Philippine Linguistics: The State of the Art: 1970-1980

Abstract

In 1971, two articles appeared (McKaughan 1971, and Constantino 1971c) which together summarized the state of the art of Philippine linguistics until that time. Another decade has passed and it seems an appropriate time to review what has been accomplished in the last ten years, to see how the field has developed and to suggest directions for the future. The first section of this chapter provides an informal overview of the settings within which the study of Philippine languages is taking place. This section primarily discusses the main organizations, and some of the individuals, that have made major contributions to the field in the seventies. The following section begins with an overview of the grammars and dictionaries that have appeared in the last decade. It then discusses the main contributions that have been made within each of the four major subfields in the discipline: phonology; morphology and syntax; discourse studies (including sentence and paragraph); and comparative-historical linguistics. The concluding section assesses the significance for the field, of current events in the Philippines, and suggests possible responses.