PHILIPPINE LANGUAGES. The number of languages spoken in the Philippine Islands is variously estimated as from about 25 to over 50. These languages may be considered under two heads: (1) the languages of the Negritos, prob ably the remnants of the aboriginal population, who live in scattered tribes in the interior of most of the large islands; (2) the languages of the various tribes of Malay race which constitute the bulk of the population (Christian, Moham medan, and pagan).
About the idioms of the Negritos very little is known, but they are apparently similar to the Malay dialects. This simili.rity, however, is per haps to be explained as due to the influence of the languages of the surrounding Malay tribes, especially as, according to Spanish authorities, the Negrito lauguages are of monosyllabic struc ture, and entirely ditTerent from the languages of the Malays.
The idioms of the Malay tribes form a closely connected group of tongues which constitute .e branch of the Malayo-Polynesian family of speech. Tice principal languages of the Christian tribes are: Batas (Batan and Babuyan islands, north of Luzon), lbauag (North Luzon), Bewail (North west Luzon), Pampango (Central Luzon), Pan gasinan (West Luzon), Tino (language of the Zambals, West Luzon), Tagalog (Manila, Mid dle Luzon, coast of Mindoro), Bikol (South Luzon), Bisayan (spoken in various dialects in the Bisayan Islands, and North and East Min danao). The principal languages of the Moham medan tribes are the Sulu of the Sulu subarchi pelago and the coasts of Palawan, and the Ma gindanao of Southwest Mindanao. The idioms of the pagan tribes which inhabit the mountain districts of Northern Luzon, a large part of :Min danao, and the interior of Mindoro, Palawan, and the western Bisayan Islands, are very numerous, but little known. Among the best known are the Caddan and Isinay of Luzon, and the Tiruray and Bagobo of Mindanao. A number of the Philippine languages, such as Tagalog and Bisa yan, have reached a high state of development, and are well suited for literary use.
The vocabularies of the Philippine languages contain several foreign elements. In common with other languages of the Malay branch of the Malayo-Polynesian family, many of the Philip pine dialects have borrowed a number of San skrit words. The languages of the Christian
tribes also contain a number of Spanish words, those of the Mohammedan tribes a number of Arabic words.
The alphabets in which the native were or are written are also due to these influences. The native alphabets, which are no longer used except by the Mangians of Mindoro and the Tagbanuas of Palawan, were probably de rived from India. The Mohammedan tribes of the south now use the Arabic alphabet with some additional signs, while the languages of the Chris tian tribes are written in the Roman alphabet conformed to the peculiarities of Spanish orthog raphy.
The sounds of the Philippine languages are in the main similar to those of English. All the lan guages, however, possess a peculiar guttural-nasal sound (written nin distinct from the ordinary guttnral-nasal ny as in Eng. sing. In some of the languages, as in Tagalog and Bisayan, there is a peculiar r-sound, due to a phonetic modification of d.
The roots of these are for the most part dissyllabic. They maybe used uneombined as nouns or adverbs, but only rarely as verbs. Derivation is accomplished by means of a great variety of particles, which are usually employed as prefixes, though there are a few suffixes and infixes. So prominent a characteristic is this use of particles, that these dialects are sometimes spoken of as Particular' languages. Reduplica tion is very common in the formative processes of both noun and verb. There is no distinction of gender, nor is there, generally speaking, any inflection to denote person, number, or ease in verbs or nouns. Only in certain pronouns is there found a species of inflection to indicate ease. Verbs are practically always derivative, the particles employed being of two kinds: (1) special verbal particles, which give the root a simple verbal meaning or the signification of causative, intensive, etc., each particle generally having two slightly different forms, one used with active and the other with passive verbs; (2) the common or essential passive par ticles, which are an essential part of practically all passive forms. The combination of root and verbal particle is often modified to indicate dif ferences in mood and tense.