The Philippines is a country rich in languages, more than 100 distinct languages. Linguists note that there are large differences among the languages, and that they may be grouped into language families, include a northern group (including Ilokano, Pangasinan, and Kapampangan), and a central group (including Tagalog, Bikol, Hiligaynon, and Cebuano). The linguistic diversity of the Philippines arises from natural processes broadly relating to language change, the divergence between linguistic communities caused by lack of communication, and the converse convergence caused by a high rate of communication between communities. The people of the Philippines are experiencing a period of language convergence, marked by high levels of borrowing from large languages such as English, Tagalog, as well as from regionally important languages. In this process, for better or worse, some languages are abandoned altogether and become extinct.

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