Wikipedia and Philippines

Wikipedia has become an important source of knowledge online. We can find there information about most of the topics that we can be discussing in any situation. Although it is not accepted as a main source of reference by many academic institutions, its system of references provide an idea about which texts we can use for consultation. One of the advantages of Wikipedia is that we can find information in different languages. The most diverse languages are represented in this Encyclopedia.

To say that the most used language in Wikipedia is English, may not surprise many people. But I do not think that many people know that the second most used language in Wikipedia, in terms of number of article published there, is Cebuano, also known as Bisaya, Visayan. The list of language and the No of articles can be read here https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wikipedias . At the moment that I read this page, there were 4,549,904 articles in Cebuano.

Cebuano is an Austronesian language that belongs to the of Malayo – Polinesian Branch, spoken in Philippines. In https://www.ethnologue.com/language/ceb threre is an estimation of aprox. 15,800,000 speakers, who mostly live in parts of Mindanao, Islands of Cebu, Bohol, parts of Negros, Guimaras, Masbate, Samar, Leyte and Luzon.  It is not an official language, but is considered a language for wider communication and language of provincial identity in Cebu and in other 4 areas. According to ethnologue, some dialects are, Boholano, Dialect from Cebu Island, Leyte and Mindanao Visayan. Cebuano is the language that has the highest number of Native speakers in Philippines and is the second most used language after Tagalog.

Here are some basic Phrases in Cebuano:

-Good Morning: Maayong buntag                         -Good Evening: Maayong Gabii

-How Are You?: Kumusta ka?                               -I am fine: Maayo ra

-I am …..: Ako si …….                                            -Thanks: Salamat

- Let’s Eat: Manga-on ta                                        -Please: Palihug

-I came to Philippines to visit a friend: Ni-ari ko sa Pilipinas para mo-bisita sa-akong amigo.

Cebuano has also some words of English and Spanish origin.

Speaking about the languages used in Wikipedia, the influence of Philippines does not finish here. Among the top 10 languages used in this site, there is another language that comes from this country: Waray.

Waray language, also known as Waray-Waray, Samar – Leyte, is also a language that belongs to the Malayo-Polinesian Branch of the Austronesian Family, and is spoken also in Philippines, mainly in Samar and Leyte Islands.  According to https://www.ethnologue.com/language/war This language has more than 2,500.000 speakers, and is also a language of provincial identity, in the Islands here mentioned. Philippines Census 2000 states that this is the fifth most spoken language in this country as Native language. Today, Wikipedia reports 1,262,534 articles in this language, being the 10^th most used language, out of more than 280 languages used in this Encyclopedia in Internet. It is interesting to note that Tagalog, the most used language in Philippines, is the 68^th in Wikipedia, with almost 70.000 articles.

 Here are some basic Phrases in Waray:

-Good Morning: Maupay nga aga                          -Good Evening: Maupay nga Gab-i

-How Are You?: Kumusta ka?                                -I am fine: Maupay man

-Let´s go: Andar na                                                 -Thanks: Salamat

- Let’s Eat: Panga-on kita                                     -Please: Palihog

-Do you speak English?: Maaram ka mag-iningles?

This language has also some Spanish words.

In the page  http://www.binisaya.com/content/spanish-loan-words-cebuano  there is a list of Spanish words used in Cebuano . There is another list for Waray language in http://www.moddb.com/members/zuru1/blogs/waray-waray . With some time another lists of Spanish words used in Philippines can be found.

Here are some Spanish words that both languages have:

Spanish	Cebuano	Waray	English
Aguinaldo	Aginaldo	Aginaldo	Christmas Gift
Alhaja	Alahas	Alahas	Jewel
Ventana	Bentana	Bintana	Window
Doña	Donya	Donya	Madam
Ciudad	Siyudad	Syudad	City
Tenedor	Tinidor	Tinidor	Fork
Cuchara	Kutsara	Kutsara	Spoon
Caballo	Kabalyo	Kabayo	Horse
Aburrido	Aburido	Aborido	Bored
Abogado	Abogado	Abogado	Lawyer

Wikipedia has indeed made a democratization of information in different languages. One of its achievements is that you do not need to speak in a given language to have access to some information but you can access it in your own language. However, this is something that needs work and dedication. In an earlier article, I mention the case of Volapük, A constructed language that is spoken fluently by just 20 people, and there are more than 120.000 articles in Wikipedia, listed as 54 in order, out of more than 280 languages used in this site,  by the way, many more than the number of articles in Tagalog, a language spoken by most of the speakers of the Philippine languages described here. Anyway, anyone can share information in any language.

Access to a computer and Internet is key, and this may prevent that some languages have a more active voice in the World wide web. In the last years, Philippines has been going through a more active participation in the IT industry, and in some areas it can even compete with countries like India.

In my opinion, Internet and sites like this, often feared as a mean of imposition of certain languages, can represent a unique opportunity for minority languages. Cebuano and Waray are not official languages in Philippines, and I read in different sites that they were not used even for formal education just a couple of years ago. Today they are awake and people who live in other parts of the world can have access to them, no matter if they do not have any connection to Philippines. An Interconnected world indeed!