PILIPINO LANGUAGE

standardized form of Tagalog, and one of the two official languages of the Philippines (the other being English). It is a member of the Austronesian language phylum. Tagalog is the mother tongue for nearly 25 percent of the population and is spoken as a first or second language by more than half of all Filipinos. The mandatory teaching of Pilipino in public schools since 1973 and the extensive literature in Tagalog has contributed to its increased use in the popular media.