Santiago presents on Cecilio Lopez at history conference

The Contributions of Cecilio Lopez to Philippine Historical and Comparative Linguistics from Below, 1925-1976

Histories of Philippine linguistics are unanimous in stating that Cecilio F. Lopez (1898- 1979) is the first professional linguist of Filipino descent (Reid, 1981, p. 5; Gonzalez, 1993, p. 199-200; Quakenbush, 2005, p. 4; Rubrico, 2015; see also Constantino, ed., 1977 and Lopez, 1977). Having first earned a Bachelor of Science (major in zoology, minor in languages) degree from the University of the Philippines, Lopez’s status as professional linguist is attributed mainly to the Doctor of Philosophy (major in linguistics, minors in ethnology and phonetics) degree he earned in the University of Hamburg, Germany under the tutelage of German doctor and Austronesian historical and comparative linguist Otto Dempwolff (Constantino, ed., 1977). 

Coming from a four-year stint as pensionado in Germany, the Netherlands, and France, how did Lopez contribute to the formation of “a Filipino tradition in the scientific study of Philippine languages and dialects” (Constantino & Chua, 1977, p. xii), particularly in the subfields of historical and comparative linguistics?

Surveying biographical texts and his actual writings on dialectology, historical linguistics, and comparative grammar, this paper finds that Lopez’s work formed a brand of linguistics that is in dialogue with the international scientific community yet at the same time richly-informed by local case studies and shaped by scholars and community members in the Philippines; a Philippine historical and comparative linguistics “from below” (Gallego, Santiago, Dumoran, Peneyra, 2023). 

Keywords: historiography of historical biographies (conference sub-theme), Philippine linguistics, historical and comparative linguistics