Filipinas and Filipino

[potet]

"Yes, the language is now officially spelled also with F -- although most
Filipinos still believe that the politically correct spelling remains
Pilipinas and Pilipino." Paz B. NAYLOR

Don't you think they pronounce it / call it  that way because there is no
/f/ in the majority of Philippine languages?

"the book I am currently writing about Tagalog" Paz B. NAYLOR

Why isn't it on Filipino?

Besides, as regards this matter, I have the impression that, as a linguist,
I am being taken for a ride.

When Tagalog is used as the official language of the Philippines it is
called "Filipino".

It is a well-known fact that the name of the official language of the
Philippines is "Filipino" because the constitution of the Philippines is
written in English, and English uses the Spanish term: Filipino.

Once it was called "Filipino", because of the constitutionality of the name,
it had to be used in all the other languages of the Philippines, even
those - the overwhelming majority - that have no /f/.

The first official Filipino-Filipino dictionary has no word containing the
letter F. Now some authors make it a point to write some loanwords,
particularly English, with their original F - that the majority of readers
will read  /p/ - to demonstrate that Filipino has F-words. I suppose that in
the future official Filipino-Filipino dictionaries and bilingual
dictionaries will enter these words in their columns.

Even with such loanwords, Filipino remains identical to Tagalog. For
linguists, Filipino and Tagalog are not two different languages: Tagalog
grammars, Pilipino grammars and Filipino grammars are one and the same. It
would be extremely difficult to argue to the contrary. Asserting that
Filipino and Tagalog are two different languages (Dr. RUBRICO) is not enough
for linguists. To prove that Filipino and Tagalog are two different
languages, it would be necessary for you, Dr. RUBRICO, to demonstrate that
their grammars are different. I am still waiting for such a demonstration.

In practice, if Filipino were a different language from Tagalog, I shouldn't
be able to understand Dr. RUBRICO's on-site Filipino articles: Tagalog is
the only Philippine language I learned. I read one of her articles, and - to
me - it was plain Tagalog simply with more English loanwords than usual
Tagalog - and - consequently - in some passages - a learned variety of
Taglish.

In brief, I am quite willing to call Tagalog "Filipino", when it is used as
your national language, but, please, don't ask me to believe that Filipino
is another language than Tagalog.

Jean-Paul G. POTET. B. P?. 46. 92114 CLICHY CEDEX. FRANCE.