Not in Harvard or Princeton you don’t

 

Some 40 words commonly used by Filipinos in the Philippines and abroad have gained acceptance and entry into the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). As expected, there is great rejoicing in social media over the biggest number of Pinoy words to make it to the OED.

Among the words that found their way into the OED are halo-halo (mixed sweets on ice and milk), barangay (village), suki (frequent buyer), balik-bayan (returning expatriate), kikay kit (vanity kit) and initials like KKB (kanya-kanyang bayad or paying for one’s expenses).

“The addition of Philippine terms in the lexicon lends itself to the ‘legitimization of Philippine English as a variety in its own right,’” reported the Inquirer, quoting a Filipino lexicographer based in the UK who works as a consultant editor for OED. 

That statement is quite a stretch if the lexicographer meant that Philippine English is a “variety” akin or similar to American English or British English. American English is used by Americans and non-Americans alike while British English is used by the British and, again, by the non-British. 

The same cannot be said of Philippine English which is used exclusively by Filipinos and, if at all, by their partners and offspring in inter-racial marriages. So it’s not like a Filipino student in Harvard or Princeton can use OED-listed words like “presidentiables" and "batchmates” in their papers and cite the OED to defend their choice of words.

The professors would just throw at any such student a 10-kilo, thousands-of-pages copy of Websters Dictionary and flunk them. The point is, while language is vibrant, dynamic and ever-evolving, it would take more than a listing at the OED or at any dictionary for that matter for Filipino words to really make it into mainstream American or British English. 

The only time that  the so-called Philippine English can be classified as a “variety” of English is when it has gained wide acceptance and usage not only by Filipinos but by non-Filipinos. Let’s not kid ourselves. 

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