The lexicon and creole formation

Abstract

There is disagreement as to the formation period of Chabacano, Philippine Creole Spanish. This article examines lexical items that have been claimed to stem from an early period of formation of Chabacano (Jacobs & Parkvall 2020). As a response to these claims, we show with ample dialectological and diachronic evidence that Chabacano items ansina ‘this way, like this,’ endenantes ‘a little while ago’, onde ‘where,’ and vos ‘2sg’ are compatible with any period of formation for the Creole. Consequently, the presence of these lexical items in the Chabacano varieties does not link their formation to a hypothetical proto-Creole created before 1640, nor does it lend proof to the hypothesis that the current varieties descend directly from it. In general, we argue that creoles require as rigorous diachronic and diatopic studies as their lexifiers to show the maturity of Creole Studies as a field of inquiry.