Lexical Nativization: Filipinized Hispanic Words in Select Hiligaynon Visayan Written Discourse

Lexical Nativization: Filipinized Hispanic Words in Select Hiligaynon Visayan Written Discourse

Mary Jane F. Tormon, Ph.D.

Filamer Christian University, Roxas City, Philippines

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.803131S

Received: 20 May 2024; Revised: 10 June 2024; Accepted: 14 June 2024; Published: 15 July 2024

ABSTRACT

This linguistic research, Lexical Nativization: Filipinized Hispanic Words in Select Hiligaynon Visayan Written Discourse investigates and determines the phenomenon of lexical nativization in terms of morphology and phonology, in the Philippine languages, specifically Hiligaynon Visayan, from Hispanic words. To further find out the linguistic borrowing phenomenon in Philippine languages which nativized the borrowed Hispanic words, two magazine articles are focused as model textuality for lexical analysis: “Sa Aton Puluy-an: Magsupot sang Kinitaan”, and “Mga Sugilanon ni Mal-am Huana: Si Propesor Bukol,” which are extracted from Hiligaynon Magazine of Western Visayas, and uses Hiligaynon Visayan as their linguistic medium. Fifty-eight (58) Hiligaynon Visayan words are analyzed following Pesirla’s (2019) classification of words: nouns, verbs, and modifiers, utilizing separate descriptive matrices for each. The result of the study reveals that majority of the Hispanic borrowed words in Hiligaynon Visayan are nouns, followed by verbs, and modifiers. It is found out that these words are acculturated through nativization of their orthography that corresponds to nativized phonology. Lexical nativization is further displayed through the adding of native affixes which are dominant in Hiligaynon Visayan verbs. The result of the study may serve as a springboard for further researches involving bigger corpora in both spoken and written discourses in the Hiligaynon Visayan and other Philippine languages, as a resource material to language teachers and language students, and as a reference by the native speakers.

Keywords: linguistic borrowing, lexical nativization, phonology, orthography, affixes, Hispanic borrowed words

INTRODUCTION

The Philippines is considered as a melting pot of different cultures brought by its contact to races from the east and the west. Consequently, those races that are either engaged in trade or had colonized the country influenced the Filipino culture, including its language.

Among several races that occupied the Philippines, it was the Spaniards who were recorded to have the longest with more than three centuries of colonization in the country. This long period of Spanish rule made a vital impact in the linguistic landscape of the country. According to Himmelmann (2005a, 350), one of the linguistic consequences of colonization is the contact situation between Philippine languages and the Spanish language which emerged as a contact-induced influence in terms of the lexical and structural Hispanisms in the language. Quebec (2021) stated that when both languages mingle, either one or both may be altered, hence, the Filipinized Spanish words by several languages in the country. In terms of morphology and phonology, these borrowed words have been nativized.

The phenomenon of language borrowing involves reproduction of words from the model language, which is the original language, into its new structure (Haugen (1950). Thus, linguistic borrowing results in linguistic nativization of the target language whether oral or written. The linguistic structures of the exerting language are transferred to the borrowing, adapting, or target language (Clements, 2009; Prentice, 2016; Thomason, 2001).

One of the mechanisms highlighted by the theory of phylogenetic change is linguistic borrowing. Hocket (1958, 365-366) explained in the theory of phylogenetic change that, “the design of any language changes as time goes by, and that when two languages come into contact, one or both may be modified.” There are certain lexical items in a foreign language that are nativized by the borrower language. As Hocket reckoned, the language features that are copied and nativized come from the model language; therefore, imitating the model language is in itself borrowing.

Nativization is a linguistic process in which a borrowed word is phonetically and morphologically modified to the native language. Pandharipande (1987) emphasized that components of the linguistic structure such as the lexicon, syntax, and others, are incorporated into the native language. In nativization, the linguistic features of certain foreign words change when they are used in the dominant language (Sankoff & Laberge, 1974). Orthography, which focuses on the spelling system of a particular language, is one factor of linguistic nativization (Vendelin & Peperkamp, 2006).

Quebec (2021), in his study, stated that Hispanic borrowed words have major contribution to the development of lexical and semantic features in Philippine languages. Some studies have already explored the dialectal infusion of the Spanish language to the local languages. However, these linguistic studies on lexical borrowings are limited only to very few Philippine languages and are also less documented.

The Hiligaynon Visayan language, one of the three major Visayan languages in the Visayas and Mindanao along with Cebuano Visayan and Waray Visayan, is considered the lingua franca of Western Visayas region, and spoken in other parts of Mindanao. Hiligaynon Visayan language is observed to have been influenced by the Hispanic language, however, less records show about the evolution of this language. Because of the mingling of the languages that took place in the region, it is perceived that the Spanish words used in Hiligaynon Visayan are culturally modified through lexical nativization.

Given this premise, a linguistic study, specifically a lexical analysis, of word morphemic structures is undertaken to investigate the nativization of Hispanic borrowed words in the Hiligaynon Visayan language.

This paper assumes that the Spanish words used in Hiligaynon Visayan are culturally modified through lexical nativization. This assumption is supported by the theory of phylogenetic change utilizing linguistic borrowing as the springboard of the study and to reveal significant findings.

The study focuses on the linguistic features of the selected magazine articles written in Hiligaynon Visayan language. It involves the framework: a lexical analysis of the nativization of Hispanic borrowed words in terms of morphology, phonology, and orthography. Specifically, it identifies and lexically analyzes the features evident in the magazine articles to include content words – nouns, verbs, and modifiers, English equivalents/gloss, root words, Spanish equivalent, native affixes, and their orthographic nativization.

The result of the study may serve as a springboard for further researches involving bigger corpora in both spoken and written discourses in the Hiligaynon Visayan and other Philippine languages to survey the impact and reach of nativization of the Hispanic words and the occurrence of linguistic changes as they undergo the process, as a resource material to language teachers and language students, and as a reference by the native speakers so that they would be able to assimilate in their consciousness the understanding of Hispanic borrowed words and use them accurately.

METHODOLOGY

The linguistic research method used is content analysis, specifically lexical analysis, which focuses on the linguistic features of the selected magazine articles written in Hiligaynon Visayan language. It involves the framework: a lexical analysis of the nativization of Hispanic borrowed words in terms of morphology, phonology, and orthography.

To further find out the linguistic borrowing phenomenon in Philippine languages which nativized the borrowed Hispanic words, two magazine articles are focused of the study as model textuality for lexical analysis, entitled: “Sa Aton Puluy-an: Magsupot sang Kinitaan (pages 12-13)”, and Mga Sugilanon ni Mal-am Huana: Si Propesor Bukol (pages 26-28, 30), which are extracted from Hiligaynon magazine of Western Visayas, Volume 63, No. 6, April 3, 2019, which uses Hiligaynon Visayan as the linguistic medium. The Hiligaynon magazine, established in 1934, is the leading weekly magazine that contains Hiligaynon Visayan literary and non-literary texts. The two articles are published in 2019, which form part of the last few issues before it stopped its circulation. In selecting the articles, different types are chosen for validation, the first one is an essay, while the other one is a short story. Letters to the writers and magazine editors are no longer needed since the magazine are produced for public consumption.

Through the descriptive research method, the identified Hispanic borrowed words are analyzed as content words that include nouns, verbs, and modifiers, their English equivalent/gloss, root words, Spanish equivalents, native affixes, and their orthographic nativization.

The linguistic study presents non-numerical presentation, analysis, and interpretation of verbal data in the analysis of the Hiligaynon Visayan essay and short story. The investigation of the nativized Hispanic borrowed words identified from the Hiligaynon magazine undergoes three phases as follow:

Phase I, in which the nativized Hispanic borrowed words are identified from the selected articles of the Hiligaynon magazine. It is also in this phase that the borrowed content words that include nouns, verbs, and modifiers, are classified. The phase employs the use of a Spanish – English, and Hiligaynon dictionaries to come up with accurate result.

Phase II, involves the identification of the English equivalents or gloss, Spanish root words, native affixes, and nativization of the borrowed words.

Phase III, focuses on the description and analysis of lexical nativization of the identified Hispanic content words. Thus, all identified content words from the select textual sources are examined.

The identified Hispanic borrowed words are presented in a matrix or a tabular format which indicates the categorization that includes the type of content words – noun, verb, modifiers, English equivalents (gloss), root words, Spanish equivalents, native affixes, and nativization. The discussion and analysis are presented after the tabled verbal data.

The paper employs the theory of phylogenetic change through linguistic borrowing to reveal significant results.

The accuracy of the result is evaluated by an identified language expert. The copies of the select articles taken from Hiligaynon magazine including the result of the study were submitted for thorough evaluation. The Hiligaynon-Spanish-English dictionary was also utilized as required by the language expert in counter-checking the identified words as used in the magazine articles.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Borrowed words have significantly contributed to the evolution of lexical and semantic structures in Philippine languages (Quebec, 2021). The long period of interaction and contact between Filipinos and Spaniards resulted to the infusion of the Spanish language to Philippine local languages particularly in Hiligaynon Visayan. Since then, people in Western Visayas and parts of Mindanao have been accustomed to assimilate the nativized Hispanic words in the Hiligaynon Visayan language.

The two articles taken from Hiligaynon magazine, which serve as the sources of verbal data, are analyzed following the theory of phylogenetic change through linguistic borrowing. The first article, “Sa Aton Puluy-an: Magsupot sang Kinitaan” contains eleven paragraphs, while the second article, “Mga Sugilanon ni Mal-am Huana: Si Propesor Bukol,” 31 paragraphs.

The Hispanic borrowed words identified are thirty-seven nouns, ten verbs, and eleven modifiers which include nine adjectives and two adverbs.

Below is the tabular presentation of the identified nativized Hispanic content words:

Table 1: Hiligaynon Visayan Nouns Borrowed from Spanish

Of the thirty-seven Hispanic borrowed words, the following reveal the linguistic acculturation of orthographic nativization:

KWARTA (Spanish CUARTA, English MONEY) and DISKWENTO (Spanish DISCUENTO, English DISCOUNT) change CU to KW.

EMERGENSYA (Spanish EMERGENCIA, English EMERGENCY), EDUKASYON (Spanish EDUCACION, English EDUCATION), NEGOSYANTE (Spanish NEGOCIANTE, English BUSINESSMAN), OBLIGASYON (Spanish OBLIGACION, English OBLIGATION),  PASYENTE (Spanish PACIENTE, English PATIENT), SOLUSYON (Spanish SOLUCION, English SOLUTION), and ORASYON (Spanish ORACION, English PRAYER) change CI to SY.

KANTIDAD (Spanish CANTIDAD, English AMOUNT), EDUKASYON (Spanish EDUCACION, English EDUCATION), EPEKTO (Spanish (EFECTO, English EFFECT), MARKA (Spanish MARCA, English MARK), TSOKOLATE (Spanish CHOCOLATE, English CHOCOLATE), and LOKAL (Spanish LOCAL, English LOCAL) change C to K.

SWELDO (Spanish SUELDO, English SALARY) and SWERTE (Spanish SUERTE, English LUCK) change U to W.

SENTRO (Spanish CENTRO, English CENTER) and BALANSE (Spanish BALANCE, English BALANCE) changes C to S.

MATERYAL (Spanish MATERIAL, English MATERIAL) and DIARYO (Spanish DIARIO, English NEWSPAPER) change I to Y.

TRABAHO (Spanish TRABAJO, English WORK) and BARAHA (Spanish BARAJA, English CARD) change J to H.

While the other words: KURYENTE (Spanish CORRIENTE, English ELECTRICITY) changes CORRI to KURY; ARKILA (Spanish ARQUILAR, English RENT) changes QU to K, R is omitted; TELEPONO (Spanish TELEFONO, English TELEPHONE) changes F to P; KUBRADOR (Spanish COBRADOR, English COLLECTIOR) changes CO to KU; MEDALYON (Spanish MEDALLION, English MEDALLION) changes LLI to LY; and REHISTRO (Spanish REGISTRO, English REGISTER) changes G to H.

Native Hiligaynon affix –HAN was added to the Spanish LISTA (LIST) to indicate noun.

TIENDA (English MARKET), FIESTA (English FIESTA), GASTO (English EXPENSIS), PROBLEMA (English PROBLEM), EDAD (English AGE), SEMANA (English WEEK), OBRA (English WORK), and PASADO (English PASSER) retain their original spelling.

Haugen (1950) classified word borrowing as either imported or substituted. Word borrowing is considered imported when speech communities borrow the entire word from the model language to their own without any change. The identified examples of imported word borrowing from the articles are: tienda, gasto, problema, edad, semana, obra, and pasado which retain their original spelling.

On the other hand, it is considered substituted when the language is altered in the form of addition, deletion, reduplication, etc. It involves the replacement of some morphemes in the source language by the recipient language (Haugen, 1950, 1956). Based on the result, most of the Hispanic words are substituted, changing CI to SY: emergencia to emergensya, educacion to edukasyon, negociante to negosyante, obligacion to obligasyon, paciente to pasyente, solucion to solusyon, and oracion to orasyon. Other changes include: CU to KW in cuarta to kwarta and discuento to diskwento; C to K in cantidad to kantidad, educacion to edukasyon, efecto to epekto, marca to marka, chocolate to tsokolate, and local to lokal; U to W in sueldo to sweldo and suerte to swerte; C to S in centro to sentro and balance to balanse; I to Y in material to materyal and diario to diaryo; J to H in trabajo to trabaho and baraja to baraha; CORRI to KURY in corriente to kuryente; QU to K and the omission of R in arquilar to arkila; F to P in telefono to telepono; CO to KU in cobrador to kubrador; LLI to LY in medallion to medalyon; and G to H in registro to rehistro.

Table 2: Verbs Borrowed from Spanish

One of the forms of lexical nativization is affixation. The table presented above indicates verbs which are nativized using affixation, specifically prefixes and suffixes. Another linguistic feature evident is the system of writing or orthography in which the Hispanic words influenced the Hiligaynon Visayan language.

The ten verbs borrowed from Spanish all change their orthography and added native Hiligaynon Visayan affixes, as shown in:

ILISTA adds the prefix I- to the root LISTA, (Spanish LISTA, English LIST), to change the noun into verb (LISTA – LIST; ILISTA – LIST DOWN).

GIN-GASTO adds the prefix GIN- to the root GASTO, (Spanish GASTO, English EXPENSES), to change the noun into verb (GASTO – EXPENSIS; GIN-GASTO – SPENT).

NAGA-ARKILA adds the prefix NAGA- to the root ARKILA, a native respelling of the Spanish ARQUILAR (English RENT), changing QUI to KI.

GASTUHON adds the suffix –HON to the root GASTO from the Spanish GASTO (English TO SPEND).

GINAGASTUSAN adds prefix GINA- and suffix –SAN to the root GASTO from the Spanish GASTO (English SPENDING).

MAG-ABRE adds prefix MAG- to the root ABRE, a nativized respelling of the Spanish ABRIR (English TO OPEN).

NAKAPASAR adds prefix NAKA- to the root PASAR which retains its spelling from the Spanish PASAR (English PASSED).

NAGPINSAR adds prefix NAG- to the root PINSAR, from Spanish PENSAR (English THINK) changing E to I.

MAKADELIHENSYA adds prefix MAKA- to the root DELIHENSYA, a nativized respelling of the Spanish DILIGENCIA (English TO TRY ONE’S BEST).

GIN-REHISTRO adds prefix GIN- to the root REHISTRO, from Spanish REGISTRO (English REGISTERED) changing G to H.

Table 3: Modifiers Borrowed from Spanish

The two articles from Hiligaynon magazine indicate the presence of nativized Hispanic modifiers, nine adjectives and two adverbs. Of the eleven Hispanic borrowed modifiers, eight nativized their spelling, and three added nativized affixes – prefix and inflex:

REHISTRADO adds the inflex –AD- to the root REHISTRO from the Spanish REGISTRO (English REGISTERED), changing G to H.

PINANSYAL is a nativized respelling of the Spanish FINANCIERO (English FINANCIAL), changing F to P, CIERO to SYAL.

PIGADO is a nativized respelling of the Spanish PEGADO (English POOR) changing E to I.

EPEKTIBO from the Spanish EFECTIBO (English EFFECTIVE), changing F to P.

SEKRETO from the Spanish SECRETO (English SECRET), changing C to K.

SIGURADO adds the inflex –AD- to the root SIGURO from the Spanish SEGURO (English SURE), changing E to I.

MASWERTE adds the prefix MA- to the root SWERTE from the Spanish SUERTE (English LUCKY), changing U to W.

SYEMPRE from the Spanish SIEMPRE (English OF COURSE), changing IE to YE.

Three modifiers retain their Spanish spellings: BARATO (Spanish BARATO, English CHEAP), PURO (Spanish PURO, English PURE), and MAS (Spanish MAS, English MORE).

Most of the borrowed words in Hiligaynon Visayan are culturally assimilated through spelling nativization which equates to the native sound since Hiligaynon Visayan is a phonetic language; hence, the words are spelled as pronounced (Pesirla, 2019). Aside from nativized spelling or orthography, the prominent use of affixation is also observed which indicates nativization. It can be noted that linguistic change mostly occurs in the spelling of the borrowed words. However, there are Hispanic words which are directly borrowed, thus, they retain their Spanish spelling.

According to Wolff (2001:248), the cultural borrowings from Spanish confirm about the aspects of Filipino life which are influenced by the conquest. Interesting are forms which deviate from the original Spanish especially in linguistic features. These deviations reveal the understanding that the Spanish concepts are not

taken over but reinterpreted and assimilated into the Filipino culture.

CONCLUSION

The Hispanic borrowed words in Hiligaynon Visayan are acculturated by nativizing their orthography that corresponds to nativized phonology, and through the addition of native affixes – prefix, inflex, and suffix, which shows lexical nativization. Thus, the Hispanic words have been Filipinized in the Hiligaynon Visayan linguistic community.

The study shows that the Spanish words have found distinct structure in Hiligaynon Visayan written discourse specifically in the literary texts. Since it is limited only to written literary texts, further investigation is needed to examine linguistic changes that take place in other fields as they undergo nativization.

In effect, it is recommended that additional lexical studies be made using wider corpora that may include written or spoken genre of mass media, non-literary and literary works, and other communicative transactions among other Philippine languages.

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