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Filipino language

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Filipino is the national language of the Philippines. It is also one of two official languages. The other official language is English.

Filipino is based on Tagalog. Tagalog is spoken in Metro Manila and other big cities. This language helps people from different places talk to each other. It is a very important tool for unity. The 1987 Constitution says Filipino should keep growing. It should use words from other languages in the Philippines. This makes the language richer for everyone.

Learning how the language works is very interesting. It uses a special order for words. Most often, the verb comes first. Then comes the subject and the object. Sometimes, the order changes to subject-verb-object.

Filipino is an agglutinative language. This means words are often built by adding parts together. It is not a tonal language. Instead, it uses pitch accents. It is also a syllable-timed language. There are nine basic parts of speech used in the language.

The Philippines is a place with many voices. There are 175 living languages spoken there. Many of these come from an old group called Austronesian. These languages moved from Taiwan long ago. Many words come from Malay, which was used for trade. Other words come from Japanese, Arabic, and Sanskrit.

Spanish also had a big impact. It was an official language for a long time. The first Tagalog dictionary was made in 1613. A man named Pedro de San Buenaventura wrote it. Later, Tomás Pinpin published it in Pila, Laguna.

Leaders worked hard to pick a national language. In 1936, they created the Institute of National Language. President Manuel L. Quezon led this work. On December 30, 1937, he chose Tagalog as the base. He said Tagalog was widely understood. It also had a very rich history of books.

In 1940, a new alphabet called Abakada was made. It had 20 letters. In 1959, the name changed to Pilipino. This was done to move away from just the Tagalog group. Later, the name changed again to Filipino.

Today, the language continues to change and grow. A group called the KWF manages this. KWF stands for the Commission on the Filipino Language. It was created by a law in 1991. The KWF reports directly to the President. They research and help protect Filipino. They also work to save other local languages.

This helps keep the many cultures of the islands alive. It ensures that all 7,000 islands can stay connected through speech.

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