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Tagalog

Tagalog is one of the major languages spoken in the Philippines. It is also one of the official languages in the country, along with English and Filipino. Tagalog is a member of the Austronesian language family, and is related to other languages such as Indonesian, Malay, and Javanese. The language has about 22 million speakers, and is used in a variety of settings including media, government, and education. Tagalog is a relatively young language, having emerged in the late 1600s. The language is thought to have originated from a dialect of Malay, which was brought to the Philippines by traders and settlers from other parts of Southeast Asia. Over time, the language developed its own unique characteristics, and became the dominant language in the central and southern Philippines. Tagalog has a simple grammatical structure, and is known for its use of reduplication. Reduplication is a process whereby a word or syllable is repeated, often to create emphasis or to indicate plurality. For example, the word ‘likha’ (meaning ‘to create’) can be reduplicated to form ‘likha-likha’ (meaning ‘to create again and again’). The language is also known for its use of affixes. Affixes are small units of meaning that are added to the beginning or end of words to change their meaning. For example, the word ‘um-’ (meaning ‘to do’) can be added to the beginning of the word ‘likha’ to form ‘umlikha’ (meaning ‘to do something again’). Tagalog has a rich vocabulary, and borrows heavily from other languages. Due to the Philippines’ history of colonization, the language has been influenced by Spanish and English. Many words in Tagalog are of Spanish origin, such as ‘barrio’ (meaning ‘neighbourhood’) and ‘mesa’ (meaning ‘table’). Likewise, many English words have been adopted into Tagalog, such as ‘kompyuter’ (meaning ‘computer’) and ‘jeepney’ (meaning ‘jeep’). The Tagalog alphabet consists of 20 letters, and is based on the Latin alphabet. However, the language also uses a variety of diacritical marks, such as the ‘tilde’ (used to indicate a nasal sound) and the ‘macron’ (used to indicate a long vowel sound). Tagalog is a widely-spoken language, and is used in a variety of settings. It is the primary language of education, media, and government in the Philippines. The language is also used in other countries with large Filipino populations, such as the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Language locales, regions and scripts

Tagalog
tl
Tagalog, Philippines, Latin
tl-Latn-PH