Philippine English

... uh, is largely due to colonialism, um, because English was in, in, in many ways enforced, you know, um, in, in some of, uh, in, in many places in, in, in the world, and including where I'm from, you know? So, um, I'm from the Philippines, and we, and we became English speakers because my country was an American colony for, for a time.

But when we became an independent nation, um, we've decided that, okay, we want to retain English as a language, and that's why, uh, there's now an, a variety of English called Philippine English, which is what we speak in the Philippines.

And so people are aware of that, and they, and, and, and we do, um, get some- Uh, comments sometime that because, um, of what, uh, w- why do we need, uh, to include these words in the, in the dictionary-

Mm-hmm

...

I also applied the same techniques into, um, doing studies on, on Philippine English, which is the native v- uh, my native variety of English.

And then when I finished the PhD and I was looking around for a job, I found an advert for, um, postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Oxford, and the instructions were very broad.

They just said, you know, "Propose a project that involves-

[chuckles]

No. That's, that's, that's very true.

Um, and I remem- I was gonna say, I remember also I think learning, um, in Philippine English, I think you probably told me this, the adjective advanced is used when someone's talking about a watch or a clock showing a time that's later than it is.

So what we would probably say is, as fast.

They taught English as the medium of instruction, and in doing so, they planted a seed that would grow into a bilingual nation-state.

The irony is that this same policy also set up a framework for Philippine English to emerge from the cracks between formal schooling and everyday speech.

Fast-forward a few decades, and you see the Philippine government adopting English, not just in schools, but as an official language for legislative documents, court filings, and diplomatic correspondence.

That choice gave English institutional power that rivaled Filipino, the newly codified national tongue.

The legal profession relies on English to interpret international law, while everyday shoppers use it to navigate online marketplaces and foreign products.

This economic dimension has amplified English's visibility, making it a practical necessity for many Filipinos.

Phonologically, Philippine English is a fascinating hybrid.

The classic pin/pen merger means pin and pen sound identical, whereas vowels shift differently than in US accents.