Q 01/05

Filipino is a standardized form of which Philippine language?

A) Tagalog

B) Ilocano

C) Cebuano

D) Hiligaynon

Answer · why

A) Tagalog

It is the form spoken and written in Metro Manila and other urban centres.

Q 02/05

In the 1948 census, roughly what share of Filipinos spoke the national language?

A) 18%

B) 37%

C) 59%

D) 82%

Answer · why

B) 37%

Nearly half of those seven million speakers had learnt it as a second language.

Q 03/05

Which constitution mandates that Filipino be enriched by the other languages of the Philippines?

A) 1935

B) 1943

C) 1987

D) 1973

Answer · why

C) 1987

It also names Filipino the national language and, with English, an official language.

Q 04/05

How many living languages originate in the Philippines, by one count cited for the country?

A) 305

B) 212

C) 260

D) 175

Answer · why

D) 175

Ethnologue counts 182 native languages, four of them extinct.

Q 05/05

Most Philippine languages descend from a Malayo-Polynesian ancestor tied to migration from where?

A) Taiwan

B) Borneo

C) Vietnam

D) Japan

Answer · why

A) Taiwan

Through Malay they picked up words originating in Sanskrit, Hokkien, Arabic and Japanese.