University of the Philippines Diliman

College of Social Sciences and Philosophy

Department of Linguistics

Buhat sang Paglaum:

A preliminary linguistic analysis of the Hiligaynon concept of Paglaum

Taleon, Kristine Anne

Diliman, Quezon City 1101

January 2021

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 CHAPTER 1

PRELIMINARIES

This chapter will deal with the important concepts addressed in this study, such as the
interrelations regarding language and culture, the concept of emotion, as well as introduce the
Hiligaynon language and culture. Moreover, this chapter will elaborate on the purpose and
objective of this study, including its methodological and theoretical framework as well as, the
scope and limitations of this research.

1. Introduction
1.1 Language and Culture

Several authors in linguistics and anthropology generally agree that language and
culture are closely related. The relationship between the two can be seen everywhere, whether
it is in folklore, songs, or perhaps in everyday conversations. Furthermore, language and culture
often define a person’s identity including habits, values and even perspectives on certain
phenomena. Culture is defined by various authors differently. Sapir (1921) defines culture as
socially inherited assemblage of practices and beliefs that determines the texture of people’s
lives. Redfield, however, claims that culture is an organization of conventional understandings
that manifest in acts and artifacts, which persists through tradition and even, characterizes a
human social group (Redfield, 1940).

According to, Herskovits (1948) culture is essentially a construct that describes the total
body of belief, behaviour, knowledge, sanctions, values, and goals that mark the way of life of
any person. The common denominator among all these definitions is that culture, involves a
system of belief, views and behaviours shared together by a particular group. Language on the
other hand, is defined as a system of signs that is seen as having itself a cultural value (Kramsch
and Widdowson, 1998). The process in which words of a language express ideas and a
collection of knowledge, as well as the speaker’s personal beliefs, attitude and point of views
are what Kramsch and Widdowson (1998) referred to as cultural reality. This cultural reality
that is embodied by language shows the overlap between the two concepts. Another governing
theory that determined the relationship between language and culture is the Sapir-Whorf
Hypothesis.

This theory is further categorized into two principles, the linguistic relativism which
states that the users of varying languages, each with their own unique grammar, are subjected

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to perceiving and evaluating externally similar acts differently and thus end up having different
understandings of the world (Whorf, 1956). The second one is termed as linguistic determinism
which claims that the structure of a language influences how its speakers view the world (Fuller
and Wardhaugh, 2014). One claim is that if speakers of one language have certain words to
describe things and speakers of another language lack similar words, then the speakers of the
first language will find it easier to talk about those things. A stronger more viable claim is that,
if one language makes distinctions that another does not make, then those who use the first
language will more readily perceive the relevant differences in their environment. (Fuller and
Wardhaugh, 2014).

Many linguists have also further studied the relationship between language and culture.
As noted by Jiang (2000), everything we say in language has meanings, designative or sociative,
denotative or connotative. Every language that we use carries meanings that are not in the same
sense because it is associated with culture. People of different cultures can refer to different
things while using the same language structure. Evidently, Nida (1998) states that both
language and culture are two symbolic but very much related systems. The culture of a group
of people is reflected in the language that they utilize, because they value certain things and do
them in a certain way, they come to use their language in ways that reflect what they value and
what they do (Rangriz and Harati, 2017). In conclusion, both language and culture influence
each other because of the close relationship they possess, and by extension language can also
be viewed as a verbal expression of culture, and vice versa, wherein culture is reflected in the
language.

1.2 Emotion

Presently, there is no acceptable consensus on the definition of emotion. Such is the

complexity of this concept. Scherer (2004) posits that there is still no generally accepted
definition of emotion and continues to state that, the absence of such a definition has had a very
negative effect for, without consensual conceptualization of exactly what phenomenon is to be
studied, progress in theory and research is difficult to achieve and fruitless debates are likely
to proliferate. Furthermore, he also proposed the usage of the component-process theory to
define the concept, that has been met with criticisms. Emotion is a phenomenon felt universally
by people and a concept that is present in all languages (Lorenzana,2006).

Various fields have reached different definitions for emotion. In Psychology, which
concentrates on this particular concept defined this phenomenon as, a complex reaction pattern,

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involving experiential, behavioural and physiological elements (American Psychological
Association (APA) n.d). Emotions are how individuals deal with matters and events that bear
a significance in their lives. Moreover, APA elaborated that emotions are divided into three
components. The first of which is, subjective experience also known as stimulus. This refers to
how individuals’ responses are varied, this stimulus can provoke many emotions in a single
person and the emotions each of them may feel are guaranteed to be different. If a significant
loss of a loved were to be experience by both persons, even when their experiences are similar
their reactions might be different. One may feel grief, whereas one might be angry.

The second component is called, physiological response which is the result of the
autonomic nervous system’s reaction to the emotion individuals are experiencing. The
autonomic nervous system controls the involuntary bodily responses and regulates the fight-
or-flight response. According to many psychologists, these physiological responses are what
helped us survive, adapt and evolve throughout history. Furthermore, Fitzpatrick, Purves and
Augustine (2001) discovered the inextricable link between motor behaviour and emotion and
proved that the physiological responses and facial expression can greatly affect the intensity of
the emotions that are felt. The last component is behavioural response or the actual expression
of the emotion. Behavioural responses may include a smile, a grimace, a laugh or a sigh, along
with many other reactions depending on societal norms and personality. While plentiful
research suggests that many facial expressions are universal, such as a frown to indicate sadness,
sociocultural norms and individual upbringings play a role in our behavioural responses. An
example would be the expression of love and how it varies depending on the culture or the
individual involved (University of West Alabama (UWA), 2019).

The emotions felt by individuals were also categorized into simple emotions, such as
sadness, happiness, anger, fear, surprise, and disgust and although multiple studies contested
on the number of basic simple emotions, it was generally agreed that there are a set of universal
basic emotions with recognizable basic facial features (UWA,2019). Complex emotions on the
other hand were defined as any emotion that exists as an aggregate of two or more other
emotions (APA, n.d) such as jealousy or hope. The branch of psychology certainly explored
the concept of emotions and useful literature regarding the concept were revealed. Another
branch wherein emotion can be further understood would be Biology, emotion is defined
biologically as s a neural impulse that moves an organism to action, prompting automatic
reactive behaviour adapted through years of evolution as a survival mechanism to meet a need.
The evolutionary component of emotion was highlighted in Darwin (1872) as he elaborates

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that certain emotions are expressed similarly across closely related species, further suggesting
that these emotions are phylogenetically conserved. These innate emotions are said to be
mediated by affect programs in the brain especially organized in the limbic system and can
either be in a positive or a negative state. An affect program is a psychological description of
a dedicated neural circuit. The prefrontal cortex exerts a top- down inhibitory influence on
subcortical emotion systems and alterations in this function results in several minor as well as
major mental aberrations. However, emotions are nature's methods to motivate human
behaviour in the appropriate context in the natural setting (Sadanandavalli, R. et al, 2019).
Primary or basic emotions include Joy, anger, fear, sadness, disgust and Social or Moral
emotions are Shame, Embarrassment, Pride and others. Examining emotions through a
biological perspective rendered the evolutionary aspect of this concept, as well as the neural
impulses that are activated once individuals’ start to exhibit emotion.

Philosophy is another important field in terms of studying emotion. Two broad

desiderata have governed the project of defining emotions in both philosophy and affective
science. The first one is in achieving compatibility with ordinary linguistic usage, and the other
one is in achieving theoretical fruitfulness. Experimental philosophy provided a means for
philosophers in reaching a definition for the concept of emotion embodying both desiderata,
these techniques have revealed that emotion concepts, like most ordinary concepts, are
prototypically organized (Fehr & Russell,1984). There are better and worse examples of
emotions as ordinarily understood such as fear being comparatively better than awe. In addition,
things ordinarily called emotions differ from one another along several dimensions. For
example, some emotions are occurrences (e.g., panic), and others are dispositions (e.g.,
hostility); some are short-lived (e.g., anger) and others are long-lived (e.g., grief); some involve
primitive cognitive processing (e.g., fear of a suddenly looming object), and others involve
sophisticated cognitive processing (e.g., fear of losing a chess match); some are conscious (e.g.,
disgust about an insect in the mouth) and others are unconscious (e.g., unconscious fear of
failing in life); some have prototypical facial expressions (e.g., surprise) and others lack them
(e.g., regret). Some involve strong motivations to act (e.g., rage) and others do not (e.g.,
sadness). Some are present across species (e.g., fear) and others are exclusively human (e.g.,
schadenfreude).

In summation, philosophy found that emotions involve at least in prototypical cases, a

set of evaluative, physiological, phenomenological, expressive, behavioural, and mental
components that are diagnostic of emotions and are to some degree correlated with one another.

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Emotions have intentionality or the ability to represent and typically involve conscious
experiences. Additionally, emotions involve appraisals of the significance of the stimulus
situation, ranging between primitive and sophisticated forms of information processing. But
Philosophy and affective science also discovered that emotions do not necessarily oppose
reason and that it can be correlated with changes in motivation to do things. (Scarantino and
De Sousa, 2018). To conclude, the philosophical description of emotion seems to postulate that
in order to define emotion completely, various disciplines must be evaluated together. However,
despite not reaching a widely agreeable definition for emotion, Ekmann (1971,1972) indicates
that there are at least seven (7) universal facial expressions, these include: happiness, sadness,
anger, disgust, fear, surprise, and contempt. Through a series of extensive cross-cultural studies
on the subject of emotion, Ekmann was able to understand that although universality in
emotions exist, there will still be cultural differences brought about by, what he termed as
display rules. These are rules people learn in the course of growing up about when, how and to
whom it is appropriate to show their emotional expressions. Since people of different cultures,
grow up in a completely different environment thus sharing a different perspective, this would
explain why even though these universal emotions are felt in a similar fashion, there will still
be cross-cultural differences in expressing these emotions.

1.3 Language, Culture and Emotion

Various relevant insights were extrapolated from different disciplines, concerning the
definition of emotion. But perhaps, one every important discipline that can explain emotion
and its relations to language and thereafter, culture would be, linguistics. Studies of emotion
through the perspective of linguistics maybe sparse, in comparison to the aforementioned fields
but are nonetheless significant. Multiple linguistic studies have suggested that emotions are
mirrored in the language, including paralanguage. Henry (1936), studied the Kaingang
language in Southern Brazil and found that when the speakers want to describe something as
‘very hard’ they tend to say the word ‘very’ with a force, observed not just in their paralanguage
but with the aspirated /t/ becoming more explosive. He detailed that in Kaingang, the formal
relationship between emotions and language is clearly defined. In Kaingang emotions can be
observed by means of changes in pitch and force of articulation, through modification of sounds
by unconscious contraction of the pharynx and unconscious changes of the vowels, also in
changes in facial expression and bodily position. Kaingang achieves a richness of color and
flexibility, which could never be inferred from the manifest content of the language. Kaingang
rhetoric reaches extremes of uninhibited exuberance not seen in any other languages. Another

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interesting finding was how in Kaingang, when they are confronted with anger or the intonation
is switched to that of anger instead of a neutral tone, it can elicit a behaviour bordering
repentance or grief. This occurs because anger often connotes an aura of danger which leads to
fear and in turn begets anger. This is the Kaingang culture which is clearly reflected in their
language and emotions.

The study done on the Kaingang language showcases that although the expression to
iiu, ‘to be angry’ objectively means “directed danger” one cannot completely understand that
it also has a symbolic content because it is discoverable only through an understanding of the
Kaingang culture and personality. Another important evidence of the relationship between
language, culture and emotion is through metaphors. Metaphors, according to Lakoff and
Johnson (1980) are limitedly viewed as poetic expressions and a product of imagination,
meaning it is separated from ordinary language. They noted that metaphors are used
pervasively in everyday life and they permeate the ordinary conceptual system of a person. The
conceptual system is vital to making sense of the realities of everyday life and, if it is indeed
metaphorical in nature, then one’s thoughts, experiences, and everyday actions are also a matter
of metaphor. Thus, metaphors are said to reflect or involve themselves with the cognitive
processes going on inside the mind of a person. (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980)

It can be observed that Henry (1936) showed that language reflects the emotion and
culture of the people that utilize it, through analysing the syntax and morphophonological
particulars of Kaingang. Lakoff and Johnson, also corroborated this relationship by postulating
that the culture of the speakers of language can also be manifested by a language’s figurative
expressions. Another important research on the relations of language, culture and emotion is
by Brunner (1990). He claims that every culture has its own folk psychology, referred to as a
set of more or less connected, more or less normative descriptions of how human beings tick,
what their own and other’s minds are like, what one can expect situated actions to be like, what
are the possible modes of life, how one commits oneself to them, and so on (Brunner, 1990).
This folk psychology is culture-specific and gives speakers of a language a way to view their
own feelings and the feelings of the people around them.

Sign language is another important evidence of the relationship between emotion,

language, and culture. In American Sign Language (ASL), the expression of emotions is
strongly manifested via physical demonstrations such as, gestures, formation of signs, body
language and facial expressions. These need to combine efficiently in order for the deaf

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community to convey their emotions well, if the sign for happy was created but with a neutral
or impassive facial expression instead of a smile, it would imply a sarcastic tone. (Townsend,
2014).

1.4 Hiligaynon Language and Culture

The focused language for this study is called Hiligaynon. It is commonly referred to as
Ilonggo and is a Filipino language spoken around the western part of the Negros Island, south-
eastern part of Panay, Guimaras island and by immigrants in areas of Mindanao and Luzon
such as Davao and Palawan. The word Hiligaynon comes from the earlier Spanish documents
describing the inhabitants of the Western Visayas Islands as Yligueynes which translates to
‘people of the coast’ and the language as Hiligueyna. The word Hiligaynon is synonymous to
Ilonggo, which is a term originally utilized to describe people living in Iloilo but has now
undergone a semantic expansion and is also used to refer to the people and culture occupying
the island of Guimaras, Negros Occidental and areas of Panay Island, the word Ilonggo comes
from the tree called Elaeocarpus or Kalomala that is abundant in these areas and has white
flowers and a stone-shaped black fruit. (Jocano,1983).

Hiligaynon is part of the Austronesian language family, specifically in the Central

Philippine Group of the Malayo-Polynesian branch (Zorc, 2001). Based on the 2010 census
(Ethnologue,2010) it currently has 6,240,000 Million speakers. It also has a few dialect
varieties, such as: Kawayan spoken in Cauayan, Negros Occidental, Kari and Capiznon. In
comparison to the standard Hiligaynon, it has lexical and intonational differences.

During the arrival of the Spanish in the Philippines, Hiligaynon was used as major trade
language. Previously it followed a quasi-hispanic orthography such as [kw] being spelled as
[q] or [c] as in: cuarta ‘money’ and not kwarta. However, it currently adapts the standard
Orthography for Philippine languages based on the Tagalog language, therefore the modern
spelling for ‘money’ is kwarta. The phonemic inventory for Hiligaynon varies depending on
the resources based upon. Wolfenden (1975) claims on his Hiligaynon Reference Grammar
that there are currently 17 consonants including /f/ and /q/ and 5 vowels for the Hiligaynon
language. On the contrary, both Zorc (2001) and Motus (1971) theorized the existence of only
16 consonantal phonemes where /f/ only appears on loan words from English and 3 vowel
phonemes, with [o] being an allophone of /u/ and [e] an allophone of [i].

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 Consonants in Hiligaynon

p t k q*

b d g

s h

m n ng

w y

*(Glottal stop is symbolized by /q/)

Vowels in Hiligaynon

i u

(e) (o)

Vowel lengthening often occurs in open syllables whereas stress shift is often to the
right. New words in Hiligaynon can be formed via infixing, similar to most Philippine
languages, as well as reduplication and occasionally compounding. This usually involves two
root words for example: sakit ‘painful/pain’ and ulo ‘head’ when combined together it means
‘headache’. The standard word order for Hiligaynon is V-S-O (Verb-Subject-Object),
departure from this order only occurs in informal speech and when providing emphasis (Zorc,
2006). For example:

Nag-abot ako kagapon. ‘I arrived yesterday.’

V S Time

Kagapon ko nag-abot. ‘It was yesterday, that I arrived’.

Time S V

With the establishment of the Mother-tongue Based Multi-Lingual Education by the

Department of Education in the Philippines, ‘Hiligaynon’ is currently taught in Elementary
schools located in the Panay Island as well as, Negros Occidental. There are also numerous TV

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Shows, radio broadcasts, news, literature, and research papers being produced in the language,
typically emanating from Bacolod City and Iloilo City, as part of the populations’ effort in
enriching and preserving the Hiligaynon language.

1.5 Filipinos and Emotion

Studies conducted regarding emotion among Filipinos are relatively lower than that of
other races, despite Filipinos being one of the most emotionally expressive people. In 2012,
Philippines occupied the top spot on the “Most Emotional Societies” survey, exhibiting a six
out of ten ratio in experiencing both positive and negative emotions daily. Philippines also
remained as one of the most emotional people in the world, along with Ecuador, El Salvador,
and Guatemala, with nearly 60% of the people they interviewed claiming experience with
positive and negative emotions every day. The Philippines’ also ranked 2nd among the world
population in terms of experiencing emotions such as stress, with 58% of the participants
claiming to feel the emotion frequently. (Gallup, 2019) Furthermore, according to the 2020
United Nation’s World Happiness report, the Philippines was ranked 52nd with an average score
of 6.006 and one of the highest among the South East Asian region (Cabico, 2020), despite the
country being bombarded with natural calamities, an unstable government and below-average
living conditions, being ranked in 52 is remarkable.

Filipinos being labelled as emotional reiterates that despite ‘emotions’ being felt
universally, the intensity and expression of it can vary from culture-to-culture. Filipino bodily
energies from affect to feelings are conditioned not by idiosyncratic personal quirks but by the
forces of history, culture, and social hierarchies (Ahmed, 2016). For example, “care” in the
Filipino case takes on a rarefied air of ‘national character.’ Movies, government training
programs, slogans, and other cultural genres have produced and disseminated the figure of the
“caring Filipino” who is fit and ready for the global service market and predisposed to serve.
Care uncritically becomes a mark not only of being “human” but of being Filipino. (Boris and
Parrenas, 2010).

Exploring emotions and its influence in the Philippine society certainly makes for an
interesting body of research. Studies that have been made regarding this field include
Lorenzana (2006) and her analysis using Natural Semantic Metalanguage on the concept of
anger or galit, followed by Tasic (2018) preliminary linguistic analysis on the same concept

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and Villareal’s (2010) archival approach to language and desire in Hiligaynon. All these studies
and more will be discussed further in Chapter 2.

1.6 Filipinos and Hope

Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes
with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its
definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish a desire with anticipation” in
English (Cambridge, n.d). This emotion has been studied amply and extensively in fields such
as Psychology, but linguistic studies concerning Hope have been rare, therefore studying this
emotion from a semantic perspective is quite necessary. Hope is a very important human
emotion, especially among Filipinos. A recent survey measuring the top 10 emotions felt by
Filipinos during the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic from the National Research Council of the
Philippines (NRCP, 2020) found that ‘hope’ was perhaps the only positive emotion that made
the list. Dr. Conaco investigated people's feelings and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic
across its timeline and through the various government actions including how they get their
information (i.e., sources), how they feel, respond, process and react to the various information
and their sources. Results revealed that aside from hope, anger, concern, disappointment,
helplessness, sarcasm, worry, frustration, anxiety and suspiciousness were the most common
emotions felt by Filipinos during these trying times.
Hope being the only positive emotion listed, further proves that Filipinos have always
been hopeful people. Several studies have also corroborated this fact (Lucas, 2018) proved that
holding out hope for the future and towards the accomplishment of their goals, significantly
affected the Filipino students’ academic performance despite many hindrances that they
encountered on a daily basis. The Philippines being in the pacific ring of fire, also meant that
typhoons, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur yearly, sometimes in a span of decades
and yet despite these natural disasters, hope is still a reigning emotion among Filipinos. Hope
seems to run high in the Philippines, compared to other countries that might be expected to
have more causes for optimism such as Germany, where those expressing hope for the year
2011, has not exceeded 58 percent since 1991, according to the Allensbach Institute, a public
opinion research centre in southwestern Germany (Lunt, 2010) .This proves that ‘hope’ is one
of the most important emotions in the Philippines and understanding its linguistic background
can help us determine further the relevance and impact of this emotion among the Philippine
society and culture.

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 2. Objectives
It has been previously established that ‘hope’ is indeed a crucial emotion among the
Philippine society. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to explore the
conceptualization of one domain of emotion which is Hope, or in the Hiligaynon Language
paglaum. According to Turner and Stets (2006), hope is generally classified as a moral emotion.
This entails that some emotions such as hope evolved to increase moral commitments to others,
social structures and culture, and several moral effects. Furthermore, Lazarus (1999) maintains
that hope is also a vital emotion for coping with despair. Although it is an emotion felt globally,
there may be some cultural nuances as Wierzbicka (1994) echoes “Cross-cultural lexical
research undertaken by linguists and anthropologists demonstrates that the concepts such as
happy or angry are not universal, but constitute cultural artifacts of Anglo culture reflected in,
and continually reinforced by, the English language” (e.g., Goddard, 1990, 1991, 1993; Harkins,
1990; Lutz, 1988b; M. Z. Rosaldo, 1980; Russell, 1991; Wierzbicka, 1991a, 1992b, 1992c,
1992e, 1993a).
This demonstrates that ‘hope’ in the English language may have similarities but also
differences to ‘hope’ in Hiligaynon and even, Tagalog language. Though hope is felt and
understood universally, cross-culturally it may carry a discrepancy. Consequently, studying the
theoretical translation of ‘hope’ in Hiligaynon which is ‘paglaum’ may yield a completely
diverse understanding to its English language counterpart, thus perusing the conceptual content
of ‘paglaum’ , what it comprises of, the motivations behind it, how and when it is felt and more
may help us gain an insight of ‘Hope’ and how it is perceived in the Hiligaynon language and
culture. Hence, the study proposed looks at two aspects of the Hiligaynon language—the
lexicon or vocabulary and its metaphors to arrive at a conceptualization for the emotion of
paglaum. Moreover, the study also has the following specific objectives:

a) To be a preliminary study in examining emotion domains in Philippine

languages, specifically the domain of ‘hope’, by examining its intended
equivalent in Hiligaynon which is paglaum.
b) To organize and classify lexical, metaphorical and corpus data in Hiligaynon
that are related to the feeling of ‘hope’.
c) To provide a conceptualization of the emotion word paglaum by means of the
Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) and to a conceptualization of paglaum
based on metaphorical data via Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT).

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 d) To test the applicability of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) and the
Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) in the study of Hiligaynon and
subsequently other Philippine emotions.
e) To relate the analyses formed using the two distinct frameworks to each other
and examine how these conceptualizations are related to and reflected in the
Philippine and specifically, the Hiligaynon culture.

3. Theoretical Framework
This section consists primarily of a summary and explanations of the two theoretical
frameworks that this research will pursue, such as Anna Wierzbicka’s Natural Semantic
Metalanguage and George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory.

3.1 Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM)

There are various ways in studying the structure of words and sentences in linguistics,
how they compare to other languages and how they have evolved over time. Perhaps one of
the most comprehensive system that has been developed in the recent years, is the Natural
Semantic Metalanguage, simply abbreviated as N.S.M. According to its leading proponent,
polish linguist Anna Wierzbicka the N.S.M approach is based on a small lexicon of about 100
‘atoms of languages’, termed ‘Semantic Primes’. These are a small core of universal meanings
that can be expressed by words or other expressions across all languages, it is a list of
definitions that are always present no matter which language it comes from. It is also important
to note that a semantic prime must be simple enough that it can be understood universally
without the need for any further explanations. These semantic primes include concepts of ‘good’
or ‘bad’ and semantic molecules such as, ‘woman’ or ‘child’. No matter what the languages
used are, it is universally understood when something is defined as ‘good’ or ‘bad’. The N.S.M
approach aims to simplify the way cross-linguistic and cross-cultural semantics are researched
by creating a small language on itself that matches the core of all the other languages.
Based on Goddard (1998), these semantic primes include:
Table 1: Semantic Primes (Goddard, 1998)
Category Primes
Substantives I, you, someone/person, people,
something/thing
Mental Predicates think, know, want, see, feel, hear

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 Speech say, word
Action, Events, Movements happen, move, do
Existence, Life there is, live
Determiners this, the same, other
Quantifiers one/two, all, many, much, some (of)
Evaluators, Descriptors good, bad, big, small
Time when/time, now, after, before, a long
time, a short time
Space where/place, here, far, near, under,
above, below, inside, side
Interclausal Linkers because, if
Clause operators not, maybe
Metapredicate can
Intensifier, Augmentor very, more
Taxonomy, Partonomy part of, kind of
Similarity like

Lorenzana (2006) and Tasic (2018) utilized the NSM approach for their studies
regarding the taglog concept for anger which is ‘galit’. Hence, the applicability and efficacy of
the the NSM approach to the conceptualization of the emotion of anger has already been proven.
The researcher aims to provide an attempt on the conceptualization of the emotion of hope or
paglaum in Hiligaynon based on the same framework.

3.2 Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT)

The conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) proposed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) is an
important framework in the branch of cognitive linguistics. CMT generally refers to the process
of establishing cognitive links, or mappings, between several concepts or termed, conceptual
structures, pertaining to different domains. Metaphor is typically “understanding and
experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980). According to
Lakoff and Johnson’s Theory, conceptual metaphor represents interaction of two cognitive
structures or domains which include: the source and the target domain. The target domain is
structured similarly to the source domain, as in metaphorical correspondences or metaphorical
mappings are established between them. In conceptual linguistics, mappings form the basic

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understanding of how you got from the source to the target. Furthermore, in Conceptual
Metaphor Theory, metaphor is not a decorative device, peripheral to language and thought but
rather conceptual metaphors are central to thought, and therefore to language (Lakoff and
Turner, 1989). From this theory, several basic tenets are derived:
(a) Metaphors structure thinking.
(b) Metaphors structure knowledge.
(c) Metaphor is central to abstract language.
(d) Metaphor is grounded in physical experience.
(e) Metaphor is ideological.
Utilizing the CMT, the researcher aspires to understand and discover the metaphorical
concept of hope in the Hiligaynon language and provide a base for comparison between a
similar emotion among different languages.
4. Methodology
4.1 Data Gathering: Language Consultants
Due to the limited amount of data available online, a total of sixteen (16) language
consultants were given questionnaires, via google forms. All the language consultants have
Hiligaynon as their first language and were from ages 20-48 years old. Most of them have
finished their bachelor studies and have had professional experience in their corresponding
fields, while some are currently studying for their Bachelor Education, as such all of them are
proficient in the English language as well. 68.8% were females, 25% were males and 6.3%
were transgenders. 15 out of 16 of the informants live in various provinces of Negros
Occidental including: Cauyan, Kabankalan, Ilog, Silay, Talisay and Bacolod City whereas one
of them, lives in Quezon City. The questionnaires had four sections, the first part of which is
translation wherein they were made to translate two sentences from English to Hiligaynon each
sentence involves different scenarios for ‘hope’ in English. Other parts of the sentences that
were translated included: She/He is the hope of the country or Mother/Father is the hope of the
family. Some of these sentences also involved two verbs which are associated with the meaning
of paglaum which are: hope and expect. The researcher aimed to understand the difference
between hope and expect in Hiligaynon as well as their similarities and where they might
overlap semantically. Additionally, the researcher also intended to understand if hope can be
personified, such as in ‘the beacon of hope’ phrase in English. The second part of the
questionnaire involved a productive proficiency completion type of test to see where paglaum
generally comes from, when and how it starts, what words are associated with it and what
makes it manifest in situations, its parameters and limits, and situations that trigger it as well
15 | T a l e o n
as, situations wherein it might disappear. The third section involved, a checklist in order to
gather metaphorical data for paglaum. The consultants were instructed to check all of the
terminologies (words and phrases) related to paglaum that they had heard before and to include
words and phrases that were not mentioned in the questionnaire. Words that were able to elicit
a ‘check’ response from at least 7 out of 16 of the language consultants were considered and
analysed further. Finally, the last part of the questionnaire involved a short essay inquiring
about ‘what gives them hope’ and what they are hoping for from the government, family, and
friends. The data gathered from the consultants helped the researcher understand the concept
of paglaum, its limits and occurrences and its metaphorical shape.

4.2 Data Gathering: Textual Data

To further understand the concept of paglaum in Hiligaynon, several literatures were
also scanned dating from 2009 until present. Due to the pandemic, libraries and museums were
closed thus inhibiting physical collection of data from literatures found in these places. Instead,
only online and available literatures were examined, most of which were from religious texts,
in addition sources from social media such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as clips from the
GMA Western Visayas News and TV Patrol Negros and Digicast Negros from facebook that
used the word laum or paglaum were also analysed to provide additional data for the concept
of paglaum in the Hiligaynon language. All these sources and relevant literature utilized the
Hiligaynon language.

4.3 Methodology of the Study

Gathering relevant data to the study is the first step for this research. Specifically, words
and expressions regarding hope were collected from dictionaries, bible texts and available
online literature. Additionally, questionnaires were handed out to 16 language consultants and
the data accumulated from them were also utilized. The data amassed altogether were then
classified into lexical and metaphorical data. Lexical data were further divided into semantic
domains and metaphorical data were categorized according to the categories of conceptual
metaphors. Corpus data was also assembled and served as textual evidence. A concordance
program called AntConc was utilized to gather corpus data, afterwards, analysis of the
conceptualization of the emotion hope or paglaum in the Hiligaynon language was started using
the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) and the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). The
conclusions derived from the study were compared and mapped onto ideas of the Philippine

16 | T a l e o n
culture, especially of the Hiligaynon people. Figure 1 illustrated below, presents the overall
methods for this study:

Figure 1. Methodology of the study

Gathering of
Questionnai Classificati
texts and Categorizat
expressions
res were on of Categoriz
handed out ation of ion of Gathering of
related to gathered
to language lexical Metaphoric textual data
hope from data into
dictionaries,
consultants al Data using
and data lexical and data into Concordance
online based on
gathered metaphoric semantic (AntConc)
literature Conceptual
were al domains
and the Metaphors
collected catgegories
bible

Formation of Formation of Linking the two

analysis based on analysis on conceptualizations
lexical data using metaphorical data to each other and
the NSM on the using the CMT on other studies
concept of the concept of regarding
paglaum paglaum Hiligaynon culture

5. Scope and Limitation

This section defines the scope and limitations of the current study.

5.1 Language Explored

This study explores the conceptualization of the word hope, paglaum in the Hiligaynon
language. Hiligaynon is one of the major languages in the Philippines, spoken by nearly
6,240,000 people. Although it is primarily spoken in the western Visayas region, immigrants
have also brought the language in areas of Luzon such as Palawan and Mindanao, such as the
Davao region. Multiple dialects of Hiligaynon also exist, Kawayan spoken in Cauayan, Negros
Occidental and Kari spoken in Palawan (Zorc, 2001), although no formal and official
dialectology has been made yet as of the time this study was conducted. The research, however,
will only focus on the standard Hiligaynon spoken in the Ilonggo epicentres, Bacolod and Iloilo
17 | T a l e o n
City, since these are the two primary locations from which the literature, dictionaries and bible
used for textual data gathering in this study are sourced.
5.2 Paglaum
The word paglaum or laum is not exclusive to the Hiligaynon language. Sebuano or
sometimes termed as Bisaya also uses this word to mean hope, they also use puhod which
means to hope and borrowed the word paglaum from the Hiligaynon language (Akademyang
Bisaya, 2011). Data of the usage of paglaum to mean hope in languages related to Hiligaynon,
although some researchers acknowledge it as a dialect of Hiligaynon called, Capiznon spoken
in Capiz located in Panay Island were also found. However, this study will only focus on the
concept of paglaum in the Hiligaynon language and by extension, its cultural properties.
5.3 Data sources in the study
Due to the ongoing SARS-COV2 or Covid-19 pandemic (WHO,2020) and the enforced
restrictions and lockdowns in the Philippines, specifically in the Visayas region, most of the
literature used for the data gathering in this study were all obtained online. The dictionaries on
Hiligaynon scanned included: Motus (1971); Wolfenden (1971) as well as novels, books,
religious texts and other bodies of literature used for collecting data were all from the available
resources on the internet. Three types of data were gathered for this study (1) lexical data; (2)
metaphorical data and (3) textual or corpus data. Since data collected from the internet was
extremely limited, informants were employed. The consultants were provided questionnaires
and the data amassed from these language consultants were further categorized into lexical and
metaphorical data.

18 | T a l e o n
 CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2. Review of Related Literature

This chapter contains a survey of scholarly resources including, published linguistic
studies involving emotions among Philippine languages and linguistic and non-linguistic
studies on ‘hope’, the emotion focused on this research. This chapter also aims to summarize
the studies’ findings, goals and purposes that are relevant to this research.
2.1 Linguistic Studies on Emotion
There are several studies related to the concept of emotions among Filipinos, primarily
in Tagalog. One such study is by Lorenzana (2006) on Galit: the filipino emotion word for
anger. In her study she used the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) a tool developed by
polish linguist, Anna Wierzbicka which contains a set of 56 semantic primes, using the NSM
approach she had analysed emotion concepts through linguistic evidence such as literary
excerpts, dialogs and interviews, focusing on the word ‘anger’, its synonyms and other
situations where it is used to describe certain events and thus revealing the fact that while
emotional universals allegedly exist, emotions are experienced and expressed differently. She
also compared the concept of the Tagalog word ‘galit’ to the Malay word, ‘marah’ which means
resentful, in which the appropriate response according to Goddard (1998) would have to be
muted or restrained in nature. Another ‘anger’ concept that she had concentrated on was the
Ifaluk word ‘song’ which indicates ‘justifiable anger’ as explained by Lutz (1988) the main
intention of the manifestation of song is "to change the situation by altering the behaviour of
the offending person."
The combination of the natural semantic metalanguage approach and a comparison
done on different concepts of anger in Malay and Ifaluk rendered her with this semantic
explanation for galit:

X feels galit
X thinks something like this

Table 2. Semantic Explanation for ‘galit’ (Lorenzana,2006)

(a) Someone (Y) did something bad
(b) I do not like this

19 | T a l e o n
 (c) It is not always good to say:
(d) You did something bad
(e) I can do other things to let Y know
(f) If I tell this to Y, Y can feel bad
(g) I do not want Y to feel bad
(h) If Y knows he did something bad
(i) And Y does it for a longer time
(j) I can do something bad because of this
(k) If Y does something bad to make people think and say about me:
(l) This person (X) is bad
(m) I can do something bad to Y because of this

She therefore concluded that although ‘anger’ is physiologically felt in the same way
across languages, the way that this emotion is managed and expressed is where the significant
difference lies throughout various cultures. In Filipino, specifically she found that ‘galit’ is
passive-aggressive and can be characterized as patient and long-enduring but only up to a
certain point. And since it is passive-aggressive she also did a survey among 124 Filipino
respondents on responses to ‘galit’ and yielded the following results:
(a) Withdrawal of customary cheerfulness
(b) Through parinig or ‘trying to let others hear what one is saying’
(c) Through non-verbal means such as pakiramdam or ‘empathizing’
(d) Use of a go-between or a third person
(e) Use of euphemisms
(f) Through teasing
(g) A change in one’s way of speaking particularly through tone of voice
She further states that the Filipino word for galit bears resemblances to the Malay word
‘marah’ and the Ifaluk word ‘song’ in terms of the passiveness but that, it also encompasses
the passive and aggressive dimensions of the emotional concept.
Another study on emotion, in the Hiligaynon language is from Language and Desire in
Hiligaynon by Villareal (2006). In this research she examines three dictionaries and a grammar
book with lexical entries in Hiligaynon, mainly focusing on gender. The objective of her study
was to provide a generalization on the attitude towards sex and different ways to express and

20 | T a l e o n
negotiate desire using these lexical items in the Hiligaynon language. Some interesting and
unexpected findings included in her research are presented below:
(a) The borders for a dichotomous framing are not clearly drawn, meaning though there
are specific words for babaye ‘girl’ and lalaki ‘boy’ in Hiligaynon, there are instances
where they can overlap. For example, binabaye which means ‘to be feminine’ is
sometimes used to describe males with a ‘feminine-type’ behaviour.
(b) She also found that body parts were affixated and used to describe certain items
involving desire. For example, ‘bilatun’ which is term used to describe a male
hermaphrodite is derived from ‘bilat’ which is the word for the female genitalia.
(c) Desire in Hiligaynon also involves a cultural elaboration of endearment. “In Hilgaynon
culture to redefine desire to include softer, gentler emotions such as affection and
fondness, etc. The usage of this vocabulary need not cast us among the lustful who are
eternally buffeted by whirlwinds in the second circle of Dante’s Inferno. Moreover, the
semantic range of certain lexis relating to desire is an index of or the key to attitudes or
predispositions associated with the culture of the Hiligaynons. The word “palangga,”
meaning “to love” or “to consider dear” generates a number of words such as follows:
“ga,” “angga,” “palanggingging,” “ginggging.”” (Villareal, 2006)
Another important study regarding emotions on the Philippine domain is taken from
Oflas (2016). The research focused on emotion metaphors in Filipino including happiness,
anger, fear and sadness. She utilized the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, a conceptual tool started
by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) used for structuring, restructuring, and creating reality. It is a
theory of metaphor that can explain various circumstances concerning metaphor including:
(a) why we use language from one domain of experience systematically to talk about
another domain of experience.
(b) why the polysemy of words in the lexicon follows the patterns it does
(c) why the senses of words are extended in the concrete-to-abstract direction
(d) why children acquire metaphors in the sequence they do
(e) why the meanings of words emerge historically in the sequence they do
(f) why many conceptual metaphors are near-universal or potentially universal
(g) why many other conceptual metaphors are variable cross-culturally and
intra-culturally
(h) why many conceptual metaphors are shared in a variety of different modes of
expression (verbal and visual)
(i) why many metaphor-based folk and expert theories of a particular subject matter
21 | T a l e o n
 are often based on the same conceptual metaphors
(j) why so many conceptual metaphors are shared between everyday language and
literature (and other forms of non-everyday uses of language)
(k) why and how novel metaphors can, and do, constantly emerge (Kovecses,2017)
Oflas (2016) used the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and examined various
cinematic and literary references across different decades. She also used the cultural prototype
theory and focused group discussions to gather more data. Her research rendered three (3)
general categories for emotions in the Philippine context:
(a) emotion is an animate entity
(b) emotion is an inanimate entity
(c) emotion is an instigator of X
Some relevant findings accomplished within this study was that emotion metaphors had
a direct correlation to the cultural and historical environment during the different time periods.
She also analysed the grammatical characteristics of the metaphorical expressions and found
that they can take the form of either an NP, VP or AP construction.
Tasic (2018) also provided a significant contribution to the growing semantic studies
of emotions in the Philippine Domain. Her research used the Natural Semantic Metalanguage
(NSM) and Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and it involved around the Tagalog concept
of galit or ‘anger’. The NSM approached yielded the following important findings regarding
galit:
X feels galit =
Sometimes X thinks something like this:
Someone did something bad:
(a) Someone can be X or another (Y)
(b) Someone knows that something is bad for X
(c) Someone wants to do something bad to X
(d) Someone does it for a long time
If someone did something very bad:
(e) X can feel much galit
(f) X can feel galit for a long time
(g) X can do something bad
If someone does something bad for a long time:
(h) X can feel much galit
It is not good to say to Y:
22 | T a l e o n
 "You did something bad"
(i) If Y knows that: “I did something bad”

(j) Y will feel bad

(k) I do not want Y to feel bad
But if X wants to let Y know:
(l) X can do other things to let Y know (Tasic, 2018)
Tasic (2018) also formulated the following metaphors for galit using the Conceptual
Metaphor Theory:
(a) galit is an object in a container
(b) galit is insanity
(c) galit is a plant
The body is perceived as the container for galit in Tagalog, and generally contains fire,
blood, hot air and something that is harmful (Tasic, 2018).
2.2 Linguistic Studies on Hope
Harkins and Weirzbicka (2001) explored emotions from a cross-linguistic perspective.
Although they mainly dealt with the concepts of emotions such as anger and Sadness in Chinese,
the absence of feeling ‘anger’ in German, as well as, Polish, Japanese and Malay-specific
emotions, the emotion or feeling of hope was also investigated briefly. The authors explained
that feelings cannot be defined but ordinary people can assume that the way a person feels can
be described and that one can also tell other people how they feel. Furthermore, they elaborated
ways of describing to other people how one feels, but most of them can be reduced to three
basic modes: (1) one can tell other people that one "feels good" or that one "feels bad"; and (2)
one can tell other people that one feels like a person feels in a certain situation and then identify,
in one way or another, that prototypical situation, (3) one can tell people what seems to be
happening inside one's body. Additionally, using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM)
approach they described the English emotion of hope as:

X felt hope (Harkins and Wierzbicka, 2001)

(a) X felt something because X thought something
(b) sometimes a person thinks:
(c) "I don't know what will happen
(d) some good things can happen
(e) I want these things to happen"

23 | T a l e o n
(f) when this person thinks this, this person feels something good
(g) X felt something like this
(h) because X thought something like this
2.3 Non-linguistic studies on Hope
‘Hope’ is a multifaceted human attribute and is typically categorized as a positive
emotion that this research is presently concentrating on. Unfortunately, the published linguistic
studies on hope are scarce and so to understand ‘hope’ its nature and its relevance to human
beings, only psychological and even, scientific studies that are useful to this research will be
warranted for in the succeeding sections.
Valle (2006) analyses hope as a psychological strength, particularly one that helps in
fostering a healthy development among human beings. He notes that hope is a cognitive
motivational construct that is a potential psychological strength that may serve as a protective
factor for adolescents in the face of adverse life events. This was a longitudinal study done
involving 860 middle school and high school students, the first round was done during the fall
season of 2001 and the next round was accomplished during the fall season of 2002. The
participants ages ranged from 10-18 with females comprising 64% of the demographic.
Questionnaires were provided for which 699 of the students had completed it enabling a return
rate of 81%, chi-square tests and a series of T-test were conducted to compare mean scores on
the variables of global life satisfaction, stressful life events, externalizing and internalizing
behaviour problems, and hope between students who participated both times and those in
attrition.
Valle’s longitudinal study however, proved that there is ample evidence for stability of
hope reports of adolescents over a 1-year period, and that there is a predictive validity of
adolescent hope reports, finally, that hope does have a functional role as a moderator in the
relationship between stressful life events and adolescent wellbeing. Taken together, the results
provided support for consideration of hope as a key psychological strength in youth. The
findings are consistent with theories of motivation in which individual differences in hopeful
thinking are conceptualized to play a functional role in linking life events and psychological
well-being (Valle, 2006).
In this study, it was proven that the adolescents who reported higher levels of hope
appeared to be less at risk for experiencing increases in internalizing behaviour problems and
reductions in life satisfaction when confronted with adverse life events. The researcher also
recommended that parents and professionals can consider programs such as hopeful thinking
that can develop the youth’s cognitive-motivational strengths and thus, allowing them to cope
24 | T a l e o n
more effectively when problems in life start to occur. Importantly this study, highlighted the
role that hope plays in cognitive development and the relevance that this positive emotion holds
among human beings.
Another study published in the Cureus journal of the National Center for Biotechnology
Information (NCBI) written by Duggal et al., (2016) emphasized the impact of hope and
resilience on multiple factors on Neurosurgical patients. The primary purpose of the research
was to outline and review the impact of these stable psychological characteristics on the
emotional and functional outcomes of neurosurgical patients. Multiple studies have been made
regarding the effects of hope and resilience on the physical and mental well-being of adults, as
well as undergraduates, but studies done on neurosurgical patients are scarce. Neurosurgery
patients face multiple adversities within their illness involving both the physical impact of the
disease and treatment, as well as the psychological aspects of the knowledge of having a
potentially life-threatening illness. The pioneers of this research gathered 70 participants who
have recently received a neurosurgical diagnosis. These individuals were then given a battery
of tests that measure their hope and resilience levels as well as their present emotional and
functional states. The Adult Hope Scale (AHS) and Resilience Scale (RS) were used to assess
hope and resilience; the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)
were used to measure characteristic attitudes and symptoms of depression and anxiety; the
Adaptive Behaviour Assessment System, Second Edition (ABAS-II) assessed functionality in
the domains of communication, community use, functional academics, home living, health and
safety, leisure, self-care, self-direction, social, and work; finally, the Modified Rankin Scale
(mRS) measured the degree of dependency in the daily activities of individuals who have
experienced a neurological disability. Then, approximately six months after the participants
received neurosurgical treatment, they were given the same battery, and changes in mood and
functioning were measured.
The study found that, hope and resilience can be protective factors among these patients
and can also promote optimal functioning. Possessing these two values can help the patients
manage their negative moods and promote optimal behaviours that may aid their recovery. This
research helped to determine that hope and by extension, resilience can help neurosurgical
patients experience an increased quality of life.
Another significant research procured on the role of hope is from Day et. Al (2010),
this study proved that hope objectively predicted academic achievement. The authors did a 3-
year longitudinal study on a sample of 129 respondents (52 males, 77 females. They measured
the respondents’ hope, general intelligence, five factor model of personality, divergent thinking
25 | T a l e o n
and their academic performance before starting university. The study explored whether the
two-dimensional model of trait hope predicted degree scores after considering intelligence,
personality, and previous academic achievement. (Day et. Al, 2010). Mean (SD) scores,
internal reliability statistics for, and zero order correlations between, the trait hope, intelligence,
personality, ‘A’ level point scores, and final degree mark were documented and revealed that
hope revealed a higher score compared to general intelligence and other factors included in the
research, for future academic achievement. The magnitude of the relationship between both
aspects of hope and future academic achievement is notable. Hunsley and Meyer (2003)
consider that an incremental validity of r= .15 should be considered ‘a reasonable contribution’
when other variables are controlled. Two hope facets together explained an R2 of .03, which
is equal to r= .17, exceeding Hunter and Meyer’s criterion for a reasonable contribution.
Furthermore, the authors recommended additional research on the processes involved
in determining the relationship of hope to academic self-efficacy. The study proved that hope
may be important in predicting future academic achievement in tertiary level education, when
several alternative explanations have been considered, including intelligence. Scioli et. Al
(1997) on the other hand, investigated the distinction of hope from optimism in the context of
a 10-week, study involving reports of health outcomes. Gottschak's (1985) Hope Scale and
Scheier and Carver's (1987) Life Orientauon Test which assesses optimism were given to
subjects, along with a health questionnaire. Ten weeks later subjects were given a second health
questionnaire, whose primary purpose was to rule out confounds such as depression,
neuroticism etc. The researchers found that lower optimism scores were significantly correlated
with reports of the illness’ severity, meanwhile lower hope scores were correlated with greater
frequency of reported illnesses and reports greater severity. The research proved the differences
between hope and optimism and revealed that hope functions as a generalized disposition that
facilitates successful adaptation to serious life events.
Hope showed a stronger association with health outcomes possibly because, two
emotions are fundamentally different and serve separate roles in the process of coping with
stress and life challenges. (Scioli et al.,1997).
However, perhaps one of the most comprehensive studies done on hope is from the
Handbook of Hope (Snyder, 2002). The book defined hope as a “a positive motivational state
that is based on an interactively derived sense of successful (a) agency (goal-directed energy)
and (b) pathways (planning to meet goals)”. The book also traced how ‘hope theory’ developed
and contrasts it with other theories of hope that emerged during the general period from 1960
to 2000. Some of the most relevant insights included:
26 | T a l e o n
 (a) Goals are abstract mental targets that guide human behaviours.
(b) Pathways thought provides the perceived ability to generate multiple routes to
desired goals.
(c) Agency thought entails the perceived ability to initiate and sustain movement along
a pathway.
(d) Emotions are conceptualized as an aftermath of goal-directed thoughts and actions
and function as feedback regarding perceived success or failure of a goal pursuit.
A temporal model of the goal pursuit process was also presented, and the roles of hope
cognitions at each phase of the sequence were explained. Snyder also constructed various
scales based on hope theory and their roles in research were also described. Ultimately, this
research found that higher hope corresponded with superior academic and athletic performance,
greater physical and psychological well-being, and enhanced interpersonal relationships.
Multiple studies conducted on hope from a non-linguistic perspective have proved that
this emotion is positive, holds an influence toward people’s behaviour, aids in a healthy
physical and mental development and most importantly, higher possession of this particular
emotion can have a significant effect in terms of quality of life and enables one to formulate a
better response when coping with adverse life events. Hope is therefore, a very important
human emotion.

27 | T a l e o n
 CHAPTER THREE
LAUM
3.1 Laum
Laum expresses one of the most significant emotions for the Philippine Society, especially in
the Hiligaynon culture. When it is unaffixed, it is generally categorized as a verb but different
affixes such as: ga-; naga-;pa-, -on can alter the focus of the verb laum, as well as its tense
(Motus, 1971). Furthermore, affixes like pag- can re-categorize it as a noun. In English, its
closest translations include: ‘to hope’ and ‘to expect’. However, laum requires a certain
confidence that cannot be captured by the English translation hope and in certain scenarios, it
does not only mean ‘to expect’ but it can also mean ‘to be confident’ (Hiligaynon Pinoy
Dictionary, n.d). Although, hope is one of its most dominant meaning, there are simply aspects
and traits that is in laum, that the English equivalent hope does not possess. Therefore, studying
laum based on literature and textual data from several Hiligaynon resources can yield
information about laum, semantically and as well as, culturally.

3.2 The word laum

The world laum was defined by Motus (1971) as a verb which means:
laum. Verb
1. to hope
2. to expect
Certain affixes can be attached to it to form different classes such as nouns:
paglaum (noun) – hope
Furthermore, other affixes can also transform laum into different verb forms:
maglaum (verb) – to hope; to expect
magalaum (verb) – to be hoping; to be expecting
malaum (verb) – to be hoping for; to be expecting of
naglaum (verb) – hoped; expected (completed action)
nagalaum (verb) – hoping; expecting (ongoing action)
galaum (verb) – expecting
ginlaum (verb) – had hoped for; had expected (completed action)
ginalaum (verb) – hoping for (ongoing action)
ginlauman (verb) – had hoped for; had expected that (locative;benefactive)
ginalauman (verb) – was hoping for; was expecting that (locative;benefactive)
laumon (verb) – to hope for; to expect of

28 | T a l e o n
Adding particular phrases to the word paglaum can render it as an adjectival phrase:
puno sang paglaum (adjective) – hopeful, full of hope
kulang sa paglaum (adjective) – not very hopeful; lacking hope
nawad-an (wala) sang paglaum (adjective) – hopeless, losing hope

‘Laum’ is generally considered a ‘feeling’ or balatyagon in the Hiligaynon language. It is often

felt by individuals ( ako, ko, ikaw, siya) and collectively as a group (kita, tanan, aton, naton,
sila, kami) and one of its closest English equivalent is the emotion ‘hope’. The feeling of laum
usually comes from a person’s thoughts, as it is a cognitive emotion and it is often that person
or the collective unit to which that person is included, that experiences the feeling of laum and
the beneficiary is typically either a person’s family, loved ones, a country or themselves. The
sources for the feeling of laum as hope typically varies, but it is related to the current situation
the experiencer is in, whether it is negative or positive, that experiencer’s dreams (and their
confidence of possibly attaining those dreams), as well as a person (family, a religious figure,
loved ones and sometimes themselves).

(1) Tanan kita nagalaum sang kalipay sa pagkabuhi kaupod ang mapinalanggaon nga mga
pamilya.
‘We are all hoping for a happy life together with our loving families’
1
Panay News
(2) Galaum ko nga makapatukod ko sang balay pagkatapos kolehiyo.
‘I am hoping to build a house right after I finish college’
2
Taleon

In (1), the experiencer of the feeling of laum is marked by ‘tanan’ which means ‘all or
everybody’ and the experiencers in this case, are hoping for a life filled with happiness together
with their families. Based on the context from which this sentence was taken from, the
experiencers do not regularly bode well with their families but despite all of that, they still love
them, and this sparked their hope or laum for a life with their families full of joy and love. The
sentence in (2) is much more straight-forward, the experiencer and the beneficiary for laum is
the same person who is hoping to build a house after they finish their college education. The
time and situation in this scenario, is specified and the source for this is that person’s dreams.

1
Panay News is the biggest daily newspaper service in Western Visayas, operating for nearly 39 years. Its
headquarter is located in Iloilo city.
2
Taleon – includes the sentences and data amassed from the questionnaires sent out on September 2020, to
16 linguistic consultants for the Hiligaynon language.

29 | T a l e o n
That very thought of possibly accomplishing their dreams of building a house had generated
their feeling of laum. Moreover, the sentence in (1) is expressing laum for something that is
abstract (life with family) and contrasts with the sentence in (2) which is hoping for a much
more concrete dream (a house) hence, this signifies that whatever someone is expressing laum
for can either be abstract or concrete and depends entirely on the experiencers’ situation or
dreams. Furthermore, the third sentence claims that the experiencer and the beneficiary (the
individual) which is represented by the 1st person singular pronoun ako ‘I’ is full of paglaum
‘hope’ because (tungod) of their family, the source for their feeling of laum is their family.
This is due to family or support being one of the cognitive triggers of laum which will be
discussed further the succeeding sections.

(3) Ako puno sang paglaum tungod sang akon pamilya.

‘I am full of hope because of my family’
(4) Sa iya mga pulong nabatyagan ko ang iya paglaum nga ang iya mga himata mahimo
magpili nga sundon sia sa dalan pabalik sa aton langitnon nga puluy-an.
‘Through his written words, I was able to feel his hope that his children will follow the
road that will lead them back to heaven’
3
Church of Jesus Christ
Sometimes, the experiencer for laum is not necessarily the person that is involved in the
discourse, or the author of the sentence but rather, the person, entity, or group that they are
talking about. Such is the case in the fourth sentence, the experiencer is not the author
themselves but the person who is considered the ‘subject’ of their written discourse, the author
involved is noting that they were able to feel that person’s laum through that person’s pulong
or ‘written words’ which is the instrument in this state , what instigated this feeling for them
(source) was the fact that the person’s children are most likely going to follow the same path
(heavenly one) as their parent’s as they have read (abstract source), based on that person’s
pulong. Therefore, instruments can often be involved in expressing the feeling of laum and it
can vary as well, it can either be a concrete thing (such as in the fourth sentence) or a person,
as illustrated below:

(5) Siya ang paglaum sang pungsod.

‘She/He is the hope of the country’

3
Church of Jesus Christ is a religious organization also referred to as Mormon Church that considers itself to be
the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. They often publish magazines and online articles
in different languages, including Hiligaynon.

30 | T a l e o n
 Taleon

In the fifth sentence, the instrument for paglaum ‘hope’ of the country is siya (2nd person
singular). Most likely this person, is in a position of power and they can make a difference with
the country’s current situation (cause) and therefore becoming the instrument (since it is
through them and their possible actions that can change a country’s state to a much better one,
therefore helping the experiencer feel laum) and the source (if that particular person, achieves
what the experiencer is expecting of them) for the author of the sentence (experiencer and
beneficiary) to feel paglaum.

Generally, laum does not only mean ‘hope or to hope’ but it can be a verb as well that
would mean ‘to expect’.

(6) Galaum ko sang masanag nga adlaw.

‘I am expecting a sunny day (literally: bright sun)’

Taleon

(7) Ang Department of Labor and Employment naga laum sa paghatag trabaho sa mga
15,000 ka tawo nga maga sugod sa Junio 12.
‘The Department of Labor and Employment is expecting to provide jobs to at least
15,000 people, starting from June 12’.
4
Philippine Information Agency

In the sentences above, laum means ‘to expect’. In (6) the experiencer of laum is ‘ko’ (1st person
singular genitive pronoun) and what they are expecting is a sunny day and the source for this
expectation may be, because there is a strong possibility of experiencing a sunny day tomorrow
based on existing weather reports. In (7), the experiencer (most affected entity, patient) is a
group (Department of Labor and Employment) that is experiencing laum as they are expecting
to provide over 15,000 jobs to the citizens starting on June 12 (specified time/period). When
laum takes on the meaning of ‘to expect’ as a verb, generally the expectations are concrete
(weather, jobs etc..) and achievable. The source for this expectation is unspecified in the
sentence itself, but it can be stemming from what the experiencer expects or wants to happen,
which will be discussed in detail in the succeeding sections.

4
Philippine Information Agency is the official public information arm of the Government of the Republic of the
Philippines.

31 | T a l e o n
Another meaning that is also associated with laum is confidence or faith, in its noun form
‘paglaum’ and its verb form ‘laum’ meaning, ‘to be confident in/have confidence that’ or ‘to
have faith in’. In this scenario, the source for laum as confidence or faith is the current situation
that the experiencer is involved in, this situation is based on something and may have visible
progress (in terms of attaining the experiencer’s dreams/hopes) and the achievability of this
‘laum´ is extremely high.

(8) Ara na ang katapusan nga bus, halin sa siyudad!” hambal ni Tatay. “Lauman naton nga
ara si Sol”.
‘” The last bus from the city is here!”says father. Let us have faith that Sol is there!’
5
Department of Education

(9) Kag kon magmasakit gid man sa COVID-19, daku man ang aton paglaum nga ma-
survive naton ini tungod 80 porsyento sini mga “mild” lang nga mga kaso kag may mga
bagay man nga bulong nga mahatag sang gobyerno.
‘And if ever you get sick from COVID-19, I have high confidence that we will survive
it, because 80% of the cases are only ‘mild’ and there is also a possibility for a medicine
that the government will provide’
Panay News

In the sentences above, the achievability of what experiencers are expressing laum for is
extremely high. In (8), the fact that it is the final bus from the city makes the tatay ‘father’
(experiencer) have high laum (faith) that ‘sol’ (beneficiary) has boarded that bus, since Sol was
not in the previous buses and he had informed them beforehand, that he had boarded a bus from
the city. And (9), the experiencers (aton – 2nd person absolutive, plural pronoun) has high laum
‘dako man ang aton paglaum’ (high confidence) that they will survive the pandemic (the
situation for which laum has emerged from) because 80% of the people that had it had survived
and there is also hope for a medicine provided by the government. For laum that means,
confidence or faith, the sources of this feeling arise from negative or hopeless situations
(pandemic, waiting for the final bus since the previous buses did not have Sol etc..) and can be
experienced individually or collectively for which the cause of this feeling is because what the
experiencers are feeling confident of or having faith on, have a higher percentage of coming
true. In (9) this is seen in the 80% statistic, and the medicine which will be provided by the

5
Department of Education publishes ‘Hiligaynon’ workbooks for the MTB-MLE program (Mothertongue-based,
Multi-lingual Education)

32 | T a l e o n
government meanwhile in (8) this is illustrated in the assurance that Sol (beneficiary) has
boarded the bus from the city.

3.3 The causes and feeling of laum

Laum is often triggered by certain thoughts. These thoughts are often positive ones that
typically stem from negative or hopeless situations, meaning the general feeling of laum comes
from positive thoughts of certain good things that one thinks will happen, but the thought is
often sourced from tragic, negative, or hopeless situations.

(10) Nagalaum ang tanan nga makalampuwas na sa pandemya ng ini, tanan kita
apektado.
‘I am hoping that all of us will overcome this pandemic, we are all affected’
6
Facebook
(11) Kag kon magmasakit gid man sa COVID-19, daku man ang aton paglaum nga
ma-survive naton ini tungod 80 porsyento sini mga “mild” lang nga mga kaso kag may
mga bagay man nga bulong nga mahatag sang gobyerno.
‘And if ever you get sick from COVID-19, I have high confidence that we will survive
it, because 80% of the cases are only ‘mild’ and there is also a possibility for a medicine
that the government will provide’
Panay News
In expressing laum for something good that will happen in someone’s life, the sentence in (10)
shows that laum was felt from the thought of possibly seeing the end of the pandemic but that
very emotion, was triggered because of the negative situation which is the current pandemic
that the author of the sentence is experiencing; in (11), the pandemic situation also sparked the
feeling of laum from the thought of possibly surviving the coivd-19 virus, if ever one,
unfortunately contracts it . Furthermore, the inherent confidence that whatever someone is
hoping for will eventually come true is reflected. In the first sentence (10), this person is
expressing laum for everyone affected, finally, overcoming the pandemic. Covid-19 is not the
first pandemic to hit the world, in 1918 to 1919 the Spanish flu pandemic also occurred, and
the SARS pandemic in 2002 and evidently, these pandemics all came to an end because the
human population developed enough immunity for the influenza strain rampant in 1918 and a
vaccine was created for SARS (Kolata, 2020). With today’s fast-paced, technologically
advanced world, a vaccine for the current covid-19 SARS-COV2 strain being made, that will
finally be the tool for the human population to overcome the pandemic, is the most likely

6
Facebook is a social networking site founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, users of the site can share photos,
videos, texts as well as play games, send messages, shop and make phone calls.

33 | T a l e o n
scenario. Thus, when this person was expressing their laum for conquering the pandemic, they
were not just simply hoping, but they also believed and knew, that what they were hoping for
would ultimately come true. The sentence in (11) also evokes a similar thought, the person in
this scenario believed that overcoming the covid-19 (disease brought by the SARS-COV2
virus) is what will naturally happen to them if they end up contracting the virus. They even
emphasized that according to the researchers, 80% of those that get infected with the virus,
survive. Hence, the laum that is expressed in surviving the virus also resonates an inherent
confidence, that is, in this case, backed by science. It is not just simple, wishful thinking, but
an innate level of hope with an expectation for that hope to come true, and oftentimes, this
expectation of good outcomes coming true, is backed by evidence or will be probable in the
present or in the near future. Therefore, this aspect of laum can be explicated as follows:

X feels laum:
(a) Sometimes X thinks:
(b) something good will happen

Handum is often associated with the word laum. It is often analyzed as a noun when it is
unaffixed, and generally means: ‘dream, wish, hope’ (Motus, 1971). Affixes can attach to it as
well, that can categorize it as a verb. Handum, sometimes affixed with ga- (agentive-focus), is
what the Hiligaynon people regularly use when expressing their hopes that they are not
confident in, mainly intangible, and or related with negative outcomes.

(12) Ginahandum ko nga may pakpak ako.

‘I am hoping to have wings!’
(13) Ginahandum ko nga wala ako diri.
‘I am hoping that I am not here (right now)’
Dept. of Education

In (12), the person is hoping for wings, which as human beings, is impossible since humans
did not evolve to grow wings. And, in (13) the person is hoping to not be where they are
currently. This is because, they do not like the person they are with at the current moment, that
is why, they are hoping to disappear instead. These sentences all showcase what handum, often
deals with, hopes for negative outcomes, and hopes for which the achievability of it is uncertain.
In English, the word ‘hope’ can be used in a negative manner and in uncertain situations. This
is seen in the common expression, ‘I hope you die!’ or ‘I hope to be a billionaire one day’.
However, in Hiligaynon, there are different expressions for these kinds of situations and when

34 | T a l e o n
the linguistic consultants were presented with the sentence (a) Galaum ko nga mapatay ka (I
am hoping that you will die); even though it was grammatically correct, none of them marked
it as an expression they had used or heard before, further emphasizing the importance of
understanding the semantic differences involved in ‘laum’ and ‘handum’. The Hiligaynon
people often interchange with laum and handum and other related words, to express their hopes
and this is the difference in which they overlap.

Another important aspect of the word handum as a noun, meaning ‘dream’ is that it often
triggers the feeling of laum. For which, someone has a handum of things they want to happen,
which, in turn, catalyzes the feeling of laum.

(14) Nagalaum guid ko, nga matuod ang akon nga handum nga makapatukod ko sang
balay.
‘I am hoping that my dream of building a house, will come true’
(15) Ang ginalaum ko nga makapasar ko board exam, kay handum ko guid maging
med-tech.
‘My hope is to be able to pass the board exam because, it is my dream to become
a medical technologist’.
Taleon

Results from the survey conducted revealed that handum often sparks the feeling of laum.
When the consultants were asked, ‘what they were hoping for’, the response in (5) shows that
the person is hoping for their dream to come true, which is to build a house and in (6) they are
hoping to pass the board exams, because that is their stepping-stone towards their dreams,
which is to become a medical technician. These results convey that in feeling laum, sometimes
a person will think about what they want to happen or their dreams (handum) and even in these
scenarios, the inherent confidence that these dreams will be realized are still there. This can be
explicated in this way:

(c)I want something to happen

After thinking about scenarios that trigger the feeling of laum, the next thing that people do is
to work hard in order for their hopes to be realized. The feeling of laum often berths a related
attribute, which is paghimakas or ‘hard-work’. Generally, when the feeling of laum has been
triggered by certain thoughts, the feeling of laum will then empower the person to (f) X will
do some things. In the Hiligaynon culture, whenever the people feel laum, it usually gives them

35 | T a l e o n
strength to do the necessary things, in order to achieve their hopes. The data below manifests
this explication:

(16) Masami ini nga gina-updan sang mga hilikuton nga napuno sang duag, kalipay
kag paglaum.
‘It would be better (for your dreams) to be accompanied with action, full of
celebration, joy and hope’.
(17) Indi lang naton pag-isandig sa bag-ong tuig ang swerte sa aton kabuhi, dapat
updan naton ini sang paghimakas agud nga ang aton handom kag paglaum aton gid
nga maagom.
‘Let’s not rely on the new year to bring us luck in our lives, we should also
accompany it with determination so that our dreams and hopes will come true’
Panay News
As noted in (16), the author claims that when one wants something to happen, firstly, one has
to do something about it, and while doing this thing it should be accompanied with happiness,
hope and celebration. In (17), the author warns that the luck for the coming year should not be
entrusted to ‘new year’ only but rather, we should also include determination in order to make
our dreams and paglaum (hopes) come true.

The data illustrates that laum, specifically the achievability of it, is agentive. This means that
the person (X) has to act in order to achieve their hopes and dreams. If they wanted to pass
their board exams for example, that means they have to study hard and get good grades so that
the probability of them passing their board exams would be high. And this determination, or
action that they take to achieve something is what fuels them to feel laum and what adds to
their confidence and belief that their dreams will somehow come true, sooner or later.

Paglaum or ‘hope’ and paghimakas ‘determination’ co-exist together, and both feelings can
lead someone to achieve their dreams. Another important explication when someone feels laum,
is that (g) X feels something good. It has been previously established that ‘hope’ laum’s closest
English equivalent is a good feeling, moreover, the cognition pattern that can spark the feeling
of laum had also showcased the characteristic that, it is manifested when someone thinks of
good things or desires and therefore the feeling it must provide, should also be good. In addition,
Harkins and Weirzbicka (2001), also reiterates that there are ways of describing to other people
how one feels, but most of them can be reduced to three basic modes: (1) one can tell other
people that one "feels good" or that one "feels bad". Thus, when feeling laum one commonly
feels something good.

36 | T a l e o n
 (18) Kaangay sa kinaandan, nangin maduagon kag puno sang paglaum ang pagsug-
alaw sa bag-ong tuig.
‘Just like what we were used to, the celebration of new year became joyous and
full of hope’.
Panay News
(19) Nagakalipay guid ko kay may paglaum nga matuod akon gusto.
‘I am very happy because there is hope that what I want will come true’
(20) Ang paglaum nga makaupod liwat ang aton mga hinigugma nga napatay daw
makagalanyat man.
‘The hope of being with our loved ones who died, really makes me feel at ease
and excited’.
7
Jehovah’s Witnesses
3.4 Intensity of Laum

Laum, similar to most emotions and can also exhibit intensity. Emotional intensity refers to
variations in magnitude of emotional responses (Goto and Schaefer, 2017). Hence, there are
particular scenarios and situations in which laum is felt more intensely as well as, situations
where it is felt less. According to the data gathered from Hiligaynon Language Consultants,
there are two common scenarios in which laum is displayed strongly:

The consultants were asked when they felt like their dreams or hopes were most likely
to come true, the answers gathered from them are as follows:

(21) Kay gakabatyagan ko nga daw matuod na akon handum nga makatapos sapag-
eskwela akon mga bata, kay halos tanan sila college na kag manug-graduate na nga isa.
‘Whenever I feel like my dream of having my children finish their studies is
about to come true. Since they are all in college and one of them is about to
graduate..”
(22) Kay daw maayo na akon savings, kag may pwede na ako utangan ti galaum guid
nga maka-mustang na ko, kabay pa mga dason tuig.
‘Since it seems that my savings are sufficient and I know somebody I can loan
from, so I am really hoping to own a mustang, hopefully next year’
Taleon

7
Jehovah’s witnesses is a millenarian Christian restorationist church with approximately 8.68 million members,
worldwide. They publish monthly magazines and online literature in various languages including Hiligaynon.

37 | T a l e o n
 Although the hopes expressed among the informants were subjective, it is observable
that laum was felt strongly when the informants saw a means in which they may be able to
make their dream come true, and one of the most important elements in this, is not just the
process on how to do it, but the time in which they think that dream will come true. In (21)
they (X) felt laum strongly because they felt that their dream of seeing their kids finish their
studies will most likely come true in the near future, as one of their kids is set to graduate
college and the rest of their kids are all in college. For this person, they think that their dream
will come true shortly, thus they felt laum much more in the present than they did when their
children were still only in High School or Elementary school because, college is considered to
be the last stage of Education. Consequently in (22) they felt that their dream was most likely
going to come true soon, because they had enough savings and they know somebody they can
get a loan from and this will help them buy a mustang which is what their dream is, additionally,
a time element was specified which is dasun tuig or next year. For this person, they felt more
laum now because they have the means to make their dreams of owning a mustang come true
and they can see that this will possibly come true next year if everything works out as they
planned. Therefore, based on the data amassed from the consultants, the intensity of laum can
be explicated in this manner:
(h)X feels more laum when:
(i) X thinks something good will happen soon
Furthermore, laum is also felt more intensely when somebody is supported by someone else,
usually this ‘someone else’ is an important part of that person’s life, such as a member of their
family, a good friend or a significant other.

(23) Puno ako sang paglaum kon gabulig akon pamilya.

‘I am full of hope whenever my family helps (me)’
(24) Puno ako sang paglaum kung ara pirmi ang akon pamilya para sa akon.
‘I am full of hope whenever my family is always there for me’
(25) Puno ko sang paglaum kung wala ako ga-isahanon.
‘I am full of hope whenever I am not alone’
(26) Kung ginasuportahan ko sang akon nga mga palangga sa kabuhi ko.
‘If I am being supported by my family and loved ones in my life’
(27) Ako puno sang paglaum tungod sang akon pamilya.
‘I am full of hope because of my family’
Taleon
38 | T a l e o n
The data amassed from the informants above demonstrate this explication. (j) if others say: (k)
X can do something and (l) something good will happen to X. The informants were asked when
they felt the most hopeful (Puno ko sang paglaum kung_) and seven (7) out of 16 informants
answered that they felt the most laum whenever they were being supported by their family or
loved ones. This support is demonstrated by their loved ones simply cheering them on and
believing with them, that whatever their laum is, will come true.
(28) Mabakod gid ang akon paglaum amo nga mabatyagan ko na ang hakos sang
akon amay kag makita ang luha sang akon iloy samtang nagahaksanay kami sing hugot.
‘I have strong hope since I am about to feel the embrace of my father and see
the tears of my mother while hugging her tightly.’
8
Glosbe
In (28), ‘paglaum’ is apparently strengthened with the support from their family (as represented
by X). Furthermore, the feeling of laum is felt less whenever the inverse happens. That is, X
does not feel like they are being supported by their loved ones or family, or that they are feeling
alone, which is illustrated by the survey responses below:

(29) Gakawad-an ko sang paglaum kung pamatyag ko ako lang isa.

‘I start to lose hope whenever I feel like I am all alone’
(30) Wala ko sang paglaum kon wala ko sa akon pamilya.
‘I lose hope whenever I am not with my family’
Taleon
Additionally, they also tend to feel less laum whenever, they feel like their dreams or hopes
would most likely not come true.
(31) Daw wala tsansa nga matuod akon handum.
‘It seems like there is no chance of my dream coming true’
(32) Ang mayo nga ginalauman ko daw indi guid matabo.
‘The good thing I was hoping for seems like it will not happen’
Taleon
Therefore, laum being felt less intently can be explicated as follows:
(m) X does not feel much laum when:
(n) X feels that what X thinks will not happen
(o) X has no one

8
Glosbe – is a free, online dictionary regarding various languages, including Hiligaynon.

39 | T a l e o n
3.5 The ‘spiritual’ aspect of laum
The Philippines is a Christian country, one of the only, Christian countries in South East Asia.
In fact, 76 Million people are Roman Catholics, and the Philippines is ranked third in the world,
when it comes to the population of Roman Catholics (Lipka, 2015). Henceforth, the idea of
‘God’ or ‘Ginuo’ providing or being the definitive source for the feeling of laum for the
Hiligaynon people is not implausible.
(33) Ang Ginuo naghatag sa aton sang tanan nga ginhalinan sang paglaum samtang
nagatinguha kita nga buligan ang aton mga mahal sa kabuhi nga batunon ang ila wala’y
katapusan nga palanublion.
‘God is the one that gives us all the sources of hope while we are hoping to help our
loved ones in our lives accept his infinite heritage’
Church of Jesus Christ
(34) Apang may matinlo sila nga konsiensia sa atubangan sang ila Manunuga kag
may kompiansa nga nagahulat sa mas maayo nga tion sa unahan, ini bangod kay Jehova,
ang Dios nga nagahatag sang paglaum.
‘While they have a clean conscience in front of their creator and they have confidence
in waiting for great times at the front, this is all due to Jehova, the God who gives us
hope’
Romans 13:14
According to (33) and (34), the source for the feeling or emotion of laum is Ginuo. The
sentences further denote that God himself, chooses to provide paglaum for his people.
Religious texts would of course, expound the idea of God being connected with the feeling of
laum and being the source of it, however, data collected from the linguistic consultants, for
which, none of them are devout Catholics and two (2) out of 16 claimed to be atheists and
agnostic, also supported this theory.

(35) Para sa akon, ang paglaum halin sa mahal nga Diyos.

‘For me, hope is from the beloved God’
(36) Ang paglaum pimri nagahalin sa Diyos kag sa imo hinigugma.
‘Hope is always from God and your loved ones’
Taleon

In addition, laum in a spiritual sense is typically stronger with pagtuo or ‘faith’, this faith does
not only exist within the person themselves and their dreams but in God, making their hopes
and dreams come true and supporting them throughout their journey.

40 | T a l e o n
 (37) Ang paglaum, importante guid nga bahin sang aton kaangtan sa Diyos.
‘Hope, is an important aspect of our faith in God’
Nazarenes
(38) May paglaum kon may pagsalig sa Ginuo.
‘There is hope when you trust in God’
(39) Pagtuo kag pagsalig sa Diyos.
‘Faith and trust in God’
(40) May paglaum kon nagatuo ka sa kaluoy kag grasya sang Diyos.
‘There is hope when one has faith in the mercy and grace of God’
Taleon
When the respondents were asked, to fill in the blanks: May paglaum kon may ___ (There is
hope, when there is ___). 13 out 16 respondents which is the majority, answered faith in God.
The other answers included, paghigugma (love); paghimakas (hard work) and pagpursige and
kaisog (perseverance and bravery).

The sentences gathered from the textual data below, shows a similar message where ‘God’ is
claiming that the people who believe in him will have a brighter future and paglaum. Moreover,
in (42) and (43) the author (X) claims that paglaum is an important part of life as a believer of
God and that the Holy Spirit can give paglaum for the future no matter the obstacles and
struggles that may come.

(41) [May paghidait ako] kag indi sing kalaglagan, agod may maayo kamo nga
palaabuton kag paglaum.
‘[I have glory!] and not of despair since you all have a great future ahead and hope!’

Jeremias 29:14

(42) Ang paglaum, importante guid nga bahin sang aton kaangtan sa Diyos.
‘Hope is an important aspect of our faith in God’
(43) Una, ang Espiritu nga iya ginpromisa naghatag sang paglaum sa palaabuton,
bisan pa nga ang kinagamo sa kalibutan dawsa nagadugang.
‘First, the spirit promises to give hope for our future, despite of all the never-ending
chaos in the world’
Eyring (2016)
This further substantiates the role of faith in God, in terms of feeling laum. And this faith, can
bring confidence and trust to the person (X) in knowing that their hopes and dreams will come

41 | T a l e o n
true. They start to think that God, and their faith in him, enables them to believe that the good
things they want to happen in their life can come true, they start feeling more confident which
is a requirement for the feeling of laum. In this situation, the source is spiritual and unseen but
is still enough to trigger the feeling of laum. In conclusion, it can be explicated in this way,
with ‘someone’ referring to ‘God’.

(d) someone will make something good happen”

3.6 Semantic Explication of LAUM
Based on the findings reflected in the data, the Hiligaynon concept of laum may be presented
as:
X feels laum=
(a) sometimes X thinks:
(b) “something good will happen
(c) I want these things to happen
(d) someone will make something good happen”
(e) If X feels laum:
(f) X will do some things
(g) X feels something good
(h) X feels more laum when:
(i) X thinks something good will happen soon
(j) if others say:
(k) x can do something
(l) something good will happen to X
(m) X does not feel much laum when:
(n) X feels that what X thinks will not happen
(o) X has no one

3.7 The Metaphorical laum

3.7.1 LAUM is a seed

Based on the data scanned from several online literature as well as the informants’ responses,
it was discovered that laum is a seed, it is something that is planted within the person, grows
overtime with proper nurture and the right environment and eventually blossoms into a plant.
(44) Kag kon sa diin nagakadula ang paglaum tuhoy sa mga proseso sang pinili-ay,
Itugot mo nga isab-og ko ang binhi sang paglaum.

42 | T a l e o n
 ‘And whenever hope is lost because of the chaos and process of choosing, allow me to
throw unto you, the seed of hope’
Facebook
(45) Bungkalon ang lupa kag ipanggas ang binhi sang paglaum.
‘Cultivate the land and (plant) the seed of hope’
9
(Wordpress) mayadanielblog
Expressed in (44), whenever paglaum was lost because of the chaos, one should allow the
person; in this sentence the person was substituted with the 1st person singular word ko, to
provide the seed of paglaum. Based on this sentence, paglaum or the feeling of laum is a binhi
(seed) that is typically given by an individual (it could be themselves or somebody else that
sparked their laum). In (45), from the poem, they wrote that one should dig down the soil and
put the seed of paglaum in it. This poem talked about how one should always look on the
brighter side of life whenever it gets dark, and if the person found that they could not, the author
had suggested, finding land themselves and planting the seed of paglaum in it, and they
continued, that this would help them guide their way and build a better life for themselves. The
author of the poem also suggested that paglaum should be planted like a seed within that person,
and that will grow eventually as time prospers on and it will help that person overcome any
hurdles and go after their hopes and dreams. This similar metaphor also appeared in the
informants’ data when the consultants were asked about what paglaum meant for them. (Ano
ang paglaum para sa imo?)

(46) Ang paglaum naga hatag sa akon sang positibo nga palaabuton,naga hatag sa
akon sang kusog kg kalipay. Naga-kabatyagan ko ini sa adlaw-adlaw nga pag
pangamuyo sa Guinoo. Masubong ang paglaum sa binhi nga nahulog sa matambok nga
duta kg sigurado nga maga tubo ini sa intyakto nga tion.
‘Hope gives me a positive future and gives me strength and happiness. I feel it every
day, whenever I pray to God. Hope is much like a seed that fell from the nutritious
(literally: fat) land and will surely grow in the right time’
(47) Ang paglaum daw binhi bala nga ara sa imo nga tagipusuon, kag gatubo lang
nga gatubo, siyempre gakaluya man eh kon wala mo gina-ulikdan pero pirmi guid na
ya ara da, maskin ano kalain sang kabuhi mo subong, ara man sa gihapon ang paglaum.

9
Wordpress is a free and open-source content management system, features include customizing themes,
creation of themes, as well as in creating and sharing blogs and various content.

43 | T a l e o n
 ‘Hope seems like a seed that is in your heart, and grows and grows, of course it can
wither when it is not taken care of but is always there, despite how terrible your life is
right now, hope is still there’
Taleon
In (46), they detailed that paglaum always gives them a positive future, strength, and happiness.
They always felt it every time they prayed to God. Then, it was likened to a seed that fell on a
fertile land and will surely grow in the right time. The informant in (46) believed that paglaum
was a seed, most likely planted within themselves (which was symbolized by the fertile land)
and will eventually grow when the time is right. As explicated in Chapter 3, the feeling of laum
intensifies when the person thinks their hopes will come true soon and when they are being
supported by their loved ones, therefore in this situation, it would be events like these that
would cause paglaum to ultimately grow. Furthermore, in (47) they claimed that paglaum is
like a binhi that is already inside your heart, and it keeps growing and growing, they also
emphasized that it may wilt as well when it is not sufficiently taken care of, but, that it would
always be there, even when life is hard for the person right now, paglaum as they mentioned
again, will always be there. In (47) it is clearly stated that the seed of laum would be in a
person’s heart. There are many possible sources for this seed of paglaum or laum, but what
consistently manifests is that it is a seed that is planted within the person themselves and since
it is a seed, it has the potential to eventually grow or wilt. Additionally, laum as a seed would
also explain the following expressions in the Hiligaynon language:

(a) Diyutay nga Paglaum

(b) Damo nga Paglaum
Since a seed can be quantified, that means, paglaum can be quantified as well. The expressions
(a) and (b) were collected by the researcher and were written in the questionnaire so that the
linguistic consultants could confirm the usage of the terminologies. Based on the result, 9 out
of 16 informants used (a) in their day-to-day activities or have heard it be used before whereas,
7 out of 16 informants claimed that (b) was also either used by them in their daily lives or they
have heard about the expression from somebody else.

3.7.2 LAUM is a plant

It was previously established that laum, specifically its noun form; paglaum was likened to a
seed (binhi), therefore, laum being equated for behaving the way a plant does is reasonable.
The second metaphor that is often used to express the concept of laum, is that of a plant. This
44 | T a l e o n
means that, like a plant laum will grow, and it will grow really well in the right environment
where it is nurtured, and if it is not being taken care of, or the environment makes it tough for
it to grow, it can wilt or weaken. Evidently, laum behaves like a plant in this way. Firstly,
paglaum can grow.

(48) Bisan inang wala na sing paglaum, ang nagapuyo sa kalisud, ang nagluib ... Sa
pagtubo sang aton pagtuo, matubo man na ang paglaum, kinahanglan man naton
magtubo sa pagkatampad.
‘Even when there is no hope, even (in people) who have lived in temptation, the
betrayers…as long as our faith is growing so will hope, we just need to also grow our
fortitude’
Church of Jesus Christ
Although (46) and (47) also expressed the ‘growing’ characteristic of paglaum, (48) further
elaborates on the idea. They claim that even in moments where they do not have enough
paglaum, and even in people who have lived ‘wrongfully’ based on the author’s ideals and
those people that were considered treacherous, with the growth of faith, paglaum can grow as
well and so will fortitude. It seems that in the Hiligaynon language, feelings or emotions can
grow, this metaphor was not exclusive to paglaum but also to pagtuo (faith) and balatyagon
(feelings) in general.
(49) Ila panimalay; tanda sang ila pag-idadon kag kaalam sa pagtubo sang pagtuo.
‘Their house, is a symbol of their age and wisdom in terms of the growth of faith’
Facebook
(50) Ang mahinay nga pagtubo sang hunahuna kag emosyon kag ang makahimo
sing liriko nga nagapabutyag sang paglaum, handum.
‘The slow growth of instinct and emotions and whoever creates lyrics of the
revelation of hope, dream.’
Glosbe
Furthermore, laum behaving like a plant would also explain the commonly used metaphorical
expressions to describe laum in the Hiligaynon Language.

(c) Gamay nga Paglaum

(d) Dako nga Paglaum
(e) Nubo nga paglaum
(f) Taas nga paglaum

45 | T a l e o n
Based on the results from the questionnaires, the expression (c) which means ‘little hope’;
gamay is an adjective in the Hiligaynon language that means ‘little or small’ and is often used
to describe living and non-living things, 12 out of the 16 informants claimed that they have
heard about this expression and have used it as well. The expression in (d) means ‘big hope’;
dako is an adjective that means big and 15 out of the 16 informants noted that they have used
and heard of this expression before. The adjectives ‘gamay’ and ‘dako’ can both be used in
Hiligaynon to describe plants, especially when they are in their growing stage, therefore,
paglaum being described in a similar method is sensible since it may behave like a plant as
well. The next expression in (e) means nubo or short paglaum, this adjective is primarily used
to describe short objects, for a person, a different term ‘putot’ is generally utilized. However,
nubo can be used to describe other living things such as plants and trees and based on the
informant data, 7 out of 16 have used this term before and have heard of it from somebody else.
Finally, (f) talks about the tall paglaum or taas, 7 out of 16 informants noted that they have
either used it or heard it be spoken by somebody else as well. This adjective can be used to
describe people, and other living things like plants and trees. The existence of these figurative
expressions to describe the level of paglaum or perhaps its growth, can further verify the claim
that laum behaves the same way a plant does, metaphorically, it can also grow. It can be short
when it only starts sprouting, and eventually grow big or tall overtime. Another characteristic
that makes it similar to a plant is that it can bear fruit as well.

(51) Halin sa hardin, nagakaun kita sang prutas sang handum kag paglaum.
‘From the garden, we are eating the fruit of dreams and hope’
10
Asenjio (2016)
Based on the given data, (51) says that from a garden, people are eating the fruit of handum
(dreams) and paglaum, which demonstrates that laum can also be considered a fruit,
metaphorically. Furthermore, it can even be eaten. This entails that laum can be planted within
a person like a seed, it can grow in certain situations and the right environment like a plant and
it can ultimately blossom or bloom as a fruit as well.

10
Genevieve L. Asenjo is an author and storyteller from Balay Sugidanun (House of Story Telling for the
Hiligaynon and Kinaray-a languages).

46 | T a l e o n
3.7.3 LAUM has an inherent source

The feeling of laum is sometimes not caused by any specific thoughts. Occasionally,
the arrival of a new and a new year can also instigate its appearance.

(52) Matuod nga may paglaum nga dala ang pagsaulog kag pag-abi-abi sa bag-ong
tuig.
‘It is true that the celebration and arrival of the new year can bring hope’
(53) Sa tagsa ka pagbugtaw naton nga aton masiplatan ang butlak sang adlaw, aton
nga pasalamatan nga ang paglaum aton naaguman.
‘Everytime we wake up and see the rays of the sun, let us be grateful of the hope
that we have found’
Panay News
The presence of the sun or what is a generally defined as a good weather may also spark the
feeling of laum. Among the informants’ answers to the question ‘May paglaum kon may:’
‘There is paglaum if/when:’ at least six (6) out of the 16 respondents which is the majority,
answered that paglaum exists as long as one lives.

(54) May paglaum kon may kabuhi.

‘There is hope when there is life’
(55) May paglaum kung kita gakabuhi pa.
‘There is hope as long as one lives’
(56) May paglaum samtang buhi ka.
‘There is hope as long as you are alive’
Taleon
Moreover, in seemingly hopeless situations paglaum (the noun form of laum) may still arise
and can sometimes be felt even more intensely. The poem below entitled ‘Nabuhi nga paglaum’
or the ‘hope that was resurrected’, shows this attribute.

(57)
Ang kasubo nagbalik naman
Sadness has come back again
Daw wala na gid ini sang katapusan
It does not seem to end
Nagdungan pa sila abot sang mabaskog nga ulan
Together with sadness, the heavy rain came as well

47 | T a l e o n
 Te, makayuhom pa ako sini ayhan?
So? I am wondering if I may still smile (again)?
Sa mga nag alagi nga mga tinuig
In all the years that have passed by
Luha ko masami nga naga ilig
My tears seem to be flowing (likened to flow)
Kay nagpati hugot sa mga pasalig
Because I strongly believed in expectations
Wala tupa, laban pa ang sandig
That were useless, and were mostly just ‘words’ (literally: mostly laying on one’s back)
Pero akon tinguhaan
But I will strive
Nga bag-ohon ang naangdan nga pamatasan
To change the characteristic, I was used to
Pareho sang bulak nga malapit sa dalan
Just like a flower near the road
Magakabuhi ako biskan mayab-ukan, kag mainitan
I will continue to live, even if I get dusty and heated up
Kag magasunod sa huyop sang hangin nga amihan
And I will follow the direction of the north-east monsoon
Sa kada ko tikang
In my every step
Pabaskugon ang mga tiil kag balekawang
I will strengthen my feet and hips
Nagapati nga may kasanag sa punta sang makitid nga alagyan
Believing that there is brightness at the end of a narrow road
Basta wala pangduha-duha kag kulba sa dughan
Just as long as there is no doubt in my chest
Ini tanan akon gid malampuwasan.
I can overcome everything

Facebook: Tinaga kag panan-awan

‘laum’ was only mentioned in the title, but the entire poem talks about how laum continues to
live despite of all the hindrances, obstacles, and hopeless situation one encounters. Furthermore,

48 | T a l e o n
the author reiterated that just as long as they continue to look at the brighter side, the laum in
every situation, they will always conquer whatever problems lie ahead.

(58) Magakabuhi ako biskan mayab-ukan, kag mainitan

I will continue to live, even if I get dusty and heated up
Kag magasunod sa huyop sang hangin nga amihan
And I will follow the direction of the north-east monsoon
Sa kada ko tikang
In my every step

The verse in (58) talks about having laum which is signified by still choosing to embark on
life’s journey despite being ‘dusty’ and ‘hot’ and following the direction of the ‘north-east
monsoon’ in every step. This entails having laum as long as one lives and despite of everything
that may happen. This therefore demonstrates that laum has an inherent source, even if there
are no good things happening to the person at the moment, by simply choosing to still live,
embark on the journey of life, or looking forward to a new day, a good weather after a typhoon,
a new year after a terrible one ridden with problems and struggles, laum is still there, because
the source of it is within that person themselves.

3.7.4 The spiritual aspect of ‘LAUM’ is a heritage

Another metaphor used to commonly describe the origin of laum is that it is a heritage from
God, or simply a heritage. Moreover, it is something that can be passed down typically coming
from God:

(59) Sa pagpili ninyo kon maghimo ukon magtipig sang kasugtanan upod sa Dios,
nagapili kamo kon bala magabilin kamo sang palanublion sang paglaum sa ila nga
mahimo magsunod sang inyo halimbawa.
‘Everytime you choose whether to make or take care of the will (of God) with God, you
are choosing whether or not you will leave the heritage of hope to the people who will
follow your example’
(60) Bilang bahin sang palanublion sang paglaum sang amon pamilya, nagbilin sia
sang journal para sa iya mga kaanakan.
‘As part of the heritage of hope within our family, he will leave a journal to his children’
(61) Ginapanugyan ko nga binag-binagon ninyo ang malip-ot kag malawig nga
resulta samtang ginatinguhaan ninyo nga ihatag ang palanublion sang paglaum sa inyo
pamilya.

49 | T a l e o n
 ‘I am allowing you to evaluate the short and long outcomes while you are striving to
give the heritage of hope to your family’
(62) Nagagwa sila tungod sa palanublion sang paglaum nga iya ginbilin. Nagbilin
sia sang isa ka palanublion nga ginabaton sang madamo sa iya mga kaanakan.
‘They are out because of the heritage of hope that he had left. He left one heritage that
was accepted by many of his children.’

Jehovah’s Witnesses
The sentences from (59) until (62) all express the ‘heritage-like’ characteristic of laum. In (59),
the author entails that the choice of accepting the heritage of paglaum depends on the person;
(60) claims that, as part of the heritage of paglaum in their family, they had left a journal for
their predecessors. Moreover, (61) says that, they are striving to provide the heritage of
paglaum to their family while evaluating possible outcomes and (62) details that, they were
able to go outside because of the heritage of paglaum that was left with them and this heritage
was accepted by their other predecessors as well. Since these sources come from a religious
texts, God as a possible source of the heritage of paglaum is apparent, however another
important finding that was revealed was that this heritage of paglaum can be passed down from
generations to generations and it is something that someone also has to accept, as the sentences
had talked about how this heritage was passed down and accepted by their families and
predecessors as well. Also, when the linguistic consultants were inquired via productive
efficiency type of test using fill in the blanks: __ ang palanublion halin sa Ginuo (__ is a
heritage from God) at least four (4) out of 16 had answered paglaum this was an answer of the
majority together with love that had gotten four (4) out of 16 responses as well. However, this
figurative description of paglaum might be uncommon outside of religious texts.

3.8 Summary of the Metaphorical aspect of “LAUM”

The data gathered in this study revealed four metaphorical characteristics of the concept
of ‘laum’ , the first of which is that is a seed or a binhi in Hiligaynon. The source for this ‘seed
of laum’ is often the person themselves or their heart. The second common figurative
characteristic of laum is that of a plant. Laum was illustrated to behave like a plant, it can be
planted in a person, nurtured through the right circumstances such as support and progress
towards that person’s dreams and it may weaken and wither when not taken care of.
Furthermore, it could also spring forth as a fruit or a flower which is the result of a person’s
faith and constant belief or hardwork. The third metaphor, perhaps one the of the most

50 | T a l e o n
important is that laum has an inherent source, it seems to be always there, as long as one person
lives and this particular expression revealed important cultural properties of the Hiligaynon
culture. This showcased that Hiligaynon people always have laum and by extension, choose to
always look at the brighter side of hopeless situations and are unlikely to give up despite the
hardships. Finally, another important metaphor mostly found when laum is manifested as a
spiritual emotion is that it is a heritage, typically coming from God. And it can even be passed
down from generations to generations and families, through faith in God and can be accepted
or denied as well.

51 | T a l e o n
 CHAPTER FOUR

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

4.1 Summary

This research examined numerous textual data containing the word ‘laum’ for which the closest
English equivalents include: to hope; to expect and to be confident in, and its general concept
in the Standard Hiligaynon Language. The data amassed was further categorized into lexical
data, and the study was able to present the semantic concept of laum as well as its thematic
roles in a discourse, furthermore, the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) theory and
Conceptual Metaphor Theory were the frameworks utilized for the study. Based on the findings,
laum is an emotion or ‘balatyagon’ and can be felt by individuals or a collective unit, the
experiencer and beneficiary of laum in a discourse may sometimes be the same person,
especially when it takes on the meaning of ‘to hope’. However, in some cases, the beneficiary
can be another person, a country or a family member, instruments can sometimes be involved
and may be a person or a concrete object, and the experiencer can occasionally be the
object/patient instead of the subject/agent of the discourse. Since laum is a cognitive feeling,
thoughts are the ones that trigger it, these thoughts include good things that someone wants to
happen, dreams, and in a spiritual sense the faith and belief in a God that will make someone’s
dreams come true. The feelings involving the emotion of laum is often good and would inspire
the experiencer to do something to make their dreams come true, moreover, this emotion is
intensified when there is visible progress towards’ the experiencer’s dreams and when the
experiencer feels support from family or loved ones. In contrast, the intensity may diminish
whenever the experiencer of laum feels alone or unsupported and when there is an absence of
progress regarding attaining one’s dreams. Conceptual Metaphor Theory further revealed the
figurative properties of the concept of laum in Hiligaynon which are: a seed (binhi); plant
(tanum); possessing an inherent source and its spiritual aspect to be a heritage from God.

4.2 Conclusion

The study was able to demonstrate a preliminary analysis for the concept of laum and its related
concept in English, ‘hope’ for which future researchers can use in order to examine the
similarities and differences of the concept of laum and its related equivalents in various
languages. Additionally, it also successfully utilized the Natural Semantic Metalanguage
(NSM) theory and proved its efficacy in semantic studies by the explications that were revealed
for laum. Figurative data and Conceptual Metaphor Theory also provided the metaphorical

52 | T a l e o n
expressions that were commonly found in utilizing laum. Most importantly, the findings in the
study were able to present the significance of the emotion of laum for the Hiligaynon culture,
laum having an inherent source and being felt as long as one lived helped us understand the
resilience and optimism that is rampant in the Hiligaynon society, despite living in
unfavourable conditions, being visited by yearly natural disasters and having an unstable
government, the Hiligaynon people still remain hopeful and optimistic and choose to always
look at the brighter side of life, suicide rates are also relatively low compared to other countries
such as South Korea which is objectively more developed and richer than the Philippines
(World Health Organization, 2017) ‘laum’ is the emotion that is responsible for such
enthusiasm and positive perspective generally illustrated by the Hiligaynon people.

4.3 Recommendations

Studies involving the semantics of the Hiligaynon language are considerably scarce in
comparison to another major Philippine language Tagalog, but this research was able to
provide an outlook on the concept of laum and hope for the Hiligaynon culture and its people
and an understanding as to why the Filipino people are seemingly still happier despite of the
daily obstacles. However, the analyses formulated in this research is solely based on the data
gathered by the researcher, as such, deviations from the usage of laum and unexplored
semantical properties may still exist, as well as other rare cases that were not found in this
study. More sociolinguistics, semantical and pragmatical studies on various concepts about
emotions and values on the Hiligaynon language would greatly aid in enriching the literature
and may promote language prestige among the community as well. Furthermore, the
significance of laum showcased in this study, may help the government and its educational
sectors to understand the semantical differences and gain a metaphorical view of the word laum
and other related words such as handum, and the value of this emotion to the Hiligaynon people
maybe useful for boosting the knowledge in mental health development, as hope (laum’s
closest equivalent) is known to aid in a person’s over-all wellbeing.

53 | T a l e o n
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