Pilipino or Filipino? Philippine Languages Explained
Fascinating facts about our local languages, by the numbers
(SPOT.ph) The National Language Month  is typically associated with debating or orating with a laurel leaf on your head. Usually in Tagalog. You can call it Filipino but really, what’s the difference between Tagalog and Filipino? They sound the same.
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As a cheat, the quickest way to know that you’re dealing with a different language and not just a dialect is if you can no longer understand what the other person is saying (like when someone starts talking math or Game of Thrones). Therefore, Filipino is sort of a dialect of Tagalog.
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What about the other speech styles, often left out of the celebration, like Bicolano? Obviously, it’s different from Tagalog. It’s a language and it’s not just a language, it’s a macrolanguage with sub-languages like Rinconada Bicol and  Central Bicolano. The latter even has two  dialects under it (Legazpi and Naga).
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So if Bicolano, Ilocano, Cebuano are all languages... how many languages does the Philippines have? And where does "Filipino" as a language figure in? Here’s a handy infographic to sort all the facts out:
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Did you know?
- Aside from Ratagnon, there are 24 other languages classified as Visayan Language (including Hiligaynon and Waray-Waray).
- There are 4 classifications of Philippine languages
- Borneo -Philippines
- Northern Philippine
- Central Philippine
- Southern Philippine (South Mindanao)
- There is 1 Philippine-type language spoken outside the Philippines, which is Yami (spoken in Orchid Island, Taiwan)
- There is 1 creole language in the Philippines, which is Chavacano
- Chavacano has 6 dialects, 1 of them is extinct (the variant that used to be spoken in Ermita)
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Facts and numbers taken from SIL and Ethnologue. Infographic and art by Grace Ng.