Taglish

Taglish, a portmanteau of Tagalog and English, refers to a form of code-switching common in the Philippines in which Tagalog and English are mixed within discourse. It is not a separate language but a bilingual register that ranges from Tagalog-dominant sentences with inserted English words to English-dominant utterances with Tagalog particles. The phenomenon frequently occurs in informal conversation, media, advertising, and online communication, and is particularly associated with urban and youth speech.

Linguistic features of Taglish include the insertion of English content words and sometimes function words, the use of English syntax with Tagalog morphemes, and frequent calque expressions. Tagalog grammar often governs word order and affixation, while English vocabulary enters as borrowed items. Code-switching can occur at sentence boundaries or within sentences, producing blended forms that mix morphologies and vocabularies from both languages. Taglish can serve as a flexible tool for expression, humor, and audience targeting, especially in everyday talk and popular media.

Social and historical context shapes Taglish. English has long been an official language in the Philippines, and bilingual education and media exposure have fostered fluid language switching. Taglish is widely used in social media, entertainment, advertising, and youth culture, signaling familiarity, modernity, or local identity. Attitudes toward Taglish vary: many view it as a practical communication mode, while others see it as a threat to formal Filipino language use or to language purity. In formal settings, Taglish is typically discouraged in writing, but remains pervasive in casual speech and online discourse.