ROXAS, Jeff B.
3ELS1
Linguistic Evaluation of the Role of Code-Switching in the First State of the Nation Address
(SONA) of President Rodrigo Duterte through Collocational Method
The 100-minute long speech of the incumbent Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte in
his first SONA was originally written in pure English, but was interspersed with personal anecdotes
and jokes, through ad-libs in Filipino and Bisaya. Far apart from Benigno Aquino III who had insistent use of Filipino in each SONA, Duterte rather employs English, as a neutral language, that
does not favor one ethno-linguistic group above the others, and ergo, is not divisive. The textual
transcription of his speech reveals in language form, how syntactic structure of his address is
marked by formality through the presence of central modals, ‘will’ and ‘shall’, a deviation from the
purported rise of quasi-modals in Southeast Asian English (cf. Collins, Borlongan, & Yao, 2014).
On the contrary, in terms of language use, Duterte used code-switching (by shifting his language to
Filipino and Bisaya), which might tone down formality in Batasang Pambansa, where all renowned
political icons were present during his first SONA, as setting and participants identify the degree of
formality. This linguistic phenomenon is not keeping with the idea what seems to be a dominant use
of language, considering the preceding presidents used purely-written and spoken language most of
the times; however, use of code-switching in political speeches might make it more accessible to
most listeners.
Therefore, this paper seeks to explore the issue of code-switching in Duterte’s first SONA,
to identify the possible functions, or role, of such linguistic phenomenon, primarily switches to Filipino language. Through collocational analysis or KWIC (Keyword in Context), this paper will detect how frequent code-switched utterances occur, in specific issues or topics addressed: the continuing war on drugs, directives to executive departments and government agencies, economy and tax-
ation, tourism, ecology, traffic, and federalism. The research proposal will then attempt to give account of the reasons why Duterte unconsciously, or intentionally switches to one language, in a constitutional public speech, that by nature, must elicit formality to address pragmatic and practical legislations for the country’s posterity; hence, a SONA speech must, as much as possible, strive to
avoid code-switching, as it “indicates language confusion” (Nortier, 2011).
The primary research hypothesis is that, code-switched utterances usually occur in matters
of drug-related policies, since it is his foremost agenda even during his campaign for presidency.
He highlighted that the fight against criminality and illegal drugs in the country will be “relentless
and sustained.” The researcher assumes that, the succeeding issues that were delivered spontaneously in Filipino, were affairs regarding expediting government service process, traffic, and corruption. These were proven in his statement, “But I assure you — wala ito sa script — I assure you,
this will be a clean government. [applause]”
From the hypothesis given above, the researcher presents the functions of the presence
of code-switching in specific topic areas. Madrunio (2017) enumerated three functions of code
switches, namely: 1.) to emphasize a particular point; 2.) to reinforce a request; and 3.) to express a
concept that does not have a direct equivalent in the other language. The first function of codeswitching, that is clarifying a particular point, is my key case in illustrating the reasons of the sudden code-switched language of Duterte. The researcher assumes, that they were primarily to declare
that a certain utterance was out of script and/or was a mere supplement and commentary. Duterte
wished to deviate from the original text, to make him appear maka-masa (one of the masses), as his
image dictates that his administration is Filipino-centered. In addition, the switch to Filipino language may connote a conversational tone quality of his speech. In his non-Manilacentric Filipino
phonology, this linguistic phenomenon appears that “English is his language of formality while Filipino is his language of colloquialism.” (Borlongan, 2016). Another salient linguistic phenomenon
was his switch to Bisaya, from English and Filipino, as this suggests that he still presents his lin-
guistic identity and repertoire in formal gatherings, in order not to alienate others, and to sow further division among Filipinos. The ending remarks of Duterte, “Daghang salamat!”, implies that he
honors Davao people, and the rest of the Visayan, as this province has become his training ground
that brought him to macro-level of leadership. “The pervasiveness of code-switches even in strictly
formal genres such as this address (once only observed in less formal genres such as advertisements, cf. earlier documentations as featured in my Instagram account) cannot be questioned.” says
Borlongan (2016) in a Facebook post.
Collocational method, an analytic formula for the numerical solution of frequency of word/s
within a text/speech, is designed to describe the role/functions of code-switching. Through computer-generated concordances, KWIC will search for words and then printed them in alphabetical
order, surrounded by the “context” in which they occur. The content-analysis program, Concordances and Copra, will be applied to analyze the textual transcription of Duterte’s speech. Since this
method is fashioned to detect a sequence of words or terms that co-occur more often than would be
expected by chance, the methodology of this research will employ table numbering that will show
the frequency of his use of code-switch language in specific topics, namely: 1.) the continuing war
on drugs; 2.) directives to executive departments and government agencies; 3.) economy and taxation; 4.) tourism and ecology, 5.) traffic; and 6.) system shift to federalism. The research proposal
also seeks to trace the reasons why these specific issues are the main targets of prevalence of codeswitched language in his speech through surveying his political agendas to these pressed issues. The
method will also include a short review of secondary sources about the previous speeches of
Duterte prior to his settlement in Malacañang Palace — if code-switching was prevalent, and was
commonly uttered in his term in Davao City as a mayor and a governor.
If this is to serve as a foundation for a full proposal in the coming thesis writing, the
research intended outcomes are: 1.) to illustrate the factors of code-switching in Duterte’s first
SONA; 2.) to discern if Duterte uses code-switching intentionally, or unconsciously; and 3.) to understand if these speech repertoires and habits sustained the interest of the Filipinos and will have
greater impact to the entire nation, or will only lead the people to question his credibility as the
newly-installed president.
References:
Borlongan (2016). Retrieved from Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/arianemacalingaborlongan/posts/10153603188327032
FULL TEXT: President Duterte's 1st State of the Nation Address. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22,
2017, from http://www.rappler.com/nation/140860-rodrigo-duterte-speech-sona-2016philippines-full-text
Nortier. (2014, March 11). Code-switching Is Much More than Careless Mixing: Multilinguals
Know the Rules! Retrieved April 22, 2017, from http://www.multilingualliving.com/
2011/05/19/codeswitching-much-more-than-careless-mixing-multilingual-bilingual-know/