Editing Demographics of the Philippines (section)

==Languages==
{{Main|Languages of the Philippines|Philippine languages}}
According to the [[Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino]], there are 135 ethnic languages in the Philippine archipelago, each spoken by the respective ethno-linguistic group, except for the national Filipino language which is spoken by all 134 ethno-linguistic groups in the country. Most of the languages have several varieties (dialects), totaling over 300 across the archipelago. In the 1930s, the government promoted the use of the Tagalog language as the national language, and called the new Tagalog-based language as the national Filipino language, becoming the 135th ethnic language of the country.<ref name="Gonzalez98">{{Cite journal |last1=Andrew |last2=Gonzalez |year=1998 |title=The Language Planning Situation in the Philippines |url=http://www.multilingual-matters.net/jmmd/019/0487/jmmd0190487.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development |volume=19 |issue=5 |pages=487–488 |doi=10.1080/01434639808666365 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616101625/http://www.multilingual-matters.net/jmmd/019/0487/jmmd0190487.pdf |archive-date=June 16, 2007 |access-date=March 24, 2007}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=April 2020}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thompson |first=Roger M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W1h9oF9rj-MC |title=Tagalog English and Taglish |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |year=2003 |isbn=978-90-272-4891-6 |pages=27–29 |chapter=3. Nationalism and the rise of Tagalog Supremacy 1936–1973 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W1h9oF9rj-MC&pg=PA27}}, {{ISBN|90-272-4891-5}}, {{ISBN|978-90-272-4891-6}}.</ref>{{failed verification|date=April 2020}} [[Visayan languages]] (Cebuano, Waray, Hiligaynon, etc.) are widely spoken throughout the [[Visayas]] and in most parts of [[Mindanao]]. [[Ilokano language|Ilokano]] is the [[lingua franca]] of [[Northern Luzon]] excluding [[Pangasinan]]. [[Chavacano|Zamboangueño Chavacano]] is the [[official language]] of [[Zamboanga City]] and [[lingua franca]] of [[Basilan]].

[[Filipino language|Filipino]] and English are the official languages of the country for purposes of communication and instruction.<ref name="constitution" /> Consequently, English is widely spoken and understood, although fluency has decreased as the prevalence of Tagalog in primary and secondary educational institutions has increased.