Chavacano language
Philippine Creole Spanish (PCS)
Chavacano or Chabacano
Spoken in
Philippines
Region
Zamboanga City, Zamboanga del
Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay,
Zamboanga del Sur, Basilan,
Cavite City, Ternate, Cavite,
Cotabato, Davao, Jolo, Tawi-Tawi,
Semporna in Sabah, Malaysia,
Filipino diaspora, and other
regions with Chavacano
communities
Total
speakers
607,000 (2000 Philippine census)
Language
family
Creole language
Spanish-based creole language
Philippine languages
Philippine Creole Spanish
(PCS)
Writing
system
Latin and Spanish
Official status
Official
language
in
Recognized minority language
Malaysia
Regulated
by
No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1 none
ISO 639-2 crp
ISO 639-3 cbk
Chavacano (as a proper noun and a derivat-
ive of the Spanish adjective "chabacano" and
as it is generally accepted in literature, the
broadcast media, and Zamboangueños) or
Chabacano (from the Spanish adjective) is a
creole language or more precisely, the com-
mon name for the six dialects of the Philip-
pine Creole Spanish spoken in the Philip-
pines. The word chabacano—which the name
Chavacano is derived from—is Spanish for
"poor taste," "vulgar," "common," "of low
quality," "tacky," or "coarse".
The Chavacano language is the only
Spanish-based creole in Asia. It has survived
for more than 400 years, making it one of the
oldest creole languages in the world. It is the
only language to have developed in the Phil-
ippines (a member of Philippine languages)
which does not belong to the family of Aus-
tronesian languages, although it shows a
characteristic common to the sub-classifica-
tion of Malayo-Polynesian languages: the
reduplication.
There are six dialects of this creole and
their classification is based on their substrate
languages and the regions where they are
commonly spoken. The three known dialects
of Chabacano which have Tagalog as their
substrate
language are the Luzon-based
creoles of which are Caviteño (spoken in
Cavite City), Ternateño (spoken in Ternate,
Cavite), and Ermiteño (once spoken in the
old