Between policy promises and colonial legacies: A systematic review of power asymmetries and preservation mechanisms in Philippine languages
Mark Kevin Astrero & Darius King A. Galo
Abstract
The Philippines is among Southeast Asia's most linguistically diverse and increasingly threatened speech communities, but there remains a lack of significant scholarly work on how Philippine languages are recorded, maintained, and revived. This systematic review examines the existing body of Philippine language-preservation research, the mechanisms of preservation it documents, and the gaps and imbalances it reveals in the relationship between language policy and language justice. This article presents a systematic review of language preservation studies in the Philippines based on the PRISMA framework. Out of an initial database of 185 citations collected through a multidisciplinary approach, only 14 studies met the eligibility criteria of being specifically focused on language preservation, maintenance, revival, or documentation arising from the Philippines. Thematic analysis of these studies yielded four main themes: the role of institutions and policies; the role of families and intergenerational transmission; the recording of under-reported indigenous languages; and the role of oral tradition in language preservation. The academic research in this area is deeply influenced by the structural inequalities created by the Spanish and American colonial language ideologies, unequal attention to different languages spoken in the archipelago, and the gap between national language policy and everyday socialization practices regarding languages.
Keywords
language preservation, language policy, indigenous languages, critical language studies, systematic review
Author information & Contribution
Mark Kevin Astrero. Corresponding author. Master of Arts in Education-Language and Literature. Faculty, Northeastern College. Email: mrastrero.ulshs@gmail.com
Darius King A. Galo. Master of Arts in Education. Faculty, Northeastern College. Email: kingdariusgalo@northeasterncollege.edu.ph
"All authors equally contributed to the conception, design, preparation, data gathering and analysis, and writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript."
Disclosure statement
There is no conflict of interest to declare by the authors.
Funding
No public-sector agency funded this research. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not Applicable.
Data and Materials Availability
The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
AI Declaration
The author declares the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in writing this paper. In particular, the author used Grammarly to refine grammar. The author takes full responsibility for ensuring proper review and editing of content generated using AI.
Notes
Acknowledgement
The authors thank Northeastern College for allowing us to conduct this study. We also thank their family and friends, as well as those who believed in them. This paper is also dedicated to the indigenous people around the world. Mabuhay ang kulturang Pilipino!
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Cite this article:
Astrero, M.K. & Galo, D.K.A (2026). Between policy promises and colonial legacies: A systematic review of power asymmetries and preservation mechanisms in Philippine languages. Journal of Hospitality, Tourism & Cultural Research, 2(4), 24-39. https://doi.org/10.53378/jhtcr.353388
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