Okay, to make things straight and sorted out, the difference between a language and a dialect is…
When one speaks to another person and weren’t able to identify a few words, then that is a dialect.
For example, in the Kapampangan language, in the northwestern parts of Pampanga such as Minalin, Floridablanca and Sasmuan,
“Nanu ing asan yu?“ means “Ano ang isda ninyo?” in the eastern parts such as Candaba, Arayat and outlying towns such as Apalit, Macabebe and San Simon. But to the northwestern context, they meant “Ano ang ulam ninyo?“ Therefore, the Kapampangan language has its dialects.And when it is a language, the two speakers are not able to understand each other. For example, the Kapampangan sentence, “Asapu ke ing bola king lalam na ning tete.” that means “I caught the ball below the bridge.“ would make the Tagalog speakers surprised and feel embarassment because of the words “asapu ke” and “tete". Another example is the time marker “potang bengi" that means “later in the evening", but if it was spoken around Tagalogs, they would hear “putang bingi" or “deaf whore".
To conclude this, I would like everyone to know that Kapampangan is not a dialect but a language, as well as Ilonggo, Sinugbuano, Ilocano and other Austronesian languages in the archipelago.
A French writer, J. Mallat, wrote in his book ’Les Philippines; histoire, géographie, moeurs, agriculture, industrie et commerce des colonies espagnoles dans l'Océanie (1846)’ described the province of Pampanga as the richest and most beautiful in the Philippines, thus, has been dubbed as ‘New Castille’.
The Sangleys of Pampanga
Have you ever wondered why there are tons of Filipinos with Chinese surnames? Probably not, because most of us know that at some point in our history, the Chinese were already here even before the archipelago was called the Philippines. The Filipino-Chinese are prominent because they are the forerunners in the fields of trade and industry which spanned their legacy from the pre-Hispanic Philippines to date.
There is no doubt the Chinese merchants reached the archipelago through sail since, nautically-speaking, the island of Luzon isn’t that far from mainland China. And if the Chinese merchants reached the islands through boats and ships, it is undeniable they could have navigated through rivers and creeks.
The communities in the pre-Hispanic Pampanga thrived in the village of Betis which was
“…muy poblado de gente y e la más fortificado de toda la isla de Luzón… (…well-populated, the most fortified throughout the island of Luzon)”
as well as the settlements in Lubao certainly had Chinese merchants for trade interactions and exploration. A century and a half after the first contact of the Spaniards to the natives (1738 to be precise), the Chinese mestizos numbered up to 3480 in Pampanga. Then 24 years later, the Chinese migrated in “large flocks to Guagua” which was probably because they allied with the British forces, where they also “joined in their military campaigns, set fire to many towns, desecrated the churches, killed several Spaniards, and even tortured a few priests.” This happened in the aftermath of the British occupation of Manila in 1762-1764.
Another event the Spanish era, a mysterious disappearance of the Sangley colony established by the royal cedula in April 27, 1784 in the Pinac (Swamp) region of Candaba happened in 1850. The traces of this colony comprised of 200 Christian Chinese was nowhere to be found. Adding to that, there was an excavation in 1937 facilitated by Professor Henry Otley Beyer and Henry Costenoble. The excavation unearthed Chinese burial jars from Southern China at barrio Dolores in Hacienda Ramona, north of Porac. These burial jars were dated back from the 3rd century of the Christian era.
Today, the Chinese influence on Kapampangans lives on. There are certain words that were borrowed from their language. This is the result of interracial marriage and because of trade and commercial purposes. Family-related terms such as ápû 阿婆 (maternal grandmother), impû 外婆 (paternal grandmother), ingkung 外公 (paternal grandfather), atchi 阿姐 (eldest sister), koya 哥仔 (eldest brother) are loan words from the Cantonese and Hokkien languages which are widely used in Kapampangan households especially those of Chinese descent.
9 Randomly Chosen Kapampangan Words
I got bored and I took out words from a Kapampangan dictionary dating from the year 1732, and these are the words I stumbled upon.
“Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.”
- Rita Mae Brown
when halloween szn is over in a week
guys i’m sorry but this was part of that inspiration burst
Someone asked if I could sketch Riku, so I did him with Sora.
#IT HAPPENED #CUSTOMIZATION IN THE KINGDOM HEARTS MAIN TITLES #AQUA IN MINNIE MOUSE EARS # I DIDN’T KNOW HOW MUCH I NEEDED THAT
I spent an hour making this flag so now you all have to look at it.
