Personal Experience

Since childhood, I've encountered numerous people, from my own relatives to perfect strangers on the internet, who assert that Tagalog is a language while Cebuano, Bikol, Ilocano and the rest are merely dialects. I believed them, knowing relatively very little about Philippine culture, much less about linguistics. Who was I to question them?

Although my family and I lived briefly in Kapampangan-speaking Angeles City, Pampanga, English and Tagalog were mostly spoken at home. I was exposed to Kapampangan, but reasoned it was just "funny" Tagalog. I think the only word I learned was mekeni, the Kapampangan word for come here. I never was able to understand Kapampangan, anyway.

I'm older now and thankfully no longer believe that other than Tagalog, all the other tongues of the Philippines are dialects. Many, however, still cling to this misconception; indeed, there are those who mistakenly believe that our languages are dialects of Spanish! The simple truth is that Spanish's roots, like those of her cousins, are Indo-European, while those of the Philippines are Austronesian

What is a dialect?

In linguistics, the term dialect usually refers to a variety of a language in a region whose inhabitants' personal use of a language are similar. But in the Philippines and countries like China or France, it seems to have a political connotation; an unimportant tongue lacking official status, a tongue that is not promoted in the mass media, government, or schools. And sadly, in many cases, a dialect is supposedly not suitable for writing.

As stated, a dialect is a regional variant of a language. A language can have several dialects. Each dialect is similar, yet have peculiarities with vocabulary, grammatical features, and pronunciation. When people who speak two different dialects converse, they are usually able to understand each other. If not, then their dialects are most likely languages.

Now let's stop here. Perhaps this is why people are misled into thinking that the Philippine languages as dialects; similar words like lalaki (man), babae (woman), anak (child), etc. There are even rare gems such as Nagluto ka (you cooked) which roughly mean the same thing in Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano, Bikol, Hiligaynon, and Waray-Waray. And if you're curious, it's nanluto ka and miglutu ka in Pangasinan and Kapampangan, respectively. Yes, similarities exist, but consider this (from McFarland):

English	People say that the pork (pig) is delicious.
Ivatan	Vatahen danu tawu', masadep kunu bagu'.
Ilocano	Kúna dagití tattáo, naímas kanó ti báboy.
Pangasinan	Say kuan day totoo, masamit kunoy baboy.
Kapampangan	Sábi da ring táu, manyáman ya kanú ing babì.
Tagalog	Sábi ng mgá táo, masaráp daw ang báboy.
Bikol	Sábi kan mgá táwo, masíram daá an oríg.
Waray-Waray	Síring hit mgá táwo, marása daw it báboy.
Hiligaynon	Síling sang mgá táo, manámit kunó ang báboy.
Cebuano	Ingón sa mgá táwo, lamî kunó ang báboy.
Magindanao	Petalun na mga taw, na mapiya i nanam a babuy.
Tboli	Gel mon kem tauh tey mnom kun yem sdo'.

Clearly one can see many differences between the sample sentences. A Cebuano lacking prior knowledge of Ilocano will definitely have problems understanding what an Ilocano is saying. Obviously, you wouldn't say that Cebuano is a dialect of Ilocano or vice-versa.

On the other hand, two Tagalogs from Marinduque (one each from the east and west) would have less difficulties. Here are a couple of dialectal differences (from Soberano):

English	Why are you all laughing?
E. Marinduque Tagalog	Bakit nantatawa kamo?
W. Marinduque Tagalog	Bakit nagatawanan kayo?
Manila Tagalog	Bakit nagsisitawa kayo?

This, whether or not two speech varieties are mutual intelligible, is the principal criterion in distinguishing a dialect from a language.

Mutual Intelligibility & the Dialect Continuum

Among the best ways to comprehend "mutual intelligibility" is to imagine a long river running from the west to the east. Alongside it is a chain of towns: The westernmost is A and the easternmost is J:

Each town has its own distinct speech variety. Inhabitants from adjacent towns could converse with each other with minor difficulties. For example, people from Towns A & C understand people from Town B better than those from Towns D, E and beyond. If you're from Town J, forget it - you're probably speaking a different language.

To better illustrate this concept, look at this spectrum:

Look at a point in the blue area and a point in the green. Obviously, they are two different colors, right? But look between the two points, you'll see different shades of blue gradually becoming green. And that's how a dialect continuum works. Just as the color blue includes navy blue, teal, turquoise, dark blue, and light blue, the Tagalog language includes Manila Tagalog, Batangas Tagalog, Tayabas Tagalog, Marinduque Tagalog, Nueva Ecija Tagalog, etc.

Please note that the two above examples form a small segment of a larger system of chains. It's not always a straight line, it's more like the branches of a tree.

Where to draw the line?

The criterion of mutual intelligibility isn't always perfect. If Towns B and I aren't considered languages, then why not A & J? Surely they both have differences to warrant being called different languages. Since no satisfactory distinction can be made, most linguists do not usually split hairs over this; though, I'll admit, that it helps in some cases. So where do they go from there? They treat them as speech varieties; usually by referring to them by their geographical location.

Which dialect is the most important?

To tell the truth, no language or dialect is inherently more important than the other. The dialect of Tagalog spoken in Manila is considered more important than those in Batangas because of the city itself. Had Balayan, Batangas been a city more important than Manila, then standard Tagalog may be slightly different.

Conclusion

Where does this leave us? Am I asserting that there are no dialects in the Philippines? Of course not. According to SIL's Ethnologue, there are 169 languages. Each of those 169 languages have several dialects. And perhaps as more research is done on the Philippine languages, the number will increase. In fact, SIL reclassified the Kolibugan dialect of Subanon a separate language in 2001.

So the next time someone claims that Cebuano is a dialect. Ask them, "a dialect of what?" and explain what I have taught you here.

--Christopher Sundita