We propose in this article to analyze the linguistic representations associated with the two official languages of the Philippines: Filipino and English-both at the heart of the educational system. Referring to the systems of values and affects attached to languages, the concept of linguistic representation-or social representations of languages-has been adopted by sociolinguists and educational
... [Show full abstract] specialists in so far as it plays a key role in the process of identity construction as well as in the transmission of language. A collective interview organized in one of the most prominent university in Manila has allowed us to bring forward the social representations of Filipino and English among students before measuring their respective importance through the administration of a questionnaire. The study of these representations among socially privileged Filipino will bring us to question the language configuration and more specifically the place of English in the social structure of this former US colony marked by the permanency of extreme social inequalities. We will see that the medium of instruction and its representations are a tool to analyze neocolonial issues.
