Chavacano - the Evolution From Pidgin to Creole

The Philippines was colonized by Spain for 333 years. This directly affected the Filipino’s culture, religion, and even language. We can identify some Filipino counting numbers and words like camote and tiangge that are Spanish-influenced. On the other hand, communication needs to be effective for people to comprehend one another. Chavacano was eventually created a long time ago to make it easier for Jesuit priests, Spaniards, and Filipinos to communicate.

Chavacano is a Spanish-based creole. It came from the Spanish word, chabacano, meaning vulgar or poor in taste, and was originally considered as incorrect or corrupted Spanish. The language that provided most of its vocabulary is Spanish but its grammar is largely based on Visayan, Tagalog, and Hiligaynon. According to Wikipedia, there are about 684,000 Chavacano speakers in the Philippines. Meanwhile, it is the lingua franca in Zamboanga City and is considered as a second or third language in other Chavacano-speaking provinces such as Cavite, Cotabato, and Basilan.

Paul Jorgensen stated that the Philippines and New Spain were connected by the Galleon trade which brought Filipinos into contact with Spanish-speaking workers, soldiers, and settlers from New Spain who arrived in large quantity. A lot of these settlers settled in Samboangan (Zamboanga) which the Spanish seized in 1635 in an attempt to stop the attacks of the Moro pirates. They built a fortress called Real Fuerza de San Jose. The growing population of this fort influenced the increasing development of the Chavacano speakers in Zamboanga. Among this population are the Visayan warriors from Cebu, Spanish warriors from Mexico and Peru, and Jesuit priests. The Jesuit priests acted as the translator between the warriors and may have possibly taught the others how to communicate resulting in a pidgin language that later became the Chavacano creole.

The spread of the Chavacano creole was because some of the population remained and continued to interact with the locals even when the fort was abandoned. It further brought additional influence to the creole making it more Filipino. This also resulted in the creation of other Chavacano forms. For example, Chavacano of Cavite has more Castillian Spanish influence, less Mexican Spanish, and has more Tagalog influence rather than Visayan influence.

In conclusion, the evolution of Chavacano from pidgin to creole made a lot of difference since the Spanish colonization. It made the people especially in Zamboanga, Cavite, Cotabato, and Basilan understand and comprehend each other since communication is vital from day to day life.