Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A
major current goal of the American Ethnically, the Philippines is the most
Speech-Language-Hearing Association diverse country in Asia (Chan, 1992). Filipinos
(ASHA) is to increase its members generally descend from the Malay, Spanish,
sensitivity to and competence in serving Negrito (indigenous group), Indian, Chinese,
individuals from a variety of linguistic and and Indonesian groups. Approximately 80% of
cultural backgrounds (Quinn, Goldstein, & the population lives in rural areas, and 45% of
Pea, 1996; Roseberry-McKibbin, 1995). A the population is directly involved in agricul-
multicultural group that has become increas- tural jobs. Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos
ingly large in the United States is the Filipino have emigrated to the United States during the
population. In 1990, there were 1.4 million last several decades, motivated in large part by
Filipinos living in the United States, with 50% the opportunities to pursue better jobs and
Roseberry-McKibbin
of them living in California and 61% of them education for themselves and their children
living in the Pacific West. Filipinos are the (Garza & Scott, 1996). In addition, poverty, a
second largest Asian group in this country and lack of job opportunities, and an unstable
the largest Asian immigrant group to the United political climate have motivated the popularly
States (Chan, 1992). The Filipino population in known brain drain, where many well-
the United States will reach 2 million by the educated Filipino professionals have emigrated
year 2000, yet very little information about this to the United States in search of a better life.
population is available in the field of communi- For the same reasons, unskilled rural laborers
cation disorders (Garza & Scott, 1996). have come to the United States as well (Chan,
Because speech-language pathologists will be 1992). Speech-language pathologists need to
serving increasing numbers of Filipino clients, recognize that there are profound differences
this article was written to (a) share information between urban and rural Filipinos in areas such
about the Philippines, (b) discuss cultural as amount of education, English proficiency,
practices that have an impact on our service health practices, and acceptance of Western
delivery to Filipinos, and (c) discuss linguistic medicine and speech-language services.
considerations that speech-language patholo- Filipinos bring many strengths to the United
gists need to be familiar with in order to best States, including English fluency and economic
serve Filipino clients. The information con- stability. The Philippines is considered the only
tained in this article was synthesized from my country in Asia that is predominantly English-
experience living in the Philippines from age 6 speaking (Chan, 1992). Most Filipinos are
to age 17, from clinical experience, from fluent in English because it is taught in the
interviews with Filipinos, and from sources schools, and it is estimated that 90% of
cited in the reference list. Filipino-American students are designated as
Fluent English Proficient (Cheng, Nakasato, &
Wallace, 1995). Seventy-one percent of
Background and History Filipinos in the United States have become U.S.
The Philippines is a 1,000-mile long archi- citizensthe highest rate of any immigrant
pelago containing more than 7,200 widely group. In household income, Filipino Ameri-
scattered islands. Situated south of Taiwan and cans are second only to Japanese Americans.
Roseberry-McKibbin 7
children should be protected from it, not authoritarian. Students are very respectful, stay
allowed to explore it (Ramos & Goulet, 1981). quietly in their seats, and generally do not
Speech-language pathologists who conduct question teachers. Classroom discussions are
early intervention should understand that very rare, and students are rewarded more
recommendations for childrens exploration of frequently for being respectful and polite than
the environment and increased independence for demonstrating intellectual growth (Wurfel,
may run counter to the beliefs of some Filipino 1988). Corporal punishment is acceptable in
families. most Filipino schools. In my third and fourth
Some American clinicians have told me that grade classrooms, the teachers carried and used
they perceive young Filipino children as large sticks to hit children whose behavior did
immature. Because of the differences in not conform to expectations. Schoolchildren are
Filipino and American expectations in childrens expected to look down when speaking to an
independence, American speech-language adult. (I once inherited a fourth-grade
pathologists might view young children, Filipino student onto my caseload in the
especially preschoolers, as being too depen- schools; an IEP goal in the area of pragmatics
dent, clingy, and immature. This is often was to increase the students eye contact!)
cultural; it is important to realize that in the Children laugh when they are embarassed,
Philippines, independence for children is which could mislead U.S. professionals to think
emphasized later than it is in American culture. that Filipino children do not take reprimands
This has implications for early intervention. seriously (Roseberry-McKibbin, 1995).
Whereas American speech-language patholo-
gists place a high value on early intervention,
many Filipino parents view this as intrusive. Health and Disabilities
They frequently believe that young children Poverty and overcrowdedness are rampant in
will outgrow any problems seen, and may be the Philippines, with an estimated 70% of
very reluctant to avail themselves and their Filipinos living below the poverty line. In Metro
children of early intervention services. Manila, the 11th largest city in the world, the
urban density in 1994 was 56,141 people per
square mile (Hinkelman, 1996). Although actual
Education starvation is not common, many Filipinos
Filipinos place an extremely high value on experience malnutrition and subsequent health
education. Families will make many sacrifices problems. Overpopulation is a major issue, which
to educate their children. Education is a status is challenging to address because most Catholic
symbol, a promise of a better future, and is Filipinos do not practice birth control. Many rural
viewed as a means of advancement for the families are large, having between 9 and 12
entire family. A major motivation for many children. A United Nations Population poll
Filipino families to emigrate to the United showed that in 1950 there were 21 million people
States is to pursue better educational opportuni- living in the Philippines. By 1995, that figure had
ties for their children (Cheng, 1991). In the tripled. The United Nations projects an increase
Philippines, the literacy rate is 90%; 10 years of to 105.1 million people by the year 2025
public education are available to most of the (Hinkelman, 1996).
people. However, in some rural areas, student Health care in the Philippines is scarce. In
school attendance is not enforced. In addition, 1990, there was one medical doctor for every
more recent Filipino immigrants have come 8,120 people (Hinkelman, 1996). If family
from a deteriorating economy with disrupted members become sick, especially in rural areas,
schooling, and some recent arrivals are not as they may seek faith healing or alternative forms
literate as their earlier counterparts. Thus, of natural healing. Many tribal Filipinos believe
American professionals may work with many in aswang or witches that can cause misfortune
well-educated and literate Filipino students as such as ill health. Persons from rural areas may
well as those at-risk Filipino students whose be accustomed to friendly and available folk
literacy skills are quite low (Cheng et al., 1995). healers and may expect this same attitude from
In many Philippine schools, supplies are U.S. physicians. If these expectations are not
quite limited. In my classrooms, textbooks were met, families may change doctors or avoid
very scarce. We spent many hours copying Western health care facilities. Speech-language
information from the chalkboard. Hard work pathologists may need to help these families
and rote memory are emphasized, so many modify their expectations so that their medical
Filipino students may need practice in critical needs can be met. Urbanized Filipinos rely on
thinking, question-asking, problem-solving, and Western medical care. Some Filipinos combine
exploration (Cheng & Ima, 1990). In third traditional and modern approaches to healing
grade and beyond, classrooms are extremely (Chan, 1992).
Roseberry-McKibbin 9
may be very uncomfortable calling speech- norm. For example, it is common for Filipinos
language pathologists (authority figures) by to ask if you are married and if you have any
their first names. Speech-language pathologists children. I was recently asked by a Filipino
should be receptive to being called by a title if gentleman if I had any children. When I said
this will help Filipino clients to be more no, he asked why not. Filipinos frequently ask
comfortable. others ages because knowledge of someones
Because Filipinos wish to save face and age helps the speaker place the other person in
avoid hiya, they may say yes when they the appropriate spot on the social hierarchy
mean no; they may be indirect and appear to (Cheng & Ima, 1990). Some Filipinos may
be skirting the issue. Filipinos are very make remarks about a persons body weight;
reluctant to openly disagree with others and for married women, being 2030 pounds
may use silence to communicate dissatisfaction overweight is a sign of having a successful
or even anger. This can be frustrating and husband. Being thin is viewed negatively, as
confusing to American speech-language this indicates that life is not treating a person
pathologists, who expect interactions with well (Ramos & Goulet, 1981). Open discus-
clients to be open and honest. Speech-language sions about money are common. It is consid-
pathologists might give recommendations to a ered appropriate, for example, to ask others
family who agrees to carry them out; later, they what their annual salaries are or how much
find to their chagrin that the family never their possessions cost. Professionals should be
intended to follow the recommendations. It is prepared for some Filipinos to ask personal
important to be sensitive, diplomatic, and questionsfor example, the professionals
honest with Filipino families, and to encourage age, income, price of clothingand to make
them to express how they truly feel about remarks that seem very personal (e.g. Youre
situations. Clinicians should try not to openly so skinnyyou need to eat more). These
display anger toward Filipino clients, for the questions and remarks are intended as signs of
clients may feel so alienated, angry, and interest, not intrusiveness. In the Philippines, a
ashamed that they might never come back for common greeting is Where are you going?
further interactions or services. Although this may seem intrusive to Ameri-
Several weeks ago I was involved (through cans, the answer expected is over there.
the public schools) in a situation with a American clinicians must balance their
Filipino family where their 8-year old daugh- ingrained cultural mor of privacy with their
ter, M., was assessed for severe and persistent desire to establish rapport with Filipino clients.
hypernasality secondary to velar immobility.
After 3 years of treatment, Ms intelligibility
gains were minimal. I recommended that M. be Linguistic Characteristics
thoroughly assessed by medical personnel to and Patterns
ascertain whether she might benefit from a There are 87 mutually unintelligible
pharyngeal flap. I recommended dismissal languages in the Philippines; these all stem
from treatment, until medical assessment and from the Malayo-Polynesian group (Cheng et
intervention occurred, because M. had pla- al., 1995). The eight most common languages
teaued in her intelligibility gains. The father are listed in Figure 1. Tagalog/Pilipino is the
was very angry, and indicated in writing that
he disagreed with my recommendation for FIGURE 1. Major languages of the Philippines
dismissal from treatment. I did not argue with
him, but instead thoroughly and tactfully
Pangasinan 2.3
explained the rationale for my recommenda-
tion. I assured him that I would send him and Pampango 3.4
his wife a copy of my report for them to take to Samar/Leyte 4.6
Ms doctor. I encouraged him to call me at any Bicol 7
time if he had further questions. As he left, he
Hiligaynon/Ilongo 10
gave me a small smile. Although I felt some
frustration with not being able to persuade the Other 11.1
father to take immediate action on behalf of his Ilocano 13.4
daughter, I knew it was important not to argue Tagalog 23.8
and alienate him entirely. No angry words
Cebuano 24.4
were exchanged, and I hope that eventually he
will contact me so that I might be of further 0 10 20 30
assistance in helping M. obtain the medical Percentage of the Population
care she needs. Speaking the Language
In the Philippines, personal questions are the
Roseberry-McKibbin 11
Pilipino deaspirate the initial voiceless stops instance, the root bili has different meanings,
/p, t, k/; they may also deaspirate these sounds which change depending on which affix is
in English, making them sound to many used: (Cheng, 1991, p. 64)
speakers of standard American English like palabili (adjective) fond of buying
voiced stops (Ramos & Cena, 1990). Filipinos makabili (verb) to be able to buy
also dentalize the tip-alveolars /t, d, n/. leumbili (verb) to buy
Pilipino distinguishes more vowel sounds bilihin (noun) items to buy/are for sale
than do other Filipino dialects or languages, so magbili (verb) to sell
native Pilipino speakers from the island of
Luzon might find it easier to distinguish the A Pilipino verb usually contains a base or root
minimal pair bit-bet than a speaker of and one or more affixes. The base provides the
Cebuano from the island of Cebu (Chan, meaning of the verb, and the affixes show the
1992). The Pilipino language uses onomato- relation of the topic to the verb and also the
poeia; for example, the Pilipino word pagaspas character of the action (Ramos & Bautista,
means the sound produced when a strong 1986). Through affixation, most roots in Pilipino
breeze passes by the leaves of trees. may become verbs: (Cheng, 1991, p. 65)
payag (adjective) willing
pumayag (verb) to agree
Linguistic Characteristics of Filipino
dasal (noun) prayer
Languages: A Contrastive Analysis With
magdasal (verb) to pray
English and Clinical Implications
Speech-language pathologists must take The importance of affixes in Pilipino verbs
morphosyntactic rules of Filipino languages is also illustrated by the fact that Pilipino has
into account in order to understand possible three aspects of verbs: completed (for action
transfer of these rules into English production. started and terminated), contemplated (for
This is especially critical when a speech- action not yet started), and incompleted (for
language pathologist is attempting to distin- action still in progress or action started but not
guish a language difference from a disorder in a yet completed) (Ramos, 1985, p. 201; Ramos &
Filipino student in the schools. Clinicians who Cena, 1990, pp. 4751). Affixes indicate each
conduct American accent training with adult aspect. For example:
Filipino clients should also be aware of Com- Contem- Incom-
possible linguistic transfer from Pilipino to Root pleted plated pleted
English.
dala (to bring) nagdala magdadala nagdadala
For example, the bound morpheme -s
alis (go away) nag-alis mag-aalis nag-aalis
indicates plurality for most English nouns. In
galit (to be angry) nagalit magagalit nagagalit
Filipino languages, however, the plural is
laro (to play) naglaro maglalaro naglalaro
indicated by the word onga placed before the
nominal or before another word like a number. Because of the differences in Pilipino and
For example, onga bata means children; English verb systems, it is common for Filipino
dalawang bata means two child. Reduplica- speakers of English to make errors in verb
tion is commonly used to show linguistic tenses. For example, a Filipino may say I am
features such as intensity and plurality: (Cheng, to be going to the store. A Filipino friend of
1991, p. 65) mine, whose English is quite fluent, recently
dalawa two told me that 99% [of the people] in Luzon
daladalawa by twos speaks Tagalog. Clinicians may need to
dadadalawa only two address these verb differences in treatment.
In terms of pronouns, Filipino languages do
Because of these differences, Filipinos learning not indicate gender as does English: (Cheng,
English may have trouble correctly and 1991, p. 66)
consistently using regular and irregular plural kaniya his/hers
forms in English (Cheng, 1993). For example, a siya he/she
Filipino might say I have two notebook in my niy him/her
bag.
Filipino languages have a complex system Many Pilipino speakers, in English, may make
of affixes. Most words consist of roots, which gender errors, referring to a woman as he, or
are verbal, substantive, and adjectival in telling a man that she looks handsome.
meaning, and affixes, which show focus, American clinicians may need to help Filipino
respect, and mode (Cheng, 1991, p. 64). A clients consistently use correct gender forms in
words specific meaning is determined by the English, and conduct treatment activities
combination of its root and affix or affixes. For emphasizing accurate use of pronouns.
Roseberry-McKibbin 13
pragmatic skills: A comparison of Latino students Quinn, R., Goldstein, B., & Pea, E. D. (1996).
in English as a second language and speech and Cultural/linguistic variation in the United States
language programs. Language, Speech, and and its implications for assessment and interven-
Hearing Services in Schools, 27(1), 6877. tion in speech-language pathology: An introduc-
Chan, S. (1992). Understanding families with tion. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in
Filipino roots. In E. W. Lynch & M. J. Hanson Schools, 27(4), 345346.
(Eds.), Developing cross-cultural competence: A Ramos, T. V. (1985). Conversational Tagalog:
guide for working with young children and their A functional-situational approach. Honolulu:
families (pp. 259300). Baltimore: Paul H. University of Hawaii.
Brookes. Ramos, T. V., & Cena, R. M. (1990). Modern
Cheng, L. L. (1991). Assessing Asian language Tagalog: Grammatical explanations and
performance (2nd ed.). Oceanside, CA: Aca- exercises for non-native speakers. Honolulu:
demic Communication Associates. University of Hawaii.
Cheng, L. L. (1993). Overview of Asian-American Ramos, T. V., & Goulet, R. M. (1981). Intermedi-
people. In D. E. Battle (Ed.), Communication ate Tagalog: Developing cultural awareness
disorders in multicultural populations (pp. 3877). through language. Honolulu: University of
Stoneham, MA: Andover Medical Publishers. Hawaii.
Cheng, L. L., & Ima, K. (1990). Understanding the Ramos, T. V., & Bautista, M. L. S. (1986).
Filipino immigrant. San Diego: Los Amigos. Handbook of Tagalog verbs, inflections, modes,
Cheng, L. L., Nakasato, J., & Wallace, G. (1995). and aspects. Honolulu: University of Hawaii.
The Pacific-Islander population and the chal- Roseberry-McKibbin, C. (1995). Multicultural
lenges they face. In L. L. Cheng (Ed.), Integrat- students with special language needs: Practical
ing language and learning for inclusion: An strategies for assessment and intervention.
Asian-Pacific focus (pp. 63106). San Diego: Oceanside, CA: Academic Communication
Singular. Associates.
de Guzman, R. P., & Reforma, M. A. (1988). Wurfel, D. (1988). Filipino politics: Development
Government and politics of the Philippines. New and decay. New York: Cornell University Press.
York: Oxford University.
Garza, E., & Scott, C. M. (1996, November). Received November 18, 1996
Language perceptions and practices of Filipino- Accepted March 27, 1997
American immigrants. Paper presented at the
annual meeting of the American Speech- Contact author: Celeste Roseberry-McKibbin,
Language-Hearing Association, Seattle, WA. PhD, Department of Communicative Sciences
Hinkelman, E. G. (Ed.). (1996). Philippines and Disorders, California State University,
business: The portable encyclopedia for doing Fresno, 5048 N. Jackson Avenue, Fresno, CA
business with the Philippines. San Rafael, CA: 93740-8022
World Trade Press.
Kroeger, P. (1993). Phrase structure and grammati-
cal relations in Tagalog. Stanford, CA: CSLI Key Words: Filipino, Philippines, Pilipino,
Publications. Tagalog, culture
Celeste Roseberry-McKibbin
Am J Speech Lang Pathol 1997;6;5-14