This article emphasizes the need for Filipino linguists to invest more time in developing their own theories and frameworks. The author argues that while social relevance is important, strong theories are crucial for advancing knowledge, solving problems, and guiding practice.
FIRST of all, I just want to express my gratitude for this platform — this column — for allowing me to have a dialogue not only with more linguists but also with the general public regarding language, linguistics and even academic concerns. I am sometimes surprised by who gets to read this column, but I am, of course, always thankful because through it, I am able to reach out to linguists and laypeople of various persuasions. Some of them share my column or comment on it on social media.
By reading their comments and captions when they share the column, I am able to get their reaction to what I have written and, in the process, have a dialogue with them.Last week, my dear friend Dr. Shirley Dita of De La Salle University shared my Jan. 5 column on my proposed language and linguistics agenda for the Philippines for 2025. She has a much wider network than I do, so when she shared my column, it got reshared more than a hundred times. One caption accompanying a repost caught my attention. I will not quote it verbatim here, but, in essence, the person who shared my column worries that research that is obsessed only with theory remains locked up in academia and not rooted in social issues and is antithetical to the progress of inclusive and mass-oriented discourses on language.It seems to me that was a response to my proposal for Filipinos to invest more time in theory- and concept-building, and not simply apply frameworks by foreign linguists to local data. Yes, I pushed for Filipinos to look into theory- and concept-building in linguistics, and I shall not take that assertion back. But to further explain what I said and also to respond to what that person wrote, I never said Filipinos should narrow down their work to theory-building. What I wanted to say is that Filipinos must devote more time than they did before to conceptualize theories and frameworks that could be the basis of future works in linguistics. The sad thing is that Filipino linguists have not become known for theory-building, and I wish that more linguistic theories could be associated with Filipino minds.I did not say that language research must be devoid of social issues. In fact, language theories can be about socially relevant language issues. What I mean by what I wrote last Sunday is that Filipinos should write theories, too. Theories are important. As I pointed out when I wrote on a linguistic theory of migration, 'heories are forces driving scientific disciplines. They are meant to systematically explain a phenomenon and, ultimately, abstract generalizations about the phenomenon particularly and how the world works generally. A common theoretical assumption enables scholars and even non-scholars to draw upon a prevailing notion to explain phenomena and to be guided by a shared understanding of how things work and/or how things are/should be done. Besides, theories allow for argumentation in the discipline as they open up questions for a better understanding of the phenomenon the discipline is interested in.'I want theories of Filipino origin to be later on referred to by foreign scholars because, whether we like it or not, theories will always be the basis for research and even for praxis. In other words, theories will guide practice that will solve social problems. Such problems could never be solved by solutions randomly and haphazardly conceptualized. The best and most effective solutions to the world's biggest problems are products of scientific pondering and reflection, solutions that are research-based. It is necessary to be able to abstract and extract generalizable patterns from voluminous data so that society will know how to respond to problems big and small. This cannot be accomplished by simply wanting and being socially oriented. One needs theories and frameworks to be guided on how to properly respond to social problems.Theories need not be anti-masses and socially irrelevant. In fact, a well-built theory will and should be able to respond to social problems well. Solutions also need to be designed and anchored on well-formulated theories. That is why there are the social sciences and their allied disciplines. Theories on language policies and language revitalization, for example, will help policymakers design appropriate responses to language issues. The reason language issues continue to exist is that policymakers never listen to good theories! They simply want to pretend they are for the masses!And this is also why, when I formulated migration linguistics, I said that one of its aims is 'to provide practical solutions to the issues and problems related to language confronting migrants.' Our theorizing on the language issues of migrants will help us better understand their issues and respond to their concerns. Theory and practice complement each other; they are not meant to compete. This is why I suggested that Filipinos must do some theorizing, too!The other reason I made such a point in my previous column is that it saddens me to see how Filipinos can be so content in earning advanced graduate degrees by mere mediocre replications of studies done abroad. That should not be how one earns a doctorate degree and actually becomes a doctor of philosophy. Science does not advance that way, and one will never be able to contribute to knowledge creation if one hides behind the reason that one wants to do socially relevant research to be able to abstain from the real cognitive work of theorizing.Ariane Macalinga Borlongan is one of the leading scholars on English in the Philippines and is also doing pioneering work on language in the context of migration. He is the youngest to earn a doctorate in linguistics, at age 23, from De La Salle University. He has had several teaching and research positions in Germany, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland and Singapore. He serves as a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary. He is presently an associate professor of sociolinguistics at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Japan
Linguistics Theory Building Social Relevance Filipino Scholars Language Policy
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