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Article published In: Language, Culture and Society
Vol. 3:1 (2021) ► pp.58–81

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The making of “deep language” in the Philippines

 | Ryerson University
Published online: 18 June 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lcs.20008.osb
Abstract
This analysis interrogates one of the most highly recognizable, but little understood metalinguistic descriptors of language in the contemporary Philippine linguistic scene: the concept of “deep language.” Here, “deep language” is explored as a complex, polysemous term generally used to describe homegrown conceptualizations of “pure” forms of Philippine-type languages and speakers. The contemporary understanding of “deep language” in the Philippines is theorized to have been informed by a complex combination of folk and academic discourses that have percolated throughout shared ideologies and conceptualizations of language since national independence at mid-20th century. The metric of “depth” in the analysis of language is shown to function centrally as a conceptual metaphor that enables everyday speakers to theorize person-types and the passage of time in a folk chronotope reckoned through the sign of language.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Foundations
  • Framings from speakers: “depth” as a multifaceted metalinguistic analytic
    • Factor 1.Depth of knowledge
    • Factor 2.Depth of geography
    • Factor 3.Depth of feeling
  • Complex constructions: English and Taglish
  • Reconciling time and person-types through the analytic of “depth”
  • Time
  • Person-types
  • Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
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