Languages of the Philippines

Languages of the Philippines
Overview of the spread and overlap of the languages spoken throughout the country as of March 2017, by the KWF (Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino)
Official	Filipino and English
National	Filipino[1]
Regional	Aklanon Arabic Central Bikol Cebuano Chavacano Hiligaynon/Ilonggo Ibanag Ilocano Ivatan Kapampangan/Pampango Kinaray-a Maguindanao Maranao Pangasinan/Pangasinense Sambal Spanish Surigaonon Tagalog Tausūg Waray Yakan[2]
Vernacular	Malay (Indonesian · Malaysian) Philippine Spanish Philippine Hokkien Philippine English Taglish Bislish
Foreign	Cantonese German Hindi Japanese Korean Mandarin
Signed	Filipino Sign Language American Sign Language
Keyboard layout	QWERTY

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There are some 130 to 195 languages spoken in the Philippines, depending on the method of classification.^[3][4][5][6] 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^[7][8][9] 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.^[10]

Republic Act 11106 declares Filipino Sign Language or FSL as the country's official sign language and as the Philippine government's official language in communicating with the Filipino Deaf.^[11]

While Filipino is used for communication across the country's diverse linguistic groups and in popular culture, the government operates mostly using English. Including second-language speakers, there are more speakers of Filipino than English in the Philippines.^[12] The other regional languages are given official auxiliary status in their respective places according to the constitution but particular languages are not specified.^[13] Some of these regional languages are also used in education.^[2]

The indigenous scripts of the Philippines (such as the Kulitan, Tagbanwa and others) are used very little; instead, Philippine languages are today written in the Latin script because of the Spanish and American colonial experience. Baybayin, though generally not understood, is one of the most well-known of the Philippine indigenous scripts and is used mainly in artistic applications such as on current Philippine banknotes, where the word "Pilipino" is inscribed using the writing system. Additionally, the Arabic script is used in the Muslim areas in the southern Philippines.

Tagalog and Bisaya are the most commonly spoken native language groups. Filipino and English are the official languages of the Philippines. The official languages were used as the main modes of instruction in schools, allowing mother tongues as auxiliary languages of instruction.^[14] The Philippine Department of Education (DepEd) has put forth initiatives in using mother tongues as modes of instructions over the years.^[15][16][17]