Chavacano

-Chavacano or Philippine Creole Spanish is a Spanish-based creole spoken in parts of the Philippines, especially in and around the city of Zamboanga, by over 600,000 people. There are also speakers of the Zamboanga dialect of Chavacano in Sempornah, Malaysia. It is the only Spanish-based creole in Asia and the only non-Austronesian language to have developed in the Philippines. Chavacano combines vocabulary mainly from Spanish, with grammar mainly from Tagalog and Cebuano. There are two main varities of Chavacano in Zamboanga - a formal variety that contains more Spanish vocabulary, and an informal variety containing more vocabulary from Tagalog, Cebuano and other Philippine languages. Chavacano is used primarily as a spoken language which dates back to 1635, when Zamboanga became a permanent Spanish stronghold with the construction of the San José Fortress. Recently a standard written form has began to emerge.