“The Archive” first regular issue is now available

The first regular issue of The Archive journal has been released, with works covering the domains of theoretical and descriptive linguistics and the interaction among the disciplines of linguistics, history, and ethnology, according to Asst. Prof. Farah C. Cunanan, the journal’s editor-in-chief and issue editor. 

Featured in the latest issue of the journal are three full-length articles: “Relativization Asymmetries in Philippine-type Languages: A Preliminary Investigation” by Ivan Paul M. Bondoc, “Focus and Aspect in Iraya Mangyan Verbs” by Elsie Marie T. Or, “Reimagining Panahon: Exploring the Nexus of Time and Weather in Philippine Languages” by Ruchie Mark D. Pototanon; and a translation of Otto Johns Scheerer’s 1906 work titled, “Zur Ethnologie der Inselkette zwischen Luzon und Formosa” [“On the Ethnology of the Island Chain between Luzon and Formosa”] by Frances Antoinette Cruz.

Bondoc’s paper seeks to confirm earlier claims on restrictions in argument extraction in Philippine-type voice languages, supporting the position that the pivot is the most accessible argument for relativization. Likewise, Bondoc’s data elicited from five Philippine-type languages suggests that the non-pivot agent in some of these languages can also undergo such linguistic phenomenon.

Or presents how focus and aspect marking in Iraya, an endangered Mangyan language of Mindoro, is expressed through both synthetic and analytic means, highlighting the importance of context in the interpretation of aspect.

Pototanon sheds light on how the concepts of time and weather in twelve Philippine languages belong to a single domain using techniques in linguistics and history. The evidence of possible borrowings among these languages leads him to posit historical interactions among these various language groups.

Finally, Cruz’s  contribution to the issue is a scholarly translation of Scheerer’s ethnological study originally written in German and published in 1906. Cunanan mentioned that “[a]fter more than a century since its original publication, non-German speakers interested in this work can now read about Scheerer’s ideas about the peoples of this island chain based on his review of existing works on the area”.

Issue editor Cunanan wrote that the published original articles are “…proofs that Philippine languages and dialects are worth studying—to inform theory, to record history, to learn about history and the cultures and interactions among our peoples”. 

Originally published in the 1920s by Otto Johns Scheerer as a repository for working papers of the Department’s graduate students, The Archive is now the official peer-reviewed journal of our Department. In 2018, after decades of going on hiatus, it was officially relaunched through the publication of the Ayta Mag-antsi grammar edited by Dr. Viveca V. Hernandez. 

The Archive accepts original works dealing primarily but not exclusively with Philippine languages and dialects. It is officially hosted by the Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Development through the UP Diliman Journals Online website, where previous and current issues may be accessed and downloaded. More information about the journal and submission guidelines are available through this link.