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LECTURES

Copy of The DANILO T. DAYAG Memorial Lecture.png
The Danilo T. Dayag Memorial Lecture
  • Established on March 17, 2016 and is managed by the Department of English and Applied Linguistics (DEAL), Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC College of Education (BAGCED), De La Salle University and the Linguistic Society of the Philippines

  • The DTD Memorial Lecture was established to honor a distinguished scholar, linguist, mentor, and longtime LSP board member and PJL editor.

  • Held annually in the month of March, the birth month of Dr. Dayag

EVENT REGISTRATION

2024

Agnes C. Francisco

Cavite State University

The Ethnolinguistic Vitality of Isnag, Isneg Yapayao, & Itneg Tingguian in locos Norte: Assessing Determinants of Language Maintenance and Shift

March 16, 2024

10 AM to 12 PM

A1801, Natividad Fajardo Auditorium, Andrew Bldg, De La Salle University, Manila

Meeting ID: 258 806 2425
Passcode: DEAL

This study aims to assess the ethnolinguistic vitality (EV) of indigenous communities in Ilocos Norte—Isnag in Carasi, Isneg Yapayao in Dumalneg, and Itneg Tingguian in Nueva Era. Espoused by the concepts of Giles, Bourhis, and Taylor (1977) on objective EV, and Bourhis, et al.’s (1981) subjective EV, contributing factors towards the overall vitality level of the three L1 communities were identified. Findings revealed that the Isnag and Itneg Tingguian remain strong as speakers prefer to use their L1 in both controlled and non-controlled domains. Isneg, on the other hand, is likely to veer away from its maintenance due to its limited roles in the different communicative domains. The demographics of the L1 speakers, particularly on the absolute number of speakers and their distribution, remarkably indicate high objective vitality. Nonetheless, these L1 communities highly regard that continuous support from the government, socio-political prestige, and socio-economic status are great indicators of language vitality. Continued institutional support, particularly on media and education, helps shape the cultural repertoire of these cultural minorities, which in turn, poses higher level of self- assurance and esteem for the speakers to maintain their language and their community. The perception of these L1 speakers that their language will be maintained in many years to come seems relevant. While their objective vitality was found to be medium, availability of resources in the community at present and in the near future such as cultural activities, actual language use in different domains, socio-economic resources, and high sense of ethnic identity and belongingness encompass the L1 speakers’ belief on the vitality and maintenance of their language despite a high degree of pressure from the Ilocano-speaking community. Owing to such positive linguistic beliefs, the likelihood for these communities to survive, together with their language and culture, is not far from reality. The effort from the speakers themselves could eventually help their L1 to survive.

Dr. Agnes Catalan-Francisco is Associate Professor V of Cavite State University (CvSU), Main Campus. She finished her PhD in Applied Linguistics at De La Salle University, Manila; her Master of Arts in Education with specialization in English Language Teaching at Philippine Normal University, Manila, and her Bachelor of Secondary Education major in English, minor in Social Studies at Mariano Marcos State University, Ilocos Norte.
She is currently the Director of the Knowledge Management Center of CvSU, a faculty of the Department of Humanities, College of Arts and Sciences, and a lecturer of the Graduate School and Open Learning College of the same university.
She is particularly inclined to researches in sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, Philippine languages, and contrastive rhetoric.

2023

Hazel Jean M. Abejuela, Ph.D.

Bukidnon State University

A Pragmatic Study on Speech Acts in Bukidnon Rituals

March 17, 2023

10 AM to 12 PM

A1403, Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC Hall, De La Salle University, Manila

This study attempts to present a pragmatic description of Bukidnon rituals: in particular, the speech acts, sequential organization, and cultural norms of this indigenous discourse. The results indicated that the most frequently performed speech acts in Bukidnon rituals were directives and representatives. The former were attempts of the speaker (ritualists) to get the addressee(s) (Supreme ruler, deities and/or participants of the ritual) to do something, i.e. to heed orders or grant requests. When issuing directives, Bukidnons are explicit and straightforward. They believe that the stronger the directive, the better are the chances for positive responses. Representatives were also prevalent specifically involving claims, affirmation, or declaration. Like other discourses, Bukidnon rituals were found to follow a distinct pattern beginning with Panawagtawag (call) or Pandalawit (invitation). The spiritual guardians, custodians, and the supreme God, Magbabaya were invoked to bless and guide the ritualists and the participants during the rituals. The invitation part (pandalawit) was followed by a series of requests interspersed with representatives specifically information, description and explanation. The prayers of requests were further reinforced with the offering and partaking (panampulot) of sacrificial animals. As a distinct form of religious discourse, rituals involve customary requirements expressive of the distinct ethnocultural identity of this speech community. It is through a pragmatic analysis of the speech acts that the readers are able to see ritual as an authentic communicative event.

Hazel Jean M. Abejuela is accredited University Professor and is currently the Vice President for Academic Affairs of Bukidnon State University, Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, Philippines. She holds a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from De La Salle University-Manila. One of her areas of interest is sociolinguistics, particularly, the study of indigenous language and culture and their contextualization in higher education curricula.

2021

Mildred Rojo-Laurilla

Speakers Bank, Australia

A Reflective Mini-Case Study of Two Work Environments: How I Experienced Language in Action in a New Zealand and an Australian Work Environment Using the Dell Hymes’ Ethnography of Speaking Framework

March 20, 2021

10 AM to 12 PM

This lecture will demonstrate how the Hymes’ Ethnography of Speaking Framework S-P- E-A-K-I-N-G (for setting and scene, participants, ends, acts sequence, key, instrumentalities, norms, & genre) may be applied in a non-academic study, and how this is useful in understanding what is happening in a speech event or situation especially in a multicultural setting. In particular, it will highlight the lecturer’s experiences working in two non-Filipino work environments– one in New Zealand, and the other in Australia where she currently lives and works. The lecture is considered as a reflective mini-case study as this is based on a description of how she interprets her experiences in those two different contexts. It is also considered a mini-case study as it will only cover an overview of the analysis of a speech situation, rather than a presentation of findings based on multiple observations. Implications for intercultural communication and communicative competence will be elaborated at the end of the talk.

Mildred Rojo-Laurilla, PhD is currently the Program Coordinator for Speakers Bank, a volunteer and advocacy program of annecto Inc – the people’s network, a not-for-profit organization in Melbourne, Australia that provides disability and aged care services around the states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. As program coordinator, she is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the program, including promotions, stakeholder engagement and partnerships. She has been in this role for 8 years now. Prior to this, she emigrated to New Zealand and worked in the health industry supporting top executive roles and the teaching hospital of the Wellington Region for 6 years until she obtained her New Zealand citizenship. In the Philippines, she began her career at the University of the Philippines in Los Banos in the early 90s, until she moved to teach at De La Salle University – Manila in 2000 where she served as a faculty member of the Department of English and Applied Linguistics while studying to complete her PhD in Applied Linguistics also at DLSU. She served in various admin roles such as being one of the long-standing Vice Chairs of the department, as well as serving as Chair, Graduate Program Coordinator, Metro Manila Linguistics Circle (MMLC) Coordinator and Coordinator of the Speech Communication/Oral Communication Committee. She also served as an undergraduate adviser to English Majors and some graduate students and was actively involved in the Summer Institute of Linguistics programs. She left the Philippines in 2008 and had been overseas since then. Outside of her work in annecto, Mimi has self-published a children’s book series, and a self-help e-book for women. She is also involved as an educational consultant for a private school in Cavite, an online course creator and tutor for a private company, while still managing to teach beginners piano, sing and do podcast episodes in her spare time.

2019

Teresita D. Tajolosa

Palawan State University

To be or not to be? A Question of Resilience Among Speakers of Batak, A Critically Endangered Philippine Language

March 16, 2019

10 AM to 12 PM

Drawing from “linguistic resilience”, a current framework for analyzing language vitality, I have examined the Batak speakers’ ability to “bounce back” from language disturbance. It should be recalled that in my 2011 study, (Tajolosa, 2014), my data confirmed that Batak is a critically-endangered language, yet I confidently predicted sustainable pluralism owing to positive language vitality demonstrated by speakers in the three Batak communities studied. Within the last seven years however, some occurrences have taken place in the communities which may affect the direction the language is taking in the coming years.

Will the Batak embrace recent developments in their areas at the expense of their identity and language? How do the people’s responses to their language situation demonstrate language group “endurance” or the lack of it? Does the resilience framework fit the Batak context? These are just some of the important questions which I aim to answer in this lecture.

I will discuss in detail, my findings and their implications and essentially, the direction the academe and concerned agencies should take to assist in promoting Batak language maintenance.

2018

Eden Regala-Flores

De La Salle University - Manila

The case of the missing full stops in text messages: A Pinoy adaptation

March 17, 2018

10 AM to 12 PM

A1403, Br. Andrew Gonzalez FSC Hall, De La Salle University, Manila

Curious if David Crystal's (2016) observation regarding the disappearance of full stops in text messages is true on this side of the texting world, this paper examines text messages sent by Filipinos across ages, genders, professions, and social relationships. The analysis determines the socio-pragmatic reasons behind the absence of full stops in their text messages and problematises this phenomenon vis-à-vis instruction concerning usage of this specific punctuation mark.

Eden Regala Flores is an associate professor from the Department of English and Applied Linguistics at De La Salle University. She earned her doctor's degree in applied linguistics from the same university. Her research interests include (critical) discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, forensic linguistics, language teaching, academic writing, and teacher training.

2017

Paulina M. Gocheco

De La Salle University - Manila

Pronominal Choice: A Reflection of Culture and Persuasion in Philippine Political Campaign Discourse

March 17, 2017

10 AM to 12 PM

This article describes the use of personal pronouns in political campaign advertisements in the media. The study investigates the interplay of persuasion and culture, which may account for the variances in pronoun preferences. Despite the significance of inclusive pronouns such as tayo [we] in persuasive discourse, the study reveals the predominance of first person singular ko [I] in the corpus. The first person plural pronouns can be used by politicians in their strategies to gain the people’s allegiance, while the use of singular first person pronoun may result in exclusion of some groups. Pronouns used in discourse can shed light on how participants project themselves and others. The study provides insights and discussions on the benefits of the agentive role of the pronoun, as well as the role of culture and other speaker motivations in the use of pronouns. In the Tagalog language, the preference for certain pronouns may reveal social distance, politeness, or solidarity. The Tagalog pronouns are categorized into three functional sets: genitive, absolutive, and locative. The corpus consists of 60 political campaign ads in the Philippine national senatorial race in 2007. The study shows that pronouns, among other linguistic features, may render uniqueness in a particular type of political discourse that is generally global in nature.

Dr. Paulina Gocheco is the current Director of the Center for Language and Lifelong Learning (CeLL) and was the former Chair of DEAL. She has given workshops in Academic Writing, Oral Communication, and Discourse Analysis in different organizations and universities including Mahidol University, where she was a Visiting Professor. Her research interests include Discourse Analysis - legal and political discourse, Contrastive Rhetoric, ESL, Academic Writing, and World Englishes.

2016

Arceli Amarles

Multilingualism, Multilingual Education, and the English Language: Voices of Public School Teachers

In contexts where decision-making is highly centralized, policies on language and/in education are mostly formulated by officials of the Department or Ministry of Education. Hardly is the voice of ordinary public school teachers who are at the forefront of implementing any educational or language policy heard because they are only seen as implementers of any policy. But should their voices remain muted?

Following the bottom-up approach and drawing from narratives of public school teachers, this paper argues that for an efficient formulation and implementation of language and/in education policy, teachers’ voices must be heard. Through Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with public school teachers in seven regional centers in the Philippines, it aims to find out what these teachers have to say about the following: (1) multilingualism in the country; (2) the mother-tongue-based multilingual education (MTB-MLE), an integral component of the Philippine government’s K-12 enhanced basic education system; and (3) the role that the English language plays in education in the light of the multilingual nature of the country and the implementation of MTB-MLE.

Arceli M. Amarles earned her Master of Arts in English, major in Language and Literature from Ateneo de Manila University. She was conferred the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Linguistics in De La Salle University (with DR. DANILO T. DAYAG as her dissertation adviser). She is a full-time faculty in the College of Graduate Studies and Teacher Education Research of the Philippine Normal University, The National Center for Teacher Education. She served as the Program Adviser of the MAEd-ELT program, and later became the Program Coordinator in the Arts and Languages Cluster of the college for AY 2013-2014. At present, she is a Board Member of the Linguistic Society of the Philippines. Her research interests include World Englishes, TESL/EFL, academic writing and discourse analysis.

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