Commonwealth Act No. 184, November 13, 1936

Commonwealth Act No. 184, November 13, 1936

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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY}
Special Session
B. No. 2391
[COMMONWEALTH ACT No. 184J
ACT TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL LANGUAGE
INSTITUTE AND DEFINE ITS POWERS AND
DUTIES.
1/ nacted by the National Assembly of the Philippines:
1':m'ION 1. There is hereby created a National Language
t lite which shall be composed of a president and six
Iii 'rs, each of which shall represent one of the print linguistic groups of the Philippines.
J. 2. The President and members of the National LanInstitute shall be appointed by the President of the
pines, with the consent of the Commission on AppointIii of the National Assembly, and shall each receive a
III 'm of ten pesos for each session they attend.
, 3. The Department of Public Instruction shall proIIt National Language Institute with a suitable office
t It necessary clerical personnel.
'. 4. The National Language Institute shall adopt its
I'ules of procedure, shall hold sessions at least once a
, ILnd shall submit a monthly report of its work a nd
s to the President of the Philippines, through the
IMY of Public Instruction.
" 5. The National Language Institute shall make a
of the Philippine dialects in general for the purpose
ing and adopting a common national language based
of the existing native tongues. For this purpose, it
hi Lhe special duty of the National language Institute:
'1'0 make a study and survey of each of the chief
f the Philippines spoken at present by at least half
1111 inhabitants.
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(2) To select f:'om said native tongues and arrange ill
separate groups:
(a) Words and phrases used in all or in the majority
of said tongues, with common sound and meaning.
(b) Words used in all or in the majority of said tonguc::;,
with the same sound but with different meanings.
(c) Words used in all or in the majority of said tongues,
with similar sound but with the same or different meanings,
(3) To study and determine the Philippine phonetics and
orthogra phy.
(4) To make a comparative critical study of all Philippine prefixes, infixes and suffixes.
(5) To choose the native tongue which is to be used as
a , basis for the evolution and adoption of the Philippin('
national language. In proceeding to such election, the In stitute shall give preference to the tongue that is the mos L
developed as regards structure, mechanism, and literatur('
and is accepted and used at the present time by the greaLci-; (,
number of Filipinos.
SEC. 6. Not llrLer than a year after the date of its estahlishment, the National Language Institute shall prepare ill('
lists of words and phrases provided for in paragraphs (a,) ,
(b), and (c) of subsection (2) of section five of this A'I,
the Philippine phonetics and orthography ; and the comparative critical study of Philippine prefixes, infixes and
suffixes.
SEC. 7. Immediately upon pUblication of t he work cnll
me rated in the preceding section, it shall be the duty or L1 l(
National Language Institute to state which natlv LO I1 V ll ('
it has chosen as basis for the national languag' a nd to
recommend to the President of the Philippi ncs Lh \ a dopti o/\
of the national language based on the native LO II g' u(' (' lt osl' l
The President of the Philippines shall, by cx \ 'li Liv or
proclaim 'such national language based on Lhe na ti ve Long
chosen by the National Language Instit utc, <tl:l Jl a Li onal l'
guage of the Philippines, effective two ycars t hereafte
SEC. 8. Upon the proclamation of th e national langt:
by the President of the Philippines, it shall be the du
the National Language Institute to prepare a dictionar,~
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a grammar of the national language. r Special a tenti
shall be given to the purification and enrichment of th~
language in accordance with the f ollowing proure:
(1) To purify the vocabulary of 'the national language,
National Language Institute shall safeguard t he proper
""",,aUJ'lu~ and use of the words and expressions of the nalanguage and shall cleanse the same of unnecessary
reign terms, words and, constructions.
(2) To enrich said vocabulary, the Institute shall use as
1I0urce primarily the Philippine tongues and then, if nec-l'
to Spanish and English, adopting from these lansuch terms as are already familiar to the Philippine
gues, having been accepted and being in general uS'e in
same. Whenever it shall be indispensable to form new
these shall be taken principally from the classical
such as Greek and Latin, especially for scientific,
and technical uses. Foreign words thus newly
1 d shall be assimilated to Philippine phonetics and orhy: Provided, however, That the current spelling
names of foreign origin and form used by Filishall be preserved in order not to render the identifiof persons difficult.
J. 9. Not later than two years after the proclamation
national language by the President of the Philippines
/LLional Language Institute shall publish the dictionar;
I'/Lmmar of the national language prepared as provided
the preceding section, and the President of the Philshall issue orders to the Department of Public InIon to the effect that, beginning with a day to be fixed
President of the Philippines, said national language
, Ii ed and taught in all public and private schools of
ippines, in accordance with the dictionary and gram·pured and published by the National Language In10, 'The decisions of the National Language Institute
1I li l\' IJistic matters, when approved by the Secretary of
lilHLruction, shall be adopted as literary, standard in
I publications and school texts.
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The National Language Institute, slill ,'" I I
al of t he Secretary of Public Instructioll , II I, .II
authority to correct, alter or amend the ling ui:-1 111
any or all text booksI written in the Philippi II, · II
language intended for adoption as official 1,1' I
schools.
SEC. 12, The existence of the National Langll ll)" I "
shall be of indefinite duration unless other wi:-w 1' 1 11
law, and its members shall hold office dU l' ill)'
havior.
SEC, 13. The sum of fifty thousand peSO:-1 I \ III I
p'opriated, out of any funds in the Philipp ill \' 'I' ll
otherwise appropriated, to carry out the p l'o\ I II 1\
Act ' f1 nd defray the necessary expenses inc llrI l'tI Iii
ministration thereof until December 31, :I !l:\'{
SEc. ~ 14. The President of the Philippi 11<':-1 , '111 I I
dation of the National Language Instituk :1 1'111 ,
Secretary of Public Instruction, shall 0 1' <11' 1 1111 ill
ment of the sum or sums required for th e 1'1 II rI I I
vided for in this Act.
SEC. 15. This Act shall take effect on i I ~; .t I 'I I
Approv'ed, November 13, 1936.
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