Nov. 2008, Volume 5, No.6 (Serial No.

43)

Journal of US-China Public Administration, ISSN1548-6591, USA

English literacy: Consuming the Kapampangan oral antecedent

Julieta C. Mallari
(University of the Philippines, Pampanga 2023, Philippines)

Abstract: This paper discusses the effects of American colonial rule on the cultural life of the
Kapampangans and inhabitants of the province of Pampanga. The colonial masters, who seemed to deliberately
marginalize the local language of the community and succeeded in eventually arresting its natural development.
The American policy to educate the Filipinos resulted in the waning of the Kapampangan language and
literature. A brief overview of Kapampangan literary history will be given to emphasize the folk tradition, the oral
nature of Kapampangan verbal art as well as the worldview and ethos of the people embedded in their literature.
To be mentioned are two Kapampangan writers, Crisostomo Soto and Jose Gallardo, who represented the periods
during and after the American regime respectively. Each responded to his time and scene; both struggled against
the most powerful colonial machine which was the English language. They were aware that this medium and its
message were one, and that their own language would, sooner or later, be a lost medium and a lost message. The
shift from orality to literacy, as a consequence of western education, will also be discussed. In particular, the
reaction of Kapampangan verbal artists to the reductive pressure exerted by literacy upon their literature will be
focused.
Key words: Kapampangan; oral; culture; English; literacy

1. Introduction
Renato Constantino, a Filipino nationalist, provides remarkable insights in his analysis of the colonial rule
established by the Americans in the Philippines:
The re-creation of Philippine society in the image of its conqueror, the conversion of the elite into adjuncts of
colonial rule, and the cultural Americanization of the population became integral parts (sic) of the process of colonization.
A program of virtual de-Filipinization was therefore instituted (Constantino, 1975).

Renato Constantino (1975, p. 312) laments the idea that the colonial power gained a tremendous advantage
from its imposition of the English language in education and government administration. Moreover, he
underscores the myths that are deeply ingrained in the Filipino consciousness: that Americans came not as
conquerors but as friends to give the Filipinos democracy, education, roads and sanitation.
To a great extent, Constantinos perception was validated by the disruptive consequences of American rule in
the Philippines. Americas pragmatic approach and intervention, particularly the imposition of the English
language, had its debilitating drawbacks on the part of the Filipinos. The so called development programs
practically sought to banish the old pivotal elements in the lives of the natives to make way for the new in
mindless pursuit of modernization and westernization. Whatever altruistic or humanistic spirit was assumed by
this colonial power, it cannot be denied that the means used ate into the colonized very vitals, including their
culture. Filipinos began to learn not only a new language but a new culture as well. And this cultural
Julieta C. Mallari, Ph.D. in University of the Philippines; research fields: culture, literature, sociology.
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English literacy: Consuming the Kapampangan oral antecedent

Americanization has had far-reaching effects.

This paper demonstrates the inevitable impact of such aspects of colonial rule. To be focused will be the
shadowy influence and effects of colonialism in the cultural life of the Kapampangans and inhabitants of the
province of Pampanga. In particular, the colonial masters, who seemed to deliberately marginalize the local
language of the community and succeeded in eventually arresting its natural development through their language
policy. To quote Constantino (1975, p. 311) again:
Another instance which demonstrated the American determination to impose the English language was the clash in
1908 between the Philippine Assembly and the Philippine Commission over Bill No. 148. This bill sought to amend the
Educational Act of 1901 by providing that the language or dialect of each province or region be used as the medium of
instruction in the public elementary schools. The American-dominated Philippine Commission rejected the bill on the
ground that it would create confusion, waste and inefficiency. The real objection was that the use of the local dialect
would delay the spread of English.

In the process, the use of local languages was discouraged as they were deemed inferiorconsciously or
unconsciously on the part of their speakersas though to be consistent with the etymological sense of
vernacular, i.e., slave-born. English was declared the superior language. It was used to educate the Filipinos
and supposedly to improve their living standards. In fact, it was made the medium of instruction in the public
school system. Moreover, it was the language to know for any Filipino looking for opportunities for employment
or advancement in his/her career. English became the language of the educated and the affluent and, therefore,
soon created the great divide. For those who used to live and communicate in close harmony with their
community (the verbal artists, in particular), the disruption of inherent homeostasis in their cultural life had
negative consequences.

2. The case of the Kapampangan language and literature

Pampanga is a province in the northern part of the Philippines. The region, inhabited by the Kapampangans
who developed their own natural and local speech habits, acquired a distinct ethnic configuration by means of its
linguistic individuality. In the inner layers of their tongue, the Kapampangans evolved the contours of a coherent
design of their cultural civilization. This concordance between language and civilization is an affirmation of the
notion by Humbolt in Steiner that Civilization is uniquely and specifically informed by its language; the
language is the unique and specific matrix of its civilization.
The Kapampangan language, in a sense, was an ostensible mechanism of creating the civilization and culture
of the people. Its congruence with their reality consisted in the recitation and remembrance of the very substance
of their existence: It was the very matrix of their own creative leap as a people generating their traditions, norms
and beliefs. Corollary to this is the metaphoric conception of the Kapampangan language as a crystal reflecting the
worldview of its speakers. There is therefore a reason to suppose that the Kapampangan linguistic weltanschauung
determined and animated the entire landscape of the socio-cultural and communal behavior of the people.
To have a clear qualitative perception of the reciprocal determinations of language and worldview, a
definition of the latter may be stated. Worldview refers to the fundamental cognitive orientation of a society,
subgroup or even an individual. (It) may be taken as including ethos and cultural configuration, where these are
defined as the unconscious assumptions or unstated premises of a culture (Palmer, 1996). Ethos in turn,
might be defined by Geertz in Palmeas in 1996 the moral (and aesthetic) aspects of a given culture, the
evaluative elements, the tone, character and quality of their life, its moral and aesthetic style and mood; the
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English literacy: Consuming the Kapampangan oral antecedent

underlying attitude toward themselves and their world that life reflects.
Such conceptual base brings light to the crucial reciprocities between the Kapampangan language and the
socio-culture as well as historical character of its speakers. In the past, linguistic patterns corresponding to the
thought worlds of the group operated within the microcosmic and macrocosmic realms of the Kapampangan
consciousness. The language system evolved an epiphany of the Kapampangan civilization.
The language took on a specific gravity: Specific to the unique association of the users who built a strong and
resonant langue. Being the reference point of the peoples collective and identity, the Kapampangan language has
always been called their amanung sisuan, literally the language they suckeda much stronger metaphor than
the English mother tongue.
It is to be noted that the Kapampangan tone is loud, strong and emphatic. This linguistic timbre exactly
correlates with the peoples culture. Their artistic temperament has been engendered by the semantic system of
their language and is reflected in the shadings of their phonology and grammar. In their pre-colonial era, their
sensibility showed itself consistently in their creative affairs, with their imagination taking shape in its oral form.
For that particular period, the oral culture of the Kapampangans was well-nourished by their value system and the
inherent dynamism of their language.
Apparently, the Kapampangan literary center of gravity consisted in the endlessly fertile rhythms of
communal consciousness inextricably linked with orality. Among the characteristics of orally based thought and
expression exhibited by the oral culture of the Kapampangans were agonistically tuned, traditionalist, close to the
human life world, participatory and empathetic rather than objectively distanced, homeostatic and situational
rather than abstract (Ong, 1982). To be underscored is that the oral nature of Kapampangan verbal art should be
recognized as a cultural dimension that needed to be sustained by the local people. It was pivotal to the
appreciation of their identity.
The peoples artistic vision being reciprocated by orality can be observed in the fundamental modes of
literary expression starting with the base form namely, Kapampangan folk literature. Kapampangan language,
ethos, and worldview definitely cohered in this primordial verbal art.
To trace the roots of Kapampangan literature, in which deeply entrenched are their worldview and ethos, a
discussion of the beginnings of their literary development is important. To begin with, the literary history of the
Kapampangans presents the classic image of concentric circles produced, as it were, by their resonant language.
The peoples earliest civilization delighted in the highly rhythmic oral patterns of their folklore. For instance, their
kasebyan (proverbs) and bugtong (riddles) both in versified forms were the inherent aspect of their social life,
the first being didactic and instructive, and the second recreational. The proverbs of the Kapampangans exemplify
the fundamentally creative and psychic functions of the Kapampangan language itself. Values were encoded,
preserved and transmitted by these linguistic constructs. Riddles, on the other hand, were enjoyed at social
gatherings or during family leisure moments, usually after dinner. The two forms were foundational in the
development of Kapampangan literature, metaphorical as well as pragmatic conjectures on life of Kapampangan
society were stored in the memory of the people through the constant application of the verses.
The other category of Kapampangan verbal art, which is also an aspect of the peoples folk tradition, consists
of verbal jousts. One is called Karagatan, an ancient poetic game and the other is Bulaklakan, both being
performed during funeral wakes. The object of the games is to offer prayers for the soul of the deceased and to
comfort or mitigate the pain being experienced by the bereaved family.
Folksongs, on the other hand, are plain and direct, communicating simple sentiment, thought and feeling.
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These communally produced oral legacy remains to this date essentially pulsating in the cultural life of the rural
people.
The orality of folklore has always been the overriding touchstone of the verbal art of the tribe. Recited or
sung, folk literature substantiated the Kapampangan linguistic sense and folk literature was both the medium and
the message.
A more recently developed argumentative verse, still folk in form, is the crissotan, from the pseudonym
Crissot of the Kapampangan writer Juan Crisostomo Soto (Lacson, 1984). Performing crissotan before and after
World War II encouraged the leading poets of Pampanga to continue their oral tradition. They prided themselves
on the fact that Kapampangan is most sonorous and declaimers must prove themselves worthy of their language.
Thus, they were expected to recite authoritatively and theatrically to make their audience feel and savor the beauty
of their language. The acclaimed poet laureates would be pitted against each other and the champion was called
Ari ning Crissotan (The King of crissotan).
Such form and content of folk verbal art have become antecedents in almost the entire literary activity of the
race, be it lyric poetry or narrative fiction. To a great extent, the functions of folklore in validating the stability of
an oral culture and in maintaining social cohesion brought about the inherent social bias which conditioned the
production of Kapampangan literature. Significantly, folkloric incursion into the realm of the creative act is, in
great measure, verifiable in the movement of the native literary history. The later writers sought to establish the
inscape of an ideal social order, thus continually affirming the relevance of their primal verbal art and culture.
Kapampangan verbal art acquired a new flavor when the Spanish colonizers came. Given the
linguistic-cultural matrix shaped by folk wisdom and mentality, it is never surprising that the medieval literature
brought by the Spaniards (16th century) easily broke open the core of the native literary ground. The latitude of
normative conventions, the elasticity of linguistic spheres and the functional aspects of verbal art all these
secured a natural habitat for the otherwise alien presence of Spanish literature. As the native poets domesticated
the form and content of the foreign texts, they experienced a kind of literary dj vu.
With the Kapampangan romantic and imperious temperament, the peoples identification with the
conquistadores lifestyle, as well as their acceptance of the Spanish religious and cultural baggage could be
expected. Thus the religious items, metrical romances, corridor, etc., were easily adopted and embodied into
their own repertoire. What the Spaniards introduced blended naturally with the Kapampangan sensibility. The
literature they brought to advance their imperialistic cause pressed on the folk with a delicate authority, meshing
two levels of culture and two world-views. Kapampangan literature took on a new form that came to be an
incitement for the movement of the provinces literary history. And this new form was still oral in nature; in fact,
being theatrical, it was more ostentatious and grandiose. As such, this foreign genre gave the Kapampangans a
profound sense of fulfillment, be it personal or tribal.
The colorful costumes and the good-looking actors and actresses in the newly introduced plays were relished
by the Kapampangan audience and became part of the tradition. Furthermore, the fantastic, the romantic and the
melodic animated even more the existing verbal art, integrating the foreign elements into its own system. The
Spanish zarzuela (musical play) was introduced in 1629. In fact, it was adopted into Kapampangan by Mariano
Proceso Pabalan Byron (the first writer to Filipinize the genre), who believed in the inherent musicality of his own
language. There was an apparent reciprocity and commonality in the Spanish and Kapampangan literary sense and
sensibility.
Another Spanish literary form adopted by the Kapampangan writers was the comedia, known to the
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Kapampangans as kumidya. The most popular kumidya which was based on an obviously Filipinized
Spanish heroic character was Gonzalo de Cordoba by Padre Anselmo Jorge de Fajardo. In terms of extent, the
work appeared to run the entire gamut of human experience that allowed the poet-priest Fajardo to moralize on all
aspects of human experience. The work thus became a veritable treasury of maxims, both spiritual and secular,
from which generations of Kapampangans delighted to quote (Zapanta, 1981, p. 15). Again, by its very nature, the
kumidya perpetuated orality, further enriching the ethos and worldview of the people.
Both the content and the style of the kumidya appealed to the Kapampangans so much so that Padre
Fajardo, by common consent, is acknowledged as the Father of Kapampangan literature. His giant shadow has
always cast itself over the landscape of Kapampangan literature. He started an overpowering monolithic tradition
among almost all the writers of Pampanga. His lyrical versification, in fact, has always been invoked from his
time to the present.
Another Kapampangan literary giant is Crisostomo Soto (1867-1918) or Crissot, a most versatile and prolific
writer. His zarzuelas (musical plays) have unsurpassed popularity. His poetry and fiction also remain highly
acclaimed. A cursory look at the themes and substance of his works will show their romantic and socio-political
nature. The unbroken literary tradition of strong and definite rhyme scheme and the underlying Kapampangan folk
world-view, specifically articulate in the didactic persisted, namely sustained conception of the heroic, the
virtuous and the humane.
Sharing the limelight in the world of Kapampangan literature, Aurelio Tolentino (1868-1915) was as versatile
and prolific as Soto in his literary writing. Moreover, he gained his reputation as a national writer because he
wrote in three languages, namely, Kapampangan, Tagalog and Spanish. He is best known for his Kahapon,
Ngayon, at Bukas (Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow), a symbolic play charged with intense nationalism.
Reinforcing further the homogeneity of the literary development in Pampanga, the later writers concurred
with the prevailing tradition of their predecessors. Orality and folk conventions flowed most naturally in the
stream of their literary consciousness and appeared as thematic patterns in their works.
During and early after the Spanish regime, what was established as literary tradition provided the social
cement that welded together the social classes in Pampanga. As in most cases, it was the educated upper class who
took an active part in the production and propagation of Kapampangan literature. Members of the lower class,
with scanty education, were the consumers of the products, simply following the cultural leadership of the elite.
Nevertheless, Kapampangan literature flourished until the first two decades of the twentieth century. The
previously mentioned writers dominated the literary scene. Although their products were imbued with Spanish
ingredients, the writers paradoxically subverted their colonizers by transforming and molding their borrowings
unto the local image. In effect, these native producers of culture transcended the otherwise disparaging effects of
colonization. Their worldview remained intact, as it were, and their oral tradition even enhanced.
The Spanish colonial policy of controlling and inhibiting the natives education according to the Western
standards somehow worked to the cultural advantage of the Kapampangans. It enabled them to cultivate their own
literature: Its evolution was internally sustained and synchronized. Since Spanish was not imposed, their own
language retained its vigor to the extent that the literati took it upon themselves to propagate Kapampangan. What
is worth mentioning is the idea that most of the successful Kapampangan writers were Spanish literate, but they
never considered their own language inferior to the foreign one. They were ardent defenders of their language and
culture. In fact, the first quarter of the twentieth century, sometimes called the Golden Age of Kapampangan
Literature, produced a good number of playwrights and poets as well as drama troupes propagating the use of the
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local language.
In contrast, the American policy to educate the Filipinos worked for the waning of the Kapampangan
language and literature. Unlike the case of Spanish literature which blended naturally with Kapampangan folk
literature, American literature was made to appear so distinctly superior that it was considered by the colonizers a
model par excellence for indigenous literature. Local writers were caught flatfooted and made to believe that there
was no literary development outside the American tradition. Soon, Kapampangan writers verbal behavior
changed in proportion to the degree of proficiency in the newly acquired language. Only a handful of them
continued to write in their own language and most of them simply followed their predecessors folk tradition.

3. Kapampangan writers reaction to cultural Americanization

It is important to note that the coming of the Americans and the introduction of English apparently
undermined Kapampangan literature and might have possibly brought it to a crisis. With the promised
development through education, the process of Americanization gained a powerful impetus at the expense of local
culture. That American culture is superior to the culture of the colonized was primarily the message
communicated. With American textbooks that gave Filipinos a good dose of American culture, de-Filipinization
ensued. This paved the way to the massive colonization of the Filipino mind.
In the case of the Kapampangans, the alien way of thinking created an abyss between the two languages. This
tribes natural language and personal experiences had to succumb to the dictates of the foreign tongue. What
cannot be overemphasized was the slyness of the master that suppressed the native tongue. In so doing, even the
worldview of the language users was blurred. Kapampangan was completely overshadowed by English, and local
writers could not help reacting to such severe consequence.
So immersed were the writers in their literary endeavors during the first part of the American era that in their
body poetic was nurtured intense feelings, particularly patriotism. Significantly enough, most of them valiantly
resisted American influence and domination.
To be mentioned in particular are two Kapampangan writers, Crisostomo Soto and Jose Gallardo,
representing the periods during and after the American regime respectively. Each responded to his time and scene,
and both struggled against the most powerful colonial machine which was the English language. They were aware
that this medium and its message were one, and that their own language would, sooner or later, be a lost medium
and a lost message. Thus, both invoked the Kapampangan Muse whom they knew had to be rescued, so to speak,
from being sent to oblivion. The two writers produced works that had deep and sincere socio-cultural
consciousness. Since both maintained their folk traditionwhich remains to this date an enduring
frameworkthey aspired to make their people retrieve their collective memory, their language being the
wellspring of such remembrance. Whether their attempts were successful or not, judiciously selective or impulsive,
in one way or another, they wove products that should have kindled the Kapampangan love for their language
As previously mentioned, Crisostomo Soto was well-recognized as a prolific and versatile writer. He wrote
poetry and prose which sensitively espoused nationalism. He also denigrated those who gave in to the American
cant of altruism and cultural subjugation. He wrote Miss Phathupats to ridicule Kapampangans who allowed their
minds to be colonized by the English language. This prose work is a classic representation of the gradual
distortion and deadening of the tribes linguistic sense and sentiment. To quote some lines which basically
summarize the story:

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Once she became a teacher, the people there naturally looked up to her because they saw that she knew more English
than they did.
Miss Yeyeng hardly ever spoke Kapampangan anymore because, according to her, she had already forgotten how.
She also claimed that Kapampangan was hard to pronounce and twisted her tongue, which was why she could no longer
speak straight Kapampangan.
Do not wonder that the Miss does not know Kapampangan: first, because she has long associated with the
American soldiers, and secondly, she is no longer Kapampangan. The proof of this is that her name is Miss Phathupats.1
How many Miss Phathupats are there these days, who no longer know Kapampangan or who are ashamed of
Kapampangan just because they can speak pidgin English? (Soto trans. by Manlapaz)

To be observed in the last lines is the moralistic and didactic appeal of the story, apparently an attempt of the
writer to address his Kapampangan readers. While merely condescending toward those who were easily trapped in
the scheme of colonial appropriation, he was quite aware of the evisceration of the Kapampangan language. Soto,
like his contemporary writers and those who came after them, was both compassionate and critical of his people.
That there was an ideological rift between the two languages was commonly perceived by the verbal artists. Soto,
responding to his times, clearly understood the inevitable. The pressure within the natural language, coming from
an imperious foreign tongue, rendered its speakers innocent vassals doing homage to this alien tongue.
It is interesting to note that Sotos tone and perception would still point to the essentially romantic tradition
of the Kapampangan writers. He used ridicule to drive home the idea that language shift among the
Kapampangans was degrading. Apparently, he was appealing to their sense of cultural pride and dignity. As in
their folk tradition, which would maintain conformity to the accepted patterns of behavior, his story was employed
as a means of controlling individuals who attempt to deviate from social conventions. He expected his readers
to learn their lesson from his story and counted on such response to prevent them from becoming like Miss
Phathupats. And for a time, he succeeded in influencing his people: The fictional derogatory name became a
byword and was used to rebuke those who manifested colonial behavior.
A more recent writer, Jose Gallardo, also predicted the inevitable loss of Kapampangan language. However,
unlike Soto, who maintained the romantic worldview, Gallardo was more realistic. Faced with the dilemma of
linguistic entropy (Kapampangan being replaced by English and Tagalog as dominant languages), Gallardo
ushered in the poem entitled Bangungut (Nightmare) to suggest the haunting state of possible death of his
language.
The word bangungut is inadequately translated as nightmare since its connotation far exceeds the idea of
having a horrible dream. The Kapampangans understand the term as implying fatality. The chances of survival for
people going through a bangungut are almost nil because the usual medical findings associated with this attack
are heart failure and high blood pressure. Thus, the words associated meanings such as fatality, danger, difficulty,
etc. lend themselves a socio-linguistic context, preparing the reader, presumably a Kapampangan or any culturally
aware individual.
Gallardo engaged the reader in listening to what happened in his dream. This is a common practice in
Pampanga, particularly in the remote villages where traces of the oral tradition are still apparent. Dreams are
common topics of discussion for possible interpretation, or they are simply regarded as stories to be enjoyed.
Moreover, dreamers are looked upon with great interest not only for possible lucky jueteng {a form of gambling)
1

patupat is a Kapampangan word which means tightly bound suman or rice cake wrapped in banana leaves. The character Miss
Yeyeng is mockingly called Miss Phathuphats to refer to her wide hips which she tried to constrict by means of a tight corset she
wore.
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numbers to be derived from their dreams but also for points to be marked in speculating the future. There is a
great deal of mysticism, if not superstition, that reaches out to native intuitions or primal perceptions in
apprehending dream.
Conscious of his social matrix, Gallardo effectively developed his narration by mentioning the dramatis
persona in the dream who also serves as the mouthpiece of his linguistic enterprise. His grandsons grandson was
to declaim a poem in a celebration that happened in hell. Possessing his grandfathers poetic talent, he willingly
recited a number. The highlighted stylistic expression of the poem within a poem, namely, the use of a deviant
language begins. The obvious intended effect is humor as words drawn from three languages, Kapampangan,
Tagalog and English get mixed up. Moreover, the Kapampangan idiosyncratic misuse of the letter h, adding it to
words with vowel sounds or deleting it from words requiring an h sound, is also a stylistic device to arouse
laughter. The following stanza evolves a verbal pattern to be heard only from people in a jesting mood:
Very many salamat pu
Sa kekayung palakpakan
At ing kanakung Good Evening
Yang babye ku sa kekongan.
Damutan ye ing tula ku
Na hakin pung pemansagan
Mahalin at palabungin
Ang Hamanung Kapampangan
Noong araw, sasabyan dang
Ang Kapampangan daw kanu
Is one of the most malambing
And very sweet ka Hamanu.
Ang mga Poets and writers
Sa prosa ampon king bersu
Kabilang la among the best
Keti mabilug a yatu.

(Very many thanks

For your applause
I greet you all
a Good Evening.
Bear with my poem
which I entitled
Love and cultivate
the Kapampangan Language
In the past, it was said
that Kapampangan was
One of the sweetest languages.
And writers of verse and
prose belonged to the
best among the writers in
the whole world)

The code mixing employed though appearing funny is well understood within the Kapampangan community
since it is aware of the phenomenal reality of verbal discordances usurping its language. The style manifests
Gallardos gambit of utilizing language to subject the latter to its own deficiencies. He provides mimicry of verbal
patterns of rhetorical hugger-mugger to reveal amusingly the absurdity of the self-inflicting transformation and
dissipation of his language. Moreover, his strategic employment of mimicry also suggests his predisposed
agonism, antagonism and resistance to foreign intrusion even through language domination.
Another thrust of the poem is a litany-like enumeration of the different writers and poets from the various
towns of Pampanga: The catalogue is an exhibit by itself of the literary glory of the province. Elicited in the
eulogy is an appeal to the pride and glory of the Kapampangan language, ironically written in its pidgin-like or
mutant form. Gallardos style suggests the meaning of the text. His deviant language becomes a functional form as
it incarnates the very language it refers to which is undergoing deviation. The medium is not just the message,
which is actually the medium. The language designed and employed arouses laughter as it assumes the possible
configuration of a ludicrous language. Put in a total perspective, the poem recreates the possible speech habit of
the Kapampangan community in its projected linguistic situation. No wonder, then, that the poet-addresser who is
himself part of the list of writers he proudly presents and begets an illusion of a nightmare. Implied in his poem is
also his anticipation of the fact that most of the writers, the users of his language, are in their twilight years. As

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they vanish, he assumes that Kapampangan literature may be destined to simply become an object of his nostalgia.

4. English literacy: Consuming the Kapampangan oral antecedent

It may be reiterated that during the pre-American period, the oral culture of the Kapampangans was
well-nurtured by their value system and the inherent vitality of their language. With the imposition of the English
language, Kapampangan, the language they sucked, began to lose its flavor. As mentioned, the obvious reason is
the failure of the Kapampangan writers to cope with the dominant language and, consequently, with the world of
print signifying a Western bias. English literacy certainly rendered orality obsolete. In response to changing
requirements for survival and success, the natives would have to accept the impersonal and mechanistic forces of
the West.
The case of the Kapampangan writers illustrates the effects of the overwhelming impact of the adoption of
English literacy. Their expression of their ethos and worldview as constituent individuals of a particular habitat
and culture has been stunted, and their literature, as Gallardo prophesied, is now verging on extinction. They have
been too overpowered to resist cultural disintegration that, in the final analysis, they could not but be alienated
from the present cultural order.
Orality, which is the very nature of their language, was integral to their folk literature. The evolutionary
potential of the latter could have been realized had it not been for the radical departure that the colonial power
created. But the expected development of Kapampangan literature was superseded by the sophisticated plan of
Western literacy. Relative to this point, Streets ideas (1984) are worth mentioning. He argued that, since the
introduction of literacy is generally accompanied by new forms of social organization, differences in cognitive
processes may not be due to literacy itself but rather to the new forms of social interaction that arise to foster
literacy (1996).
In the case of the Kapampangans, the literacy imposed by the American masters was generally accepted
because the new forms of social interaction would make life convenient for them. Little or no attention was paid
to the changes that were expected to occur. The Western-driven pursuit was in effect a politics of disappearance.
With the dawning of literacy, the natives language and literature began to be threatened.
For one thing, writing opened up the increasing interiorization of thought and effected distancing. Apparently,
the Kapampangan writers were confronted with the problem of adjustment: That a printed text was not only for
listeners but, more so, for readers. The loss of contact between the writers and their usual audience as a result of
the shift from the oral culture to the literate culture also created a vacuum.
With the advent of high technology during the American era, the pristine Kapampangan consciousness
inevitably yielded in to modern and literate reconstruction and would depart from the oral culture. The
consequences of this transformation were far-reaching. First, the communal world of oral culture was suddenly
replaced by the distanced, individualistic and personalistic consciousness of the literate culture. The private
reading world would shatter the unity of the participatory audience and called for poems and other forms of verbal
art that would nest thoughts in printed texts. Moreover, literacy established a climate of analytic literary creations,
to be contrasted with orality which promotes spontaneity. Written texts would increase conscious control and
could achieve self-contained and tightly-structured compositions, a new formula that was incongruous with what
the verbal artists practiced.
The cognitive challenge of abandoning their tradition was not welcomed by the Kapampangan verbal artists.

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English literacy: Consuming the Kapampangan oral antecedent

And the shift from orality to literacy to this date is still being resisted by contemporary Kapampangan writers: They
are still focused on the times of yore. Because of the fact that they have to undergo an evolutionary process and
accept the restructuring of consciousness through writing and print, they are left suspended in the memory of their
literary past. Walter Ongs (1982, p. 15) inference regarding the orality-literacy interaction is quite significant:
There is hardly an oral culture or a predominantly oral culture left in the world today that is not somehow aware of
the vast complex of powers forever inaccessible without literacy. This awareness is agony for persons rooted in primary
orality, who want literacy passionately but who also know very well that moving into the exciting world of literacy means
leaving behind much that is exciting and deeply loved in the earlier world.

Such paradoxical concept of dying in the oral world to be born into the new world of literacy has not been
fully grasped or probably accepted by the Kapampangan writers. They are unable or unwilling to reconcile new
and old, past and present. The clear dichotomy persists and they refuse to modernize. As they straddle two worlds,
neither are they able to develop their own contemporary literature according to the Western standard.
It may be conjectured that the futility of dealing with the orality issue springs from the fact that verbal artists
were not given the opportunity to undergo the process of transition, or to move from a traditional to a modern way
of approaching their culture so that their indigenous knowledge could be a focal point for the maintenance of
cultural pride and integrity. A kind of cultural castration happened such that literary production practically ceased
after World War II. Even at this point, Kapampangan writers still seek refuge in the paradisal memory of their
culture, but, at the same time they cannot deny their apprehension and anxiety about the fate of their own
language and literature. Literacy takes its natural course and, therefore, a reductive pressure is exerted upon their
literature in general. Since they are unable to achieve a new cultural synthesis, the death knell of Kapampangan
literature is about to be heard.

5. Conclusion
To conclude, the Western disappearing developmental paradigm left no alternatives to the Kapampangan
writers. A one-dimensional system was involved in the conquest made: To recreate the conquered people in the
image of the colonizer. As previously cited, a thorough breakdown of indigenous socio-cultural systems would
work in favor of such recreation. It is rather unfortunate that, in the process, what is achieved is a scathed image.
It is also sad to note that the distressing fate of Kapampangan language and literature is attributed to the
history of asymmetrical relations. The fact that strong nations are motivated primarily by utilitarian concerns
resulting in possible loss of important heritage has been demonstrated.
References:
Constantino, R. (1975). The Philippines: A past revisited. Quezon City: Tala Publishing Co.
Francisco, J. (1984). Some notes on folklore and social criticism. In: M. Rosal & A. Santos. (Eds.). Philippine Humanities Review.
Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press.
Lacson, E. (1984). Kapampangan writing: A selected compendium and critique. Manila: National Historical Institute.
Manlapaz, E. (1981). Kapampangan literature: A historical survey and anthology. Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University
Press.
McKay, S. (1996). Literacy and literacies. In: McKay, S. & N. Hornberger. (Eds.). Sociolinguistics and language teaching. UK:
Cambridge University Press.
Ong, W. (1982). Orality and literacy. New York: Methuen Co. Ltd.
Palmer, G. (1996). Toward a theory of cultural linguistics. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Steiner, G. (1975). After Babel: Aspects of language and translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

(Edited by Amanda and Jennifer)

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