Zamboanga Chavacano

Existing literature on Philippine languages is rife with references to Chavacano, the hypernym for Spanish-based creoles spoken in various parts of the archipelago. Variants of Chavacano are characterised in historical accounts as ‘a corrupt Spanish dialect’ with depreciative labels such as español de tienda ‘hawker Spanish’ or español de cocina ‘kitchen Spanish’. The concerted assertion of this creole’s degeneracy is a legacy of colonial knowledge production. Since the genesis of the Philippine creoles, much has changed as to their usage both from a linguistic and a social viewpoint. It is in this social dimension that we locate the present study. Of the three main varieties of Chavacano, spoken in Cavite City, Ternate, and Zamboanga respectively, this paper zeroes in on the third as the Mindanaoan variety is the healthiest to date. We wish to interrogate the trajectory of its social status, from its characterisation as a degenerate variant of Spanish to its privileged position in contemporary Zamboanga City as a Hispanic identity marker (Chavacano un poquito español ‘Chavacano slightly Spanish’). Nuancing the role played in language preservation efforts by Zamboangueño elites, this study highlights the singularity of a creolophone community, who, through the politicisation of heritage, has subverted the ideological marginality of their Creole mother tongue and appropriated it to be the hallmark of their ethnic identity.