The Archive releases Regular Volume 6, No. 1 (2025)

The Archive journal, the official publication of the UP Department of Linguistics, has released the first of two issues of its sixth regular volume. The issue features three articles and the abstracts of a thesis and dissertation from recently graduated students of the graduate programs of the Department. 

Online access to the issue is currently limited. For copies of the articles, kindly send a request to thearchive.upd@up.edu.ph. 

Featured Articles and Abstracts

The new issue features three original research articles.

The first article, “The empty root kuan in radio conversations: Its versatile functions and syntactic distribution,” written by Philip Donald P. Herrera and Mary Ann P. Malimas, analyzes the Cebuano word kuan, identifying it as an “empty root” that functions as a placeholder, euphemistic device, referential substitute, and a word capable of taking multiple syntactic roles. The last function highlights its difference from discourse markers in other languages so far surveyed. 

The second article, “Use of speech and gestures in pretend plays: The case of three-year-olds,” written by Melojie R. Lauron and Yva Dy, examines toddlers in a Cebuano-Bisaya-speaking household in Zamboanga del Norte. It highlights how children combine speech and gestures not only for persuasion but also to communicate ideas and explore their surroundings. Gestures also support early cognitive development and the study underscores its complementary role in child language acquisition.  

The third article, “Comparing voice-aspect in Southern Cordillera: Pangasinan, Bugkalot/Eg̓ongot, and Keley-i,” written by John Michael Vincent S. De Pano, investigates voice and aspect paradigms among Southern Cordilleran languages, using the tools of synchronic and diachronic linguistics. The study provides evidence supporting their subgroup affiliation (Southern Cordillera) and offers insights into shared innovations, verb morphosyntax, and broader grammatical patterns. 

The issue also includes abstracts from the PhD Linguistics dissertation of Honeylet E. Dumoran, supervised by Dr. Aldrin P. Lee, on “Bilic: The Morphosyntax of Languages in Transit” and the MA Linguistics theses of Jay Chester D. Usero, supervised by Assoc. Prof. Jesus Federico C. Hernandez, on “Catanduanes: A Dialectology.” Both works can now be accessed at the University Archives of the University of the Philippines Diliman. 

Sustaining Linguistic Scholarship

In a reflective closing editorial, Editor-in-Chief Jem R. Javier emphasized perseverance, academic continuity, and the evolving role of scholarship publishing. Javier recalled the “publish or perish” pressures navigated by junior academics and how The Archive—on its third revival through the efforts of former department chairs Aldrin Lee and Farah Cunanan, and continued thereafter—has since become a vital platform for helping the professional advancement of researchers, in addition to its purpose of documenting Philippine languages and dialects, and disseminating research to the public.

Javier called for continued scholarly engagement through revisiting literature, refining analyses, and challenging assumptions—while acknowledging the challenges posed by information saturation and the rise of AI-generated content. Despite these pressures, he expressed hope that The Archive will remain to be a rigorous and relevant repository for linguistic knowledge and a beneficial resource for ethnolinguistic communities. 

Journal Leadership and Acknowledgements

The Archive is grateful to its community of contributors—which has now expanded beyond the UP Department of Linguistics stakeholders, to authors from different parts of the Philippines and from different institutions. Gratitude is also extended to the network of peers who conducted the reviews and ensured the quality of published articles and the UP Department of Linguistics for its assistance in the continuous administration and publication of the journal.

This is the final regular issue helmed by Assoc. Prof. Jem R. Javier (editor-in-chief) and Asst. Prof. Divine Angeli P. Endriga (managing editor), with assistance from Brian Salvador C. Baran (copyeditor, layout artist, cover designer), and Victoria N. Vidal (administrative assistant). The Archive also welcomes the new leadership who will supervise the journal moving forward: Assoc. Prof. Maria Kristina S. Gallego (editor-in-chief), Kyung Min Bae (managing editor), and Brian Salvador Baran(copyeditor, layout artist, cover designer). 

With this new issue and new leadership, The Archive reaffirms its role as a vital repository of linguistic studies and a platform for ongoing scholarship on Philippine languages and their communities. 

The Archive was originally published in the 1920s by Otto Johns Scheerer as a repository for working papers of the Department’s graduate students. It now publishes research outputs in three different categories: the Regular Issue, which is the peer-reviewed publication for original works dealing primarily but not exclusively with Philippine languages and dialects; the Special Publication, which is a venue for publishing single, extensive works on Philippine languages, translations, and other similar works; and the Classics series, which reprints monumental works in Philippine linguistics that paved the way for further research in the field and continue to influence current studies on Philippine languages.

The Archive accepts submissions all year round. It is officially hosted by the UP Diliman Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Development, through the UP Diliman Journals Online website, where previous and current issues of the journal may be freely accessed and downloaded. More information about the journal and submission guidelines are available through this link.