DEVELOPMENT OF
PHILIPPINE
LITERATURE
PRE-SPANISH
PERIOD
Our forefathers already had their own
literature stamped in the history of our race.
Ancient literature shows our customs and
traditions in everyday life as trace in our folk
stories, old plays and short stories.
Our ancestors also had their own alphabet
which was different from that brought by the
Spaniards.
ALIBATA MALAYO-POLYNESIAN
ALPHABET
ALIBATA - ancient Philippine alphabet.
- Similar to that of Malayo-polynesian
alphabet.
Literature
under
PRE-SPANISH colonial PERIOD
Pre-colonial Period
Pre-colonial inhabitants of our islands
showcase a rich past through their folk
speeches, folk songs, folk narratives
and indigenous rituals and mimetic
dances that affirm our ties with our
Southeast Asian neighbors.
Pre-colonial Period
The most seminal of these folk speeches
is the RIDDLE.
tigmo in Cebuano
bugtong in Tagalog
paktakon in Ilongo
patototdon in Bicol
Pre-colonial Period
Proverbs (salawikain)
-These have been customarily used
and served as laws or rules on good
behavior by our ancestors. To others,
these are like allegories or parables
that impart lessons for the young.
Pre-colonial Period
EXAMPLE:
1. “ A tree is known by its fruit.”
2. “ Since we cannot get what we like,
let us like what we can get. ”
3. “ Nothing destroys iron but its own
corrosion.”
Pre-colonial Period
-The extended form, tanaga, a
mono-riming heptasyllabic quatrain
expressing insights and lessons on
life is "more emotionally charged
than the terse proverb and thus has
affinities with the folk lyric.”
Pre-colonial Period
Folk song (FOLK LYRIC)
-a song originating among the
people of country or area, passed by
oral tradition from one singer or
generation to the next.
-a form of folk lyric which expresses
the hopes and aspirations, the people's
lifestyles as well as their loves.
Pre-colonial Period
These are often, sonorous, didactic,
and naïve/simple.
children's songs or Ida-ida
(Maguindanao) repetitive
tulang pambata (Tagalog)
cansiones para abbing (Ibanag).
Pre-colonial Period
More folk songs…
lullabyes or Ili-ili (Ilongo)
panawagon and balitao (Ilongo)-
love songs
harana or serenade (Cebuano);
the bayok (Maranao);
ambahan (Mangyans)
Pre-colonial Period
More examples of folk songs…
Kundiman
Kumintang o Tagumpay
Daina
Oyayi o Hele
Pre-colonial Period
Narrative song
- is a genre which is based on
narration and story-telling in sung
form.
- is a genre which is based on
narration and story-telling in sung
form.
Pre-colonial Period
A type of narrative song or kissa
among the Tausug of Mindanao, the
parang sabil, uses for its subject matter
the exploits of historical and
legendary heroes. It tells of a Muslim
hero who seeks death at the hands of
non-Muslims.
Pre-colonial Period
The folk narratives, i.e. epics and folk tales
are varied, exotic and magical.
Epics come in various names:
Guman (Subanon);
Darangen (Maranao);
Hudhud (Ifugao); and
Ulahingan (Manobo)
Pre-colonial Period
EPIC
- a long poem, typically one derived
from ancient oral tradition, narrating
the deeds and adventures of heroic or
legendary figures or the history of
nation.
Pre-colonial Period
EXAMPLE:
Lam-ang (Ilocano)
Hinilawod (Sulod)
Kudaman (Palawan)
Darangen (Maranao)
Ulahingan (Livunganen-Arumanen
Manobo)
Tudbulol (T'boli)
Ag Tobig neg Keboklagan
(Subanon);
Other Forms of Pre-colonial Period
EPIgram
- a concise poem dealing pointedly
and often satirically with a single
thought or event and often ending
with an ingenious turn of thought.
-saying that expresses an idea in a
clever way and often parodoxical
saying.
Other Forms of Pre-colonial Period
EXAMPLE:
1.“To be safe on the fourth. Don’t
buy a fifth on the third.”
-(James H. Muehlbauer)
2. “Little strokes.Fell great oaks.” –
(Benjamin Franklin)
3. “It comes once a year.But it fades
with fear.
Other Forms of Pre-colonial Period
RIDDLE (bugtong/palaisipan)
-is a statement or question or phrase
having double or veiled meaning, put
forth as a puzzle to be solved.
-Central to the riddle is the talinghaga
or metaphor because it "reveals subtle
resemblances between two unlike
objects" and one's power of observation
and wit are put to the test.
Other Forms of Pre-colonial Period
EXAMPLE:
I have a head, I have a tail,
but I do not have a body. I
am neither a lizard nor a
snake . Then guess what am
I?
Other Forms of Pre-colonial Period
ANSWER:
It is a coin
Other Forms of Pre-colonial Period
OTHER EXAMPLES:
1. Nagtago si Pedro, labas ang ulo. (Pedro
hides but you can still see his head.)
2. Ako ay may kaibigan kasama ko kahit
saan. (I have a friend and he is with
everywhere I go.)
3. Iisa ang pasukan, tatlo ang lalabasan.
(It has one entrance, but has three exit.)
Other Forms of Pre-colonial Period
CHANT
(bulong)
- a repeated rhytmic phrase,
typically one shouted or sung in
unison by a crowd.
-Used in witchcraft or
enchantment.
Other Forms of Pre-colonial Period
EXAMPLES:
Let’s get fired up!
Get rough,get tough, get mean
Let’s get fired up!
And roll right over that team.
Other Forms of Pre-colonial Period
Sayings (kasabihan)
-express norms or codes of
behavior, community beliefs or they
instill values by offering nuggets of
wisdom in short, rhyming verse.
Other Forms of Pre-colonial Period
EXAMPLES:
“Education breeds confidence.
Confidence breeds hope.
Hope breeds peace.”
“The ones who falls and gets up
is so much stronger than the one
who never fell.”
Other Forms of Pre-colonial Period
Maxims
-Short statement that expresses a
general truth.
EXAMPLES:
“Nothing ventured, nothing
gained.”
“If at first you don’t succeed, try
and try again.”
Other Forms of Pre-colonial Period
Sawikain or idioms
-Words/ phrases that has a
hidden meaning.
-is a word or phrase that is not
taken literally.
Other Forms of Pre-colonial Period
EXAMPLES:
1.“Hold your tongue”
(you should not talk)
2.“a piece of cake”
(easy to understand)
3. “beating around the bush”
(avoiding the main issue)
