After the Philippines became a U.S. territory in 1898, English was adopted as a more or less official tongue. But a growing number of Filipinos are calling for a kind of linguistic liberation, charging that English undermines the country's identity. Last week a wide-ranging study commissioned by a Philippine Senator blamed the language for inducing a national inferiority complex. Said the report: "Thinking in our native language but expressing ourselves in English results not only in a lack of confidence but also in a lack of power of expression." The statement, alas, was written in English.
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