Languages matter in culture matters

By Junley L. Lazaga

LITERATURE is one way to intellectualize a language. The Cordillera literary tradition is an oral tradition; thus, it must not be regarded as a dead institution.

From its communal, oral and ritualistic nature, Cordillera literature has gone through linguistic transition (i.e. the oral tradition transcribed into written form using another language, most often English and Filipino) and transformation into other forms (i.e. folk/cultural songs popularized in modern versions, both in the vernacular and other languages).

The present concern is the advancement of literatures in the vernacular. The undertone of such endeavor is the conviction there are cultural identities and knowledge, which are constituent of vernacular languages.

Locally, this is also a project to enrich Filipino national languages and strengthen Philippine national consciousness -- by incorporating the consciousness and wisdom, not only from Tagalog and other foreign languages (Spanish, Arabic, English, Chinese, Japanese), but more importantly of all the vernacular languages and cultures of the Philippines.

In proclaiming the year 2008 as the International Year of Languages, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly continues to recognize the worth of every language and culture.

The resolution from which the proclamation originated is intended to assert that "genuine multilingualism promotes unity in diversity and international understanding."

This proclamation is a call to urgency. It comes from the threat of the fact more than half of the seven thousand-plus languages spoken in the world may soon disappear.

Language or a linguistic system is imperative in every human activity; because all human actions/relations are social. Thus, even in globalization, all languages, all cultures, matter.

Unesco Director General Koïchiro Matsuura stated, "They (languages) constitute a strategic factor of progress towards sustainable development and a harmonious relationship between the global and the local context." Global, in the first place is rooted in the local.

Thousands of the languages of the world are endangered because of their absence from the "intellectual" field. There are more than a 170 languages that constitute the Philippine Family of Languages belonging to the Autronesian linguistic family.

In the Philippines, only the official languages (English and Filipino), and the eight major languages (Cebuano, Tagalog, Ilokano, Bikol, Hiligaynon, Waray, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan) are "intellectualized", because of their active usage in literature, the education system, and the media.

The University of the Philippines Baguio, in cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), has initiated the Timpalak Panitik sa mga Wikang Kordilyera (Cordillera Literary Competition), a poetry and short story competition in any of the varieties of Ibaloi, Kankanaey, Bontoc, Ifugao and Kalinga.

The contest is open to all, aged 17 to 30 years.

The deadline for submission of entries is on October 31. For more details, interested individuals and parties may contact the College of Arts and Communication, University of the Philippines Baguio, Gov. Pack Road, Baguio City, telefax (074) 444 83 93, or email cac@mail.upb.edu.ph or junleylazaga@yahoo.com.ph .

The imagining of the Philippine nation (to use the concept of Benedict Anderson) ought to be rooted in all the ethnolinguistic communities of the land.

With this, we hope the Cordillera cultures are ascertained as a building block of a strong Philippine national identity. We cannot be a confused component of the global culture.

Ubbog and Cordillera Writing

By JM Agreda

The Cordillera region probably has one of the richest kinds of languages in the country.But soon, with the proliferation of foreign languages as well as languages from the lowlands, acclaimed writers like National Artists for Literature Dr. Bienvenido Lumbera and Dr. Virgilio Almario in last summer's Forum on New Trends in Philippine Literature at UP Baguio predicted that indigenous languages and literatures of the region may face the possibility of disappearance as many of its inhabitants prefer to speak and write in the more popular and widely spoken languages.


During the forum, Lumbera and Almario together with UP Institute for Creative Writing Director Vim Nadera called for a renewed interest of writing from the regions not only in common mediums like English and Filipino but also in the local languages of the Cordillera like Iluko, Ibaloi, Kankanaey, Kalanguya, Ifugao and Kalinga.

As one of the fellows in last year's UP Baguio-National Commission for Culture and the Arts Cordillera Creative Writing Workshop, I was alarmed with their forecast as it may soon spell out the end of writing in the local languages.

In an effort to continue the main aim of last year's workshop of preserving Cordillera literature, the Ubbog: Cordillera Young Writers was formed last April 2007.

In existence for a year now, Ubbog, which means spring in Iluko, aims to involve the youth as forerunners in the cause of continuing to write short stories, poetry, creative non-fiction and other literary genres in the local languages and in Filipino and English mediums that will help showcase the unique culture of the indigenous peoples of the Cordillera.

As a founding member of the group, I believe ideas from young bloods would be of great help in quenching the thirst for more literature coming from the region. This endeavor will also help preserve practices and traditions through written and published literature that are uniquely Cordilleran.

Together with 13 young writers who were my fellow delegates in the workshop coming from UP Baguio, University of the Cordilleras and Benguet State University, we conducted monthly Creative Writing workshops and occasionally performed vernacular poetry in open mike sessions and events in the city.

Ubbog members include young professionals and students who are engaged in a plethora of fields like Education, Creative writing, Journalism, Information Technology, Law and yes, even in the field of Nursing.

Expect the columns in the following weeks to tackle different views of the youth covering a myriad of topics such as languages, information technology, pop culture and other issues that concerns the youth.

In behalf of Ubbog, I take the opportunity to thank Sun.Star Baguio for their support of our goals. As the first writer tasked on writing the first column of the group, I consider this pioneering effort as just the starting point of an exciting journey of young minds to share and voice out their views on issues that matter to us.

Just a side note, UP Baguio and NCCA are calling for entries written in Ibaloi, Kankanaey, Bontoc, Ifugao, and Kalinga to the Timpalak Panitik sa mga Wikang Kordilyera. Prizes will be given away for winners in Poetry and Short Story categories. For more inquiries contact Junley Lazaga at UP Baguio College of Arts and Communication (074) 444 83 93 or e-mail him at junleylazaga@yahoo.com.ph. Forms are also available at the UP Baguio website.

In The Beginning

The ignominy of the "I"... or something. But this is what this blog is for, the "I" being UBBOG as a whole. We (for it is composed of a we, around 15 members and counting) have nothing else to write about after all. As a mentor once said, we still lack the experience, so here, we talk of the times that follow our search for that experience. It might be cliche, it might be old and used, but this is our eyes, our "I", which makes it somehow new to us.