Tagalog
Tagalog is one of the major languages of the Philippines, spoken by about
25% of the population, mostly in the main island of Luzon. It is the
lingua franca in Metro Manila, the national capital region of the country
and is the language of most major works of Philippine literature and
of Philippine films and songs. It also serves as a base for Filipino,
one of the two official languages of the Philippines (along with English).
In 1937, President Manuel Quezon proclaimed Tagalog as the basis of the
national language which was later named 'Filipino' to gain greater acceptance
from the many other linguistic groups in the Philippines. However the
1987 Constitution has now stipulated that the National Assembly is to
take steps toward the formation of a genuine national language called
Filipino, which will incorporate elements from the various other Philippine
languages
The Tagalog language is closely related to Malay, however, due to more
than 300 years of Spanish colonial rule over the Philippines, the language
has incorporated a significant number of Spanish loan words and expressions.
It also contains words and phrases that are rooted in English and Chinese.
Until about the 17th century, Tagalog was written using the Baybayin
script, a script related to the Indic scripts. Today, it is written using
the Romain alphabet.
Sources:
Information on the Old writing system:
Geocities.com:
Brahmi descended scripts
omniglot.com
Independent Study Courses Available at UCSD:
Other Courses Available at UCSD
Other Local Resources:
UCSD International Center
Mingei museum of folk art
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events
International channel
Balboa Park
House of Pacific Relations
Landmark
Theaters: foreign films
Asian American Reperatory
Theater
Gapan Club