Taglish
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- Not to be confused with Tanglish, an interlanguage of Tamil and English.
 | This article possibly contains original research. (March 2008) |
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Taglish is a portmanteau of the words "Tagalog" and "English" which refers to the Philippine language Tagalog (or its liberalized official form, Filipino) infused with American English terms. It is an example of code-switching.
Taglish is perhaps most common in Metro Manila, where its use has become stereotyped. Its influence has nevertheless become great, as it is now arguably a lingua franca in the Tagalog-speaking regions. Another related example of code-switching is Englog, English infused with Tagalog words, a popular type being called Coño/Konyo English.
As with other examples of code-switching, Taglish is spoken for convenience. Because Tagalog/Filipino words are often longer or (currently) less familiar than their English counterparts, the English words are used instead. For example:
- "Can you explain it to me?"
can be said in the classical Tagalog way as:
- "Maaaring ipaunawa mo sa akin?" or
- "Maaaring ipaliwanag mo sa akin?"
Instead speakers nowadays say
- "Maaaring i-explain mo sa akin?" or "Maaaring paki-explain mo sa akin?" (Filipino: "Pwedeng i-explain mo sa akin?" or "Maaring i-explain mo sa akin?")
Another example concerns "homework" and "assignment":
- English: "Have you finished your homework?"
- Tagalog: "Natapos mo na ba yung takdang-aralin mo?"
- Filipino: "Natapos mo na ba yung homework/assignment mo?"
- Taglish: "Natapos mo na ba yung homework/assignment mo?"/"Finish na ba yung homework/assignment mo?"
As with "assignment", English words in Taglish are sometimes written in Tagalog phonetic spelling.
- English: "Please call the driver."
- Tagalog: "Pakitawag ang tsuper." (Tsuper is Spanish "Chófer" which has been Filipinized.)
- Taglish: "Pakitawag ang driver." / "Pakitawag ang drayber/drayver." / "Paki-call ang driver."
Any English verb, and even some nouns, can be converted into a Tagalog verb by following the normal verb tense constructions of Tagalog. This is done usually by the addition of one or more prefixes or infixes and by the doubling of the starting sound of the base form of the verb or noun. The English verb "drive" can be transformed into the Tagalog "magda-drive" meaning "will drive" (used in place of the Tagalog equivalent "magmamaneho"). The English noun "Internet" can be converted into the Tagalog "nag-Internet", "have used the Internet".
Taglish also applies to speech wherein adjacent clauses are either English or Tagalog. The conjunctions used to connect the clauses can come from either language.
Some examples include:
- I will shop at the mall later.
- Magsya-shopping ako sa mall mamayà.
- Have you printed the report?
- Na-print/naprint mo na ba ang report?
- Please turn on the aircon.
- Paki-buksan yung aircon.
- Take the LRT to school.
- Mag-LRT ka papuntáng school/iskul.
- Nahihiya sila na mag-ask ng favor sa 'yo, kasi hindi mo na trabaho ito.
- They feel uncomfortable asking favors from you, because it is no longer your responsibility.
Taglish may be used in SMS messages to write more quickly.
Taglish is used by Filipinos living abroad (either native speakers of Tagalog or non-native speakers who studied Tagalog in the Philippines or elsewhere), such as in countries where English is a lingua franca like Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom.
See also
- Pseudo-anglicism
- Code-switching
- Philippine English
- Englog
- Jejenese
- Tagalog language
- Filipino language
- Bislish