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THE FILIPINO LANGUAGE |
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The wave of immigration of foreigners and the geographical structure of the
Philippines have brought about a wide range of dialects in different parts
of the country. There are almost a hundred different dialects spoken in the
Philippines some of which are distinctly different, if not similar, to each
other. Early influences of foreigners led to the incorporation of some foreign words
most of which are, Malay, Spanish, English, and Chinese words.
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Filipino is the national language of the Philippines. It was the aim of the
Institute of National Language when it was formed in 1937 to have one national
language spoken by the people. President Manuel L. Quezon declared Tagalog
as the national language of the Philippines on December 31, 1937, it was
confirmed in the constitution of 1973, and it was changed into Filipino in
1986. Filipino is basically Tagalog with some linguistic elements from the
other Philippine dialects. It is now widely used as a medium of instruction
in public schools and universities since 1978. At present, majority of
Filipino people speak Filipino, while English is used for international
communication.
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