Historically, use of Malay as lingua franca prior to the Spanish colonization of the Philippines is witnessed by the first Philippine written document, the Laguna Copperplate Inscription of 900, which was written in localised Old Malay.
Until the late of 18th century to the early 19th century, there are still many documents from Sulu and Mindanao that used Malay language such as The Sulu Treaties and the Royal Letters from The Sultanate of Maguindanao that were written in Malay language. The documents now are preserved in The British Library.
Even in predominantly non-Malay speaking communities, mostly in Muslim communities, titles of nobility such as datu (datuk), raja or rajamuda, which themselves originate from Sanskrit, are retained. Numerous loan words exist in Philippine languages today from Malay, with the greatest concentration being in the areas that have or historically had heavy contact and cultural exchange with native-Malay speaking states. These are, respectively, the south central, southwest and northwest areas of the country, with the languages Bahasa Sug, Sinama, Maranao, Iranun, Maguindanao, Kapampangan, Tagalog, Cebuano and Ilocano exhibiting numerous Malay or Old Malay loan words.
One variant of Malay spoken in the Philippines is Indonesian, which is spoken by Indonesians who have either settled or do business in the Philippines. It is also learned as a foreign language, by students and members of the armed forces.
History
The use of Malay was a result of extensive interactions between the native kingdoms in the Philippines and the various ancient Malay civilizations that existed in modern-day Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia as it was the trade language of the entire Maritime Southeast Asian region. The Laguna Copperplate Inscription, the earliest-known document found in the Philippines was written in a mix of Old Malay, Classical Tagalog and Old Javanese and in the Kawi alphabet which recorded interactions between the classical civilizations in Luzon with the Javanese kingdom of Majapahit and the MalaySrivijaya Empire.
The Old Malay spoken in the archipelago also reflected the religious nature of the region - the archipelago was inhabited by a mix of Buddhist, Animists and Hindus. Upon the arrival of Portuguese conquistador Ferdinand Magellan in Cebu, his slave, Enrique, a Malaccan-native had to speak on his behalf since he was a native-Malay speaker who acted as a translator between Spanish, Portuguese and Malay. Enrique likely perished in Mactan Island during the battle that killed Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. The name of Visayas itself originated from Srivijaya, an ancient Malay empire that ruled Sumatra and parts of the Malay Peninsula.
The use of Malay in the Philippines reached its height with the introduction of Islam by Malay Muslim, Arab, Persian, Chinese Muslim and Indian Muslim preachers to the islands. However, this was in the form of Classical Malay, a dialect which originated from the Riau-Malacca region. Along with that, Arabic was also introduced as well as the introduction of the Jawi script, an Arabic-based alphabet for Malay. The dynasties of the Islamic sultanates in Mindanao were themselves of ethnic Malay descent with sprinkles of Arab ancestry[1] (others possess some Persian and Indian blood) such as those of the Sultanate of Maguindanao. Malay became the regional lingua franca of trade and many polities enculturated Islamic Malay customs and governance to varying degrees, including Kapampangans, Tagalogs and other coastal Philippine peoples, particularly Tausūgs, Maranao, and Maguindanao people. According to Bruneian folklore, at around 1500 Sultan Bolkiah launched a successful northward expedition to break Tondo’s monopoly as a regional entrepot of the Chinese trade and established Maynila (Selurong) across the Pasig delta, ruled by his heirs as a satellite.[2] Subsequently, Malay through Bruneian influence spread elsewhere around Manila Bay, present-day Batangas, and coastal Mindoro through closer trade and political relations, with a growing Kapampangan-Tagalog diaspora based in Brunei and beyond in Malacca in various professions as traders, sailors, shipbuilders, mercenaries, governors, and slaves.[3][4] Intermarriages between native Muslims of Sulu Archipelago, Sultanate of Maguindanao, and Sultanate of Lanao and Kapampangan and Tagalog Muslims (called Luzones) even took place later.
With progress of Spanish conquest in the 16th century, the use of Malay among the Philippine natives quickly deteriorated and diminished as it was replaced by Spanish. It became non-existent among the Christian Filipinos. Malay remained much confined to the Muslim population of Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, who actively resisted Spanish rule and attempts by missionaries to convert them to Christianity.
During the late 19th century, with the deterioration of Spanish rule, a Pan-Malayan movement began in the Philippines, spearheaded by national hero José Rizal, who had a vision of "uniting the Malayan race" from the bondage of separation by colonial powers. He had actually tried learning the Malay language, having believed it to be an original of Tagalog.[5]
Politicians in the Philippines had actually contemplated on renaming the country to "Malaysia", before the actual federation was named so.[6] Some maps had also referred to the area now comprising Philippines, Indonesia and East Malaysia as "Malaysia" as a whole.
Although the history of Malay influence in Philippine history is a subject of conversation, no attempts have been made to ever promote Malay or even Spanish. The number of Malay-speakers in the Philippines is unknown; as a result of the 300-year Spanish rule, most are very confined to the southern parts of Mindanao (specifically in the Zamboanga Peninsula, where Spanish creole is natively spoken) and the Sulu Archipelago in a region known as Bangsamoro; Spanish creole is also spoken by some Muslim and Christian residents in Sulu Archipelago. This region, derives from the Malay word bangsa and the Spanish moro, the Muslim peoples of the Philippines refer to themselves Moro which comes from a Spanish word meaning "Moor". The lingua franca of the native residents of Bangsamoro are Tagalog/Filipino and Cebuano.
Contemporary use
The treatment of the Muslim peoples of Mindanao by the Christian-dominated government in the Philippines during the 1970s also worsened any hopes of Malay ever being revived into nationwide use again. Today, Filipino and English are the official languages of the Philippines.
There are also misconceptions in the Philippines between Ethnic Malays and Malay race.[7] While it is true that certain Filipino ethnic groups (namely the Visayans (including Tausūgs) and Maguindanao, with some Maranao) contain Malay ancestors, the ethnic Malays themselves are focused around the Malay peninsula, eastern Sumatra, coastal Borneo and southern Thailand. The Malay race compasses a larger class of Austronesian ethnic groups in the entire Malay Archipelago. This results in false labels to pre-occupation rulers such as Lapu-Lapu, the famous native chief who killed Magellan as a Malay and a Muslim although he was ethnically Visayan who spoke old Cebuano and whose religious background is obscure.
The Indonesian language, which is the official dialect of Malay spoken in the Philippines' southern neighbor Indonesia, has a notable presence of speakers in Davao City since the city is home to the Indonesian School which caters to expatriates in Mindanao and aims to protect Indonesian language and culture among the expatriate community.[8] Indonesian is also taught as a foreign language in the University of the Philippines.
Since 2013, the Indonesian Embassy in the Philippines has given basic Indonesian language courses to 16 batches of Filipino students, as well as training to members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Due to increasing demand among students, the Embassy will open an intermediate Indonesian language course later in the year.[needs update] The Indonesian Embassy in Washington, D.C., USA also began offering free Indonesian language courses at the beginner and intermediate level.[9]
In an interview, Department of Education Secretary Armin Luistro[10] said that the country's government should promote Indonesian or Malaysian, which are related to Filipino and other regional languages. Thus, the possibility of offering it as an optional subject in public schools is being studied. Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia is also spoken as a third or fourth language by native Filipinos of the Maguindanao and Tausug tribes with some of Maranao tribe, especially those who have studied in Malaysia, Indonesia as religious students, migrant laborers or long time residents in Sabah, Malaysia. The dissemination of the Malay language was also through the usage of Malay books in the study of Islam.
↑ Pigafetta, Antonio (1969) [1524]. First voyage round the world. Translated by J.A. Robertson. Manila: Filipiniana Book Guild.
↑ Scott, William H. (1994). Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society. Katipunan Ave, Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press. p.192. ISBN971-550-135-4.
Mindanao (Jawi:مندنو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of the same name that also includes its adjacent islands, notably the Sulu Archipelago. According to the 2020 census, Mindanao has a population of 26,252,442 people, while the entire island group has an estimated population of 27,021,036 according to the 2021 census.
Sulu, officially the Province of Sulu, is a province of the Philippines in the Sulu Archipelago and part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Tawi-Tawi, officially the Province of Tawi-Tawi, is an island province in the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). The capital of Tawi-Tawi is Bongao.
There are some 130 to 195 languages spoken in the Philippines, depending on the method of classification. Almost all are Malayo-Polynesian languages native to the archipelago. A number of Spanish-influenced creole varieties generally called Chavacano along with some local varieties of Chinese are also spoken in certain communities. The 1987 constitution designates Filipino, a standardized version of Tagalog, as the national language and an official language along with English. Filipino is regulated by Commission on the Filipino Language and serves as a lingua franca used by Filipinos of various ethnolinguistic backgrounds.
The Sultanate of Sulu was a Muslim state that ruled the Sulu Archipelago, costal areas of Zamboanga City and certain portions of Palawan in the today's Philippines, alongside parts of present-day Sabah, North and East Kalimantan in north-eastern Borneo.
The Bisayan languages or Visayan languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages spoken in the Philippines. They are most closely related to Tagalog and the Bikol languages, all of which are part of the Central Philippine languages. Most Bisayan languages are spoken in the whole Visayas section of the country, but they are also spoken in the southern part of the Bicol Region, islands south of Luzon, such as those that make up Romblon, most of the areas of Mindanao and the province of Sulu located southwest of Mindanao. Some residents of Metro Manila also speak one of the Bisayan languages.
Tausūg is an Austronesian language spoken in the province of Sulu in the Philippines and in the eastern area of the state of Sabah, Malaysia, by the Tausūg people. It is widely spoken in the Sulu Archipelago, the Zamboanga Peninsula, southern Palawan, and Malaysia.
The Tausūg, are an ethnic group of the Philippines and Malaysia. A small population can also be found in the northern part of North Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Tausūg are part of the wider political identity of Muslim Filipinos of western Mindanao, the Sulu archipelago, and southern Palawan, collectively referred to as the Moro people. The Tausugs originally had an independent state known as the Sultanate of Sulu, which once exercised sovereignty over the present day provinces of Basilan, Palawan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga City, North Kalimantan and the eastern part of the Malaysian state of Sabah. They are also known in the Malay language as Suluk.
The Maranao people, also spelled Meranao, Maranaw, and Mëranaw, is a predominantly Muslim Filipino ethnic group native to the region around Lanao Lake in the island of Mindanao. They are known for their artwork, weaving, wood, plastic and metal crafts and epic literature, the Darangen. They are ethnically and culturally closely related to the Iranun, and Maguindanaon, all three groups being denoted as speaking Danao languages and giving name to the island of Mindanao. They are grouped with other Moro people due to their shared religion.
The Central Philippine languages are the most geographically widespread demonstrated group of languages in the Philippines, being spoken in southern Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and Sulu. They are also the most populous, including Tagalog, Bikol, and the major Visayan languages Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Waray, Kinaray-a, and Tausug, with some forty languages all together.
Malabang, officially the Municipality of Malabang, is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Lanao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 49,088 people. The town is one of the two former capitals of the Sultanate of Maguindanao from 1515 until the Spanish conquered the land in 1888.
The Moro people or Bangsamoro people are the 13 Muslim-majority ethnolinguistic Austronesian groups of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan, native to the region known as the Bangsamoro. As Muslim-majority ethnic groups, they form the largest non-Christian population in the Philippines, and comprise about 5% of the country's total population, or 5 million people.
The Iranun are an Austronesian ethnic group native to southwestern Mindanao, Philippines. They are ethnically and culturally closely related to the Maranao, and Maguindanaon, all three groups being denoted as speaking Danao languages and giving name to the island of Mindanao. The Iranun were traditionally sailors and were renowned for their ship-building skills. Iranun communities can also be found in Malaysia and Indonesia.
The Philippines is inhabited by more than 182 ethnolinguistic groups, many of which are classified as "Indigenous Peoples" under the country's Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act of 1997. Traditionally-Muslim peoples from the southernmost island group of Mindanao are usually categorized together as Moro peoples, whether they are classified as Indigenous peoples or not. About 142 are classified as non-Muslim Indigenous People groups, and about 19 ethnolinguistic groups are classified as neither indigenous nor moro. Various migrant groups have also had a significant presence throughout the country's history.
The Cebuano people are the largest subgroup of the larger ethnolinguistic group Visayans, who constitute the largest Filipino ethnolinguistic group in the country. They originated in the province of Cebu in the region of Central Visayas, but then later spread out to other places in the Philippines, such as Siquijor, Bohol, Negros Oriental, southwestern Leyte, western Samar, Masbate, and large parts of Mindanao. It may also refer to the ethnic group who speak the same language as their native tongue in different parts of the archipelago. The term Cebuano also refers to the demonym of permanent residents in Cebu island regardless of ethnicity.
The known recorded history of the Philippines between 900 and 1565 begins with the creation of the Laguna Copperplate Inscription in 900 and ends with the beginning of Spanish colonization in 1565. The inscription records its date of creation in the year 822 of the Hindu Saka calendar, corresponding to 900 AD in the Gregorian calendar. Therefore, the recovery of this document marks the end of the prehistory of the Philippines at 900 AD. During this historical time period, the Philippine archipelago was home to numerous kingdoms and sultanates and was a part of the theorized Indosphere and Sinosphere.
Malays played a significant role in pre-Hispanic Philippine history. Malay involvement in Philippine history goes back to the Classical Era with the establishment of Rajahnates as well as the Islamic era, in which various sultanates and Islamic states were formed in Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, and around Manila.
In the Philippine languages, a complex system of titles and honorifics was used extensively during the pre-colonial era, mostly by the Tagalogs and Visayans. These were borrowed from the Malay system of honorifics obtained from the Moro peoples of Mindanao, which in turn was based on the Indianized Sanskritized honorifics system in addition to the Chinese system of honorifics used in areas like Ma-i (Mindoro) and Pangasinan. The titles of historical figures such as Rajah Sulayman, Lakandula and Dayang Kalangitan evidence Indian influence. Malay titles are still used by the royal houses of Sulu, Maguindanao, Maranao and Iranun on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. However, these are retained on a traditional basis as the 1987 Constitution explicitly reaffirms the abolition of royal and noble titles in the republic.
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