Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Philippine languages
Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics
Images
Table 54: Austronesian Family Tree (Theory 1)
Quizzes
Buddhist engravings on wall in Thailand. Hands on wall. Hompepage blog 2009, history and society, science and technology, geography and travel, explore discovery
Languages & Alphabets
Quick Facts
Britannica AI Icon
Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites

Philippine languages

Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

Philippine languages, about 70 to 75 aboriginal languages of the Philippine Islands. They belong to the Indonesian branch of the Austronesian family and are subdivided into two main subgroups—the central (or Mesophilippine) division and the northern (or Cordilleran) division—with a number of other member languages forming smaller groups or remaining unclassified.

The most important languages in the central division are Tagalog (a standardized form of which, Pilipino, is the official national language) and Cebuano. The most important in the northern division is Ilocano.