Is Bisaya a dialect? What about Ilocano? And Bicolano? Kalanguya?

August is National Language Month and the celebration often focuses on Filipino, which has enjoyed the prestige of being the "national language" per the 1987 Philippine Constitution. 

However, thanks to the geography of the country, Filipinos actually speak different languages — which sometimes get mistaken for dialects. 

We asked Jem Javier, assistant professor from the Department of Linguistics at the University of the Philippines - Diliman, to explain what distinguishes a language from a dialect and why it's important to recognize that distinction. 

Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?!

"'Yong iba't ibang languages ng Pilipinas — Cebu, Bicol, Ilocano, Tagalog — lahat sila ay mga wika at hindi sila dialect na doon sa pagtingin na 'yong prestigious 'yong wika tapos 'yong dialect 'yong hindi," Javier clarified.

Use in an academic setting or in media is not a measure of whether what is spoken is a language or a dialect. 

This assignment of prestige is where some of the confusion lies, Javier said. "Para sa kanila, hindi kasi intellectualized or hindi sinasalita ng civilized na mga tao 'yong mga wika na ganito, kung kaya't inaassign nila 'yong category na dialect." 

From a linguistic perspective,  he explained that "mutual intelligibility" is the first test that determines whether what is spoken is a language or a dialect. 

"Kapag 'yong speaker A at speaker B ay nag-usap, tapos nagkaintindihan sila... more or less, nagsasalita sila ng same language," Javier said. 

He added, "Ngayon kapag hindi na sila nagkakaintindihan, different language na 'yong sinasalita nila."

A dialect, he continued, is a variant of one language. The changes are in the accent (what we may refer to as "punto") or in the case of Tagalog, the way an affix is attached to the word. For example, a Tagalog speaker from one area may use "nakain" instead of "kumain."

"Isang bansa, maraming wika"

Javier, citing  the publication Ethnologue, clarified that there are more or less 180 languages in the Philippines.

"The mountains divide and the seas unite" rings true for the country, as our mountainous terrain led to communities developing separately and communicating in their own language. 

"Dahil sa bulubundukin ang Pilipinas, maraming mga tao ang nagkaroon ng parallel development na tinatawag, so merong isang bahagi ng community na umalis na pumunta sa bagong lugar at mula sa bagong lugar na 'yon, nagkaroon sila ng independent na pag-unlad.

"Kaakibat ng pag-unlad na 'yon, doon sa kasaysayan ng community nila ay y'ong pagbabago din sa wika...dahil kailangan magbago ng wika bilang buhay ito, umaagapay ito doon sa mga bagong pumapasok na teknolohiya at paraan ng pamumuhay," he said.

Though a multitude of languages emerged, a few have gone extinct and a number of them are endangered because they are no longer passed on to the younger generation. Simply put, a child fails to learn it from the people around her or him.

The most effective way of saving a language and the culture from which it comes is to keep using it. Celebrate our intangible heritage this National Language Month. Usap tayo. — Aya Tantiangco, GMA News