Re: Creole vs. Pidgin

Pablo Flores wrote:
>
>BTW do you know why the name is 'Chavacano'? And 'Cavite=F1o'?
>I don't know where Spanish _chabacano_ comes from or what it used
>to mean, but nowadays it means 'rude, grotesque, obscene'.
I don't know where the name Chavacano comes from, but the names of the=20
three dialects are named after the principal city where they are/were=20
spoken. Most Chavacano speakers are from the city of Zamboanga, hence=20
they speak Zamboangue=F1o. There's supposedly also a dialect near=20
Zamboanga spoken in Davao called Davawe=F1o or something like that.=20
Cavite=F1o is spoken in Cavite just south of Manila. Manila itself used=20
to have a Chavacano speaking community in the city district of Ermita=20
just south of the old walled city of Intramuros, but Ermite=F1o is now=20
considered extinct.

If _chabacano_ meant 'rude, grotesque, obscene', then maybe that was=20
the general perception of 'Bamboo-Spanish' (aka. Chavacano). I have=20
heard that Chavacano developed as a result of the construction of=20
Spanish garrisons in Manila (Intramuros and Ermita), Cavite, and=20
Zamboanga. So that might have something to do with it too - I'm=20
picturing colonial soldiers using 'rude, grotesque, obscene' Spanish=20
to the local 'Indios' who were helping the occupiers build the=20
garrisons.

-kristian- 8)