The evolving study of Philippine English phonology

This paper describes the evolution of studies of Philippine English phonology over more than three decades, and then goes on to discuss the results of a recent data‐based study of the Philippine English accent which, following Llamzon (1997), groups representative speakers of Philippine English into three groups: an acrolect group, a mesolect group, and a basilect group. The results of this research provide a description of distinctive phonological features at the three levels, shared in and between speakers of such groups. Finally the paper concludes by suggesting a number of possible directions for future research, suggesting that future studies of Philippine English phonology will be concerned not so much with making statements about a ‘standard’ Philippine pronunciation, but rather with describing descriptions of a range of accents, differentiated both according to geography (and first language background) and according to social‐group membership.