On
Kelinguan


Today we celebrate 73 years of diplomatic relations with our neighboring archipelago, Indonesia! We’re pretty familiar with our shared linguistic similarities, so this time let’s look back at this interesting FALSE FRIENDS ALERT! In Javanese, a very similar word means the complete opposite of the Kapampángan word for “forgot”!


KALINGUAN • (kuh-li-NGWUHN)
to forget (object focus)
Root Word: lingó “disoriented”
Tagalog: kalimutan (root word: límot “forget”)


False Friends
Javanese:
KÈLINGAN “to remember”
Root Word: éling “remember”
(Kapampángan: ganakan)


Kapampángan:
KÉLINGUAN “forgot”
Root Word: lingó “disoriented”
(Javanese: lali)


Root Word
LINGÓ • (li-NGOH)
(1) disoriented, distracted, scatterbrained
(2) forgetful
Tagálog: (1) sabóg (slang; literally means “scattered, dispersed”, from root word sábog “explode”)
(2) malimutín


Verb Conjugation
kalinguan, kakalinguan, kélinguan – to forget something (Object Focus)
ákalinguan, ákakalinguan, ákalinguan – to have forgotten something (Object Focus)
makalinguan, makakalinguan, mékalinguan – to be forgotten (Stative / Actor Focus)
mangalinguan, mángalinguan, méngalinguan – to become forgetful (Actor Focus)


Example Sentence
Kélinguán né ing pámangan. [Kap]
Kinalimutan niya ang pagkain. [Tag]
S/he forgot the food. [Eng]


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