Philippine Republic decided in 1898 at an official meeting in Malolos , Bulacan , to continue using Spanish as the official language . This made the language freely learnable for the indigenous population. This decision should also serve to increase the number of speakers. In a country where over 80 local dialects exist, Spanish would have been of great use. The efforts were unsuccessful, however, also because the republic was fought by the USA in the Philippine-American War and defeated by 1902.
When the Spaniards ceded the Philippines as a colony, the Filipino media, government, judiciary, authorities, schools, etc. were Spanish-speaking. In the early 20th century, Spanish was the dominant language in the archipelago.
Although English slowly made its way into the infrastructure of the Philippines, for example in education, Spanish remained an important language, for example in literature, as the majority of the educated Filipinos had been brought up in Spanish. Spanish remained the most important language in the Philippines, even though the majority of the locals did not speak it.
The Spanish-speaking ilustrados played a decisive role not only in the national movement against Spain, but also in the resistance against the USA from 1898 onwards. Moreover, that was English very slowly accepted by the Filipinos, even though were sent to the Philippines from 1902 English teacher. In 1908, the American Department of Education found that Spanish remained the most influential language in the Philippines, and that the proportion of those who spoke Spanish had actually increased. Even in 1916, Henry Ford noted in a report to the American President that Spanish was still essential for communicating in the Philippines and that all of the country's newspapers were in Spanish, but not a single one in English.
In the 1930s, the Philippines was an important market for Spanish-language Hollywood films, which, however, were often sent back by the American colonial authorities because they thwarted Americanization policies. As recently as 1940, 6 million Filipinos spoke Spanish and according to the 1950 census, the number of Spanish-speaking Filipinos was about 6 percent of the population. During the 1960s and 1970s, many Filipinos grew up with Spanish as their first language. They learned Tagalog and English only later.
Loss of meaning in the Spanish language
The decline of Spanish is related to the aggressive Anglicization campaign by the United States of America . They elevated English to the language of instruction and trade as well as the first official language of the Philippines, even if they did not succeed in completely displacing Spanish. When the Philippines was granted independence by the Americans in 1946, the Philippine legislature approved Spanish as both an official language and a compulsory subject in school classes.
After World War II and during Ferdinand Marcos' regime , many Spanish-speaking families of Filipino or Spanish descent emigrated to South and North America as well as Spain. Towards the end of World War II, the Americans bombed Manila, which was occupied by the Japanese . Not only was a large part of the old Spanish buildings in Manila destroyed, but many members of the Spanish-speaking elite also died.
Today, Spanish is spoken by less than 3 percent of the population. The 1990 census showed an absolute number of speakers of two to three million. In 1973, Spanish was abolished as the official language and in 1987 as a compulsory subject in schools.
Current status of Spanish
Spanish lost its status as an official language in 1973 during the Marcos regime due to a lack of public funding from the government. Today it is used almost exclusively for cultural purposes. Spanish was an official subject until 1987 when it was removed from the curriculum under President Corazon Aquino . Since then, the language has only been taught as an elective.
Demands for the reintroduction of Spanish as an official language
The expansion or reintroduction of Spanish as the official language is still the subject of heated debate. On the one hand, the language is seen as part of Filipino culture and history. It is particularly noteworthy that there are around 13 million Spanish-language manuscripts from the period between the 16th century and 1898, including legal, economic, commercial, religious and patriotic texts. Until the 1960s, birth certificates were written in English and Spanish. Spanish is therefore still of great importance to lawyers and historians. On the other hand, opponents of Spanish point to its role as an instrument of colonization and its lower practical importance compared to English.
Filipino civil and criminal law is still similar to the Spanish model (which in turn is based on the Code Napoléon ) and, despite its English version, which has been in force since 1950, still contains numerous Spanish expressions such as reclusión perpetua (life imprisonment), arresto mayor (imprisonment of up to six months ) or culpa (guilt, negligence). Despite the massive Americanization policy during the American colonial era, the current legal system continues to contain Spanish traditions, including the central importance of the civil code in case law and the very low importance of precedents in contrast to the Anglo-Saxon legal system .
The culture of the Philippines is also strongly influenced by the Spanish colonial era. Filipino sentimentality, which is very similar to Latin American, has contributed to the popularity of both Latin pop stars and Latin American telenovelas . Most striking, however, is Catholicism, which is practiced by almost 90 percent of Filipinos and combines Spanish, Mexican and indigenous influences.
In Manila there is a branch of the Instituto Cervantes , the institute of the Spanish government for the promotion of the Spanish language and culture. The Philippines are also a member of the Unión Latina . The Spanish language is now enjoying popularity again among young Filipinos, among other things because the Latino trend of recent years has corrected the somewhat old-fashioned reputation of Spanish among young people.
Filipino Spanish
Since the Philippines was ruled from New Spain ( Mexico ) for a long time , Filipino Spanish is more similar to Mexican Spanish than to European Spanish . Even today there are some “Filipino colonies” in Acapulco (Mexico) that are inhabited by Filipinos who have emigrated.
phonetics
- Seseo is spoken in the Philippines , similar to many dialects and varieties in Andalusia and Latin America. Therefore, the voiceless, lisped "c" (similar to the English "th") in Castilian before "e" and "i" is pronounced as a voiceless "s", for example in the names Bar c elona or Gar c ía.
- The semi-closed vowels / o / and / e / are spoken more closed.
- A cracking sound is spoken before a stressed vowel as a syllable initial sound .
- The sound / x / (like “ch” in German “Dach”; written as “j” or “g” before “e” and “i”) is replaced by a soft breath, similar to an “h”. Example: J uan, or J osé are pronounced as H uan or H osé.
vocabulary
There are numerous Latin Americanisms, archaisms and loanwords from Filipino languages. Some words found their way into Filipino Spanish from Indian languages via Mexican Spanish, including avocado , guava , papaya , zapote , etc.
Influence on Filipino languages
There are around 4000 words of Spanish origin in the Tagalog and around 6000 Hispanisms in the Visayas and other dialects. The Spanish number, calendar and time system is still in use with minor changes. Old forms of Spanish words, such as sabon instead of jabón (soap), relos instead of reloj (clock), as well as archaisms like pera instead of Spanish. Dinero or lateinam. plata (money) are preserved in the Tagalog. Some Spanish words have taken on different meanings in Filipino languages.
Chabacano, in different varieties (including the Zamboangueño as the variety with the most speakers), is a Creole language based on Spanish. It is mostly spoken in the south, in the provinces of Zamboanga. The language originally developed in Cavite when the Spanish established commercial and military establishments there. It later developed into the lingua franca in various regions of the southern Philippines .
See also
literature
- Pagel, Steve 2010: Spanish in Asia and Oceania . Frankfurt / M .: Peter Lang, ISBN 978-3-631-60830-2 .
- Quilis, Antonio; Casado-Fresnillo, Celia 2008: La lengua española en Filipinas: Historia, situación actual, el chabacano, antología de textos . Madrid: CSIC, ISBN 978-84-00-08635-0 .
Web links
- HISPANISMOS EN EL TAGALOG. Archived from the original on February 9, 2008 ; Retrieved November 29, 2014 (Spanish).
- kaibigankastila's Home Page. Archived from the original on December 11, 2007 ; Retrieved November 29, 2014 (Tagalog, Spanish, unknown language, English).
- el Español en las Filipinas. Archived from the original on January 18, 2008 ; Retrieved November 29, 2014 (Spanish).
- Instituto Cervantes of Manila. Retrieved November 29, 2014 (English, Spanish).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chabacano. Retrieved October 26, 2017 .