English Loanwords in Select
Cebuano-Visayan News Dailies:
Syntax and Language Acculturation
Analysis
Desiree Dawn P. Justol
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Tagoloan Community College
Tagoloan,
Misamis Oriental, Philippines
Abstract:
Language Acculturation is a continuing development in
which a word infuses in a speech community and grow into part of the people's
linguistic range. The more speakers become familiar with the a newly loanword,
its characteristics gradually accommodate to its own linguistic system. This
paper aimed to show relevance of linguistic
acculturation of English loanwords in Cebuano-Visayan. The analysis of the
paper involved news article description as it shows the direct evidence of
daily literary record of language in terms of syntax, identification of
loanwords and its categories and its linguistic acculturation. The results
proved that English loanwords in Cebuano-Visayan are acculturated through
orthographic nativization and even really the exact English terms which is
believed with no precise and direct translation in Cebuano-Visayan form. Thus,
the study recommended that there is a need to conduct more parallel
comprehensive research about the English loanwords as part of Structural
borrowings in Cebuano-Visayan language.
Key words:
English Loanwords, Language Acculturation, Local News
Article, Cebuano-Visayan Words
Introduction:
Loanwords are borrowed words adopted by the speakers of one
language from the source
language. It refers to the process of speakers applying words
within a speech community from the one these words originated.
The
assimilation of English loanwords to Cebuano-Visayan language shows language
acculturation. This occurrence is a result when speech communities having
different cultures come into continuous first-hand contact, with subsequent
changes in the original culture patterns of either or both groups (Redfield,
Linton and Herskovits, 1936). Acculturation most commonly occurs with a member
of a minority culture being exposed to a majority culture, such as the
situation with an immigrant moving into a new country. Undeniably, Americans
took over the Philippines for 48 years, starting from December 10, 1898, the
signing of the Treaty of Paris, to July 4, 1946. This includes the Commonwealth
period. The years of colonization are apparent to the used language in the
country particularly in the places of Cebuano-Visayan speakers.
Thus,
this paper assumes that the years of linguistic contact between English
Language and Cebuano-Visayan has continued to be very obvious up until today
which is evident to the documented English loanwords as product of language
acculturation.
The
assumption above is anchored with the theory of phylogenetic change focusing on
linguistic borrowing by Hockett (1960). He explained that any language changes
as time goes by a mechanism of phylogenetic change in linguistic borrowing.
When two languages come into direct contact, one or both may be affected. He
furthered opined that certain lexical items in a foreign language are nativized
by the borrower language.
Several
studies show interest in loanword adaptations that is in the modification of
words when they are borrowed and used into a foreign language. Hyman (1970)
stated that the generative grammar is constituted by the surface form of the
source language, and that the adaptations are computed by the phonological
grammar of the borrowing language. This adverse feature is vague from
constraint-based phonology, in which the transformations in loanwords are
driven by constraints that are already part of the grammar. This has given a
particular relevance to the study of loanword adaptations. (see, among others,
Yip 1993; Paradis & LaCharité 1997; Ulrich 1997; Broselow 2000, in press;
Rose 1999; Golston & Yang 2001; Jacobs & Gussenhoven 2000; Kenstowicz
2001).
Morelos
(1998) explained that since American English language has become one of the of
the official languages in the Philippines, eclipsing the Spanish language for a
while and then replacing it as the nation’s new lingua franca in government and
politics, commerce and industry, education and entertainment and other aspects
of progress and development of the nation. Thus, the phenomenon of bilingualism
which interchangeably uses the Cebuano and the English languages throughout a
series of both formal and informal speech events have paved the way for cultural
and linguistic borrowings.
The tendency of Filipino, as the national language of
the Philippines nowadays to borrow heavily from English is not a new
phenomenon in Philippine languages. In the year 1972, John
Wolff in his dictionary of
Cebuano-Visayan language showed that several number of English words
were respelled to conform with Cebuano orthography such a
three-vowel system --a. i, u (Rubrico, 2015).
Indeed, many studies of language borrowings have been
recorded in many countries as it added more to their vocabulary (Mojela, 2010)
and noted some changes are orthographic whether consonants or vowels (Hussain,
Mahmood, 2012; Pesirla, 2014).
Vital
reasons are involved in this study. Firstly, is
to give bearing to the Philippine culture and expand awareness of the English
loanwords in Cebuano-Visayan language. Thus, this study could be useful
to the students, teachers, and future researchers as well.
To the
students, this study will be benefiting them in a sense that they would be able
to deepen the indebtedness of linguistic borrowing of English words.
To the
teachers, the result of the study may tender insights for them to understand
how language can be acculturated through period of time and may also lead to
possible classroom activities that may enhance the students’ exploration to
language and literature culture in terms of world views, perspectives and
intuitions.
To the
future researcher, this study could possibly encourage future researchers to
undergo similar study but in a wider and different role.
Hence, this paper aims to
show relevance of linguistic acculturation of English loanwords
in Cebuano-Visayan in terms of:
1.
Syntax of Local
News Article.
2.
English Loanwords
found in the News Article.
3.
Classification of
English Loanwords
4.
Linguistic
Acculturation of English Loanwords to Cebuano-Visayan documentation.
Methods:
Qualitative
research design was employed in this study which implies an emphasis on the
qualities of local news articles as basis to prove the statements made.
To
analyze the language acculturation phenomenon of English loanwords in
Cebuano-Visayan language, a local news articles with the same topic entitled
“Babayeng Hubo Gusto Magpaligis” and the other one is “Bababeng Hubo, Nagbuy-od
Sa Dalan” both released on May 20, 2017 of two print media publications which
are Sunstar Super Balita Cagayan de Oro City and Birada Sentro Balita Northern
Mindanao, are used as a model text for lexical analysis.
The
analysis of the paper involved news article description as it shows the direct
evidence of daily literary record of language in terms of syntax,
identification of loanwords and its categories and its linguistic
acculturation.
Limitation
of this study is implied on the English loanwords used in Cebuano-Visayan
language and excluding the rules and patterns of structural borrowing of words.
Thus, only the words in the local news articles serve as the resource and basis
of the study.
Findings, Results and Discussions
This section presents the language
acculturation of English loanwords in Cebuano-Visayan in terms of:
Table 1. Syntax of Local News Article.
|
Categories Of Words |
Number of Words found |
Total number of words |
Percentage |
|
|
“Babayeng
Hubo Gusto Magpaligis” Sunstar Super
Balita Cagayan de Oro City |
“Bababeng
Hubo, Nagbuy-od Sa Dalan” Birada Sentro Balita Northern Mindanao |
|||
|
Noun |
48 |
48 |
96 |
28% |
|
Pronoun |
14 |
15 |
29 |
8.45% |
|
Adjective |
18 |
14 |
32 |
9.32% |
|
Verb |
39 |
31 |
70 |
20.41% |
|
Adverb |
11 |
8 |
19 |
5.54% |
|
Conjunction |
22 |
10 |
32 |
9.33% |
|
Preposition |
21 |
21 |
42 |
12.24% |
|
Interjection |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0% |
|
Article |
11 |
12 |
23 |
6.71% |
|
|
184 |
159 |
343 |
100% |
Table
1 presents that the local news article used in this study has a total of 343
words. The news in “Babayeng Hubo Gusto Magpaligis” of Sunstar Super Balita Cagayan de Oro City has a total of 3
paragraphs containing 6 sentences with 184 words in all. The highest category
of words used is noun with 48 words. On the other hand, The “Bababeng Hubo,
Nagbuy-od Sa Dalan” of Birada Sentro
Balita Northern Mindanao has a total of 5 paragraphs which contains 7
sentences with 159 words in all. The highest category of words used in the said
news article is still noun with 48 words found. Hence, there is no interjection
found in both news articles. Thus, noun has the highest number of words in both
news article with a total of 96 words and has a corresponding of 28%.
Table 2. English Loanwords found in the News Article.
|
No. |
Cebuano-Visayan Forms |
News Article |
English Word |
Native Affixes |
|
1 |
Residente |
1 |
Resident |
|
|
2 |
Kolor |
1 |
Color |
|
|
3 |
Police
Chief Inspector |
3 |
Police
Chief Inspector |
|
|
4 |
Hall |
1 |
Hall |
|
|
5 |
Pamilya |
1 |
Family |
|
|
6 |
Trak |
1 |
Truck |
|
|
7 |
Bypass |
2 |
Bypass |
|
|
8 |
Road |
2 |
Road |
|
|
9 |
Motoresta |
2 |
Motorist |
|
|
10 |
Police
Station |
3 |
Police
Station |
|
|
11 |
T-shirt |
2 |
T-shirt |
|
|
12 |
Underwear |
2 |
Underwear |
|
|
13 |
Cellophane |
2 |
Cellophane |
|
|
14 |
City
Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) |
2 |
City
Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) |
|
|
15 |
Disposiyon |
2 |
Disposition |
|
|
16 |
Parte |
2 |
Part |
|
|
17 |
Drive |
1 |
Drive |
|
|
18 |
Bisitahon |
1 |
Visit |
-hon |
|
19 |
Nagresponde/Miresponde |
3 |
Response |
Nag-/Mi- |
|
20 |
Report |
1 |
Report |
|
|
21 |
High |
1 |
High |
|
|
22 |
Upper |
3 |
Upper |
|
*Indicator for column News Article:
1-
“Babayeng Hubo Gusto Magpaligis” of Sunstar Super Balita
Cagayan de Oro City
2-
“Bababeng Hubo, Nagbuy-od Sa Dalan” of Birada Sentro
Balita Northern Mindanao
3-
Found in both news article
Table
2 presents that there are 24 Cebuano-Visayan forms which are loaned words from
English language. Among all the loanwords, 9 of which are seen in the first
news article “Babayeng Hubo Gusto
Magpaligis” of Sunstar Super Balita Cagayan de Oro City; 9 comes from the
second news article “Bababeng Hubo,
Nagbuy-od Sa Dalan” of Birada Sentro Balita Northern Mindanao and 4 words
are present in both news article. Thus, only 2 words which are Bsitahon,
Nagresponde and Miresponde used native affixes, -hon, Nag- and Mi-.
Table 3. Classification of English Loanwords
|
No. |
Cebuano-Visayan Forms |
Categories of Words |
English Word |
|
1 |
Residente |
Noun |
Resident |
|
2 |
Kolor |
Noun |
Color |
|
3 |
Police
Chief Inspector |
Noun |
Police
Chief Inspector |
|
4 |
Hall |
Noun |
Hall |
|
5 |
Pamilya |
Noun |
Family |
|
6 |
Trak |
Noun |
Truck |
|
7 |
Bypass |
Noun |
Bypass |
|
8 |
Road |
Noun |
Road |
|
9 |
Motoresta |
Noun |
Motorist |
|
10 |
Police
Station |
Noun |
Police
Station |
|
11 |
T-shirt |
Noun |
T-shirt |
|
12 |
Underwear |
Noun |
Underwear |
|
13 |
Cellophane |
Noun |
Cellophane |
|
14 |
City
Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) |
Noun |
City
Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) |
|
15 |
Disposiyon |
Noun |
Disposition |
|
16 |
Parte |
Noun |
Part |
|
17 |
Drive |
Verb |
Drive |
|
18 |
Bisitahon |
Verb |
Visit |
|
19 |
Nagresponde/Miresponde |
Verb |
Response |
|
20 |
Report |
Verb |
Report |
|
21 |
High |
Adjective |
High |
|
22 |
Upper |
Adjective |
Upper |
Table
3 presents that among 22 English loanwords in Cebuano-Visayan language, there
were 16 words used as nouns, 4 words used as verbs and only 2 words used as
adjective. The higher number of borrowed nouns found in an article supported by
Marian and Kaushanskaya (2007) revealed that more cross-linguistic borrowings
occurs.
Table 4. Linguistic Acculturation of English Loanwords to
Cebuano-Visayan documentation.
|
No. |
English Word |
Cebuano-Visayan Forms |
Orthographic Nativization |
|
1 |
Resident |
Residente |
added
e at the last word |
|
2 |
Color |
Kolor |
C to
K |
|
3 |
Police
Chief Inspector |
Police
Chief Inspector |
Still |
|
4 |
Hall |
Hall |
Still |
|
5 |
Family |
Pamilya |
F to
P, added a at the last word |
|
6 |
Truck |
Trak |
U to
A, omit letter c |
|
7 |
Bypass |
Bypass |
Still |
|
8 |
Road |
Road |
Still |
|
9 |
Motorist |
Motoresta |
i to
e, added a at the last word |
|
10 |
Police
Station |
Police
Station |
Still |
|
11 |
T-shirt |
T-shirt |
Still |
|
12 |
Underwear |
Underwear |
Still |
|
13 |
Cellophane |
Cellophane |
Still |
|
14 |
City
Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) |
City
Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) |
Still |
|
15 |
Disposition |
Disposiyon |
t to
y, omit letter i |
|
16 |
Part |
Parte |
added
letter e at the last word |
|
17 |
Drive |
Drive |
Still |
|
18 |
Visit |
Bisitahon |
V to
B and add suffix -hon |
|
19 |
Response |
Nagresponde/Miresponde |
s to
d and add affix Nag- and Mi- |
|
20 |
Report |
Report |
Still |
|
21 |
High |
High |
Still |
|
22 |
Upper |
Upper |
Still |
Table 4
shows that of the 22 English loanwords, the following reveal linguistic
acculturation of orthographic nativization like residente, Kolor, Pamilya,
Trak, Motoresta, Disposisyon, Parte, Bisitahon and Nagresponde/Miresponde. On
the other hand 13 words are used exactly the same words in English and shows no
Cebuano-Visayan equivalent translation.
Conclusion:
A
loanword is a result of cultural contact between two speech communities. It can
affect in both directions within the two languages with direct contact.
For
instance, the Cebuano-Visayan language which is spoken in the central portions
of the Philippines: on the islands of Cebu and Bohol, on the eastern half of
Negros, western half of Leyte, along the northern coasts of Mindanao, and on
smaller islands in the vicinity of these areas and a large portion of the urban
population of Zamboanga, Davao, and Cotabato. Cebuano-Visayan is also widely
spoken throughout the lowland areas of the eastern Mindanao, where it is
spreading at the expense of the native languages (most of which are closely
related to Cebuano). Hence, the trade language in most places in Mindanao where
Cebuano-speaking populations and populations speaking other languages are in
contact (Wolff, 1972).
Within
the above-mentioned area of Cebuano-Visayan speakers, undeniably, English
loanwords are present and are evident to the different medium of communication
like social interactions and print media just like the local news articles as
become the basis of this study.
To
conclude, it has been proven that English loanwords in Cebuano-Visayan are
acculturated through orthographic nativization and even really the exact
English terms which is believed with no precise and direct translation in
Cebuano-Visayan form.
Recommendations:
In view of the findings and conclusions of the study, the
following recommendations are offered:
1. To institute creative-learning activities that covers
the usage of English loanwords to Cebuano-Visayan language with regards to the
different social interactions of the students.
2. To discover the different facets of the Language history
of the Philippines and its contribution to the present used language.
3. To conduct the same study but on the different genres of
literary textualities especially the social media.
4. There is a need for more parallel comprehensive research
about the English loanwords as part of Structural borrowings.
References
1. Babayeng Hubo Gusto Magpaligis. 20, May 2017, Sunstar Super Balita Cagayan de Oro City.
2. Bababeng Hubo, Nagbuy-od Sa Dalan. 20, May 2017, Birada Sentro Balita Northern Mindanao.
3. Barcelona, Kriscenti. Hispanic Borrowed Words: An Acculturation
Analysis. 2016. Lourdes College Cagayan de Oro City.
4. How Does Acculturation Affect Learning and
Meaning? 2015. Retrieved from http://www.brighthubeducation.com/social-studies-help/76860how-does-acculturation-affect-learning-and-meaning/
5. Hockett, Charles. D. The origin of speech. Scientific American,
203(3), 88–96. 1960 Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0960-88
6. Matras, Yaron. Grammatical
Borrowing in Cross-linguistic Perspective. 2000. Berlin Mouton de Gruyter
7. Morelos, Allan. T. Special
issue: Cebuano language, literature and talk pp. 324-336, 1998. Philippine Quarterly of Culture and
Society. https://www.jstor.org/stable/29792425?seq=1
8. Sławomir W. & Przemysław Ż. Evolution: Why Hockett’s Design Features are a
Non-Starter. 2014. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5178/9fa58ff1827129ea27b1859f089857422c10.pdf