Cortez, Ashley Joy C.

Session 10

AB ELS 2-4 Varieties of English

Reading Activity: The evolving study of Philippine English Phonology (Tayao, 2008)

INTRODUCTION The paper discusses the evolution of Philippine English

Phonology and the results of a recent data-based study of the
Philippine English accent as well as the three representative
speaker groups of the Philippine English. Tayao conducted a
research (along with other existing literature) in order to add
more information about the legitimacy of SPE and suggest that
the absence of GAE is not at all times uniform in the phonology
of PE. The findings of the study will contribute to the knowledge
of speakers considering that SPE has distinctive phonological
features. This will also help future studies of Philippine English
Phonology.
METHODOLOGY A total of 80 respondents were questioned and the researcher
categorized the respondents based on their lectal groups:
Acrolect, Mesolect, and Basilects. The first group consists of
lectors, ministers, home-users of English, and English majors.
The second group comprised of professionals who were non-
English majors but used English in their workplace. And lastly,
Basilect which is made up of non-professionals who had limited
use of English. Aside from linguistic features, sociolinguistic
features and social variables were also considered by the
researcher. The research sampling was made through a
descriptive survey in a form of a questionnaire. The research
instrument used was made up of two parts. First, a demographic
profile of the respondents and the frequency of use of English in
specific domains, in language tasks or functions, with different
interlocutors, their preference in learning mediums, and how they
rated themselves in using the language. Second, the usage of
audio tapes which recorded the respondents’ examples of
spoken English. The records were sectioned into four forms
 namely: monologues, reading style, and discrete words intended
to elicit the wordlist speech style of the respondents.
RESULTS The results of this research were presented in two sections, the
first part focusing on the complexity of segmental sounds while
the second, on the suprasegmentals. It can be observed that
Acrolect and Mesolect may have notable differences in their
Phonological characteristics but still, based on the results, they
are observed to be much closely related to each other unlike in
the Basilect group who lacks almost all of the features or have
an alternative feature apart from the two. In terms of GAE, the
word stress in all three varieties of PE differs from each other.
Further research is needed however before any claims can be
made about whether such patterning is part of a ‘stable’ set of
suprasegmental features in PE. This also applies to the issue of
sentence stress placement and other features of suprasegmental
phonology as intonation and rhythm, requires more research and
investigation than the current study. The results also showed that
a number of patterns of variation in the pronunciation have a
significant relationship to social-group membership supporting
the three lectal group norms for the PE accent and study of PE
phonology.
DISCUSSION/ Upon examining the results of this research, it can be concluded
CONCLUSIONS that social groups has something to do with the Phonological
patters of Philippine English. It described the complexity of PE
based on the geographical and social factors. This research is
an excellent guide for future researches because it helps in
avoiding statements that would emphasize more on the
‘standard’ Philippine pronunciation but rather should focus on the
variety and range of accents based on geographical and
linguistic background as well as their social-group membership.
REFERENCES  Bautista, Ma. Lourdes S. (2000b) Studies of Philippine
English in the Philippines
 Gonzales, Andrew, FSC (1984) Philippine English across
 generations: the sound system
 Gonzales, Andrew, FSC and Alberca, Wilfredo L. (1978)
Philippine English of the Mass Media
 Llamzon, Teodoro A. (1969) Standard Filipino English
 Llamzon, Teodoro A. (1997) The phonology of Philippine
English
 Kachru, Braj B. (1997) World Englishes and English-using
communities
 Labov, William (1972) Sociolinguistic Patterns
 Martinez, Norma D. (1975) Standard Filipino English
Pronunciation
 McKaughan, Howard. (1993) Toward a standard
Philippine English
 Richards, Jack C. And Tay, Mary W.J. (1981) Norm and
variability in language use and language learning. In
English for Cross-Cultural Communication
 Sta. Ana, Alan (1983) English in the Philippines across
generations: a pilot study.
APPENDICES The appendices were divided into three parts, two of which are
charts while the other one is a list. The charts showed the
distinction between the consonant and vowel sound production
for General American English Phonetics and Philippine English
Phonetics. The list showed the words used in the study of word
stress.

The appendices help readers and researchers to

comprehensively understand the points of the research as well
as visualizing the concept of sound production. It also helped in
summarizing and categorizing the words used in the study of
word stress which may be helpful and convenient for further
research observations.