On Aspeto, Aspek, Aspekto, and Language Change

By Michael Caesar C. Tubal

A recent post from the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino (KWF) explains that if a word is borrowed from Spanish, aspecto, it should become aspekto in Filipino, while a borrowing from English, aspect, should become aspek. The explanation follows the KWF Manwal sa Masinop na Pagsulat, particularly its warning against so-called siyokoy words, or forms that seem to mix Spanish and English patterns. The rule is clear enough: identify the source language, then preserve a form that reflects it.

But languages are rarely that tidy. They do not simply receive words and keep them unchanged. They reshape them. Spanish itself is proof of this. Over centuries, Latin words changed in sound and form as they developed into Spanish.

A commenter noted that Latin words evolved into Spanish forms, such as respectus to respeto, districtus to distrito, and fructus to fruto and fruta. These terms further changed in the Philippines: contrata became kontrata, and fruta became prutas. Nobody argues that respeto is defective because it no longer looks like respectus. That change is simply part of the history of Spanish.

The case of aspeto raises a question: If Spanish can freely modify inherited Latin words, why must Filipino keep Spanish aspecto as aspekto just because it’s the immediate source? Why is linguistic change acceptable in Spanish but questioned in Filipino?

Borrowed words are altered to match the sound system of the receiving language. In their study on preservation and minimality in loanword adaptation, Paradis and LaCharité (1997) found that these changes follow phonological rules, while Kang (2003), in their study, Perceptual similarity in loanword adaptation: English postvocalic word-final stops in Korean, showed that both perception and structure shape loanword adaptation.

Filipino has many familiar examples. Spanish trabajo became trabaho. Cuchara became kutsara. Zapatos became sapatos. Ventana became bintana. Fruta became prutas. Once borrowed, these words did not remain frozen in Spanish. They were pronounced and reshaped according to local patterns and eventually became ordinary parts of Philippine languages.

Actual usage is a critical factor in the evolution of borrowed words. Once incorporated into another language, a borrowed term ceases to be permanently associated with its original source, whether Spanish, English, Chinese, Malay, Arabic, or another language. Over time, as speakers adopt the word, its pronunciation, spelling, and meaning may undergo significant changes and adaptations.

Corpus research on Filipino shows that this kind of change is already happening. Gallego’s study of Filipino texts from 1923 to 2013 documents changes in vocabulary, spelling, and structure over time. Javier’s 2018 study, Pagsusuri sa ortograpiya ng kambal-katinig sa Filipino batay sa korpus, meanwhile, found differences between prescribed orthographic forms and forms that actually appeared in published usage. That gap between prescription and practice is important because speakers do not always wait for official approval before changing the language they use.

The inquiry should not just focus on whether aspeto comes from Spanish aspecto or English aspect, but also whether it is established in modern Filipino. How common is it, how long has it been used, and is it found across various sources and regions? Linguistic data can help answer these questions.

The label siyokoy deserves scrutiny, especially in conversations about borrowed words and language evolution. Using siyokoy just because a word’s history doesn’t cleanly link to Spanish or English can wrongly suggest that language change is simple, when, in fact, languages continuously interact and transform.

Speakers naturally reinterpret words, adapting and reshaping them to fit their own linguistic context. It is common for sounds to disappear or change and for borrowed terms to be remodeled as they are integrated into everyday speech. These transformations are not mistakes or accidents—they are normal, expected aspects of how languages evolve and develop over time.

KWF plays a key role in standardizing language for formal contexts, making communication more consistent. However, standardization differs from capturing how people actually use language; while KWF may endorse aspekto, linguists might consider aspeto valid due to widespread usage.

Filipino isn’t regulated by the Real Academia Española or any American style guides. Although Spanish has influenced Filipino, it doesn’t dictate its evolution. Borrowed words are adapted by speakers, reflecting the same linguistic changes that shaped Spanish from Latin. Expecting Spanish loanwords to remain unchanged overlooks this natural adaptation process.

Instead of debating if Filipinos should modify borrowed terms, it’s important to recognize these changes are a natural part of language evolution. The main concern is whether linguistic authorities will officially accept these adaptations once they become widely used.

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Michael Caesar C. Tubal teaches language, literature, and pedagogy in tertiary education. During his free time, if he is not teaching, reading, or writing, he watches past episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race or joins the book clubs in Iloilo City.