Research Paper On How And Why The Philippines Should Save Its Endangered Languages

Must everything dying be saved? The ideas and discussions that surround this question have become truly more relevant in this day and age, especially in terms of languages. Many linguists are fervent in their works to document, preserve, and protect dying languages; or more aptly referred to by their saviors as endangered languages.

Crystal (2000) highlights consequences of the loss of language through its importance in identity, because he says that “language is the primary index, or symbol … of identity. ” It is the medium that propels growth and survival of people and its culture. There exists a web of interrelationship that is very important in how the languages help each other to survive and evolve through give and take of words, etc. The loss of transmission of knowledge is also highlighted, as language can be an archive, a tool of retracing our human past, and a deposit of the knowledge in fields of botany, astronomy, and much more.

According to the Ethnologue (2017), there are 7,099 languages that are spoken today. This number is in a state of constant flux due to the fact that languages themselves are also in flux. It is estimated that around a third of the languages has now become endangered with many more of these languages on the brink of joining this sad fate. These endangered languages consist of those in use by the minority populations of different countries.

A disturbing estimate states that one language dies every four months. However, the most pressing information about languages comes from the looming forecast set by linguists. It is estimated that over half of the 7,099 globally recognized languages will have been added to the long list of extinct languages by the end of the 21st century. This sets off an alarm of action, especially in the Philippines that have shown several signs of diminishing use of its minority languages. With so many other languages around the world suffering the same fate, how and why should the Philippines save its endangered languages?

Methodology

The method of qualitative action research is used to explore two different perspectives of analysis as to how and why endangered languages of the Philippines must be saved. Theories in developmental and sociocultural Psychology are reviewed alongside anthropological perspectives. Psychology and Social/Cultural Anthropology are chosen for the basic tenets of their subjects: to understand human behavior and to study specific aspects of human life in its relationship to society. These two subject areas provide the best insight as to how languages may shape the world: through personal behavior and through the world as one entity. Theories in both fields and an analysis of both are necessary in order to form a basis for an action plan. The proposal is a set of suggestions to help answer the how aspect of the research question. For the purposes of this essay, the languages of Agutaynen, Manuno’o, Casiguran Agta, and the Lubuagan are the main focus of the analysis to help explore reasons and arguments in answering the research question.

The Philippines and its Languages

In an attempt to answer the dilemma of preserving dying languages in the Philippines, one must understand the current condition and what comprises the languages spoken in this archipelago. The Philippine national language is ambiguous in and of itself as evidenced in its mentions in the Constitution (Article XIV, Section 6) “The National Language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched. ” Tagalog, spoken by citizens of the National Capital Region, makes up most of its grammar and lexicon but is said to borrow from other major languages in the country.

Although the Philippine national language or Filipino is being taught all around the regions of the archipelago, the local vernacular dominates everyday life. Spanish was influential in the archipelago as well, considering the Philippines was a colony of Spain for 333 years, until 1899. English is also a major language within the country after being conquered by the Americans from 1899 to 1945. English and Filipino are taught to children at a young age as two national languages. Nonetheless, basic native vocabulary in most provinces and much of everyday objects are very similar to the Spanish language. There also exist indigenous languages that are now endangered. Of the 187 distinct Philippines languages noted by Ethnologue (a language encyclopedia maintained by the Summer Institute of Language), four of these languages are said to have been pushed to extinction. Eleven more languages are on the verge of extinction if no preservation efforts get started and/or sustained. The Ethnologue categorizes languages into ten different levels according to the amount of first-language learners, total population, and the existing literature in that language. It makes use of the EGIDS rating to determine the vitality of languages. According to Ethnologue, these languages are “in vigorous use, with literature in a standardized form being used by some, though this is not yet widespread or sustainable. ” They are not in immediate danger of total eradication, but are showing signs of diminishing use

Psychological Perspectives

Socio-Cultural Psychology

Johnson and Giles (1978) came up with ethnolinguistic identity theory (EIT) which can be used to help explain why and how languages are maintained or not. The theory is heavily based on the Social Identity Theory of Tajfel (1979) which theorizes that humans categorize themselves as members of various social groups, different “in-groups” and “out-groups. ” Knowledge of this membership is said to define social identity. EIT maintains that languages are involved when a particular ethnic group “regards its own language or speech variety as a dimension of comparison with outgroups. ” From this theory, Giles (1978) suggests that people will adopt strategies of “psycholinguistic distinctiveness” (such as colloquialisms) and other non-verbal language of a particular in-group language to help reinforce their membership and/or form a desired social distance between groups. This implies that should there be a strong ethnolinguistic identity of a group in relation to another, language can be managed positively. That is, the ethnicity and their corresponding language can be preserved or maintained because of the languages choices that the ethnolinguistic group uses. There are other factors that are said to affect ethnolinguistic vitality such as status (prestige), demographic (geographic concentration, birthrate), and institutional support (government recognition). Groups tend to uphold or forgo their respective identities by comparing their ethnolinguistic vitality to other groups.

The Agutaynen language survey in Quakenbush (2011) exhibits EIT in action. Quakenbush surveyed the ethnolinguistic community of the Agutaynen that lives in the small island of Agutaya in Central Philippines. In this survey, Agutaynen vitality was tracked from 1987 to 2009 in comparison to other languages used in the island: Cuyonon, Tagalog, and English. It was concluded that Agutaynen was still strong due to the positive attitudes towards the language. It is reinforced in their community that Agutaynen is a primary marker of their identity; thus, it must be widely spoken. In answering the question “How can a person know if someone is Agutaynen?” 70% indicated language while others talked about the non-verbal qualities an Agutaynen normally exhibits. In comparison to the other languages, Agutaynen is seen to be less prestigious and lacks institutional support in schools. Nevertheless, their isolated geographic concentration has helped make sure that their language is still highly used. Quakenbush (2011) remarks that there is a strong sentimental attachment to the language, which is due to the fact that their identity is almost solely determined by their use of the language. Their language is still valued in order to reinforce their social identity as Agutaynen.

Developmental Psychology

The field of developmental psychology also upholds the importance of saving indigenous languages. Psychologists such as Jim Cummins have the empirical evidence to support the theory that learning their indigenous, or their mother-tongue language, can improve cognitive development. These studies have shown that children whose schools employ the mother tongue as the language of instruction first are seen to have cognitive improvements versus those who learn in another language of instruction. This is the principle of applying Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (or MTB-MLE), which has been in its implementation in the Philippines since 2012. Cognitive improvements include positive effects on linguistic development and education performance.

Children are more likely to have an effective use and stronger grasp of not just of their own indigenous language, but of how language works in general. Language processing and the different realities that different languages present are much more apparent in the minds of these children. Children are able to create such distinction between different languages and as a result, it is suggested that there is flexibility in the encoding and processing of information in these children. This flexibility is also suggested to be caused by the constant switch of language use. It becomes much easier for these children to learn new languages because of the strong foundation of their mother-tongue language. This is promoted by Cummin's (2000) Interdependence Theory which states that concepts and cognitive skills acquired in the indigenous language is easily transferred when learning new languages. Children who learn in their indigenous language have a deeper understanding of the subject material they are learning because only concepts are needed to process instead of trying to process both concepts and an unfamiliar language.

Walter and Dekker (2011) showed that Lubuagan children in the Philippine province of the Cordilleras were seen to exhibit the aforementioned qualities in a three-year trial run of the MTB-MLE program using their native language – Lilubuagen. While a group of schools implemented the MTB-MLE, the control group of students taught the subjects (Reading, Math, Social Studies, English, and Filipino) in the usual English and Filipino. Those who went through the program scored significantly better than the control group across all areas. Contrary to popular belief, teaching new languages (English and Filipino) in a combination of Lilubuagen proved to be more effective than teaching the subject solely in their usual media. Anthropological Perspectives Language, Culture, and Their Interrelationship.

Anthropologists and sociolinguists alike agree that language and culture are in inextricably linked. Fishman (1996) suggests that indexical, mutually dependent, and symbolic relationships between the language and culture strongly exist. The indexical relationship between language and culture can be described as an ethnic culture defined by the words in their language. As Fishman stated “A language long associated with the culture is best able to express most easily, most exactly, most richly, with more appropriate over-tones, the concerns, artifacts, values, and interests of that culture. ” Mutual dependency of language and culture is best described that one is lost, the other follows. The very reality of a culture (ways of life and thinking) is carried within its language. Fishman aptly says “Take [language] away from the culture, you take away its greetings, its curse, its laws, its literature, its songs, its riddles, its provides, its cures, its wisdom, its prayers. ” It is also explained that language embodies culture. Everything that encompasses a particular culture in the minds of both users and outsiders is perfectly symbolized, visualized, and verbalized through language.

The diminishing use of language of the Casiguran Agta helps exemplify how inextricably linked language and culture is. Headland (2003) explored a small hunter-gatherer ethnolinguistic community of the Casiguran Agta in the island of Luzon and tracked the vitality of their community and its language from the first visit in the 1960s and when it was revisited in the early 2000s. Headland had found that the community was almost forcibly moved out of their homes within the forests, and into smaller, more modern farming communities. When the Casiguran Agta abandoned their original homes, they also left behind their hunter-gatherer culture, also leaving behind the need of speaking their language. Headland noted hundreds of vocabularies related to their hunter-gatherer culture back in the 1960s. In his revisit, he found that most of these terms such as the different names of indigenous flora and fauna, hunting terms such as animal traps and fire-making kits only survive in the memory of the elderly. It can be seen that their way of life before, beautifully expressed by their language, is not present anymore. Thus, the present Casiguran Agta who needed to adapt a new lifestyle, have taken in a new language that no longer includes words their former way of living found useful. They have now incorporated more Tagalog terms. It can be argued further that the loss of their language is synonymous to the loss of their former culture which may never be retrieved.

Language as a Determinant of Culture

In Anthropology, the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis states that language can shape one's worldview, and in turn, his/her culture. This implies a powerful link between language and culture – an interrelationship that cannot be severed. Linguistic determinism is the basis of this hypothesis, which proposes that the level of determinism dictates the extent of which culture is determined by language. Having a strong linguistic determinism means that the variation in thought is a result of the variation in language. To better explain the hypothesis, Sapir (1929) states that “we see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation. ”

To see the hypothesis in action, this report counts in the Hanuo'o language of the Mangyans who live in the island of Mindoro. Lucy (2002) exhibits that the Mangyan color scheme is based on what the English language calls green, red, black, and white. A deeper analysis of their language showed that the color scheme not only referred to color but also had a deeper perceptual connotation. Green also meant wetness, red – dryness, white – lightness, and black – darkness. This phenomenon exemplifies the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. The Mangyan tribe does not only see color but also associates these visual perceptions with feelings. Their experience and their cultural view of colors is different because of the difference in interpretation the Hanuo'o language means to the Mangyan.

Action Plan/Proposal

True revitalization of these languages lie not with the linguists and other social scientists, but in the actual communities themselves. That is to say, proper documentation through dictionaries and other literary works are vital to revitalization, but there is a great distinction between the documentation of a language and the process of sustaining a language. Romaine (2007) mentions that “Preservation … is what we do to berries in jam jars and salmon in cans,” likening how “books and recordings can preserve languages, but. . . only people and the communities can keep them alive. ” This section aims to provide recommendations on how to save the dying languages in the Philippines.

Active Governmental Campaign

The first step is to gather information. Which languages are the most susceptible and nearest to their demise? Time is the greatest enemy of a dying language; so, it is vital that this gathering of information be done quickly and efficiently. Taking from Dr. Crystal’s (2000) suggestions, the Philippine government, or more specifically the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino (Philippine Language Commission) should come up with a language revitalization framework. This framework will compile and analyze relevant factors that have an effect on not simply the language, but also its speakers. Some of these relevant factors can include, but are not limited to, internal influences such as geographical, demographics, historical, literacy, and social status. This will help form priorities of which languages have the highest risk. The high-risk languages’ lexicon, grammar, and vocabulary must be transcribed and documented to have a physical foundation that can be expanded further into books and other literary works. This helps iron out inconsistencies of the language, especially if there were no prior attempts of records. The government can take a province-by-province approach where they will better understand what is best for their own languages. By spreading the word to the public, this will encourage the involvement of more citizens who may not be within the linguistic community, but might be interested to help save the most valuable aspect of his/her culture. This campaign must include the psychological and the anthropological reasons that have been discussed in this essay and other additional benefits in order to gain a sincere and active appreciation of the maintenance of the endangered languages. A possible part of this campaign is providing more avenues to use these languages should be provided like having official documents and public signs written in these dying languages; that will increase visibility, and hopefully, raise their linguistic value in their communities.

Artistic and Cultural Encouragement

According to Crystal (2000), attaching emotion to the information shared helps solidify the involvement of others. This can be done by funding the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in helping young poets, artists, musicians, and writers express themselves in their performances and output through their native endangered languages.

It is important to gather as much support and awareness as possible. The very native and surviving speakers of these languages should be the most active participants of this campaign. It is vital to help these indigenous people fully understand the meaning of revitalizing their endangered languages (and culture).

To help remedy this dilemma, it will be good for indigenous people to see positive attitudes fostered in using their native tongue. Confidence and self-esteem are also vital to this cause. Arguments to help cultivate these positive attitudes can include the edge of being bilingual or even multilingual. Bilingualism and multilingualism in the Philippines is seen as a positive trait. This quality will become more valuable if more Filipinos can speak an endangered language.

Language Education Reforms

It is evident that education plays the most vital role in the revival or rejuvenation of a language. The government has begun this through the MTB-MLE method, but this needs to expand further. Romaine (2007) suggests that schools must become more flexible in their teaching instructions to allow better opportunities for the use of these endangered languages. Beyond school, schools must work with parents on initiatives to make better and productive use of these languages at home.

This, in concert with a focus on using it in an educational setting, will help the holistic use of the language, instead of being reliant of being just used only in the educational arena. This education system in place must also educate how important language is to the whole society. Children have to realize the beauty and significance of knowing the ever-changing nature of languages (dying or not). Educating adults, especially the elders of the tribes, will help everyone gain a better grasp of how and why should endangered languages be saved.

Evaluation/Recommendation

Arguments presented presume that the saving of these endangered languages is the best choice. Despite the fact that arguments against the saving of endangered languages are very few and far between, this area demands further study in order to obtain a more balanced judgement about a simpler question echoed through the research question: should endangered languages even be saved? It can be said that the status of the endangered languages used in the analysis are in question because of the EGIDS ranking and its corresponding descriptions. It should be noted that the data used by the Ethnologue does not necessarily reflect actual, real-time population and usage statistics. As seen in Appendix B, the last Ethnologue survey done on the Agutaynen people was in 2007. In ten years, multiple factors should have affected and altered the language and its people. A shift of improvement may warrant an exploration into how that particular language’s status changed and apply effective usage to others, while a degradation of status increases how imperative it is to save these languages.

Field research studies on the mentioned endangered languages have been conducted by professionals in the field of linguistics. They have been published in different and various forms, usually through a journal or through their parent organization such as the SIL. This signifies a well-formulated and well-written source. Data that they have gathered, whether qualitatively or quantitatively, were conducted personally. Although this could mean that there was ensured researcher involvement, their data could have been subjected to bias, especially those of the qualitative kind. Headland (2003) is almost purely a qualitative research, which could lend itself to more bias as opposed to Quakenbush (2011) where a quantitative and qualitative approach was used. Arguments of perspectives in Psychology and Anthropology provided the essay with a valuable qualitative ground. It allowed an interdisciplinary review of theories that support as to why languages should be saved. This resulted in a research that looks beyond superficial linguistic reasoning.

However, the research could benefit more from additional quantitative input. Reviewing the quantitative tracking of language use based on field research could have formed the degree of urgency that people must act on these languages. The action plan of aiding language revitalization is based on sources that were written on non-Filipino languages. Research backing both Romaine (2007) and Crystal (2000) was based on multiple languages, all of which are not native to the Philippines. The applicability of these methods is then put into question. The attempt to relate them to the Philippine situation still provides ground for suggestions for the Philippine context.

Conclusion

There are psychological and anthropological importance in saving the dying languages of the Philippines. From the discussions above, it can be deduced that these approaches reiterate the importance of saving languages to strengthen identity and culture. In terms of Psychology, the conservation of their language could potentially mean forming stronger, defined social identities, and improved cognitive development. This would mean that the speakers would have a stronger sense of belonging to their own ethnolinguistic society and later make positive contributions through their improved cognitive development. Based on the Anthropological side of the discussions, acknowledging different cultural viewpoints offered by language and its inextricable link with culture supports the preservation of their unique view of the world that no other ethnolinguistic culture can offer.

Even if at face value only the users of the endangered languages seem to reap benefits, there are repercussions that could resonate in a national, and maybe even a global level. Users of these languages are usually minorities. If these minorities collectively have an improved cognitive development, this could mean better contributions to the larger society. Recognizing the differences in viewpoints offered by an endangered language that might not have been explored before could very well change others’ perspective of the world, which could lead to a more open-minded world. The knowledge and wisdom hidden within these languages may also offer the rest of the world fresh solutions to future and/or preexisting problems.

Saving these languages must be of primary importance. These languages literally mold its users’ perception, identity, cognitive development and their ways and views of life. To stand idly in the face of the wearing away of such fundamental things to their very being and culture seems perverse and the Philippines is slowly losing in its race against such erosion. Yet, as the discussion in this essay has shown, a loss of language is not a loss of that culture, but of the whole nation. Many implications can be derived from this essay, one of which is that the Philippines still has a long way to go before its endangered languages are safe. The uniqueness different languages can bring to every unique Filipino identity can never be replaced once forgotten or neglected. Same things can be said of all the other languages all over the world. Languages all over the world are being pushed to extinction status as well. The perspectives and the suggested strategies can be easily adjusted to match a specific country/culture.

The opening question still lingers. Must everything dying be saved? Its responses are still debatable. However, when the evaluation revolves on endangered Philippine languages, one clear response arises: Yes. It is imperative that they are revived, maintained, and later saved