How Many Languages Are There In The Philippines?
LANGUAGES OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS – The Philippines is a vast archipelago with over 7,100 islands. With this, the Philippines becomes home to diverse cultures, traditions, and of course, languages.
The country has over 170 languages spread across thousands of islands. For such a small country, the Philippines is packed with diversity that’s deeply rooted in ancient Filipino values and traditions.
Furthermore, we need to take note how these languages come from native speakers in the thousands. Meanwhile, other countries merely have small groups of native-speakers.
Currently, scholars believe that there are 120-175 languages spoken in the Philippines. Back in the 19th Century, the Philippines was under Spain. As such, the Lingua Franca became Spanish.
Following this, the post colonization period marked an outstanding influence from Western culture. Likewsie, the English language was quickly adopted by society.
However, in 1937, after the Philippines gained independence, a national language was being chosen. So, researchers studied hundreds of native languages in order to choose the best fit to represent the Filipino people.
Among the top choices were Tagalog, Bisaya, and Ilocano. But, due to the reach and span of Tagalog, it became chosen as the national language of the Philippines.
Meanwhile, the rest of the languages are still being used by communities across the country. According to an article from Marstranslation, 13 of the 170 languages in the Philippines have at least 1 million speakers.
These languages include:
- Cebuano
- Tagalo
- Bikol
- Albay Bikol
- Pangasinan
- Maguindanao
- Maranao
- Tausug
- Hiligaynon
- Ilokano
- Kapampangan
- Kinaray-a
- Waray Waray
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