DAMÁ Brownbag Sessions

Join us for the first session of the DAMÁ Brownbag Sessions as Michael Manahan (UP Department of Linguistics) unpacks Filipino fear through the lens of language and culture, and Jayson Petras, PhD (UPD Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas) explores how Filipinos feel and make sense of sayá through language and culture.

Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

17 September 2025 (Wednesday) | 14:30–16:00
CSSP Health & Wellness Center | Palma Hall Pavilion 1, 3/F
University of the Philippines Diliman
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The Filipino Fear

This talk begins with a question: What do Filipinos fear? And from there, it branches into other questions about language, culture, and the everyday ways we feel our way through the world. Using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach, I take a closer look at kaba, pangamba, and takot not just as words in a dictionary but as emotional scripts that live in the body, in thought, and in time. NSM helps us unpack these emotions using a shared “mini-language.” Through this, we may be able to see kaba as both a warning and an echo, pangamba as care shaped by uncertainty, and takot as a mental script that may unfold with a physical force. In studying the Filipino fear, we see that we are not just defining emotions but we are also mapping out a way of seeing, valuing, and moving in the world. Because to ask what do we fear is also to ask: what do we hold close and what do we hope not to lose?

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Michael Manahan, Lecturer at the UP Department of Linguistics, teaches linguistics and Japanese while researching how Filipinos talk about emotions through the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) approach.
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“Masayá kung sama-sama”: Pakahulugan sa sayá sa kontekstong Pilipino

Karaniwang itinuturing ang Pilipinas na isa sa pinakaemosyonal na bansa sa daigdig, na pinagtitibay ng mayamang bokabularyong nauukol sa damdamin. Tampok sa panayam na ito ang paggalugad sa kahulugan at pakahulugan sa sayá sa kontekstong Pilipino gamit ang lapit ng Natural na Semantikong Metawika (NSM). Sasagutin dito ang mga tanong na: (a) paano nadarama ng mga Pilipino ang sayá?, (b) ano-ano ang dahilan ng pagdanas nito?; at (c) ano ang implikasyon nito? Mula sa pagsusuri, mababakas sa pag-iral ng sayá ang halagahing kapwa, na ang kabuoang danas nito ay hindi lamang nag-uugat at nanatili sa sarili kundi nagmumula at naibabahagi sa iba. Pagkakataon din ang panayam upang mailapat ang bersiyong Filipino ng NSM na magagamit upang matalakay ang mga konseptong kultural sa wikang nauunawaan ng mga Pilipino at madaling naitutulay sa ibang wika at kultura ng daigdig.

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Si Jayson D. Petras, Kawaksing Propesor sa UPD Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas, ay nagtuturo ng mga kurso sa wika at pagpaplanong pangwika. Paksa ng kaniyang disertasyon ang mga salitang damdamin sa wikang Filipino na sinuri sa lapit ng Natural na Semantikong Metawika (NSM).
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The DAMÁ Brownbag Sessions is a project by the UP Department of History, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy and is funded by the UPD Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts (UPD-OICA) through the UPD-OICA Grants.

Source: DAMÁ: Emotion Research Group Facebook