Young Cebuano Speakers’ (Im)Proper Use of Selected Lexical Items of Sibuanong Binisaya

Proceedings of ‏The 3rd International Academic Conference on Education

Year: 2021

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/3rd.iaceducation.2021.06.310

[Fulltext PDF]

Young Cebuano Speakers’ (Im)Proper Use of Selected Lexical Items of Sibuanong Binisaya

Naomie B. Daguinotas, Alice Mae M. Arbon

ABSTRACT: 

With the implementation of the MTB-MLE in the Philippines, there is a question on how mother tongue speakers before the implementation use the language — whether they use the language appropriately or not.  As this query is wide-ranging as it deals with the communicative competence of the language users, this study would focus only on the linguistic competence, particularly in the lexical choice of the young Cebuano language users. Hence, the respondents are young Cebuano speakers whose ages ranged from 18-19 years old. They were asked to choose the appropriate word to use in a certain context, using the lexical items identified by Godin (2009) as the most commonly misused Sebuanong Binisaya items.  Results revealed that almost one-third of the items were used inappropriately by the respondents, and that when asked why they were not able to use it correctly, majority of them expressed that their parents are not conscious of the appropriate usage of the items, and that the community — including their peers and their teachers — they belong to are not mindful if they would be using the Cebuano language appropriately or not. It is therefore recommended that the continued implementation of the MTB-MLE should be strengthened — materials should be based on the current use of the language, and that teachers should be trained well.

Keywords: MTB-MLE, mother tongue, Cebuano, young speakers, lexical choice.