Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Español y chabacano: aclarando ambigüedades <-> A Lecture on Chabacano

Start:     Aug 11, '09 7:00p
Location:     Instituto Cervantes, Philippines


The linguistic varieties of the Philippine Creole Spanish collectively known as chavacano (principally the dialects of Cavite, Ternate and Zamboanga/Cotabato) are broadly recognized as different languages from Spanish, equipped of its own grammatical structures and —especially in the case of the zamboangueño— with a very limited comprehension from Spanish speaking people.

In this conference, to be conducted by Prof. John M. Lipski of Pennsylvania State University, the historical references referring to the formation of the chavacano dialects are explored as well as the sociolinguistic environments that produced not only an ambiguous terminology, but also an ambiguous recognition even among the very speakers of chavacano.

Instituto Cervantes de Manila
855 T.M. Kalaw St., 1000 Ermita. Manila
Tel. (632) 526 1482
Fax (632) 526 1449
http://manila.cervantes.es

19 comments:

  1. Hmmmm....very ambiguous indeed, sin duda sin pesar.

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  2. actually, I really wanted to learn this language ever since one of my good friends and co-worker who came from Zamboanga, became assigned to Zamboanga again years ago...I was quite fascinated with their chattering away in Chavacano...

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  3. Yes. I too was fascinated by their dialect, specially when I heard them pray the Lord's Prayer (Our Father) in Chavacano.

    Did you know that the Chavacanos have a joke that features Cory C. Aquino? The line is "Corazon (pointing to the heart)? Si! Aqui (pointing to the sentido)? No!

    And you know where I heard it from? From Cory herself in a TV interview she had sometime last year (aired last night by GMA7's episode of i-Witness hosted by Jessica Soho).

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  4. it's one of our unique dialect and i understand most of it although i don't speak it but my parents do..thanks for sharing Cat!

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  5. Zamboanga is where Enriqueze's are rooted to. My Lolo is a true Zamboangeno..my father spoke it well..almost Spanish na talaga..tipong slang ang grammatically not perfect lang..

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  6. The real wonder here is how and why this form of pidgin language, in this case Spanish, developed, flourished and is until now sustained but only in Cavite and Zamboanga. I hope, Cat, that you can attend this event. Baka puede mo mai-tanong sa open forum. Would be interesting to know, don't you think?

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  7. wheee! you can understand it? wow, inggit ako...

    I had one tshirt I got from Zamboanga years ago which had stick figures in different poses and the corresponding Chavacano term...parang ting-ting lang yata ma-remember ko :-)

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  8. do you understand Chavacano Nonzki? like some people who don't speak dialects or languages but at least understand the conversational version...

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  9. Chito, I wish I can...but it is not going to be in the heart in Makati (or else I would have tried), it is scheduled at night and its my work night pa *sighs gustily*

    I posted this for other people who may be interested and who have the time to go there...

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  10. irreverent Pinoy humor as usual...LOL

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  11. hi cat, i speak chavacano. don't ask me why my grandparents speak it because they are not zamboangueños.

    i don't speak as well as they do though, so mas-"bastardized" ang version ko, he he.

    its useful for us siblings if we want to keep a certain topic to ourselves, it's rude, i know, to speak it amongst people who wouldn't understand but sometimes, we forget. =P

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  12. Chiarz! am now double envious...ikaw and Nonzki speak it...huhu...wala bang "Chavacano for Dummies"...I find it so titillating when I hear it :-) and mas "corrupted" pa ang version mo...haha!

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  13. btw, contact points:

    Instituto Cervantes de Manila
    855 T.M. Kalaw St., 1000 Ermita. Manila
    Tel. (632) 526 1482
    Fax (632) 526 1449
    http://manila.cervantes.es

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  14. My Jorge is purong Chavacano/Zamboangueno, Cat... and it used to bother me when he would speak it with family but after a while, like others, nasanay na ako that I can say I actually understand the dialect though I'm not brave enough to try speaking it, so I participate in English.. :p

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  15. really? I mean, you can pick it up after hearing it for some time?
    bakit di ka nagpaturo na lang ng todo kay Jorge (hehe, ayaw ba dahil gusto may secreto?)

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  16. i have been fascinated with chabacano as someone special to me then, spoke it so fluently....

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  17. uuuuyyyyy....sino? sino? sino? sino? (kulit?)

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