KWF marks Buwan ng Wika with native words exhibit

MANILA, Philippines — The Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) on Wednesday marked the celebration of Buwan ng Wika with an exhibit in Congress about the contribution of regional words in the Filipino language.

KWF chairman Virgilio Almario, also national artist for literature, led the launching of the “Filipino Ito!” exhibit at the Senate while KWF director general Anna Katarina Rodriguez led the launching in the House of Representatives.

The exhibit highlighted 27 Filipino words which articulated “native ancestral knowledge” to show the contribution of the country’s regional languages to Filipino.

The exhibit featured little known words like bánoy for Philippine eagle, buláwan for gold and tarung for just––a Cebuano word that became the rootword for the Filipino word “katarungan.”

“Ang wikang Filipino ay Filipino, ibig sabihin, hindi ito Tagalog. Filipino ito, dahil may katangiang pambansa. Bilang isang wikang pambansa, taglay nito ang mga gunita at kasaysayang maipagmamalaki natin bilang mga Filipino,” Almario said, differentiating between Filipino and Tagalog, the latter though dominant still just one of the contributors to the national lexicon.

Almario also mentioned the Filipino word paraluman, which many thought referred to a beautiful woman, but is actually a Filipino word for compass.

He also mentioned mutya, a Filipino word for “pearl” as opposed to the Spanish word “perlas.”

“27 lamang na mga salita ang nasa eksibit. Sa pamamagitan nito, nais naming ipakita na ganito kayaman, ganito kadami ang karunungang mapag-aaralan natin sa ating wika,” Almario said, emphasizing that the 27 words on exhibit were indicative of the richness of the language.

Rodriguez added that the exhibit aims to widen the perspective on how to be Filipino.  

“Kung noon, dinalumat ni Jose Rizal sa El Filibusterismo na ang wika ang pag-iisip ng bayan, ngayon ay tinatawagan tayo na payabungin pa ang pag-iisip na ito ng bayan sa pamamagitan ng wikang Filipino,” Rodriguez said, stressing how language is the national braintrust.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he would push for the passage of his bill improving the mandate of the language commission, despite a controversial Supreme Court ruling that dropped Filipino and Panitikan courses from the college curriculum.

“Kailangan nating ipaalala sa ating mga kababayan at sa ating mga sarili na mahalaga ang ating katutubong wika, sariling wika at ang wikang pambansa dahil ito ang magbubuklod ng ating bansa,” Sotto said, serving a reminder on the value of one’s own language to nationhood.

Advocate group Tanggol Wika has slammed the Supreme Court for its decision, which they said could result in the loss of jobs of 10,000 Filipino and Panitikan teachers.