Philippine languages

The Philippine languages or Philippinic are a proposed group by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and Robert Blust (1991; 2005; 2019) that include all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi, Indonesia—except Sama–Bajaw (languages of the "Sea Gypsies") and the Molbog language (disputed)—and form a subfamily of Austronesian languages. Although the Philippines is near the center of Austronesian expansion from Taiwan, there is relatively little linguistic diversity among the approximately 150 Philippine languages, suggesting that earlier diversity has been erased by the spread of the ancestor of the modern Philippine languages.

Classification History and criticism

One of the first explicit classifications of a "Philippine" grouping based on genetic affiliation was in 1906 by Frank Blake, who placed them as a subdivision of the "Malay branch" within Malayo-Polynesian (MP), which at that time was considered as a family. However, Blake encompasses every language within the geographic boundaries of the Philippine archipelago to be under a single group. Formal arguments in support of a specific "Proto-Philippines" were followed by Matthew Charles in 1974, Teodoro Llamzon in 1966 and 1975, and Llamzon and Teresita Martin in 1976. Blust (1991) two decades later updates this based on Zorc's (1986) inclusion of Yami, and the Sangiric, Minahasan, and Gorontalo groups.

The genetic unity of a Philippines group has been rejected particularly by Lawrence Reid. This arose with problems in reconstructing Philippine subgroups within MP (Pawley, 1999; Ross, 2005). In a recent state-of-the art on the classification of Philippine languages, he provides multidisciplinary arguments on the field's methodological and theoretical shortcomings since Conant's description in the early 1900s. This includes Malayo-Polynesian archeology (Spriggs, 2003; 2007; 2011), and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses (Gray et al., 2009) substantiating the multiplicity of historical diffusion and divergence of languages across the archipelago. He suggests that the primary branches under this widely acknowledged Philippine group should instead be promoted as primary branches under Malayo-Polynesian. Malcolm Ross (2005) earlier also noted that the Batanic languages, constituting Yami, Itbayat, and Ivatan, should in fact be considered as a primary MP branch. In an evaluation of the lexical innovations among the Philippine languages, Alexander Smith (2017) regards the evidence for a Philippine subgroup as weak, and concludes that "they may represent more than one primary subgroup or perhaps an innovation-defined linkage"., p. 479 Chen et al. (2022) present further arguments for the Philippine languages being a convergence area (sprachbund) rather than a unified phylogenetic subgroup.Chen, Victoria, Kristina Gallego, Jonathan Kuo, Isaac Stead, & Benjamin van der Voorn. 2022. Contact or inheritance? New evidence on the Proto-Philippines debate. Presentation given at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (SEALS 31), University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, May 18–20, 2022. (slides)

Internal classification The Philippine group is proposed to have originated from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian and ultimately from Proto-Austronesian. There have been several proposals as to the composition within the group, but the most widely accepted groupings today is the consensus classifications by Blust (1991; 2005) and Reid (2017); however, both disagree on the existence of a Philippine group as a single genetic unit.

Zorc (1979) An earlier classification by Zorc (1979) is presented below. From approximately north to south, a Philippine group according to his analysis of previous reconstructions are divided into two main subgroups, Northern or "Cordilleran" and Southern or "Sulic". Note that the groupings herein no longer reflect widely accepted classifications or naming conventions today. For example South Extension nowadays reflects the widely established Central Luzon, and North Mangyan within Cordilleran is not supported by later reconstructions; the group containing Yami, Ivatan and Itbayat is called "Bashiic" in Zorc (1977) and remains generally accepted.

Philippine Northern Philippines or Cordilleran Pangasinic (includes Ilongot, Kallahan, Ibaloi, Pangasinan) Central Cordilleran (includes Isinai, Kalinga, Bontoc, Balangao, Ifugao) Ilokan (within Ilokano alone) Northern Cordilleran or Banagic (includes Ibanag, Isneg, Gaddang) Yami–Ivatan–Itbayat South Extension (includes Sambal group, Kapampangan) North Mangyan Southern Philippines or Sulic Meso-Philippine South Mangyan (includes Hanunuo) Palawan Subanon (dialect cluster) Central Philippine (includes Tagalog, Bikol, Visayan, Mansakan) Manobo (includes Kagayanen, Western Bukidnon, Cotabato Manobo) Danao (includes Maranao, Maguindanao) Celebes Extension (includes Mongondow group)

Blust (1991; 2005) From approximately north to south, the Philippine languages are divided into 12 subgroups (including unclassified languages):

Philippine Batanic languages (4 languages between Batanes and Lanyu Island, Taiwan) Northern Luzon languages (40 languages, including Ilokano and Pangasinan) Central Luzon languages (5 languages, including Sambal and Kapampangan) Northern Mindoro languages (or North Mangyan; 3 languages) Greater Central Philippine languages Southern Mindoro languages (or South Mangyan; 3 languages) Central Philippine languages (40 languages, including Tagalog, Bikol languages and Visayan languages) Palawan languages (3 languages) Subanen languages (6 languages; sometimes considered one dialect cluster) Danao languages (3 languages; Iranun, Maguindanao and Maranao) Manobo languages (15 languages) Gorontalo–Mongondow languages (9 languages of Gorontalo and North Sulawesi) Ati language Manide–Alabat Kalamian languages (2 languages of northern Palawan) South Mindanao languages (5 languages) Sangiric languages (4 languages of Sangir and Talaud Islands) Minahasan languages (5 languages of North Sulawesi) Unclassified Umiray Dumaget

Formerly classified as one of the South Mindanao languages, the Klata language is now considered to be a primary branch of the Southern Philippine languages by Zorc (2019).

Vocabulary Comparison chart between several selected Philippine languages spoken from north to south with Proto-Austronesian first for comparison. 1 2 3 4 5 person house dog coconut day new we (incl.) what fire Proto-Austronesian *əsa*isa *duSa *təlu *Səpat *lima *Cau *Rumaq *asu *niuR *qaləjaw *baqəRu *i-kita *n-anu *SapuyBatanic (Bashiic) Yami (Tao) ása dóa (raroa) tílo (tatlo) apat (ápat) lima tao vahay chito niyoy araw vayo yaten ango apoy Ivatan asa dadowa tatdo apat lima tao vahay chito niyoy araw va-yo yaten ango apoy Northern Luzon Ilocano maysa dua tallo uppat lima tao balay aso niog aldaw baro sitayo ania apoy Ibanag tadday dua tallu appa' lima tolay balay kitu niuk aggaw bagu sittam anni afi Gaddang antet addwa tallo appat lima tolay balay atu ayog aw bawu ikkanetam sanenay afuy Pangasinan sakey dua duara talo talora apat apatira lima too abong aso niyog ageo balo sikatayo anto pool Central Luzon Kapampangan métung adwá atlú ápat limá táu balé ásu ngúngut aldó báyu ítámu nánu apîCentral Philippine Tagalog isa dalawa tatlo apat lima tao bahay aso niyog araw bago tayo ano apoy Central Bikol sarô duwa tulo apát lima tawo harong ayam idò niyog aldaw bâgo kitá ano kalayo Rinconada Bikol əsad darwā tolō əpat lima tawō baləy ayam noyog aldəw bāgo kitā onō kalayō Waray usa sayo duha tulo upat lima tawo balay ayam ido lubi adlaw bag-o kita ano kalayo Hiligaynon isa duha tatlo apat lima tawo balay ido lubi adlaw bag-o kita ano kalayo Bantoanon (Asi) usa ruha tuyo upat lima tawo bayay iro nidog adlaw bag-o kita ni-o kayado Romblomanon isa duha tuyo upat lima tawo bayay ayam niyog adlaw bag-o kita ano kalayo Onhan isya darwa tatlo ap-at lima tawo balay ayam niyog adlaw bag-o kita ano kalayo Karay-a sara darwa tatlo apat lima taho balay ayam niyog adlaw bag-o kita tatən ano kalayo Aklanon isaea sambilog daywa tatlo ap-at lima tawo baeay ayam niyog adlaw bag-o kita ano kaeayo Cebuano usa duha tulo upat lima tawo balay iro lubi adlaw bag-o kita unsa kalayo Tausug isa hambuuk duwa tu upat lima tau bay iru' niyug adlaw ba-gu kitaniyu unu kayu Danao Maguindanao isa dua telu pat lima tau walay asu niyug gay bagu tanu ngin apuy Mëranaw isa dowa t'lo phat lima taw walay aso neyog gawi'e bago tano tonaa apoy Iranun isa dua telu pa'at lima taw walay asu niyug gawi'i bagu tanu antuna apuy South Mindanao (Bilic) Tboli sotu lewu tlu fat lima tau gunu ohu lefo kdaw lomi tekuy tedu ofih Minahasan Tombulu (Minahasa) esa zua rua telu epat lima tou walé asu po'po' endo weru kai kita apa api Sangiric Sangirese sembau esa' darua tatelu epa' lima tau balé kapuna' bango' elo wuhu kité tawé putung Gorontalo–Mongondow Gorontalo tuwewu duluwo totolu opato limo tawu bele 'apula bongo dulahu bohu 'ito wolo tulu Mongondow inta' dua tolu opat lima intau baloi ungku' bango' singgai mobagu kita onu, onda tulu'

See also Languages of the Philippines List of regional languages of the Philippines Philippine Negrito languages Philippine literature Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino Visayan Academy of Arts and Letters Defunct language regulators Academia Bicolana Sanghiran san Binisaya

Notes 1. Ambiguous relationship with other Northern Philippine groups 2. Ambiguous relationship with other Northern Philippine groups and has possible relationship with South Extension; equivalent to the widely established Batanic or Bashiic branch.

References

Works cited

Philippine languages

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