Rosario is new Chair

Asst. Prof. Francisco Rosario, Jr. is the new chairperson of the UP Department of Linguistics starting this August 2025. He will be taking over the position of Assoc. Prof. Maria Kristina Gallego. 

Gallego served as the Department’s chairperson from August 2022 to July 2025. During her term, she led the Department in its celebration of its 100th founding anniversary, which included the continuation of lecture series like the Linguistics Special Lecture Series (LSLS), Philippine Indigenous Languages Lecture Series (PILLS), Lexicon Unpacked, and the Consuelo J. Paz Lecture Series. She also oversaw the inaugural installments of the Talks in Asian Languages (TAL), the Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera Lectures, and Paglulunsad at Paglalayag. 

Under her term, also launched were the Working Papers in Linguistics (WPL) and the Oral History Project (OHP). The centennial celebration culminated with the revival of the Asian Culture Fest and the 15th Philippine Linguistics Congress (PLC). Among those which also hit a century were The Archive, Japanese language teaching, and Chinese language teaching. 

Gallego was also the chairperson during the convening of the 2023 Conference on Asian Linguistic Anthropology, the 16th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics (ICAL), 2024 Lannang Symposium, Ika-2 Pandaigdigang Kumperensiya sa Nanganganib na Wika, 2024 Philippine K-Culture Conference, Fifteenth Conference of the Ritual Year SIEF Working Group, and several installments of the Philippine Korean Studies Symposium (PKSS). 

It was also during Gallego’s term that the Department signed memoranda of understanding with several institutions, including the Nueva Vizcaya State University, SIL Global – Philippines, Universitas Nusa Cendana (Indonesia), Institute of East and West Studies of Yonsei University (South Korea), and Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts (Japan).

In the past three years, aside from partnerships with different institutions, collaborations have been started with the Bugkalot/Eģongot (ilk), Kalanguya (kak), and Dumagat/Remontado (agv) communities. 

Department Chairperson Francisco Rosario, Jr. will pick up the work that the Department began under the terms of Gallego and the other previous chairs. Rosario is a PhD student at the UP Department of Linguistics, whose research interests include morphosyntax, the Pangasinan language, lexicography, and subcategorization. He also regularly teaches Bahasa Indonesia/Malaysia courses. He will be leading the Department in the ushering of the new century of Philippine linguistics. 

Welcome, Chair Isko!

[Gallego photo from UP CSSP website.]