ABSTRACT
Tagalog is perhaps the best-known Philippine language. Its 17 million native speakers make it one of the two largest Philippine languages (along with Cebuano). In 1937 it was chosen as the basis for the national language, Filipino (formerly Pilipino), which was officially declared the national language of the Philippines in 1946 (see STEINHAUER, COLONIAL HISTORY, for further details). The differences between Filipino and Tagalog are mainly lexical, the Filipino lexicon being systematically expanded by the Institute of National Language. Because of its prestige as the national language and the fact that it is a medium of education and public discourse throughout the Philippines, Tagalog is also widely known as a second language (estimates vary between 70 and 90 per cent of the population).
