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| Kapampangan Orthography |
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| A Letter To Andro |
Andro wrote:
Luid Erning,
O makananu kanyan mibalik tana king sistemang Latino o "Spanish
Orthography"? Nanu mo kaya ing sabiyan nang Dr. Evangelina Hilario-
Lacson ampo reng taga Akademyang Kapampangan? Ing pagmulalan
ku ot alus apat nang pulung banwa ing milabas eta ikwang misanmetung
nung nanung ortagrapia ing gamitan tamu. Ing masakit mu kanyan
pota sabiyan da deng aliwa patuki-tuki tamu mu.
Did the Institute of National Language approve the book
"Bagong Alpabeto" written by Prof. Dayos? If it was approved
by the Department of Education and Culture and published in
1994, by this time many Tagalog writers may be already using it.
Ernie's reply: That's how I understand it in Leo's Philippine
News column, Let's Speak Filipino. Who's going to try to stop
them, the purists? Most certainly, for they are people who
hold up the progress of a language. I don't think they would
succeed though due to the popularity of Taglish where the
two languages blend together every now and then.
Andro wrote:
As you said, Erning, if we stick to the Spanish orthography,
it simply means that we have a better foresight than the
Tagalog people.
Ernie's reply: That's true. And we can see it in the following
example. Supposing you and Tess were living in Apalit. Tess went
to Lubao while you stayed in Apalit. Deciding to go and see Tess,
you left Apalit and headed for Lubao a couple of days later. But
somewhere along the way, say in Santo Tomas, you met her and she
was already on her way back to Apalit. Would you still go on
with your plan to go to Lubao? Or, would you just turn around and
go back to Apalit?
We should not forget that the Spanish style of writing is a part
of our heritage too which was laid down gently on us - something
our forefathers even readily accepted without resistance it seems.
In time, maybe even shorter than a decade, they stopped using
their old writing system and stuck to the newly introduced
alpahabet which unfortunately had a "qu" and a "c" in it.
I still can't understand how some researchers came up with the
"thought" of "returning" the "k". When you return something,
it means that it had already been there before. Did they use
the word "returning" just so that we would feel having more
reason for doing so? That's distortion of facts. They can
probably "return" to the old system of writing which is an
entirely different matter, but they can only "change" the
orthography of the Roman alphabet.
Andro wrote: One thing I want to say is that I could not think
of any language that has not been influenced by foreign words.
It is impossible nowadays to preserve the purity of languages
because of the advancement in technology, globalization of
economy and commerce, etc. especially Filipinos. There are
more than seven million Filipinos living and working in
different countries who get influenced by their foreign
environment (i.e. culture, language, religion, etc.)
Ernie's reply: Right on. But some people are narrow-minded
and want to keep their working vocabulary thin and limited.
They don't want their language to get enriched and enhanced,
maybe unaware of the fact that all languages such as English
are mixtures of other languages. Another thing is that they
think their language is already adequate and does not need
the help of other languages anymore. If that were so, English
would just have called "karate" a "hand chop", and probably
our Kapampangan purists would call it "tabak gamat".
Purists don't want to have a thicker dictionary like Webster's.
They just want to use Malay words to the extent of losing the
effectiveness of what they mean to say. They don't realize
that even their own genes come from two different sets, and
are even multiple if those of the grandparents and great
grandparents are included. Hence, differences in hereditary
traits too.
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Pero apansinan ku king mig-"K" la ngan subali mu keng Kapampangan.
Buri ku ita, sikat tamu, e ta tutuki keng Tagalug. Pwera pa, pauli na ning
"q", balu tamung agad king Kapampangan ya ing salita. We are able to retain
our identity.
Deng aliwa agad deng sabyan ing pre-colonial orthography. Balamu mo, atin. Ala!
Orthography has something to do with spelling only and not phonetics or sound.
Inyang in-"introduce" de reng Castila ing Roman system of writing, tambing neng
"c-q" at alang "k" ing atyu. Bayu kanita, deng Pilipinu aliwang sistema ing gagamitan
da, at makananu ra mong balu nung "c" ya o "k" ya ing letra, neng pareu la mu
pangabigkas. E ta dapat isakwil o tiwalag ing kekatamung kultura. Ing kultura tamu ya pin ing akamulatan tamu keng bie, aliwa ing ketang panaun da pa ri nunung Balagtas o Rajah Soliman. Ing apulut tamu kareng
Castila keng malwat-alwat tang relasyun, dapat tamung simpan kambe na ning makatagan tamung orihinal a salita, puera keng dagdagan ta la pa reng amanu tamu kalupa ning gagawan da reng angang lenguahi keti king yatu, anti mo ing English, keng kapamilatan na ning pamanandam (borrowing) banting upayang we will end up having an enriched vocabulary. E kaya masanting ita? Deng "purists" kareng Tagalug mesambut na la, sabi cu na ata keka, eh.
Tabalu nung atatandan me pa itang sinulat ku ketang aldo.
Ing sinulat cu carin ya pin ing paparapat na ning INL at ning
gobiernu kareng eskwela, a e masanting uling milalako ya paintungulan ing
Amanung Sisuan keng mismung lugal na. 'Manan mung e re kanu buring
pagamit ing Kapampangan! Ining bage aini yang mumuna ta mung kaylangan
lingunan, bilang maprisigi (priority), aliwa ing "orthography" o ing pangabalik da reng archaic a amanung Kapampangan, o ing pangalako ra reng amanung Castila
a total e naman makaperwisyu mo sana keng kekatamung sabi at kalinangan. Sinabi ku karin, nung e pamu malingap ini, masayang mu ing aliwa tang kapagalan, uling mengari tamu keng sasaklu, nung ing latang lalamnan tang danum malwalas ya busbus ke lalam, e na acuang kumatmu.
Ating kung kaluguran a memarala kanining makatuki:
Subj: Fwd: Lunacy of a language
(This little treatise on the lovely language we share is only
for the brave. It was passed on by a linguist, original
author unknown. Peruse at your leisure, English lovers.)
Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn:
1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it
was time to present the present.
8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg
in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in
pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or
French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads,
which aren't sweet, are meat.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes,
we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square
and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And
why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers
don't groce and hammers don't ham?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth
beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? If the plural
of mouse is mice, shouldn't that of house be hice?
One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make
amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of
all but one of them, what do you call it? If teachers taught,
why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed
to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what language do people recite at a play and play at a
recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Park in a
driveway, and drive on a parkway? Have noses that run
and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a
wise man and a wise guy are opposites? Why do we follow
rules and regulations, and take orders, but obey commands
and laws? Why is it better to just pass out than to pass away?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which
your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a
form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects
the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a
race at all.
That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when
the lights are out, they are invisible.
Ernie's rejoinder:
Lucky are we for having lived at least in a country
where English is an official language and learned it
while we were still small. Had we lived in Japan or
studied it later in life, we would have met a lot of
obstacles and and would have given up trying to learn
it. Let's give thanks for such a blessing. It makes me
wonder why some of our foremost authorities in Kapampangan
still want to simplify it in its orthography when it is
already simple enough to spell and does not have the
complexities Germanic languages such as English have.
For instance, they get rid of the letters "c" and "qu"
and replace them with "k", their reason being that it
would be a lot easier for school children. If there is
a language that needs to undergo this kind of change,
it is English, I think, and not our languages and
dialects there in the Philippines which just follow the
simple Spanish style of writing. A noted Kapampangan
columnist, Federico Pascual, hit the nail on the head
when he wrote that his language is being Tagalogized
and "bastardized". Which means to say that the gentleman
hasn't lost his sense of pride for his beloved mother
tongue!
And here is an ethnic joke you'd probably love:
Cheng Huay went for a job interview to be a secretary.
When the manager saw Cheng Huay's colourful attire and
gold & white-highlighted hair, his mind is screaming
" NOT THIS WOMAN ". Nevertheless, he still had to
entertain Cheng Huay. So he told Cheng Huay,
"If you could form a sentence using the words that I
give you, then maybe I will give you a chance!. The
words are GREEN, PINK, YELLOW, BLUE, WHITE, PURPLE,
BROWN and BLACK".
Cheng Huay thought for a while and said : " I hear the
phone GREEN GREEN, GREEN, then I go and PINK up the
phone, I say YELLOW.... BLUE's that ? WHITE did you
say? Aiyah, BROWN number lah.... Don't PURPLEly
disturb people and don't call BLACK, ok ? Kum Siah."
The manager fainted!
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