The most salient syntactical characteristics of these languages are: (1) the use of certain par ticles. so-called ligatures, to connect two or more words which stand to each other in the relation of modifier and modified; such as adjective and noun, noun or pronoun and appositive, adjective or verb and adverb; (2 ) the prevailing use of a passive eoustruetion, the verb standing in the active only when the object of the action is some thing indefinite or when the agent is specially emphasized; (3) a paucity of simple prepositions. one or two being used to express the greatest variety of relations.
The following is a brief grammatical sketch of Tagalog, the most important of the Philippine languages: The articles are simply definite, personal. and inclusive (used with names of persons), as sag Miro, 'the man,' si Pedro, Teter,' sins Pedro, Peter and his companions.' They have three case forms. nominative, genitive, and oblique. The plural of nouns is expressed by preceding manfpi, e.g. maqd taco, ease, by the ease forms of the article or pronominal adjectives.
Adjectives are usually made by prefixing ma to a root, as ma-bati, 'good;' plural mabubati or manja 111 rl lr 17t1, The pronouns have usually three case forms. Among them are to be noted tayo, 'we (including you) ,' kami, 'we (not you ).' kitii, 'we two.' The ideas of 'being' and 'having' are expressed by independent particles.
Verbs are divided into seventeen classes accord ing to the special verbal particles. Four stems are distinguished, imperative-infinitive, future, preterite. and present. One class has no special particle in the passive, the active particle being am : in the others the special particle has gen erally initial p in the passive, which becomes in in the imperative-infinitive and future active, and a in the preterite and present active, as pay. may. nag, etc. The present and future are character ized by reduplication. The common passive par ticles are in, i, an.
Practically the only simple prepositions are so and, with names of persons, key a nd 'for,' 'front,' 'in.' etc. Adverbs and conjunctions are numerous and important.
The ligatures are. -ay after a vowel or n. na after other consonants, as nag InalaktiR inn 'the strong man.' lubbei-ng mabati, 'very good.' The construction of verbs is very similar to that of nouns. When the subject precedes, it connected with its verb by the particle ay, 'to be.'
The direct object of the active and the agent of the passive stand in the genitive, other nominal adjuncts in the oblique case. Any verbal form may take the article any. The character of the sub ject determines the verbal form to be used in a sentence. In general, if the subject is the agent of an action, the verb stands in the active, other wise in the passive. The in-passive is used in general when the subject is the object of an ac tion, the (-passive when it is the object of an action away from the agent, or the cause of an action, the an-passive when it is the place of an action.
The Philippine languages possess little litera ture. The old native manuscripts inscribed on leaves or strips of cane have been lost. At the present day the scanty native literature may he grouped under three heads: (1) rdigious writ ings; (2) native poetry; (3) native newspapers and newspaper articles.
Consult: Totanes, Artc de la lengua Taqnla (2d ed.. Binondo. 18651; Campomanes. Leceionea de gramfitica Ilispano-Tagala (3th ed., Manila, 1894) ; Nneeda, l'ocatmlario dr la lengua Tagala (2(1 ed., ib., 18()()) ; %nem Mefodo chi Dr. 011endorff . . . adaptado a! Bisaya lib.. 1871) ; Bermejo. Arte coup.mliado de la karma Cebuana (Bisayan) (2d ed., Tamboboug.
1894) Lozano, arsos dr le ng int 1'a nu ;tuna (liisayan) (Manila, 18i6); Mentrida-Aparicio, .1 rte de la kngua Bisaya-Ililiyagna (Pa mbobong, 1S94) : Figueroa, Ade del idiom(' ya 11c mar p Le i c (2d ed., Binondo, 1872) ; Encarna cion, Dieeionario Disaya-Espanol (3d ed.. Ma nila, I885); Naves, Gramotira Ilispano-llocana (2d ed., Tambobong, 1492) ; Agustin. Vora/mho-in Poco-Espano/ (2d ed., Manila, 1888) ; De Cuevas. Jrte nutra de in lengua }'bunny (2d ed., ib., 1`54) ; Bugarfn, Diceionario lbanag-Espaaul 1854) : Bergano, Jilt de In lengua Pei 111 (2d ed., Sampaloe, 17:311) ; id., T'ocabulario de la league Pa ed., Manila, ISt10) licer. Arte de to kn./an Panyasinana (2(1 ed., ib.. 1862) ; Cosgaya. Diceionnrio Pantla),,imin-Espatio/ (ib., 18G5); San Agustfn-Crespo, Art,' de la le !ma Ricol ( ib., 1879) ; Cowie, Eng/isti-Suln Malay l'oca ry (1.01111011, 1S93 Juanmartf, Gra nni t ica de la len gna 11r Mei int da nao Ma nna, 1492) ; id., Diecionnrio Moro-Magnindonno Espanol (ib„ 1892).