Literary Creativity Through Philippine English: A Sociolinguistic Analysis On Eraserheads’ (1995) “poorman’s Grave”

Literary Creativity through Philippine English: A Sociolinguistic Analysis on Eraserheads’ (1995) “Poorman’s Grave” Stanley Triston Y. Guevarra

1. INTRODUCTION English is perceived by many as the universal language. It has spread throughout almost all corners of the globe, thereby producing varieties that are commonly labelled as “World Englishes” (Kachru, 1990). There are, however, many approaches that concern this term. According to Bolton (2004), these approaches can be grouped in two ways: a narrow application or a wide application. For the former, it is referred to the schools of thought that relate to Professor Braj B. Kachru’s study of English worldwide, along with a few related scholars. On the other hand, the latter refers to studies that are not associated with Kachru’s, which includes varieties-based studies. It also encompasses those of English studies, corpus linguistics, featuresbased approaches, pidgin and creole studies, and many among others. For the purposes of this research, Kachru’s (1985) model will be adopted. In Kachru’s (1985) study in an article, he classifies the spread of English into three concentric circles: the inner circle, the outer (or extended circle), and the expanding circle. The inner circle refers to the areas where English is traditionally rooted, such as: the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The outer (or extended) circle comprises areas in which English has been institutionalized in non-native context, including historical, political, and sociocultural realities that involve colonization by users from the inner circle. Here, Kachru (1985) also notes that “English has an extended functional range in a variety of social, educational, administrative, and literary domains. It also has acquired great depth in terms of users at different levels of society.” The last circle or the expanding circle incorporates users who perceive English as an international language or a foreign one. Involved areas of the expanding circle do not necessarily have a history of colonization by users from the inner circle, and it has resulted to rapid expansion and numerous performance varieties of English. One of the varieties of English coming from the inner circle of Kachru’s model is the American English. It is the variety spoken in the United States which “began to diverge from 1

British English during its colonial beginnings and acquired regional differences and ethnic flavor during the settlement of the continent,” (Kretzschmar, W.). Because of this, identifying the characteristics of American English usually relies to a comparison to British English. Although they share a common linguistic system, they still differ in terms of pronunciations, words, spellings, and grammatical constructions. In pronunciation, American speakers pronounce an r sound after vowels (e.g. barn), adopt the h sound (e.g. he or his), and keep syllables (e.g. secretary), while British speakers do not. American words become unique when their meanings differ from those of the British English and the other varieties (e.g. potato chips for Americans; crisps for the British), and when they are associated with aspects of American popular culture (e.g. gangster or cowboy). In spelling, the cause of diversion was largely because of one man: American lexicographer Noah Webster. In his An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) and The American Spelling Book (1783), he standardized spelling that differed from British English intentionally to mirror the United States’ separate political movement. In these books, he changed spellings with or from our (e.g. honor from honour), er from re (e.g. theater from theatre), s from c (e.g. defense from defence), ck from que (e.g. check from cheque), and the absence of k (e.g. traffic from traffick). However, there is little difference when it comes to grammar. A major difference between American and British English is the subject-verb agreement, where verb forms are attached differently to collective nouns (e.g. the team is… for Americans; the team are for the British). American English has greatly shaped one of languages from the outer circle of Kachru’s model: Philippine English. When the Philippines became a colony of the United States beginning in 1898, institutions mandated their medium to use the American English language because of the absence of a widespread, acceptable local language of instruction. This propagated its use in the Philippines, even when there was a compromise of a bilingual scheme when the Tagalogbased national language was proclaimed in 1937. Presently, it is, then again, being emphasized due to the advent of globalization, thereby cultivating Philippine English and producing features from historical and socio-political realities. (Bautista & Gonzales, 2009). However, it is not to be confused that the features of Philippine English are merely errors from American English; instead, they are deviations. According to Kachru (1997), “a deviation has a comparative and a contrastive implication—it is generally explained with reference to another variety of English.” In distinguishing errors from deviations, D’Souza (1998:92) offers 2

criteria: so long as it is wide-spread, systematic, rule-governed, and used by competent users in formal situations, then the usage is a standard. The Philippine English is thus what Bautista (2000) argues: Philippine English is not English that falls short of the norms of Standard American English; it is not badly-learned English as a second language; its distinctive features are not errors committed by users who have not mastered the American standard. Instead, it is a nativized variety of English that has features which differentiate it from Standard American English because of the influence of the first language (…), because of the different culture in which language is embedded (…), and because of a restructuring of some grammar rules (…). In short, the features of Philippine English are not errors; rather, they are deviations from American English that must be seen as a variety as a whole. There have been many studies regarding the matter of Philippine English that have analyzed several mediums to make up its salient characteristics. In “Philippine English” from the Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language (n.d.), it gives a brief overview of what these characteristics are, encompassing: pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and idioms, written models, and code-switching. In pronunciation, some of its features describe it as being rhotic and syllable-timed and having distinctive stress patterns in polysyllables and varying success with vowel contrasts. In grammar, there are: loss of singular inflection of verbs, use of present perfect for simple past and past perfect for present perfect, use of the continuous tenses for habitual scenarios, use of the present forms of auxiliary verbs in subordinate noun clauses instead of past forms, and reversals for the definite article’s use. Furthermore, in vocabulary and idioms, the characteristics mostly comprise of loan words from Spanish and Tagalog, loan translations from local usages, and local neologisms. The rest of the features discuss how Filipinos generally speak the way they write and how there is clear evidence on code-mixing and code-switching between Filipino and English. Philippine English, being one of the “World Englishes” from the Kachru’s outer circle, expresses itself uniquely in literature. This does not only include deviations from American English, or the phonological, lexical, or grammatical features; rather, it also demonstrates its literary creativity in a highly contextual manner. As such, Philippine English has not only developed its own speech or writing; it has also developed its own creative expression. The 3

Philippine English writer, who is also a World English writer, can be described by Thumboo (2009) in his analysis in Literary Creativity in World Englishes: The writer-dramatist and novelist more than poet—must create a suitable Englishlanguage semiotic system in a non-English social reality. Powerful elements of culture and attitude come with the language. Present as part of the colonial inheritance, they are maintained, even strengthened, by the formal study of English and the international culture of the mass media, especially television. In order to explore and carry a new social reality, English has to be uncluttered, freed from certain habitual associations; it must develop a new verbal playfulness, new rhythms, additions to its metaphorical and symbolic reach to explain and amplify feelings and ideas about literature and life and cater to the claims of the imagination. In this context, the use of Philippine English in literature cannot overlook its contextual factors, for these are what give the reason for writing in the first place. In fact, themes and contemporary events choose writers, thereby connecting the writer and the milieu. A perfect example of Philippine English exemplified in literature is Eraserheads’ songs. Eraserheads is a Filipino rock band formed in 1989 who has made a huge impact to the Original Pinoy Music (OPM) scene. They have left a legacy as one of the most successful, criticallyacclaimed, and significant bands in the history of Philippine music. Their songs have explored on various dynamics, styles, and genres that reflect the Filipino culture and experience with music and lyrics that capture the Filipino person. As such, it is only right to regard their songs as a product of Philippine literature, which will fall under poetry. This study aims to examine literary creativity in Philippine English by analyzing the sociolinguistics of Eraserheads’ (1995) “Poorman’s Grave”. The research will focus on the manifestation of Philippine English in the creative expression of the aforementioned song. Through this, the researcher hopes that the findings of this study will provide of a better understanding on how Philippine English applies to literary works, particularly to songs, thereby entertaining new methods of literary expressions for Philippine English writers.

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2. METHODOLOGY To examine literary creativity in Philippine English through Eraserheads’ (1995) “Poorman’s Grave”, the researcher will be using Thumboo’s (2009) framework that describes the situation of the writer in world Englishes. In this framework, the writer is assumed to be bicultural, “therefore part of a continuum that has roots in his own culture as well as what comes with English, (…), as distinguished from his other languages.” Thumboo divided the said framework into ten items in the form of a diagram: (a) individual writer, (b) inherited aggregate of beliefs and practices, (c) acquired language and (d) literature, (e) idiolect/style or genre, (f) occasion, (g) subject/theme, (h) product, (i) critic, and (j) audience or reader. Figure 1 shows this diagram.

Figure 1. Situation of the writer in world Englishes (Thumboo, 2009)

Furthermore, the researcher will be using Esquire editor-in-chief Erwin Romulo’s (2017) article entitled “Ely Buendia on Existence, Loneliness, and the Songs That Matter” that gives an indepth account on Ely Buendia to contextualize the him as a Philippine English writer and his song according to the framework. There will be a discussion on how Ely Buendia used Philippine English for his creative expression on the song.

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3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION According to Romulo’s (2017) interview on Ely Buendia, he claimed that he wrote “Poorman’s Grave” (1995) to express what he felt about his father when he was a teenager, particularly when he was fifteen. Thus, in analyzing “Poorman’s Grave”, it is the situation of Ely Buendia as a fifteen-year old (1985-1986) that is used to discuss his literary creativity in making the song through Philippine English. 3.1 Individual Writer In Thumboo’s (2009) framework, the individual writer is said to be composed of his vision and interest, which depend on his “background, personal history, formative influences, point of view, agenda of interests, dominant themes, and choice of genre”. Ely’s vision and interest on “Poorman’s Grave” can be captured from Romulo’s (2017) interview. As a kid, Ely lived in Naga, Camarines Sur in Bicol until he was five years old. He claimed to have a very provincial existence then, particularly by pointing out that he remembered that the nights had always been dark because his family didn’t have electricity. His family then moved to Manila to his father in 1976. This may also reflect on how Ely wrote songs. In the interview, he said: “Most of my lyrics are dark, if I had the choice, even the melodies would be dark. But then again it wasn’t going to work.” Thus, the word “dark” described Ely’s vision and interest fittingly as an individual writer. 3.2 Inherited Aggregate of Beliefs and Practices According to Thumboo (2009), the inherited aggregate of beliefs and practices, as an influence to the individual writer, is “transmitted through the determinants ranging from folkways to myths, religion, national history, politics, social structures and values, etc. These are transmitted through both formal and informal institutions that shape his society.” In writing “Poorman’s Grave,” the most obvious institution that affected Ely’s situation as a songwriter was the sociopolitical realities during the time when he was writing the song as a fifteen-year old (1985-1986), which were heavily effected by the consequences of the Marcos Administration. It was during this time when the economy experienced considerable difficulty especially due to the downfall of former President Ferdinand Marcos and the beginning of the floundering administration of former President Cory Aquino. In fact, Robles (2016) criticizes the Cory government for suffering severe handicaps. She notes: “The economy was in ruins, foreign debt

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was crushing, the civil service, the military and judiciary had been polluted and debased by years of ‘Marcosian’ graft and patronage.” Ely Buendia had been under the Marcos Administration since birth until he was fifteen, and it was only then that former President Ferdinand Marcos was ousted, that former President Cory Aqino took the presidential seat, and he was writing the song. At that time, his family was facing financial problems and his father was having a hard time in securing employment. In Romulo’s (2017) interview on Ely Buendia, he described his family’s state of crisis as a result of the departure of former President Ferdinand Marcos: After [President] Marcos left, my dad lost his job. He had a hard time after that. Palipatlipat siya ng trabaho (He often switched jobs). I remember I had to write letters to the school for my tuition, the promissory notes. I don’t know if those promissory notes were connected or not, but I remember that was when my dad became increasingly difficult. The family dynamics became much more volatile. He was always arguing with my mom and taking it out on the kids. From this, the determinants of the writer’s inherited aggregate of beliefs and practices can be singled out to the sociopolitical structures shaped by former President Marcos and former President Cory Aquino when Ely Buendia was fifteen years of age. 3.3 Acquired Language and Literature These are the facets acquired under the inherited aggregate of beliefs and practices that are associated with English and its literatures (Thumboo, 2009). In the context of Ely Buendia from birth until he was fifteen, it must be considered that, during that time, the bilingual scheme was a compromise. Due to the nationalistic fervor in the 1970s, there was an ambivalent attitude toward American English. As a result, the use of Filipino as a medium of instruction for educational institutions was emphasized by all levels, even in college, from 1974 to 1986. (Bautista & Gonzales, 2009). This was, however, contested by English, since it still attracted the better numbers, which included national and international recognition (Yuson, 2009). This situation reflected on Ely Buendia as he admitted in Romulo’s (2017) interview that he has been more comfortable in English. He even claimed that he thought he had a weird syntax in Tagalog, and that writing in Tagalog was more of a conscious decision. Nonetheless, he has been almost equally comfortable with Tagalog: “Probinsyano ako (I’m from the province) and everything I would hear in Bicol was all OPM.” Moreover, he confessed that despite his comfort 7

with English, he could not write anything “poetic” and his pieces were all “kantospeak (street language)”. Due to the bilingual identity imposed by institutions to the Filipino people during the time, Ely Buendia appears to have no strong fixation on a certain language, though it is mentioned that he has been (slightly) more comfortable with writing in English. Through this, he exemplifies the use of Philippine English, which will be discussed further in his idiolect/style or genre. 3.4 Idiolect/Style or Genre For Thumboo (2009), the idiolect/style or genre is the function of literature: it is “the writer’s orchestration of language, where the indigenization of English, the genre he is using, and how his sense of the function of literature informs the way he organizes and directs the discourse.” Ely Buendia, as a postcolonial writer, shows indigenization of English by appropriating it to a creative mode of self-expression, thereby exemplifying Philippine English. To demonstrate, Tope (2009) points that, “it [appropriation] claims for postcolonial writers a primacy that standardized English denies them when they execute the differential…thereby creating a language enriched by cultural experiences outside the standard language’s norm.” e. More of these will be further discussed in the proceeding sections. 3.5 Occasion Linked to idiolect/style or genre, the occasion is where the writer brings about thoughts, ideas, memories, experiences, and the like to deepen and elaborate the discourse (Thumboo, 2009). Ely Buendia revealed particular details of his father issues in Romulo’s (2017) interview to explain Poorman’s Grave. He mentioned that, at the time, he had felt like he did not have the freedom of doing what he wanted at his age. He was also frustrated with what he had seen from his father, especially his drinking problems. However, despite knowing that his father had financial struggles and parenting issues, Ely confessed that he had not done his part to help him; instead, he had been only concerned with his feelings and had never bothered to look at the bigger picture. Despite this, Ely recognized that he is a bit like his father by describing his positive features: He was a creative person. He wrote very, very long love letters. He was very romantic. He appreciated the value of being mysterious. He had this image of being mysterious and silent when he was in high school. 8

Thus, Ely Buendia, at the time, could not suppress his emotions toward his father. This is the personal occasion that contributes to the output. 3.6 Subject/Theme As a postcolonial writer, Ely Buendia demonstrates Philippine English by exploring on a subject that tackles a situation experienced by many Filipinos: poverty. Although personal, it is an act of a writer of Philippine English to use “subject and themes that pertain to their nation.” (Tope, 2009). By means of using English to exhibit such themes just shows that there is the colonized presence in the language, which is bound to transcend through Philippine English. As Tope (2009) referring to Thumboo put it: “It is therefore with a sense of empowerment that our writers have possessed the colonizer’s language, and by indigenizing it, localizing it, and imbuing it with the spirit of the native community, they take the language on their own terms, an act that preconditions creative freedom.” 3.7 Product The product is a manifestation of all the discussed facets that are said to create the product. In this case, it is “Poorman’s Grave”. From here on, the lyrics of the song will be analyzed in reference to the factors that are said to shape the output of the product. In writing the song, Ely Buendia’s vision and interest for it is dark; even for the melody can be heard as having a dark tune. This may be a result of Ely’s childhood, which he claimed to be dark most of the time in his provincial area. Furthermore, this is influenced by the sociopolitical realities in which he was under when he was fifteen, particularly the transitioning from former President Ferdinand Marcos to former President Corazon Aquino. The state of the economy during the time was floundering, which caused his father’s financial crisis. The beginning of the song proves this very claim evidently: I know a man who had nothing He was a poor man all his life He lived in a shack by the roadside With starving kids and a loving wife (1-4) The inherited aggregate of beliefs and practices is intimately connected with the acquired language and literature of Ely. In this case, the song uses English because Ely grew up to be comfortable with that language, thereby proving how he acquired it from certain institutions. However, it is worthy to mention that Ely exhibits Philippine English as a Filipino postcolonial 9

writer instead of American English. One of the characteristics of Philippine English is appropriation. In the song, the most evident form of appropriation is transliterations, which are used “to convey expressions impossible to convey in English because his articulators are not at home in English” (Tope, 2009). In the second verse of the song, transliteration is shown through the sudden tense change: I know a man who had nothing He dreamed of satin sheets all his life He lived and worked like a dog Licking every boot he sees just to survive He comes home drunk every night Wakes up the kids and talks to his wife, he said Honey, you have been so good to me I only wish we had a better life (26-33) Initially, the tense form of the verbs from lines 26 to 29 exhibits the past tense; however, there is a change to the present tense in line 30 as if there were a shift in time when there is none. This is actually a characteristic of Philippine English that can be explained by transliteration: “He comes home drunk every night” is “Umuuwi siya nang lasing gabi-gabi”. This appears to be an error for some, but it is only the situation that the English usage contradicts the counterpart usage in Filipino. Tenses are confusing because “Philippine languages are characterized as having an aspect system rather than a tense system.” (Bautista, 2000:154). To further deepen and elaborate the song, an occasion that refers to Ely’s past experience must be considered. In fact, he did this himself in Romulo’s (2017) interview, saying: “I was frustrated, and that line about ‘He comes home drunk every night’ was as real as I could get.” Perhaps his father’s nature as a drunkard contributed to how he had father issues with him at the time. Finally, the best articulation to fully realize the song is the subject/theme. As mentioned, it is poverty, which directly relates to the whole concept of the song. 3.8 Critic According to Thumboo (2009), the writer is at the same time is his own critic. Ely already revealed his thoughts on the song in Romulo’s (2017) interview: “Poorman’s Grave,” I’m so proud of because it was one of the few songs that I wrote that wasn’t based on anything and it came out from a real desire to express something that I felt at that time—which was, to put it bluntly, father issues… In fact, he claimed that it is also the number one song that he has ever written. 3.9 Audience or Reader 10

Thumboo (2009) states that the audience or reader, as part of the framework, “is merely to raise the question of how much of the writer, in terms of (a) to (f), should we know if we are to try best to understand her before assessing her work.” If this question were to be answered, then it would simply depend on to what extent would the listener would want to analyze the song. If it is to simply get a general grasp of it, then knowing that the song is about Ely’s father would be appropriate enough.

4. CONCLUSION Upon analyzing literary creativity in “Poorman’s Grave” (1995) through Philippine English, the researcher found that this creativity was determined by several factors, particularly of the sociopolitical realities of the Philippines. The most notable ones are the current state of affairs when Ely was writing the song and the colonial history of the Philippines that gave way to the formation of Philippine English and its modifications. By means of this, “Poorman’s Grave” exhibited Philippine English mainly through appropriation, specifically transliteration, and through a subject or theme that the Filipinos can definitely relate to. Findings from this study support the use of Philippine English in the expression of creativity. By using one of Eraserheads’ songs as an example, it serves as evidence that Philippine English writers can creatively express themselves as genuine as they can without having fear or guilt for inconsistency to American English.

5. REFERENCES Bautista, M. S. (2000). Defining standard Philippine English: Its status and grammatical features. Malate, Manila, Philippines: De La Salle University Press. Bautista, M. S., & Bolton, K. (2009). Philippine English: Linguistic and literary perspectives. Pasig City, Philippines: Exclusively distributed by Anvil Pub. Bautista, M. S., & Gonzales, A. B. (2009). Southeast Asian Englishes. In B. B. Kachru, Y. Kachru, & C. L. Nelson (Eds.), The handbook of world Englishes (pp. 130-144). Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell.

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Bolton, K. (2004). World Englishes. In A. Davies & C. Elder (Eds.), The handbook of applied linguistics (pp. 367-396). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing. D’Souza, J. (1992). The relationship between code-mixing and the new varieties of English: Issues and Implications. World Englishes 2(2-3). 217-223 D’Souza, J. (1998). Review of Arjuna Parakama’s De-hegemonizing language standards: Learning from (post) colonial Englishes about “English”. Asian English 1(2). 86-94. Kachru, B. B. (1997). World Englishes and English-using communities. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 17.66-87. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kachru, B. B. (1985). Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: the English language in the outer circle. In R. Quirk and H.G. Widdowson (Eds), English in the world: Teaching and learning the language and literatures (pp.11-30). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kretzschmar, W. (Ed.). (2000). American English. Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2000. Retrieved from http://encarta.msn.com "PHILIPPINE ENGLISH." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. Retrieved August

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20170509-lfrm5 Thumboo, E. (2009). Literary Creativity in World Englishes. In B. B. Kachru, Y. Kachru, & C. L. Nelson (Eds.), The handbook of world Englishes (pp. 405-427). Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell. Tope, L. (2009). Negotiating language: Postcolonialism and nationalism in Philippine literature in English. In M. S. Bautista & A. B. Gonzales (Eds.), Philippine English: Linguistic and Literary Perspectives (pp. 261-278). Pasig City, Philippines: Exclusively distributed by Anvil Pub.

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Yuson, A. A. (2009). Filipino diasporic literature. In M. S. Bautista & A. B. Gonzales (Eds.), Philippine English: Linguistic and Literary Perspectives (pp. 337-355). Pasig City, Philippines: Exclusively distributed by Anvil Pub.

D’Souza, J. (1998). Review of Arjuna Parakama’s De-hegemonizing language standards: Learning from (post) colonial Englishes about “English”. Asian English 1(2). 86-94. Romulo, E. (2017, May 9). Ely Buendia on Existence, Loneliness, and the Songs That Matter. Retrieved

from

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20170509-lfrm5 Thumboo, E. (2009). Literary Creativity in World Englishes. In B. B. Kachru, Y. Kachru, & C. L. Nelson (Eds.), The handbook of world Englishes (pp. 405-427). Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell.

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