Reyes,
Maria Luisa T

The lecture deals with the Philippines’ issues of physical geography, linguistic diversity, and the continuing dominance of English as, nationally, one of two official languages; particularly, it is the “official” language of Science and Technology. These issues would come to the fore in relation to Super Typhoon Yolanda, considered one of the deadliest typhoons ever recorded in the Philippines, causing catastrophic devastation in 2013. An archipelago’s physical geography’s effect upon linguistic diversity like the Philippines, which is composed of 7,100 islands, is most evident in the more than a hundred distinct languages of indigenous and non-indigenous tongues spoken in the country. As such, an archipelago’s history, culture, and linguistic landscape embodies its own grammar and vocabulary to describe its physical landscape. In this sense, for example, “bagyo” (typhoon) in Luzon, which has a wall of mountains on the coast is not the same as the meaning of the local word for typhoon in flat islands like those in Samar or Leyte in the Eastern Visayas. In a typhoon-prone archipelago in which instant communication is a must, the language used for the quick relay of information is a basic tool for the survival of local communities. But English has remained the “official” language of science and technology in the country for over a century, eclipsing all others, claiming universality in education and government policy, while the local languages or adapted or derivative foreign terminologies are looked down upon for being “non-technological,” and therefore scientifically inaccurate. The foreign and the local/adapted terminologies come to blows during emergencies, natural and man-made disasters, in which the language used worsens rather than mitigates deaths and destruction, raising ethical questions beyond the technological or linguistic.