2019/05/04 by Paula Park · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Psychology · #Multilingual Education and Policy #Cognitive reframing #Political science #History #Psychology
paper · pdf · doi:10.31944/20199201.12
published in UNITAS 92(1), 318-343
openalex publication_date 2019/05/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Throughout the twentieth century, Spanish was increasingly marginalized in the Philippines, often characterized as the language of the colonizer, the language of the elites, or a backward language. While pro-Hispanists insisted that Spanish had great historical and symbolic value, this article examines the alternative ways in which Claro M. Recto (1890-1960) and Antonio M. Abad (1894-1970) defended its instruction in the Philippines. As a politician, Recto was well known for having supported the promotion of a common national language based on Tagalog. However, throughout his life, he maintained an intimate tie to the Spanish language, as evident in his recurrent return to his 1917 poem "Elogio del castellano," in which he elaborated on the global trajectory of the language. Even more so than Recto, Abad was a devoted defender of the dissemination of Spanish in the Philippines. This is apparent through his manuals and lectures on Spanish language pedagogy as well as