Attached Paper Annual Meeting 2024

How Filipino (Tagalog) Case Markers Affect the Perception of Supernatural Agency

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

This paper analyzes CSR theories of SA attribution, and tests them through an online survey from 40 native Filipino speakers who currently reside in the Philippines. Preliminary data suggest that when gods are involved as the subject, they are coded with non-human case markers. We also see differences depending on whether gods are framed in Tagalog or English terms: human case markers are used for English terms for gods (Lord, God, Jesus, etc.) while non-human markers are used for Tagalog terms (Diyos, Panginnon, Hesus, etc.). Such findings support certain of CSR’s theories but also problematize the more universalizing claims around cross-cultural supernatural agent attribution at the heart of certain foundational CSR theories.