Re: HISPANISTAS IN THE NET

the activists disappeared because of the toothfairy wrote:

On Aug 27, 1:15?pm, "Sylvia Kn?rr" <Sylvia.Knoerr_NoSp...@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

"tumbagang isda" <ta...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> schrieb im Newsbeitragnews:13d54csr92l692e@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


My trouble with them started when I responded to one person's insistence
that Spanish is the most natural language for filipinos except English
and Tagalog among non-Tagalog speakers.

I explained that there is no such thing a "natural" when the language is
foreign, then I was being constantly harrassed for around six-months
actually, the harrassment stopped somewhat they are still telling me
that Filipinos are Hispanics though and these people missed a very
important point in identity.

Sounds like you met some fanatics. What's their point? I think Spanish
hasn't be a majority language at ANY time of Philippine history.


Americans in its census created the word "Hispanics" to identify
segments of the American society who grew up in the Hispanic culture of
the West, mainly non-European former Spanish colonial territories, like
Latin America and the Caribbean.

Anyway, Filipino culture is Austronesian base with Spanish influence,
and boy, they didn't like that word "influence".

What is difficult is that I am finding out that Chris Sundita was a
member of their HispanoFilipino group, and sometimes defending me,
sometimes he just disappears.

Nothing unusual for a young lad. Maybe these usenet debates don't mean so
much to him. But I can't believe that Chris would promote Spanish as a
"natural" language of the Philippines. Never heard him say anything like
that.


I also found out that most of the members were my family as well! People
that I don't even want to remember because of the memories they gave me,
the difficulties of being "American" in front of them, being poor at one
time, then rich at another, then poor again, and rich again... we were
in a constant see-saw conditions economically.

Status conscious relos?


some of the old lolos and lolas[ particularly in the illonggo areas]
spoke a lot of words that were spanish


This is where I caught myself several times, that I cannot compare the Hiligaynon experience to my Tagalog experience, that is unfair.

My family are from Ilo-ilo and Negros, if you can find an *** there, they are my relatives. Usually from the ruling classes, I cannot identify with them. My American father isolated us from them when he married my mother.

Hiligaynon has a lot of Spanish words and spoken in the proper context unlike Tagalog where most Spanish loan words becomes Tagalized and usage were changed for the most part.

Ilo-ilo and Negros had closer relationship with their colonial masters, being in sugar fields and working closely.

John Leddy Phelan missed this part since his book "Hispanization of the Philippines" was mostly Tagalog experience as well, where working knowledge of Spanish did not create a formal Spanish know-how among natives. It did happen at a certain point in my grandfather's island(s?).. Just like yours it seems.

I like being Tagalog because from what I found using the 1623 diccionario, Tagalog barely changed from then, while most Bisaya did, well, except for Warays who did not adopt as much Spanish like Tagalogs.

So, this post that you took, was intended actually for my own relatives who are the champions of Hispanicity in Pinas, from my research into my mother's relatives they are the people you will want to hate, if you hate colonial mentality.

They are good people, but something I fight with all the time is their belief in the superiority of Spanish contributions in Filipino culture, than even the native culture.

You will find their editorials all over the net, one example name you can google is: Guillermo Gomez-rivera. Search his pedigree as well, you might realize why I am so.
.