CORTEZ, John Raphael L. Prof.

Marissa Mayrena
ABELS 2-2 Introduction to Language, Society, and Culture

Term Paper for Introduction to Language, Society, and Culture

Language is a very essential to each and every one of us. It is one of the greatest gifts that

we can receive in this lifetime. Language can seem a lot easier in a smaller lens, but in a bigger

perspective, there is so much more that language consists and is made of. Language is not just

there to just be a mere instrument of communication, but it can also help us understand our own

identity and might as well, our own history. Language unites all the things that make you who

you are, and as you grow up, you still need to exert more efforts in maximizing to know what

you can become. As we grow older, we tend to feel a sense of belongingness to a certain part of

our environment, and we commonly call this as a community. A community is not just a place

where people of different backgrounds are set to be working together to reach a specific goal, but

also, a community is a place where you belong and that’s where you feel safe and secured.

Throughout the ages, there are a lot of movements that are made by people who have shared a

common mission and vision and who have fair shares of experiences that made them fought for

their rights, for example, Black Lives Matter and Pride Movement. Inside their community, they

create a culture in which they do together as a community. A part of the culture inside a

community can be passed on to other communities because individuals are not just limited to

move and groove in just one community, a person needs to integrate himself to the society. As

cliché saying, “No Man is an Island,” we need to cooperate with each other to make the world a

better place to live in. Society, in general, is a community that consists of different communities

that celebrates diversity and their contributions jive with one another. The society is now
comprises of different communities, with different culture, having different languages. However,

in these communities or countries, there are still a lot of different languages that are existing. It

just so happens that there is a common language that is prevailing, and it is used and utilized in

most aspects for the betterment of the country. Let’s have Philippines as an example. In the

Philippines, the language that has the most speakers is the Filipino language. Filipino is a very

well established language for it used in many facets in the nation’s totality. The language is

considered the national official language of the Philippines because it has undergone the levels of

standardization, and also, the political influence has made the language much easier to be

standardized. Since the Imperial Manila is the center of the nation’s trade and economy, it gives

the language much more power amongst other languages in the nation. On the other hand, the

next language in the Philippines that has also a lot of potential to be standardized is the Visayan

language. It is the second to the most used language in the Philippines, next to Filipino. Though

Filipino is the lingua franca of the Philippines, there are still a lot of indigenous tribes and far-

flung provinces that decline the idea of using Filipino language as their vernacular language.

Besides, it just became the lingua franca because of the manila-centric mentality. With that said,

this paper aims to prove that the Visayan language has a high likelihood to becoming a national

official language.

According to Holmes, in her book Introduction to Sociolinguistics, there are four stages

of standardization of a language. First is the selection of a variety or code to be standardized.

There are a lot of languages to choose from in every nation, so it needs to be decided by the

public and by the government. Second stage would be the codifying the language. This is the

stage where the language has began the standardization of its structural and linguistic features.
This is also called the “corpus planning.” It involved creating dictionary for the vocabulary,

taking notes of the system of grammar, and developing a standard spelling system. Third stage

would be the elaboration of the language. This is stage where the language is widely spread

throughout all the domains in the nations. These domains include the education, government,

politics, business, and so on. In this stage, the language is now used in domains that were not

using the language before. Lastly, securing its acceptance is the stage wherein the language is

being enhanced by making the people enhance it’s prestige. It s also calked aa prestige planning

or status planning. The speakers of the language should be encouraged to have a loyalty and to

develop pride in the language. It is presented in a table and it is divided into two: Social and

Linguistic or Form and Function. The selection and the accepting process are the processes

which are mainly governed by the government. It is developed through the political power of the

authorities. Meanwhile, codification and elaboration are linguistic processes. On the other hand,

we have forms, and functions and attitudes. Selection and codification are the forms, while

securing its acceptance and elaboration are under the functions and attitudes. Let’s take Visayan

language to a test. Visayan language has a lot of potential on becoming a national official

language. It has what it takes to be standardized, like Filipino language. I believe that Visayan

language can be up to par with Filipino language, especially if linguists and politicians would

take time to study and research about the language. Firstly, Visayan language is a very

interesting language to study, it has a lot of phonetic representations that the English language

and Filipino language have. Even though it has a very hard system of speaking, it is very much

interesting to study the language because of the complication of the language itself. The

challenge of learning the language is as much as difficult, if not, as the French language.

Secondly, there are lots of words that are from Filipino but the variety uses it for daily routine. It
can have the standardization that it needs for it to be noticed. Thirdly, it gives more opportunities

to Visayan region to be much more recognized and for it to have more chances in growth and

development. The Imperial Manila being the center gives unequal chances to other larger

regions. Fourthly, it gives a sense of pride to their language as it will be more known an used in

other aspects. Since there are lots of people that don’t acknowledge Filipino as their vernacular

and first language, making Visayan language an official language will make them prouder of

what they have and it would help them to be more heard and noticed in bigger perspectives.

Lastly, it will be used in other domains that it was not used before. It may used as a medium of

instruction in primary education, and it could be studied in the secondary education as an

elective. It may have a recordings of its spelling system and grammar, and it could used in

making articles, news, journals, and other scholarly articles. Though it would just cater the

Visayan region and some parts of the Mindanaoan region, I think it would really be beneficial for

not just only the language, but also for the peoples that are in it. It helps the people there to be

more heard and not just focused on the people in the metro. It would be a lot helpful for them for

their plights and battle cries would be known as something that should not be taken for granted

and not to be neglected. It would give them a sense of pride that their identity will be known, and

they will feel secured because the government took time for them to be seen and heard. We can

understand them better and we can know more about their language, their community, and their

culture. Through the standardization of the language, it will not just make the language more

visible, but also the speakers of the language.

To conclude this analysis, there is a high chance of the Visayan language to be known

and recognized as an official and national language. Upon having been studying the theories
about standardization, I have observed that Visayan language has just taken the first stage of the

standardization. It haven’t been able to reach the codification stage, for efforts are not yet made

for it to be codified. Secondly, though it haven’t been able to reach codification, it has already

reached the elaboration stage. It has already been used as medium of instruction in some parts of

the country, and it is proven that it is very helpful for the students to be able to understand the

lessons, even in Math and Science. Lastly, it would equalize the opportunities for everyone for it

would not just center it in the Imperial Manila anymore, but it would give equal opportunities

and chances for Visayan region and other parts to be developed and to grow as a region. In this

way they could contribute more in the country, and it would help them be heard and be known in

the nation.