Analysis of the deep structure of certain Tagalog sentences reveals buried agents. In Tagalog, verbs are inflected for the case role of the subject Noun Phrase (NP). However, Tagalog contains many sentences which, on the surface, do not appear to adhere to this rule, because they are missing the agent. Among sentences which deviate from the rule…

This article discusses the semantics of the notion of focus, insofar as it relates to Filipino languages. The evolution of this notion is reviewed, and an alternative explanation of it is given, stressing the fact that grammar and semantics should be kept separate in a discussion of focus. (CLK)

This language textbook is designed for beginning students of Tagalog, the principal language spoken on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The introduction discusses the history of Tagalog and certain features of the language. An explanation of the text is given, along with notes for the teacher. The text itself is divided into nine sections:…

This volume is devoted to papers of an empirical or theoretical nature contributing to the study of language and communicative bahavior in the Philippines. Articles included are: (1) "Three Criteria for Establishing Dialect Boundries," by Michael Ross Walrod; (2) "Topic in Tagalog Revisited," by Teresita C. Rafael; (3)…

This reference text of Tagalog grammar provides extensive description with illustrative examples of the language. Language classification and grammatical analysis are predicated on principles of transformational generative grammar. Seven categories of materials include: (1) pronunciation, (2) basic sentence structure, (3) nominals and their…

This paper focuses on the mechanism by which the successful learner acquires a second language. The author postulates a core language, the common core of the speaker's native and target languages, and states that the second language becomes an extension of this common core. Whatever language-specific features are added while acquiring the second…