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Kapampángan Language is “Definitely Endangered” – UNESCO

Kapampángans are killing Kapampángans. Not by guns nor swords, nor weapons of any kind… but by linguicide. It’s easy to observe that Kapampángan parents have consciously decided not to teach the Kapampángan language to their children. You can see it in malls, public spaces, and homes, where parents talk fluently to each other in Kapampángan, […]

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Language Change: Pinpointing the Culprit

by Guerrero de la Paz The “National Language,” and the Calamity That Is Language Change among Kapampángans The enforcement of a “national language” on the country over eight decades ago has devastated languages all over the archipelago. From the deprivation of an audience for regional literature and a calamitous language shift towards Tagalog, to declining […]

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Objections to Teaching Kapampángan – Answered (Part II)

You can read part 1 HERE. The perilous state of the Kapampángan language, which is classified as “definitely endangered” by UNESCO, has been taken up in the first part of this article, along with attempts to correct misconceptions, and objections to on the teaching of the language. That portion was more general, and related to […]

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Objections to Teaching Kapampángan – Answered (Part 1)

Language change is happening very fast in the Kapampángan Region, Indúng Kapampángan. Whereas a generation ago, it was taken for granted that apart from non-Kapampángan recent settlers, everyone could speak the language, it is now regarded as ‘definitely endangered.’ Despite the reincorporation of the language into the curriculum (following its removal in 1973, after martial […]

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Kapampángan’s Continuing Struggle

This August will witness once again the celebration of ‘Buwan ng Wika,’ the legally dubious ‘national language’ first imposed, against the wishes of the majority of delegates to the 1934 Constitutional Convention, who approved an amalgam of Philippine languages, as opposed to choices of a ‘national language’ based on Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilocano or other languages. […]

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Ing Indúng Kapampángan king Kasalésáyan

Pámipatúne Ibát karéng Kasulátan ampóng Lagyú da reng Lugál (You can read an English version of this article here.) Aliwá mu ing Angeles ing céntru ning economía, negócio, pámagáral, pámangán, turísmo ampóng ámánang kabiasnán ning Kalibudtáng Luzón ampó ning Indúng Kapampángan. Ití múrin ing céntru ning Labuád Kapampángan king kasalésáyan. Ngéni, pasikán nang pasikán ing […]

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Were Our Schools Wrong About Languages and Dialects?

Contrary to popular belief and our own educational upbringing, Kapampángan is actually a language, and not just a dialect. To differentiate both, let’s first take a look at their definitions. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Current English, a language is: The method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of […]

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The Historical Indúng Kapampángan: Evidence from History and Place Names

(You can read a Kapampángan version of this article here.) Angeles, the economic, business, educational, culinary, tourist and heritage pivot of Central Luzon and of the Kapampángan Region, Indúng Kapampángan, is also at the center of the historically Kapampángan area that includes most of the Central Plain. Today, the intensity of language change has seen […]

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The Kapampángan-Chinese Connection

Are Kapampángans more Chinese than they think? With Kapampángans being the 7th largest ethnic group in the Philippines, you can expect a wide range of cultures and traditions from it’s population of almost 2 million people. We especially have strong cultural ties with the Chinese that the similarities, especially with our facial features, can be […]

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What does a TRADITIONAL KAPAMPÁNGAN home really look like?

Contrary to popular (and even educated) belief, lowland Philippine Christian groups do not share a uniformed culture. In fact, just a glance at a province’s architecture, particularly on residential homes, can tell a lot about the diversity and varying cultures of Filipinos living in the lowlands. From this, we can safely say that the concept […]

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