The making of “deep language” in the Philippines

Abstract

Abstract This analysis interrogates one of the most highly recognizable, but little understood metalinguistic descriptors of language in the contemporary Philippine linguistic scene: the concept of “deep language.” Here, “deep language” is explored as a complex, polysemous term generally used to describe homegrown conceptualizations of “pure” forms of Philippine-type languages and speakers. The contemporary understanding of “deep language” in the Philippines is theorized to have been informed by a complex combination of folk and academic discourses that have percolated throughout shared ideologies and conceptualizations of language since national independence at mid-20th century. The metric of “depth” in the analysis of language is shown to function centrally as a conceptual metaphor that enables everyday speakers to theorize person-types and the passage of time in a folk chronotope reckoned through the sign of language.