Schedule
Nov. 27, 2024 | 2:15–3:45 PM
Room
Rm 4, Jade-Onyx
Moderator
Alexander Michael G. Palma
University of the Philippines Diliman
B4.1
Merchants of Speech: Empowering Performances and the Neoliberal Filipino Speaker in the 21st-century Philippines
Oscar T. Serquiña, Jr.
University of the Philippines Diliman
Discourses of empowerment, development, and hope are fundamental to the pedagogies and performances of certain “merchants of speech” in the 21st century Philippines. These merchants include speech masters, inspirational speakers, and personality developers who offer training services to private individuals coming from a spectrum of settings (i.e., business, advertising, telecommunication, and the mass media) and utilize their communicative capacities to go up the social ladder and entrench themselves in commercial industries. In this presentation, my task is threefold. Using interviews, write-ups, press releases, social media posts, and other video documentations on/by these speaking subjects, I probe the process in which these enterprising agents constitute their speech-related pedagogies and performances for their specific audiences. Second, I examine the nature of the empowering performances that these agents enact, embody, and uphold in order to secure their clientele. And third, I analyze how this kind of speech training in the Philippines caters to Filipinos whose aspirations revolve around fantasies of becoming part of the middle class or the professional elite. In elaborating on these procedures, my goal is to shine a light on how Filipino merchants of speech produce, mobilize, and maintain feel-good vocabularies, positive images of the self, and entrepreneurial acts not only to generate cultural and financial capital but also, and perhaps even more importantly, to further embed themselves in a neoliberal marketplace.
B4.2
The U.S.-Marcos Jr. Emergence: A Metaphorical Analysis of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s Diplomatic Speeches on the United States
Mark Xavier Navarro and Yochebed Tamayo
University of the Philippines Diliman
In the prevailing dispute in the West Philippine Sea and the advent of a new administration, the paper delved into President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s use of metaphorical language in his speeches to strengthen the country’s diplomatic ties with its sole defense treaty partner—the United States of America (US). Eight speeches that demonstrate the salient theme of advancing diplomatic ties with the US were selected from the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) from 30 June 2022 to 30 June 2023. Following the methodology under metaphorical criticism and anchored to the Conceptual Metaphor Theory by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, we found that in the select speeches, Marcos Jr. utilizes friendship and water metaphors in advancing the Philippines’ and the administration’s interest in a stronger US-Philippines relationship. In the paper, we mapped out two conceptual metaphors from the identified speeches: 1.) that the United States and the Philippines have a mutual relationship, and 2.) that the United States and the Philippines are in the same boat. With the rising tensions between US and China and the long complex geopolitical strife between the Philippines and China, the metaphors employed by Marcos Jr. as the country’s chief diplomat connote that the new regime is seeking allyship to reinforce the Philippines’ national security, or one that would inevitably put the country at risk in the middle of a volatile dispute. We concluded that while metaphors are effective rhetorical devices for persuasion, especially in political contexts, it is vital to recognize the accompanying dangers of such figurative language in the formation of the audience’s beliefs and ideologies.
B4.3
“Ipa-Tulfo”: Media, Dispute Resolution, and the Politics of Shame
Xeanne Brixe M. Malimas
Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology
This study explored the relationship between the politics of shaming and the public-given “legitimacy” of Raffy Tulfo being viewed in this thesis as a quasi-judicial system providing the masses accessible mediation/reconciliation processes through his television show on air. The paper mainly focused on aired episodes on various issues involving elected government officials. To further explain the instant justice phenomenon that the Filipino masses seems to prefer, the author introduced a new framework grounded on Grabosky’s (1994) Indirect Governance theory and the concept of shame. With these, the paper was able to provide an analysis on how the exercise of politics of shame impacts both the flow and the outcome of mediation and sense of justice. Conducted using archival method, content and thematic analysis was utilized to identify common patterns in Tulfo’s mediation processes, as well as, factors that motivated people to prefer the media-led justice reprimanding system than government mediation agencies. During the conduct of this study, I observed that not all the plaintiffs of the show considered Raffy Tulfo as the first choice to lean for justice, they also reached out to proper authorities. Moreover, the conduct of this study provides an elaborate discussion as to how shame is used in different forms acting as a bind for social control and manipulation.
B4.4
Mga Lehislatibong Manipestasyon ng Kalagayan, Sagwil, at Hinaharap ng Wikang Filipino at mga Anyuing Pangwika: Pagtugaygay sa mga Panukalang Batas ukol sa Wika mula 2004 hanggang 2023
Ariel U. Bosque
University of the Philippines Los Baños
Sinisiyasat nitong pag-aaral ang lehislatibong landskeyp ng Pilipinas na nakatutok sa wikang Filipino at kalagayang lingguwistikong mababatid sa mga panukalang batas na inihahain sa Senado mula 2004 hanggang 2023 at ang impluwensiya ng wika sa mga adyendang panlipunan. Layunin ng sanaysay na: masarbey ng mga panukalang batas na may kaugnayan sa Wikang Filipino, mga wika at kultura sa Pilipinas mula Ikalabintatlong Kongreso hanggang Ikalabinsiyam na Kongreso ng Senado; masuri ang mga kaisipang bitbit ng mga panukalang batas; at makapaglatag ng mga mungkahing babalangkas sa kakayahan ng wikang Filipino sa pagtugon sa mga usaping pambansa, habang nakaangkla sa sostenibleng pangangalaga, pagpapasigla, at pagpapalakas sa mga wika sa Pilipinas. Sa pamamagitan ng panunuring pangnilalaman, nakabuo ang pag-aaral ng anim na kategorya mula sa limampung panukalang batas. Mababatid sa mga panukalang batas ang nagiging gampanin ng mga polisiya at praktika sa pagbuo ng mga programa para sa paglinang at pagpapasigla ng mga kaalamang pangwika at pangkultura, at kultural na pamana (e.g., Bahay-Wika). Dagdag pa, matingkad din sa pag-aaral ang sintomas ng marhinalisasyong pangwika dahil sa patuloy na pagtaas ng panukalang batas ukol sa ingklusyon ng mga banyagang wika sa kurikulum sa bansa na nagpapamalas ng mga hamon sa sistema ng edukasyon, pagkat patuloy nitong naaapektuhan ang higit na pangangailangang mapasigla at malinang ang mga katutubong wika. Lumutang din ang mga panukalang batas ukol sa pagsusulong ng plain language at pagsasapubliko ng akses sa impormasyong nagpapaigting sa inaasahang pananagutan ng pamahalaan sa mga lingguwistikong akomodasyon. Mababatid din sa mga panukalang batas ang mga ingklusibong dulog sa polisiyang pangwika sa mga panukala para sa Filipino Sign Language at malawakan pang pangangampanya sa mga maidudulot ng wika upang mawaksi ang kompleksidad at diskriminasyong nararanasan ng mga Pilipinong may kapansanan sa pandinig. Bilang pantugon sa lehislaturang kalagayan ng wikang Filipino, mahalagang: magamit ito sa paghahain ng mga panukalang batas; gawing mas siyentipiko, makamasa, kritikal, at progresibo ang proseso ng pagsusulat ng mga panukala; matutukan ang kalagayan ng pamumuhay ng mga etnolingguwistikong grupo; at gawing gulugod ng pagpapanukala ukol sa mga usaping pangwika ang itinataguyod ng Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino na Limang Haligi ng Aspirasyong Pangwika.
B4.5
Exploring Multiculturalism in a Resettlement Area: A Semiotic Analysis of Bagong Silang, Caloocan
Nell B. Buenaventura
University of the Philippines Los Baños
Given its historical background as a resettlement area since the early ‘70s, Bagong Silang in Caloocan, the largest barangay in the Philippines in terms of population, can be observed as a multicultural space comprising families and communities originating from various towns across the country. In this paper, I explore certain aspects of multiculturalism and multilingualism in Silang, mainly through the analysis of spoken and written languages in the barangay. I specifically used semiotic analysis to examine the language and signs present in various linguistic landscapes (LL). Initial findings reveal a significant dominance of Filipino-English usage in the LL despite evident indications of a multilingual community based on spoken communication among the residents. This links Silang’s status as a resettlement area to the development of a newly forming community from a linguistic perspective—particularly due to the political emphasis that the name Bagong Silang, which literally translates to newborn, signifies new hope for the relocated, displaced, and resettled people from slum areas. The findings suggest that the barangay has undergone significant social changes, evidenced by the transformation from rural landscapes to the emergence of commercial establishments. The majority of LL in the area predominantly use Filipino-English, English, and Filipino, influenced by political (e.g., language policies), economic (e.g., the need to learn English for global competition), and socio-cultural factors (e.g., cultural appropriation). This dominance impacts the ethnolinguistic vitality of individuals from different linguistic backgrounds, illustrating the adaptive nature of the Silang neighborhood, a resettled community, within a global context.