Point

. I SHALL BEGIN THIS wit h a period. Which is wrong. Very wrong. And you know that this—this—is even wrong.

I have written some time ago how we Filipinos laugh at other Filipinos committing mistakes when speaking in English. I have asserted that there is nothing wrong with this imported since we are not native Anglophones. On the other hand, however, our persistence to use this language in everyday dealings forces too upon us the responsibility to use it correctly. Or to put it more directly: mahingoragan kita ta nagpapara-i-Ingles kita. For this matter, let’s consider those dots and those dots with a tail; and those dots arranged in twos in a way that one is above the other; and those dots also arranged in twos wherein a dot is coupled with the dot with a tail; and those dots coupled with... and, oh, these dots having threesome... and, oh, the singularity of this dot with a tail, which I cannot use to end this sentence because this has to end with a dot without a tail like this.

The period, for one, is always a subject of laziness; perhaps, the laziness to consider it despite its minuteness. Sloth is a capital sin;—take note, oh this time, of the italics—and laziness to consider the period is indolence especially for sticklers! Aray! (Another one, this, this dot over which is a stick!) Going back to period, I ask, how many times do we forget to point a period at the end of our sentences? (Shall I not notice this dot with a hook on top of it?)

How many signages around the city are bearing notices and warnings and yet are not punctuated? Or rather, poorly punctuated? Or worst, overly punctuated? I wonder how the enrollment tv ad of UNC will work when it is rich with wrong use of punctuations. “Before you enroll!!! THINK!!! Again.”

Remove the excessive exclamatory points and the message will be clearer, “Before you enroll, think again.” The fragment “think again” is already strong for a command that it doesn’t even need any exclamation point. To add one will be an OA. To type the verb think in an all-caps THINK makes syntax appear mixed up, even before anybody realizes that the whole statement is already confusing because of wrong punctuations. The UNC ad, even if it represented an educational institution, however, is not singular.

How many Marings Eatery (without the apostrophe) or Full d’ string to stop do we see everyday? At the tricycle terminal in LCC Mall, there was a signage that says: Good things comes to those who waits and it has been there since a number of years ago. The other day, I was conceptualizing a title for a magazine about Philippine railway and industrial heritage, someone sent me a text message telling me to add ‘s’ to ‘railway’. What’s the implication of this? If I made it ‘Philippine Railways and Industrial Heritage’, the ‘Railways’ will lose its modification of the word ‘heritage’, and ‘Industrial Heritage’ may lose its Philippine-ness.

Now this may sound like a perpetual rant. Get me correctly. As I’ve written earlier, mahinguragan kita ta nagpapara-i-Ingles kita. This is the reason, perhaps, why I am writing this particular column in English: to emphasize the importance of discerning what language to use. If we write Kakanan ni Maring o Pakiguyod kan pisi para magpara, it could have been easily understood. But no, we chose to do it in English, many say, in respect of globalization. Therefore, this calls for certain sense of responsibility.

Whether it is Bikol, Tagalog, English, or any other language that we are using, we are called to use it responsibly; know its important rules and rudiments; and respect its sense of completeness as a cultural artifact. While I respect and acknowledge that languages change, evolve, and adapt contemporary conditions, I also want to take note of the fundamental considerations in using language. This is very much akin to what I greatly believe in: that if we want to violate linguistic norms, for whatsoever goals, we better learn the conventions. In any way, it is better to get familiar with the laws so that we will know how to perfectly violate them. Because if not, Bikolon ta na saná ngani.

Vic Nierva blogs at http://aponihandiong.blogspot. com.