Original Research Article

Language Grafting: Code Mixing Patterns in Ilocano Conversational Language as an Input to the Philippine Mother-Tongue-Based Multilingual Education

Ronald O. Ocampo Sonia A. Belarde

Apayao State College, San Isidro Sur, Luna, 3813

Abstract

The Ilocanos are Austronesian language spoken people in the Northern region of the Philippines. With their constant interaction with other cultural and ethnic groups in the Philippines and the influence of media such as television, internet and the like, they speak a variety of language. Oftentimes, they tend to hybridized words by combining it with Filipino or any other local languages.

This study aimed to assess the code-mixing patterns used in Ilocano conversations of students of Tumog Elementary School and Tumog National Agricultural School, Philippines. Specifically, it was intended to: identify code- mixed used in conversations through documentation and to determine the patterns in the code mixed words used in Ilocano conversations,

The descriptive analysis was employed with notetaking as data gathering tool. Conversations among pupils and students were carefully recorded using cellphone recorder.

Based on the finding data and information gathered by the researchers, the following conclusions were drawn. (1) Students of Tumog Elementary School and Tumog National Agricultural School speak a Mongrel variety of Ilocano language with borrowings from the

English Language.(2) Students find easier to pick the English counterpart of an Ilocano word to fill lexical gaps in one of his/her languages. (3) There are several prefixes used before certain verbs in English to indicate present, past and future actions such as maka, iy, i, ag, ma [present]; naka, nag, and na[past]; and mak, iy and i, ag and ma [future]. (4) Prefixes for present and future tenses are the same. There are only signal words used to indicate only signal words used to indicate futurity such as nakto..inton bigat (will – tomorrow).

Keywords: Ilocano Language, Code Mixing, Mother Tongue- based Multilingual Education, code mixing patterns

1. INTRODUCTION

The ability to communicate thoughts, emotions, and opinions to others is truly a remarkable ability. The use of language can influence self-concept and identity [1], [2], [3]. Cultural influences are also reflected in the language [4], [5] and similarly influence how people conceptualize who they are and where they come from [6]. [7] . Language has a social feature [8], [9], [10]., which means that it is used by the members of a society. The social aspect of language is studied by sociolinguistics, a subdivision of linguistics which studies social factors.

Bilingual communities use certain phenomena to make communication more effective and meaningful. One of these phenomena is "code switching" which can be observed mostly in a second or foreign language classrooms [11]. [12]. [13].. It refers to the use of two languages within a sentence or discourse. It is a natural process that often occurs between multilingual speakers who share two or more languages in common.

Researches have proven that code switching and code mixing are both effective in multilingual classroom setting [14]. [15]. [16]. Moodley found out that that learners resort to English-NL CS when interacting among themselves, both in and outside the classroom. Using a qualitative study, he explored the language(s) of learners during group-work in the language, literacy, and communication: English (LLCE) classroom, and showed how students use of code switching contribute to the achievement of the specific outcomes of this learning area within the outcomes-based education curriculum.

The meeting of many cultures oftentimes results to mixed used of languages. When one is in or in Enrile , , one will usually hear words such as “ ma bring ka ng umbrella mo ta ma rain”( Bring your umbrella, it might rain.), “Ronald ma explain ka na blackboard e ma late na tayo”( Ronald, please explain, we are already late).. This mixing of languages made the towns of Tuguegarao and Enrille as intellectually elite and people often claim that the the two towns are the homes of professionals.

The influences of media and technology through television, cellphone, internet, and the like have changed the language background of the Ilocanos. Oftentimes, Ilocano words when used in casual conversations are mixed with either English or Tagalog as these are popular languages used in the media.

The implementation of Mother Tongue-Based –Multilingual Education as part of the key feature of the K-12 curriculum of the DepEd in the Philippines has made confusion especially among the minority tribes. In the implementation of the MTB-MLE, regional languages are only used as medium of instruction. Students of other ethnic tribes are left out especially those who are living in the remote areas who speak their native tongue only. The implementation of the MTB-MLE curriculum created various issues and problems that DepEd should resolve. Result of the study of Eslit [17]. revealed that teachers, parents, and pupils were supportive of the program yet skeptical due to the growing challenges brought about by the lack of MT learning materials and books which they have considered as MTB- MLE’s biggest challenge. In response, the researcher postulated his “ethno-lingo propagar theory” to address the challenges at hand. Moreover, Lartec, et al [18] pointed out that the teachers used strategies such as translation of target language to mother tongue, utilization of multilingual teaching, utilization of lingua-franca, improvization of instructional materials written in mother tongue, remediation of instruction, and utilization of literary piece written in mother tongue as motivation. Some problems encountered by the teachers in implementing mother tongue-based instruction include absence of books written in mother tongue, lack of vocabulary, and lack of teachers training. Nevertheless, the study indicated that major attention and effort are still necessary to be given to the approach.

With the current situation in the implementation of the MTB-MLE in the country, DepEd has opened the dialogue to stakeholders on how they are going to improve the implementation of the MTB-MLE curriculum. In the case of modules and other instructional

materials written in Ilocano, there are things that need attention especially that children are no longer familiar with some Ilocano terms. grow, people need to embrace the intellectualized language as they face globalization in which the most influential media is the internet. This situation prompted the researchers to document and determine the code mixing patterns of the Ilocano conversational language as basis for enhancing the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education program of the Philippine government especially in the Northern part of Island.

. 2. METHODOLOGY

The researchers made use of the descriptive analysis method of research. Conversations among elementary and high school students of Tumog Elementary and Tumog National Agricultural School were documented and recorded for the purpose of analysing the research. Students conversation were carefully noted using cell phone recorder. The study sites were elementary and secondary schools located in one campus. The respondents of the study were pupils of Tumog Elementary School particularly Grades 1, 2 and 3 and high school students of Tumog National Agricultural School. A total of 104 Ilocano speaking pupils and students were taken purposively as respondents of the study.

The study was conducted from January 2020 to March 2020 during the field observation of practice teachers in the above mentioned schools. Letters were floated for approval as part of the protocols in the conduct of the study.

In this research, data were collected from conversations used by Ilocano students in Tumog Elementary School and Tumog National Agricultural School. During the conduct of the study, pupils and students were observed in non- disruptive scenario to avoid confusion on the part of the respondents. Noted conversations were recorded in a manner that the identity of the speaker( respondents) are not exposed. The conversations were carefully noted, documented using recorder for purpose of notetaking. All code mixed conversations were listed and categorized according to patterns. These were analysed according to structure and how they were used in the sentence. The code mixed words were morphologically analysed. Word formation patterns were carefully analyzed ( prefix, infixes and suffixes).

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results of this study were extracted from conversations taken from Tumog Elementary School and Tumog National Agricultural School students. The conversations were coded and categorized to analyse the patterns.

1. Saanak maka study iti rabii idiay dorm , makadisturb diay sounds ti kaabay ko.

Maka study

Maka disturb

Translation: I cannot study during the night in the dorm (shortened dormitory).

My dormmate’s sounds (referring to a gadget playing musical sound) disturbs me.

The prefix maka precedes the words study and disturb. Instead of saying makabasa (maka study) and makaistorbo (maka disturb), the speaker switches to the English words study and disturb. This is a case of intrasentential code switching. A bilingual often borrows to fill lexical gaps in one of his/her languages. Based on the above discourse the prefix maka before maka study and maka disturb is used to indicate present tense verb (study and disturb). This gives rise to the pattern maka + present tense verb.

Other examples are makadistinguish, makaperform, makaevaluate.

Students better understand this form as they prefer speaking the code mixed words than the original Ilocano translation of the word as in the above example, Saanak nga makaadal ti rabii idiay dormitorio ta makasinga diay aweng.

2. Madinak nakaemail idi rabii ta nakapsut signal.

Naka email

Translation: I was not able to email last night because the signal was not stable.

The prefix naka precedes the word e-mail. The word naka indicates that the action happens in the past as signalled by the phrase idi rabii (last night).

There are words in English that do not have translations in the Ilocano language due to the advancement in technology such as computer technology-related words. These include email, twitter, instagram, facebook , and others. Terms in Science and Technology including Mathematics are also included in the list such as cloning, genetic engineering, square root and the like. As there are no equivalent translations of these modern and technological terms, the need to intellectualize the Ilocano language should be done.

3. Maka present ka ngata ti thesis mo inton bigat?

Maka present

Will you be able to present your thesis tomorrow. The prefix maka precedes the English word present.

The number one (1) pattern maka + present tense verb to indicate present action is the same pattern used to indicate simple futurity as exemplified in maka present (Maka +Present tense verb). This follows the rule in English grammar that the present tense verb is used to indicate simple futurity as presented in the examples above.

4. Iyoffer mo ti makan or I offer mo ti makan kadakuada

Translation: Offer the food to them. The iy preceeds the English word offer. Iy is used when the word that follows starts with a vowel. When said, the iy blends with offer coming up with the blended word iyoffer (iyofer). This pattern iy + present tense verb can also be illustrated in the following sentences.

a.Iy upgrade yo ta luto yo tapnu umado customer yo.

(Upgrade your recipe in order to attract more consumers).

b. Iyordermo man diay kayat ko a bangbanglo.

(Please order the perfume I prefer to use).

The pattern is usually used in imperative sentences.

5. I text nakto no makadanon ka idiay .

Pattern :i + text

Translation: Text me as soon as you reach Baguio City.

Similar to number (4) the prefix (i), but this time without the y, comes before the transitive verb text ( to send someone a text message). The (i) is used when the English verb that follow starts with a consonant as shown in the following sentences:

Pattern i + present tense verb

a. Itravel mo dagita bagahe agpa Manila.

(Travel with the baggage to Manila)

b. Iprepare mo diay bayad mo ti kuriente.

(Prepare your payment for the electric bill)

The sentences above are imperatives like the sentences in number (4).

6. Aglovelifenak man met, saan laeng a sika ti ag lalovelife

Patterns ag + lovelife

Ag + lovelife

Translation: (I’d like to be in love, not only you, should be in love.)

The syllable ag precedes the noun “lovelife”. In the statement “Aglovelifenak man met, “lovelife” is not used as a noun but it is used as a verb to mean “to involve oneself in love”. The statement is used to indicate present action (Aglovelifenak man met….). on the other hand, the next clause … saanlaeng a sika ti agla – lovelife. This time the prefix is agla, coming before lovelife. The la is a repetition of the first syllable of the word “lovelife” without the final “v” sound. Moreover, the “lo” from the word “love” is changed to “la” as a way of Iloconizing it. The

word “lovelife” follows after . The structure also signifies present action just like the first clause (aglovelife nak man met…)

7. Apay makaturturog ka? Naglovelife ka idi rabii ala!

Pattern: nag + lovelife

Translation: Why are you sleepy? You had a date with your love last night, I suppose!

The syllable nag comes before the word “lovelife” to indicate that the action happens in the past. The pattern is parallel with number (6) the syllable ag indicates present action while the nag signals past action.

8. Aglovelifenak to man met inton bigat. Agabsentnak to iti klasek.

Patterns: Ag + lovelife

Ag + absent

There is no difference in the pattern used to indicate present action with that of the future action. The Ilocano phrase inton bigat signals futurity. In the next clause “Agabsent nak iti klasek” if said, ag blends with the first syllable of “absent” coming up with “agabsent. Agab is said without a pause between ag and ab. They glide as one syllable. Meanwhile ,the nakto signals that the action will happen in the future.

9. Kasano a maretain dita ulom dayta basbasaem?

Pattern: ma + retain [ma + verb]

Translation: How could you retain in your head what you are reading? or How could you retain what you are reading?

Ma connects with retain just as maka joins study in pattern I. Just like maka,ma also indicates present action.

10. Naretain dita ulom diay binasam itay?

Pattern : Na + retain

Translation: Did you retain in your head what you have read?

Na precedes retain to form a verb expressing an action in the past. Na is the past equivalent of Ma which expresses present action.

11. Luma-lovelife metten isu nga kanayon nakaporma.Gumugoodtime!

Pattern:

Luma-+ lovelife . The prefix starts with the first syllable of the word as in Lovelife for lumalovelife and Gumugoodtime

Translation: He is always good looking because he is in love.

The prefix luma precedes the words lovelife . The infix um is with the present tense of the verb to form Ilocanize English word in the present tense.

12. Nag handsome ka ita nga aldaw.

Pattern: nag + adjective

Other examples: Nag beautiful, nag articulate

The prefix nag is also combined with adjective to form a code mixed word.

13. Inborn ngarud( code switch, intra sentential)

The word in is combined with the word born to form the word inborn. The word inborn is better understood by anyone than the equivalent meaning Ilocano term nakainsigudan.

14. Kulayam ti puraw or coloram ti puraw ( color it white) giving instruction to one person.

Kulayam ti puraw, coloram ti puraw ( giving instruction to a group)

Pattern : noun/ verb + am to form verb both in Filipino and English

A code mixed word is formed by adding am to be in the imperative mode. Ilocano speakers seldom use the word maris ( color) in their daily conversation. The word maris can only be found in literary texts.

15. Innak agpapedicure

Agpa+ pedicure

When the prefix word agpa is added , the word forms future tense. As there are no Ilocano translation of the word pedicure, manicure and rebond, these are added to prefixes agpa to show futurity of action.

16. Agpapedicureak pay.

Agpa + perdicure+ ak

Similar to pattern number 15, the code mixed word is formed by adding a prefix agpa and suffix ak to show that the action is in the present tense and in the active .

17. Nagmanifest kanyak diay kayatna; Nagstart diay balay da ti parade ( His wants was manifested in me; The parade started in our house)

Nag+ manifest; Nag +Start

When the prefix word Nag is added, the word forms present tense.

Code mixed words are formed in different patterns in Ilocano conversations. Speaker easily recall English words and mixed with prefixes and suffixes to form code mixed words [19, 20, 21, 22] . In some instances, there are words in English that do not have direct translations in Ilocano especially for technical terms such as manicure, pedicure, rebond, facebook, cellphone, twitter, email, cloning and others. This simply imply that there is a need to upgrade existing Ilocano dictionaries and come up with contemporary Ilocano dictionary. As there are variations in the Ilocano language across regions in the Philippines and even abroad, the use of code-mixed Ilocano language for classroom instruction is essential.

Ilocanos nowadays are already colonized with various cultures across the globe. The most widespread language influence as seen in various media platforms such as television, internet, radio, advertisement has changed the Ilocano ways of conversing with each other. They tend to borrow words for easier communication as in the case of colors. It is hard for a pupil to understand when a teacher instructs, Marisam man ti maradaga wenno bugagaw dayta inaramid mo nga aklo ( Color your ladle with brown or blue). Instead, using coloram man ti blue wenno brown ta inaramid mo nga aklo. Coloram is a mixed word from color and the suffix am meaning you put color to your drawings. Contemporary Ilocanos use more English words or Filipino words combined with prefixes, infixes or suffixes to form words that can be easily understood by everyone.

4.CONCLUSION

Based on the findings , data, and information gathered by the researchers, the following conclusions were drawn. (1) Students of Tumog Elementary School and Tumog National Agricultural School speak a mongrel variety of Ilocano language with borrowings from the .(2) Students find easier to pick the English counterpart of an Ilocano word to fill lexical gaps in one of his/her languages. (3) There are several prefixes used before certain verbs in English to indicate present, past, and future actions such as maka, iy, i, ag, ma [present]; naka, nag, and na[past]; and mak, iy and i, ag and ma [future]. (4) Prefixes for present and future tenses are the same. There are only signal words used to indicate futurity such as nakto ,inton bigat (will – tomorrow)

Based on the findings and conclusion, the following are forwarded as recommendations: 1. Conduct further studies on code mixing borrowing and code switching . 2. Establish more patterns used in the communications among students and people around to come up with a book. 3. Forward to Deped the result of the study as basis for Curriculum intervention. 4. Ilocano language and other local languages should be taken as a separate subject in the Elementary, Secondary and Tertiary Education. 5. A committee should be formed to review existing Ilocano Dictionary and come up with contemporary Ilocano dictionary. As part of the growth of the Ilocano Language, the need to intellectualize the language is an urgent call attuned to the changes in time.

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