Ále is Dead: Commercialized Constructions of Tagalog Feminine Honorifics

This study explores the significance of honorifics in Philippine society as a lens for understanding the transformation of contemporary social roles. In particular, female honorifics and female roles mutually shape each other through ongoing social constructions in commercial transactions. Participant observation and narrative interviews were utilized to document the contextual use of honorifics. Data collected from a palengke (traditional market) and a convenience store in Navotas City, Philippines, reveal that honorific usage is calibrated not just within subjective understandings about women, but also within wider social relations defined by age, gender, education, occupation and achievement, relational position in transactional contexts, and space. This study observed that “ate” and “ma’am” are now the most used female honorifics due to their flexibility, surpassing their age and relation-based definitions. Conversely, the traditional honorific “ále” appears to have fallen out of popular lexicon due to its association with old age and non-professional status. This study found that rapidly-expanding corporate commercial enterprises prescribe honorifics that are perceived as professional rather than cultural and local, regardless of all other bases for honorific ascription. Furthermore, in spaces built for smooth and automated transactions such as convenience stores the usage and necessity of honorifics diminish.