The sounds of Philippine English
AFTER talking about vocabulary and grammar, we now turn this week to the phonology of Philippine English, or the distinctive pronunciation of English in the Philippines. Certainly, when a Filipino hears someone speak English, they could likely guess if that person is Filipino or not by the accent.
Like any other spoken language or language variety, the segmental components of Philippine English phonology include both vowels and consonants. Pronunciation of these sounds can sometimes “deviate” from other varieties of English like American English, yet these deviations offer insights into the type of English used in the Philippines. For instance, consider the English words “pull,” “pool” and “Paul.” The pronunciation of their vowels can be challenging even to highly educated individuals. Not only do these vowels differ in spelling, they are also canonically pronounced in three distinct ways. Similarly, examine the words “bid,” “bead” and “bed.” Philippine English speakers tend to better distinguish the latter set of examples than the former, as the vowels in “pull” and “pool” are often merged into a single sound.
The way speakers pronounce consonants may also give a clue that they speak Philippine English. Consider the earlier examples “pull,” “pool” and “Paul.” Would you have pronounced these words as something like “phull,” “phool,” and “Phaul,” i.e., with aphuff of air following each “p”? If yes, pherfect! If not, still therrific! This process is called “aspiration.” Aspiration in initial /p, t, k/ sounds preceded by vowels is only observed to some extent in Philippine English, anyway, and not consistently. Moreover, Philippine English has fricative consonants, or consonants produced with audible friction due to a constricted air passage, like the sounds /f, v, s, z/, among few others. In an attempt to appear sophisticated or “sosyal” at a restaurant, Melai Cantiveros told Boy Abunda in an interview that she requested “bluevery” instead of “blueberry,” while her friend mistakenly ordered “chesscake” instead of “cheesecake.” And this mix-up of the /b~v, s~z/ sound may be more common than one may think. In fact, it has been reported that the pronunciation of fricative consonants remains variable among English speakers in the Philippines.
There are very few Filipino researchers working on phonology, much less the phonology of Philippine English. I am not a phonologist myself. Hence, why I take delight in the work of Kevin Samejon, whose expertise I consulted in writing this column? He is currently writing his dissertation at Boston University and he is studying phonological variation in Philippine English in relation to ethnolinguistic grouping. I am also working closely with him on a study on phonological change in Philippine English across time. His work on the phonology of Philippine English should inspire younger researchers to take this path often not taken by most Filipino scholars (including me!), and hence why I am very much impressed with what he is doing for Philippine English.
Ariane Macalinga Borlongan is one of the leading scholars on English in the Philippines and is also doing pioneering work on language in the context of migration. He is the youngest to earn a doctorate in linguistics, at 23, from De La Salle University, and has had several teaching and research positions in Germany, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, and Singapore. He is currently associate professor of sociolinguistics at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Japan.