philippine studies Ateneo de Manila University • Loyola Heights, Quezon City • 1108 Philippines Pinoy English: Language, Imagination, and Philippine Literature R. Kwan Laurel Philippine Studies vol. 53, no. 4 (2005): 532–562 Copyright © Ateneo de Manila University Philippine Studies is published by the Ateneo de Manila University. Contents may not be copied or sent via email or other means to multiple sites and posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s written permission. Users may download and print articles for individual, noncom- mercial use only. However, unless prior permission has been obtained, you may not download an entire issue of a journal, or download multiple copies of articles. Please contact the publisher for any further use of this work at
[email protected]. http://www.philippinestudies.net Fri June 27 13:30:20 2008 Pinoy English: Language, Imagination, and Philippine Literature R. Kwan Laurel English has been in the Philippines for a hundred years, yet some of the best Filipino writers in English express ambivalence as to what should be done with it. This ambivalence is a product largely of a particular type of nationalist rhetoric that challenges the use of English in the Phil- ippines. The paper argues for the need to understand English as a global language and to claim Philippine English as our own language. Rather than protract the language debate, the need is to generate a Philippine literature in English, Filipino, or any language that can spark the imagi- nation of Filipinos and promote a wider readership. KEYWORDS: Englishes, Philippine English, Philippine literature, Fili- pino writers Just a year before the Marcoses would be booted out of power by the People Power uprising of 1986, the nationalist dscourse on the lan- guage issue was reaching one of its peaks.