Batangas Tagalog
Encyclopedia
Batangas Tagalog, more properly Batangan, is a dialect
Dialect
The term dialect is used in two distinct ways, even by linguists. One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. The term is applied most often to regional speech patterns, but a dialect may also be defined by other factors,...

 of the Tagalog language
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...

 spoken primarily in the province
Provinces of the Philippines
The Provinces of the Philippines are the primary political and administrative divisions of the Philippines. There are 80 provinces at present, further subdivided into component cities and municipalities. The National Capital Region, as well as independent cities, are autonomous from any provincial...

 of Batangas
Batangas
Batangas is a first class province of the Philippines located on the southwestern part of Luzon in the CALABARZON region. Its capital is Batangas City and it is bordered by the provinces of Cavite and Laguna to the north and Quezon to the east. Across the Verde Island Passages to the south is the...

, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, as well as some parts of Quezon
Quezon
-History:Originally, what now forms Quezon was divided among the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, and Nueva Ecija. The area was first explored by Juan de Salcedo in 1571-1572, during his expedition from Laguna to Camarines provinces....

, Laguna, and Mindoro
Mindoro
Mindoro is the seventh-largest island in the Philippines. It is located off the coast of Luzon, and northeast of Palawan. The southern coast of Mindoro forms the northeastern extremum of the Sulu Sea.-History:...

 island. The dialect is distinctively characterized by a very strong accent and its vocabulary and grammar is more closely related to ancient or old-style Tagalog. It is not customary in colloquial Batangan to speak in Taglish
Taglish
Taglish is a portmanteau of the words "Tagalog" and "English" which refers to the Philippine language Tagalog infused with American English terms. It is an example of code-switching....

 or to infuse English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 terms as the custom is with Manila Tagalog
Filipino language
This move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:...

.

Grammar

The most recognizable difference is the use of the passive past tense in place of the present progressive. In Manila
Metro Manila
Metropolitan Manila , the National Capital Region , or simply Metro Manila, is the metropolitan region encompassing the City of Manila and its surrounding areas in the Philippines...

, this is done by inserting the infix -um- after the first syllable then by repeating the first syllable. In the Batangan dialect however, this form is done by putting the prefix na- to the word.
Standard Batangan Standard Batangan
root word kain (to eat) kain (to eat) tawag (to call) tawag (to call)
syllabication ka-in ka-in ta-wag ta-wag
conjugated k-um-a-ka-in na-ka-in t-um-a-ta-wag na-ta-wag
written variant kumakain nakain tumatawag natawag


This conjugation of the verb is becomes funny because as what was mentioned above, this would mean the passive past to Manileños
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

. When someone asks "Nasaan si Pedro?" (Where is Peter?), one would promptly answer 'Nakain ng isda!', which translates to "He's eating a fish!". However, to those unfamiliar with this kind of usage, the statement could easily be taken to mean "He was eaten by a fish!". However, a Batangueño can distinguish between the two seemingly identical forms.

Morphology

Another undeniable character of the Batangan Tagalog is the use of the verb ending '-i' instead of '-an mo', especially in the command form. This only happens when the verb stands alone in a sentence or when the verb is the last word in the phrase. However, when another word is put after it, Batangueños would never to the use of the '-an' form.

Example 1:
Person A: Meron pong kumakatok sa pintô
Person B: Abá'y, buksi! (Then open it!)


However:
Person A: Merong kumakatok sa pintô (Someone is knocking at the door).
Person B: Abá'y, buksán mo! (Then you go open it!)


One could also notice the use of the absolute degree of an adjective, something that is not heard anywhere else. It is roughly the equivalent to the use of '-issimo' or '-issima' in Italian, something absent in the other Tagalog dialects. This is done by putting the
pagka- in front of the word.

Example 1:
Pagkaganda palá ng anák ng mag-asawang aré, ah! (Pagkaganda palá ng anák ng mag-asawang iré, ah!)

The child of this couple is indeed beautiful!


Example 2:
Pagkatagal mo ga.
You move so slow.

The Second Person Plural

Another noticeable characteristic of the Batangan dialect is the retention of the dual number
Dual (grammatical number)
Dual is a grammatical number that some languages use in addition to singular and plural. When a noun or pronoun appears in dual form, it is interpreted as referring to precisely two of the entities identified by the noun or pronoun...

 for pronouns, which refers to precisely two entities (as opposed to "plural
Plural
In linguistics, plurality or [a] plural is a concept of quantity representing a value of more-than-one. Typically applied to nouns, a plural word or marker is used to distinguish a value other than the default quantity of a noun, which is typically one...

", which can be two or more). Although this has not completely disappeared in some other areas, this form is almost never used in the Manila dialect.

Example 1:
(Batangan Tagalog) Kita na! (Let's go!)
(Manila Tagalog) Tayo na! (Let's go! lit. Let us...)


Example 2:
(Batangan Tagalog) Buksán mo nga ang telebisyón nata. (Please turn our telly on.)
(Manila Tagalog) Buksán mo nga ang telebisyón natin.


Also, intonations more often than not tend to rise, especially to express extreme emotions.

Phonology

Another noticeable difference is the usage of the closed syllable, a practice that has completely disappeared in the Manila dialect. The town of Tanauan is actually pronounced [tan-'a-wan] whereas it would be pronounced as [ta-'na-wan] by other Tagalog-speakers. This is also true with words like matamis, pronounced matam-is and a couple of other more words.

As mentioned above, Batangan is more closely related to the ancient Tagalog
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...

. Thus the merger of the phonemes [e] and [i] and the phonemes [o] and [u] are prevalent.

Something prevalent in Batangan that is lacking in other dialects is the sound [ei] and [ow]. However, unlike its English counterpart, these diphthongs are sounded mainly on the first vowel and very rapidly only on the second. This is very similar to the [e] in the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 word educación and the first [o] in the Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 word Antonio.

Vocabulary

Locative adjectives are iré or aré (this) and rine or dine (here).

Vocabulary is also divergent. Batangueño has several translations for the word 'slip' (fall), depending upon -how- a person falls. He may have nádulas (simply slipped), nagtingkuró (lost his balance), or worse, nagsungabâ (fallen on his face.)

People from Manila may ask why a student comes home before the scheduled time, when the teachers have earlier announced that they would have to go to school. The student will just answer, May pasok, pero waláng klase. This simply means that the student would have to go to school to have his or her attendance checked, but there is really no class in session.

To the confusion of other Tagalog
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...

 speakers, the Batangueños also use the phrase, 'Hindî pô akó nagyayabang!' to mean 'I am not telling a lie!', whereas Manileños
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...

 would simply say
'Hindî pô akó nagsisinungaling!'. For them, the former statement means, 'I am not bragging!'

A
panday is a handyman in Batangas whereas it means a smith in Manila. An apáw is "mute" ("overflow" in Manila (ápaw); mute is pipí). An exclamation of disbelief is 'anlaah!' which is roughly a shorter translation of walâ iyán (that's nothing/false) in Manila Tagalog.

The Batangas dialect is also known for the particle eh. While the incidence of its usage is noticeable throughout the province, some variations exists like ala eh. In reality, this particle has no meaning in itself, often added only for emphasis on certain statements. Its closest equivalent in English is sometimes the conversational context of "Well,...". In other cases however, it can show that the proceeding is the cause of something, much as the word kasi would be used.

Honorifics

Like most Southeast Asians and Filipinos, Batangueños use honorifics in order to convey respect, even to strangers. Honorific use features most heavily amongst the Batangueños as compared to other Tagalog-speakers.

Though it has largely disappeared in the Manila usage, the Batangueños still use the plural forms of the pronouns to show politeness. This is comparable to the use of the singular 'vous' in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, 'usted' in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

, and the singular 'Sie' in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

. Normally, this is used to show respect to one who has authority either by age or by position.

However unlike the case of Romance languages, the Batangueños have a choice either to use to second-person plural or third-person plural to show this respect, similar to the Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 lei meaning "she" but used as "you" in formal/polite situations.

Generally, the second person plural is used to show respect to older people or to people in authority but still maintains close affinity to the speaker. This is mainly used with grandparents, friends of the parents, relatives who hold high position or your religious leader. This is comaparativer to the use of 'vosotros' in the Middle Ages.

For complete strangers, the third person plural is deemed appropriate.

Example 1:
Case: Someone is knocking at the door and you want to know who the person is --
[Manila Tagalog] Sino iyán?
[Batangan Tagalog] Sino hô silá? (which translates to 'Who are they?')


Example 2:
Case: You came to pass an older person who is family friend... The greeting will normally be---
[Manila Tagalog] 'Kumusta na pô?' (wherein the particle pô is the signifier of respect)
[Batangan Tagalog] 'Kamusta na hô kayó?' or 'Kamusta na hô sila?' (wherein 'kayó' and 'silá' are the plural second and third person personal pronouns, respectively).

The Royal We

The use of the plurals is not limited to those of lower ranks. Those of authority are also expected to use this pluralisation, this time by using the first person plural inclusive 'Tayo', which functions like the Royal We. The Batangueños use the inclusive form of the pronoun and not just the plural form.

This usage is very common for government officials or those who are deemed to handle an important preposition over a certain territory like a priest or a bishop.

This form is also used by doctors or nurses when talking to patients. Rarely will a doctor from the province ask some how is he feeling. Rather, he will ask them How are we feeling?'

And of course, one cannot belittle the use of 'pô' and 'opò' to show respect. However, Batangueños tend to replace this by 'hô' and 'ohò', a typical Batangueño morphophonemic change. Nevertheless, Batangueños also understand and appreciate the use of 'pô' and 'opò', the variant more common in other Tagalog regions.
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