Tagalog << tah GAH log >> language is the primary language of Luzon , the largest island of the Philippines . By some estimates, Tagalog is understood by around 90 percent of the people in the Philippines. It is one of the languages of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. The languages of this family are mostly spoken on the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, including the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and on Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean.
Tagalog was initially spoken only by an ethnic group in the Philippines called the Tagalogs. Many other ethnic groups in the country have their own languages as well. Tagalog was chosen as the basis for the Philippine national language in 1937. In this official function, it was known first as Pilipino and later as Filipino. For practical purposes, Tagalog and Filipino are nearly identical. Tagalog is the major lingua franca of the Philippines. A lingua franca << LIHNG gwuh FRANG kuh >> is a language that allows people who do not share a common native language to communicate.
There are several dialects (varieties) of Tagalog. The dialect of Manila , the capital, is considered the standard dialect. The dialects of the Batangas and Bulacan provinces are particularly respected because of the famous Tagalog authors who came from those areas.
Before the arrival of the Spanish in the early 1500’s, Tagalog was written using a special kind of script (writing system), known as baybayin. Variations of baybayin were common in several parts of the Philippines. Baybayin is still used by the Mangyan tribe on the island of Mindoro. However, baybayin writing was typically carved into pieces of bamboo. Such material did not last long in the tropical climate of the Philippines. Therefore, very little early writing exists in Tagalog. After the arrival of the Spanish, Latin script gradually replaced baybayin.
Some kinds of Tagalog literature were adopted from types of Spanish literature —for example, homilies (short moral essays) and romances. Other Tagalog literature—such as the Balagtasan, a rhyming debate—is based on Tagalog folk traditions. The Tagalog-based national language, Filipino, is currently the language of a growing popular and academic literature in the Philippines. It is used in the thriving movie industry in the Philippines, which also releases Tagalog films.
